Is ‘Resolve’ by Foo Fighters about Kurt Cobain?
There aren’t many genuinely world-famous rock bands left, but Foo Fighters undoubtedly stand among the last. Formed in 1994 by Dave Grohl, the band has embarked on a creative journey since their self-titled debut the following year, winning the hearts of both alternative rock enthusiasts and mainstream audiences. They’ve experimented with everything from metal to disco, collaborating with an array of legendary artists. Yet, despite their own success and the heartbreak of losing drummer Taylor Hawkins, the band’s story remains deeply intertwined with the tragic end of Nirvana, the band that forever shaped Grohl’s musical path.
After Grohl’s hardcore band Scream ended, he joined the rising grunge outfit Nirvana, who were looking for a replacement for Chad Channing. He auditioned and almost instantly landed the job, bringing his elemental John Bonham-esque fire and technical nouse to the band. Quickly, he helped Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic raise the level of their craft and make their music more assertive. Their first album together, 1991’s culture-shifting Nevermind, was a substantial departure from their 1989 debut Bleach.
It put guitar music back on the map, and Nirvana rose as their generation’s Beatles. Although they refreshed music and culture and brought the punk ethos back to the fore, the intensity of their fame would take its toll on band leader Cobain and play a key role in his April 1994 suicide. With just three studio albums to his name and only 27 years old, this tragic end destroyed those closest to him, as well as his legions of devoted fans, who are still left rueing what could have been.
It seemed as if the end of Nirvana was nigh long before Cobain chose such a horrific end, but after the news broke, there was no doubt for Grohl and Novoselic that the group was over. Not only did the pair feel like they’d been emotionally eviscerated by losing their friend, but regarding their careers, they had no clue what to do. Both retreated from the media’s gaze, and Grohl had all but turned his back on music and Nirvana until a fortuitous experience with a hitchhiker when soul-searching in Ireland convinced him to return to it.
It wouldn’t be long before he’d written and recorded the first Foo Fighters album, and the demo was making its way around the industry, showing that the ex-Nirvana drummer was not down and out and that his songwriting chops were also excellent. Although the single, ‘I’ll Stick Around’, was later admitted by Grohl to be about Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, through the band, he continued to move into the future and leave the heartbreaking past behind him.
However, it does seem that one of Foo Fighters’ best songs is about the tragedy of Nirvana and a tribute to Kurt Cobain. A single from their 2005 hit double album In Your Honor, ‘Resolve’ is littered with seeming references to Cobain and the now-defunct grunge band, with Grohl appearing to confront the past head-on and concede his peace with it.
So, is ‘Resolve’ about Kurt Cobain?
While in the chorus, Grohl explicitly states that resolve is what he needs, which he obviously required ample amounts of to navigate such a tragedy—not to mention one that unfolded in front of the world’s cameras—there are other moments that bring to mind the memory of Cobain.
The clearest example seems to be the line, “Swingin’ from the chandeliers”, which Cobain can be seen doing in the iconic video for ‘Come As You Are’, one of the highlights from Nevermind. Elsewhere, discussion of “another life” points to the long time that had passed since Cobain died, with other moments such as “Lookin’ back to find my way, never seemed so hard” and “Yesterday’s been laid to rest” heavily suggesting that Grohl was coming to terms with the past.
It’s clear that if this song was indeed written with Cobain in mind, it wasn’t done with anger or denial but out of pure respect for his fallen friend. “I would never change a thing, even if I could,” Grohl sings at one point, clearly thanking him for the opportunities he gave him to follow his dream as a musician and all the great memories they shared, typified by; “All the songs we used to sing, everything was good”.
Although Grohl has never explicitly confirmed whether ‘Resolve’ is about Kurt Cobain, the evidence speaks for itself. For that reason, it remains one of the most potent Foo Fighters songs, even if it is nearly 20 years since it was released. There’s depth to it.
