Best Of You - The Foo Fighters Story ┃ Documentary

i just play drums i just go out and have fun and i play drums and it's great foo fighters have become one of the biggest rock bands of recent times dave grohl is often seen as the face of the band and if it wasn't for his time with nirvana foo fighters probably wouldn't even exist dave grohl has also been in queens of the stone age then crooked vultures and collaborated with dozens of other artists most notably with lemmy of motorhead when he recorded his metal side project probot in 2004 few bands can say they've sold millions of albums as well as playing the iconic wembley stadium in the uk foo fighters however are one of those bands and this is their story as we all know dave grohl was the drummer for nirvana a band that became the face of grunge in the early 90s so to understand the foo fighters story we first need to visit dave grohl's early years and his time with kurt cobain and chris novoselich dave grohl was born on january the 14th 1969 in warren ohio and had taken an early interest in music he started to experiment with playing guitar by the time he was around 10 years old but would quickly move on to the drums i started playing guitar when i was about 10 or 11. and then i was just in a band and the drummer wasn't really that good and i had figured it out and asked maybe if i could play the drums and he switched over to bass and it's pretty simple his early passion for writing music was initially just about having a good time he never dreamed his hobby would turn into touring the world or selling millions of records well it never really seemed like a feasible career direction it was always just kind of for fun when you're a kid and you're learning to play guitar you don't really do it as some sort of trade you're just having a good time with it and and then playing in uh local punk rock bands or neighborhood cover bands it's just sort of for fun throughout dave's childhood he would be exposed to many different artists and genres but one band in particular would have a huge impact on him groll learnt to play guitar after his mum bought him a book containing the beatles anthology of guitar chords and how to play them whilst groll would go on to discover other artists such as tom petty and neil young he would also discover punk rock and hardcore before turning to punk however when he was just eight years old he would discover one of the most legendary prog records of all time 2112 by rush when growl was 14 he would become obsessed with an album called rock polite by washington-based punk band known as bad brain and according to growl if you didn't know this album you simply weren't punk rock by the time growl was 17 he'd already transferred to three different high schools and didn't really seem to fit in anywhere until he auditioned for a band from washington dc called scream to growl surprise they offered him the job as their new drummer so growl dropped out of high school and hit the road touring brawl would tour extensively with scream from 1986 up to 1990 when the band split up but this was just the beginning of growl's musical journey as he was about to audition for nirvana it's now one of the most iconic sounds in music history and one of the biggest rock songs ever released nirvana's smiles like teen spirit made them a commercial success but when dave grohl joined in late 1990 they were still an underground grunge band that almost nobody had heard of i think i was first inspired to play music by uh no punk rock fans founded in 1987 in aberdeen washington by kurt cobain and bassist christ novoselic nirvana would sign to the independent grunge label subpop in 1989. the label featured other artists such as the malvin [Music] and early soundgarden their debut album bleach released in 1989 made some noise on the underground scene so growl didn't expect to become a rock star the following year dave grohl was also worried that nirvana would be a temporary spot for him as the band had already seen five other drummers come and go in a very short space of time so he thought nothing of it to growl this was just another gig you know the way kurt wrote songs he wrote these really really simple songs he's a great lyricist his objective was really like make the song as catchy and memorable and simple as possible on september 24th 1991 nirvana would release never mind arguably one of the biggest selling rock albums to date this is also the first nirvana record dave grohl would feature on we would just go in the room and he'd start playing something and we'd just play along and then it would become a song the idea was not even to talk about music to keep it as pure as possible not only would never mind go on to sell millions of copies and make rock stars out of the band it would also put crawl on a path to starting the foo fighters however groll would have to endure heartbreak and the loss of his dear friend and bandmate kurt cobain before realizing that the foo fighters would be his musical salvation and lifeline we've never talked about that ever it's been 20 years we still haven't talked about it not only can you translate exactly i mean that that video has come closer to what i've seen in my mind what i've envisioned you know than any other video although growl had been thrown into the world of being a rock star he was also now faced with the darker side of the lifestyle drug abuse and substance addiction but it wasn't growl that had the problem it was kurt cobain it isn't a specific stomach ailment it doesn't have a name or anything it wasn't a matter of finding out what disease i had you know it's psychosomatic it's it's part of my nervous system it's you know i mean there are millions of people all over the world who have a stomach problem and they say oh you have irritable bowel syndrome but i can't fix it cobain had suffered from chronic stomach problems and depression during the height of nirvana's success and he turned to heroin to ease the pain kirk's depression and heroin use spiraled out of control on april the 8th 1994 kurt cobain was found dead at his home in seattle washington at the age of 27. he had taken his own life everything that i've gone through with nirvana and watching that band like reach these incredible highs and then just end and then to have like a second chance was just like oh my god it's crazy you know after the death of cobain not only did it signal the end of the grunge era for many fans dave grohl also thought it was the end of his career groll thought that was it his rock star dream was over in the coming months groll fell into a deep depression he couldn't even bring himself to listen to nirvana's music let alone think about joining or starting another band it was just too overwhelming for him i stopped listening to music after kurt died because it was so emotional just hearing it i didn't want to hear it on the radio i didn't want