29 Years of Fighting Foo

What now?

It was a legitimate question on the minds of many rock fans after the death of Kurt Cobain. Nirvana’s light burned bright and was extinguished far too soon. Drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic were without a band, without a leader and without a friend.

Rather than just sit behind the kit for another band, Pearl Jam and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were among the rumored bands considering Grohl, Dave decided to form a project under which he could release solo material. He named the project “Foo Fighters” after a WWII term for UFOs and related phenomenon.

In 1994, Dave began messing around with demos that would quickly materialize as the band’s debut album. Dave played every note of every instrument on every song save, a guitar part on the song X-Static attributed to Grohl’s friend, Hamilton! Ohio native and Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli who happened to be in a nearby studio during the sessions.

The. resulting record is surprisingly polished while still being rough, raw, and unhinged. Unlike Nirvana, Foo Fighters injected more fun and melody into their songs while still being built primarily around crunchy guitars and fits of aggression. Dave proved to be a talented and proficient musician on all instruments. The drums were lightning fast, heart pounding, and disco beat infused. The guitars were loud, crunchy, and distorted. And Dave’s vocals and screams were cool, clean, and encouraged you to sing or scream right along.

Songs like This is a Call, Big Me, and For All The Cows established the melodic, slightly poppy, fun rock sound that would become the signature sound of the band. Songs like I’ll Stick Around, Wattershed, and X-Static were more similar to Nirvana. Together, they created a balanced album that sounded like 1995.

Along with the signature sound of the band that was emerging from these sessions came another hallmark of the Foo Fighters, compelling, engaging funny videos. Where Nirvana was “serious” music accompanied by “serious” videos, FF was creating a more fun vibe while not being afraid to shy away from a darker more serious sound from time to time.

I jumped on the FF bandwagon pretty early. Catching them on their first tour and immersing myself in the music and videos. I’ve been a fan since.

Since my favorite band is The Afghan Whigs, I’ve always been fascinated by Greg Dulli’s involvement here. Last year I had the opportunity to ask Greg directly about this at a VIP meet n greet before an AW show. Greg fondly recalled working with Dave whom he proudly called his friend. He said it was a fairly simple and straightforward moment. Dave was talking to him about the demos and asked Greg if he’d like to hear some. Greg was noodling around on a guitar while listening and Dave asked if he wanted to jam. Tape was rolling and there you have it.

The Foo Fighters went on to become one of rock’s biggest band. Dave’s touring band would evolve eventually settling on a pretty consistent lineup including Pat Smear, Chris Shifflet and the late Taylor Hawkins. A steady stream of consistent releases and regular touring led to worldwide fame and the band became the standard torch bearer for rock while Dave Grohl became the nicest guy in rock. While I love the band, everytime i see them live for a moment I get lost in my thoughts and think wow…thats’s the drummer from Nirvana…