The first Foo Fighters song to feature Taylor Hawkins
There’s a good chance that Dave Grohl could have hired a backing band for Foo Fighters, and nobody would have complained. Since he had performed every single note on their debut album, it would have been a natural evolution for Grohl to take the same route that Prince and Trent Reznor had before him and create a group of hired guns. Grohl always felt at home in a band environment, though, and Taylor Hawkins would turn into his partner in crime throughout their career.
Before Hawkins had secured the spot behind the drum stool, Grohl originally had the rhythmic section for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate rounding out the lineup, with Nate Mendel on bass and William Goldsmith on drums. While the band had fantastic chemistry playing live, things stopped when they entered the studio to cut The Colour and the Shape.
Unhappy with how Goldsmith was interpreting the songs, Grohl would eventually re-record the drums without telling the drummer, leading to him quitting. Even though Grohl could have easily played and sang simultaneously, he knew he had found the answer to his prayers when he saw Alanis Morrissette’s touring outfit.
Sitting behind the drum throne was Hawkins, known for giving it his all when playing songs like ‘You Oughta Know’ or ‘You Learn’. While Hawkins loved the idea of joining the group, he didn’t think that he initially had a shot at performing with the group, telling Back and Forth, “My brother told me, ‘You should be in this band’. I went, ‘Fuck yeah, I would also love to have been in The Who and Jane’s Addiction and Led Zeppelin too.’”
After a meeting with Grohl, the chemistry was undeniable from the beginning, with both drummers practically finishing each other’s sentences. While Hawkins made his first appearance behind the drumkit in the band’s video for the song ‘Monkey Wrench’, they were dealt another blow when guitarist Pat Smear quit, becoming dissatisfied with the constant touring lifestyle.
Enlisting former Scream guitarist Franz Stahl, Hawkins would debut in the studio with a re-recording of the Colour and the Shape deep cut, ‘Walking After You’. Recutting the song for the soundtrack to X-Files: The Movie, Hawkins is far more subdued than he would eventually become on the song, only providing a gentle pulse for the rest of the band to add everything on top of.
By the time Stahl was asked to leave midway through the tour, fans would hear Hawkins in full force on There is Nothing Left to Lose. Cutting the album as a trio, Hawkins is playing like he has everything to prove, turning in songs that are borderline metal like ‘Stacked Actors’ as well as more radio-friendly cuts like ‘Learn to Fly’ and ‘Next Year’.
That would be the tip of the iceberg for Hawkins, though, going on to create rhythmic hooks with the group on albums like In Your Honour as well as providing the occasional lead vocal to a song whenever they played live or on record. While Foo Fighters may have been known as Grohl’s vehicle for most of their tenure, the addition of Hawkins represented the band’s collaborative spirit from the moment he sat behind the kit.