to play it i didn't want to join another band and i didn't i didn't do anything for a while i didn't want to do anything for a while understandably dave needed to escape the cold reality he found himself in despite offers coming in from bands asking him to drum for them this was the last thing on his mind his passion for music had all but disappeared and he was at a complete loss just lost i went through a really dark period where i couldn't really even listen to the radio because it broke my heart just to hear music dey struggled over the following months not only to figure out his next move but also how to deal with the death of his close friend and band mate obviously traumatized by the horrific event he had to find a way to process the pain but it was also tough too because you know one of the things about starting this band was it was time to keep moving you know um after something like that happens it's like you don't know how to recover from something like that there's no textbook to help you through something as tragic and horrific as that dave would eventually come to realize that music would be his salvation he couldn't imagine giving up on his true passion in life so he decided to record some songs dave had been writing songs since he was a teenager but in 1990 he started to take it a bit more seriously although he wrote songs throughout his time with nirvana he never wanted these songs to clash with kurt's vision for the band so he mostly kept them to himself six months after the death of kurt dave grohl decided to enter the studio to record a solo album it was supposed to be nothing more than an experiment dave went in with 12 of his favorite songs he'd written over the past few years and would also play all of the instruments himself in just under a week he'd recorded what would be the first foo fighters record he just didn't know it yet and then ask me why like why why won't you why won't you talk about it i'm you know out of your business business you know give me a break it's so stupid disgusting i don't talk about it to people i don't really know so on july the 4th 1995 dave grohl released the first foo fighters record it was self-titled and initially limited to just a hundred copies growl also had a hundred cassette tapes produced that he would hand out to friends family and random nirvana fans he encountered on the streets of seattle artists who sort of market their emotions or turn their their their emotions into a commodity you know i've always thought that that was really sort of bizarre although it was supposed to be just a small experiment growl still didn't want his name attached to it he didn't want people to think he turned into a solo artist and came up with the name foo fighters in the hopes that listeners would think it was a full band i didn't see it as something that was going to end up in the hands of you know hundreds of thousands of people around the world dave would end up giving a copy to his friend eddie veda singer and front man for pearl jam eddie decided to play a song from the album on his radio show which sparked the attention of record labels and nirvana fans the name foo fighters came from world war ii soldiers would see strange glowing orbs in the sky and think they were being watched by some strange new german military technology others thought they were extraterrestrial ufos clearly having a fascination with otherworldly beings growl decided to start his own record label roswell records taken from the infamous 1947 roswell ufo crash groll then struck a licensing deal with capital records to officially release the first foo fighters album four singles would be released from this album big me i'll stick around for all the cows and this is a call the record sold over 40 000 copies in the us in the first week and charted at number three in the uk charts dave grohl's foo fighters were officially on the road to rock and roll fame the most uncomfortable thing about it is is the interviews dave grohl had no idea his experimental record would be such a huge hit and now foo fighters had a tour lined up for 1995 so it was time to form an actual band everyone looking at me waiting for me to say something in between songs you know and because i'm supposed to be the charismatic like front man growl would turn to bassist nate mandel and drummer william goldsmith both former members of sunny day real estate who split in 95. growl would also recruit pat smear who was not only a founding member of the alley punk band the germs but he was also a touring guitarist with nirvana foo fighters were about to become an instant success not only would groll get a second shot at being a rock star but foo fighters albums would start topping charts globally however growl would quickly become tired of his newfound stardom you know that there that people were going to want to talk to us and people were going to give us this special attention because of the bands that we had been in or whatever at first growl refused to take part in many interviews and when he did people wouldn't stop asking him about kurt cobain they were more interested in the death of his friend than the music foo fighters were releasing the foo fighters and dave grohl would live under the shadow of nirvana and kurt cobain for some time not only would the haunting memory of kurt cobain follow dave grohl and the foo fighters but so with substance addiction forcing groll to live through yet another traumatizing event i don't know if there's less pressure i think maybe i think maybe there's not so much the spotlight's not on me and the band so much as it was when when the first record came out i mean there was so that was only i don't know maybe a year and a half or after nirvana had ended and so everything was kind of still fresh then conflict in the foo fighters camp was already beginning to show although growl would again write all of the songs for their second record the colour and the shape the full band would now be recording their own parts however when dave headed to los angeles to finish some vocal and guitar sections he decided to re-record the drums goldsmith felt betrayed by groll and decided to leave the band dave got in touch with alanis morissette's drummer taylor hawkins who volunteered to play on the record and subsequently joined the foo fighters on a permanent basis so they needed a drummer so we jammed a couple times and they said yeah and i said uh you really think and they said and they said yeah and on april the 28th 1997 foo fighters would release one of their most iconic songs [Music] with the incredible success of this song alone and the first two foo fighters records dave grohl and his band were now living the rockstar lifestyle but with rockstar highs came the inevitable lows the band had become known for partying on tour and with most of them looking up to idols such as keith richards of the rolling stones