Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters is an American rock band, named for a term used by Allied aircraft pilots to describe unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and other aerial phenomena during World War II. Formed in 1994 by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl following the famed grunge band’s dissolution in the wake of frontman Kurt Cobain’s death, the Foo Fighters quickly became one of the rock genre’s most popular bands. Known for such hits as “Everlong,” “Monkey Wrench,” and “Learn to Fly,” the band produced a long string of successful studio albums and racked up fifteen Grammy Awards by 2022 as well as various other honors. In addition to Grohl, as of 2023, the Foo Fighters lineup included guitarist Nate Mendel, rhythm guitarist Pat Smear, lead guitarist Chris Shiflett, and keyboardist Rami Jaffee. While drummer William Goldsmith and guitarist Franz Stahl also played with the band at various times, longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins died in 2022.

Background

The story of the Foo Fighters began with Dave Grohl and the ground-breaking grunge band Nirvana. Born in Warren, Ohio, on January 14, 1969, Grohl was keenly interested in music from an early age. When he was just ten years old, he was playing guitar in his first rock group, the H. G. Hancock Band. After eventually finding his way into the punk rock scene, Grohl found a place for himself in a Washington, DC-based hardcore band known as Scream in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was during his time with Scream that Grohl first met Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, the founders of an emergent Seattle grunge band called Nirvana. A short time later, Grohl successfully auditioned to become Nirvana’s drummer.

By the time Grohl joined the lineup, the red-hot Nirvana was fielding offers from numerous major recording labels and had already established itself as one of the leading alternative rock bands of the 1990s. Ultimately signing with Geffen Records, the band made major waves with the landmark release of Nevermind in 1991. Powered by the hit single “Smells like Teen Spirit,” Nevermind sold more than four million copies and catapulted Nirvana into superstardom. Such overwhelming success took the band—and the entire music industry—by surprise. The band’s members were caught off guard and struggled to cope with their sudden fame. This led to serious instability fueled in significant part by Cobain’s increasingly problematic behavior. In 1992, he married Courtney Love, from the band Hole, and allegedly began using heroin with her. Combined with his existing mental health issues, the heroin use sent Cobain into a dangerous tailspin. Nonetheless, Nirvana remained popular even though Cobain’s problems hampered the band’s ability to tour or record new music. In Utero, the follow-up to Nevermind, did not appear until late 1993 because of this. The following year, Cobain’s life spiraled further out of control as the vocalist continued to abuse illicit substances and struggled with mental illness. In the end, Nirvana’s rapid rise to stardom reached an equally abrupt conclusion when Cobain took his own life on April 5, 1994. His death marked the end of Nirvana, and Grohl was left to find his next musical project.

Overview

Just before he joined Nirvana, Grohl started recording original material with the help of fellow musician and producer Barrett Jones. He continued to write and record songs while he was with Nirvana in 1992 and 1993. When Nirvana eventually disbanded in the aftermath of Cobain’s death, Grohl headed into the studio with Jones and recorded a number of tracks that would comprise the debut album for his next project. Although he played all the instruments on the songs he recorded, Grohl ultimately decided against a solo career. Instead, he opted to form a new band with former Sunny Day Real Estate members Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith, as well as former Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear. Grohl called the band the Foo Fighters after a term that Allied pilots used to describe UFOs during World War II. The Foo Fighters eponymous debut album, which consisted entirely of the tracks Grohl had recorded on his own, was released to great acclaim in July 1995. In less than a year, the album was certified platinum.

After successfully touring in 1996, the Foo Fighters entered the studio as a band for the first time to record their sophomore album, The Colour and the Shape. Creative tensions that arose during the recording sessions led to Goldsmith’s departure from the band. Just before the album was released, Goldsmith was officially replaced by drummer Taylor Hawkins, who was then known for his work with Alanis Morissette. Around the same time, Smear also left the band and was replaced by Franz Stahl, who left the Foo Fighters himself shortly before the band recorded its third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. Guitarist Chris Shiflett replaced Smear following that album’s release in 1999.

The Foo Fighters’ success continued into the 2000s, with One by One hitting the charts in 2002 and the somewhat experimental Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace following in 2005. Later in that decade, Grohl temporarily stepped away from the band to focus on his super-group project Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. He eventually rejoined the Foo Fighters to record the 2011 album Wasting Light. The effort proved to be one of the band’s biggest successes, reaching number one on the Billboard charts and picking up four Grammy Awards. Following an announced hiatus from 2012 to 2014, the Foo Fighters reunited to record Sonic Highways.

During a 2015 show in Sweden that was part of a European tour, Grohl fell from the stage and broke his leg. Undeterred, he continued the tour—known from that point forward as the “Broken Leg Tour”—while playing from a throne. After another hiatus, the Foo Fighters returned again in 2017 with Concrete and Gold, their ninth album and the first to feature longtime keyboardist Rami Jaffee as a full member. The band’s tenth album, Medicine at Midnight, followed in February 2021 and earned the group three more Grammy trophies in 2022. That same year saw the release of the largely poorly received horror-comedy film featuring the Foo Fighters titled Studio 666.

While the Foo Fighters were on tour in early 2022, it was reported that Hawkins died prior to a performance event in Colombia. After announcing that they had canceled the rest of their scheduled tour dates, in early 2023 the remaining band members released an expansive list of live performance dates set to take place in North America and around the world that year.

Bibliography

Bienstock, Richard. “A Brief History of the Foo Fighters' Remarkable Quarter-Century Career.” Guitar World, 15 Apr. 2021, www.guitarworld.com/features/a-brief-history-of-the-foo-fighters-remarkable-quarter-century-career. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.

Brannigan, Paul. “Foo Fighters: The Inside Story of Their Self-Titled Debut Album.” Kerrang, 4 July 2020, www.kerrang.com/features/foo-fighters-the-inside-story-of-their-self-titled-debut-album. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.

“Foo Fighters.” AllMusic, 2023, www.allmusic.com/artist/foo-fighters-mn0000184043. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.

“Foo Fighters.” Billboard, 2023, www.billboard.com/music/foo-fighters. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.

“Foo Fighters Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide.” Diffuser, 6 Sept. 2017, diffuser.fm/foo-fighters-lineup-changes. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.

Gordon, Jeremy. “Foo Fighters Wanted to Rule Rock. 25 Years Later, They’re Still Roaring.” New York Times, 1 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/arts/music/foo-fighters-dave-grohl.html. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.

Greene, Andy, and Kory Grow. "Inside Taylor Hawkins' Final Days as a Foo Fighter." Rolling Stone, 16 May 2022, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/taylor-hawkins-foo-fighters-tribute-1347073/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.

“Nirvana.” AllMusic, 2023, www.allmusic.com/artist/nirvana-mn0000357406. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.

Poisuo, Pauli. “The Tragic Real-Life Story of the Foo Fighters.” Grunge, 31 Mar. 2022, www.grunge.com/227789/the-tragic-real-life-story-of-the-foo-fighters. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.