lemmy of motorhead and ozzy osbourne of black sabbath foo fighters naturally started to indulge in the same substances as their childhood heroes taylor hawkins life however would soon hang in the balance hawkins had started to struggle with his substance addiction while he thought he was just living the rock and roll lifestyle it would nearly be the end of him taylor had been struggling with with drugs i think he and i had talked about it a few times you know i didn't really know how to deal with with the way you were supposed to be and i thought that to be a rock and roller you know you have to be the [ __ ] keith richards you have to be the dark partying [ __ ] the real deal in 2001 foo fighters would travel to london to carry out some promotional press they headed to a bar for some drinks and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the next morning when dave received a devastating phone call taylor had taken an accidental overdose and was now in a coma in hospital dave would stay by taylor's side in the hospital watching over him and praying his friend and bandmate would pull through luckily hawkins woke up after two weeks whilst dave grohl hadn't touched drugs since the age of 20 he was still experiencing the devastation they can cause he'd already lost one band mate he couldn't face losing another i honestly never thought any of this would last and uh you know and i've seen a lot of my friends not make it so it's like wow i got to get this far and still and i'm still kicking before taylor hawkins had his near-death experience growl had already had to deal with the departure of pat smear pat decided to leave the band in 1997. pat said he decided to leave the foo fighters largely because he was suffering from exhaustion due to the band's excessive touring schedule pat smear would be temporarily replaced by fran style who was the guitarist for scream one of the first bands dave grohl was a drummer for star would be quickly replaced by chris shifflet in 1999 shortly after foo fighters had finished recording there is nothing left to lose people freak out you know there's so many personnel changes the revolving door of the foo fighters but i think with every change we get a little closer to what we want the band to be there is nothing left to lose would be the first record taylor hawkins would feature on and foo fighters would see a string of top chart positions around the globe including commercial success with singles such as stacked actors learn to fly and break out foo fighters were now heading into the new millennium as a well-established rock and roll band dave grohl had managed to shake off the nirvana connection and gain respect in the music industry as an individual musician in his own right turn me outside and body oh my god turn the outside into the inside [Music] whilst everything seemed to be going great for the band on the face of things conflict began to creep in again and dave grohl started to question if the band even had a future although the band had been enjoying incredible success they still hadn't found their own sound or real direction with growl being the original driving force for the band in terms of creativity and songwriting it quickly became clear that other members were eager to drive their own vision of what they thought the ban should be although nothing left to lose helped the band to become closer in terms of actually being a band that functioned together foo fighters would soon hit a creative block which saw dave grohl venture into other projects away from his beloved foo fighters with foo fighters struggling to finish their fourth record one by one due to creative differences and fighting in the studio groll decided to temporarily join queens of the stone age to help them record and tour their upcoming 2002 record songs for the dead songs for death catapulted queens of the stone age into the commercial rock arena and also helped growl to secure yet another hugely successful album under his name the record sold close to 1 million copies in its first year growl also spent a great deal of time between the year 2000 and 2004 recording an album called probot this was a collaboration album that featured 11 songs growl fout was simply too heavy to record with foo fighters and after a couple months of doing that i thought this is weird man what am i doing i mean i love riffs and i love the aggression of really powerful music you know so i went and just recorded all these instrumentals for fun and a friend of mine said man are you going to sing on this and i said no i don't think so is this foo fighters music i said no not really but it also seemed that growl was trying to distance himself from the foo fighters due to the recent incident with taylor hawkins dave grohl really didn't want to see any more of his friends or band bandmates go down the same path that kurt cobain had taken probart would be a career defining moment for dave groll he collaborated with icons such as max cavalera of sepultura kim thyle of soundgarden and even lemmy of motorhead one of dave's idols [Applause] the record was generally labeled as a heavy metal album but certainly hinted at something darker despite the foo fighters almost breaking up during a recording of one by one the band would eventually reconcile their issues to release the album on october the 22nd 2002 one by one would be one of the most significant albums of the band's career not only did the records sell over a million copies it also won them a grammy award for best rock album in 2004 and their biggest record was still to come [Music] it's now one of the most iconic foo fighters songs to date but the band almost didn't release it because they didn't think it was good enough best of you has become a huge festival and arena anthem for the band and it was thanks to their manager that it saw the light of day foo fighters recorded a rough demo and then simply left it on the shelf to focus on recording their fifth studio album in your honor an album that also featured the legendary john paul jones of led zeppelin these formative years for the foo fighters set them up to be one of the biggest rock bands on the planet they're one of few bands to fill the legendary wembley stadium in the uk and recently released their 10th studio album medicine at midnight although dave grohl says that he treats every foo fighters album as if it were his last they seem to be unstoppable [Music] you can watch the official foo fighters documentary back and forth right now on prime video check the link in the description if you'd like to support this channel consider subscribing or watch another raw music tv documentary right now [Music] you

Channel: RAWMUSICTV

Views: 41,775

Rating: 4.9179735 out of 5

Keywords: rock, metal, rawmusictv, foo fighters, documentary, film

Id: sEYwarbid1A

Length: 23min 26sec (1406 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021