Foo Fighters

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Lore & Background

Born from a period of profound isolation and creative frustration, this album represents Dave Grohl's desperate need to make music again after years of touring. Following Cobain's suicide in April 1994, Grohl entered a state of depression and found it difficult to both listen to music and play instruments. He was uncertain of what to do next, and despite being invited to drum for bands like Danzig or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Grohl almost decided to abandon his musical career: 'I just couldn't imagine [playing in other bands]', he explained in a 2005 interview with Classic Rock magazine, 'because it would just remind me of being in Nirvana; every time I sat down at a drum set, I would think of that.' Grohl's first musical performance after the demise of Nirvana was with The Backbeat Band at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards in June. Soon thereafter, Mike Watt invited Grohl to play drums on his album Ball-Hog or Tugboat? (1995). Grohl enjoyed these experiences and thus decided to work on his own musical project, which he believed could serve as 'some sort of cathartic therapy'. Grohl consequently booked six days at Seattle's Robert Lang Studios, which were located near his house, where he recorded several of his favorite personal compositions with the assistance of Pocketwatch producer Barrett Jones. Although Grohl played all the instruments on the album, he intended to release it under a name that would make people believe it to be the work of a full band, similar to Stewart Copeland's 1980 EP Klark Kent.

In Their Own Story

The studio was cold, smelling of old wood and stale coffee, but the air hummed with electricity as Dave ran from room to room, 'still sweating and shaking from playing drums and [then] pick up the guitar and put down a track, do the bass, maybe another guitar part, have a sip of coffee and then go in and do the next song'. He wasn't thinking about stadiums or charts; he just needed to hear the noise again. Grohl and Jones produced the record across a period of one week in October 1994, with Grohl on vocals and all instruments. Both would arrive in the morning at Robert Lang Studios, start production by noon and do four songs a day. Each song took about 45 minutes to be completed, and the compositions were recorded in the same order that became the album's track listing. The only song that required two run-throughs before completion was 'I'll Stick Around'. The only performance by an outsider was a guitar part on 'X-Static' provided by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs, who was watching Grohl record the songs. Grohl eventually asked him if he wanted to play and handed him a guitar. Grohl was insecure about his singing, and added effects to his voice in 'Floaty', and tried to enhance the performance through double track – 'You know how people double their vocals to make them stronger? That album the vocals are quadrupled.'

Reader's Guide

The recording process was remarkably intimate, with Grohl playing all instruments and recording across six days in October 1994 at Robert Lang Studios. This method created a warm, organic texture that stood in stark contrast to the polished productions of the mid-90s. The mixing sessions began at Robert Lang Studios but eventually those mixes were discarded and the sessions moved to Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock's 'The Shop' studio in Arcata, California. Mixes were done on a 32 channel API DeMedio console, custom built by Frank DeMedio in 1972 for Wally Heider Recording's 'Studio 4'. A Stephen's 24 track 2" tape machine was used for playback. Processors used in the mixes included an Eventide Omnipressor compressor for vocals and guitar solos, an Alan Smart stereo compressor for 'squashing' the drums and mixing them back in as well as being used over the entire mix. Other processors included UREI 1176 and LA3A compressors as well as an Echoplex for delays and a 'crappy digital reverb'. Mixes were 'nothing that crazy' Rob described, adding that he 'mixed "Big Me" in 20 minutes'. Thematically, the album explores resilience and the struggle to move forward after loss, reflecting Grohl's personal journey. Nine of the songs in the album were composed before or during Grohl's tenure with Nirvana, and existed in demos created by Grohl on his home 8-track tape recorder. The only compositions done after Cobain's death were 'This Is a Call', 'I'll Stick Around', 'X-Static' and 'Wattershed'. Most of the lyrics on Foo Fighters are nonsensical lines written by Grohl in the 20 minutes before recording began. As Grohl later explained, 'I had seven days to record fifteen songs. I was just concentrating on everything being as together as possible, having everything be tight and in sync. There wasn't too much time spent sitting in a chair thinking.' Grohl would add that the gibberish was deliberate, given that 'there was too much to say' following Cobain's death and 'a lot of emphasis [was] placed on the meaning of the first Foo Fighters album.' Grohl still considered that 'the things you write down spur of the moment are most revealing. Now I look at them and some of them seem to actually have meaning', and revealed that a few songs have lyrics inspired by 'personal experiences of the last four or five years', with the standout being 'Big Me', an 'out-and-out love song' to Grohl's then-wife Jennifer Youngblood that he described as his favorite track on the album. Upon its release, Foo Fighters earned critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its songwriting and performances, and was also a commercial success, becoming the band's second-best-selling album in the United States. It also peaked within the top five of charts of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The album was promoted through extensive tours and four singles, two of which were accompanied by music videos. After Grohl completed the recordings, he passed cassette copies of the sessions to personal friends, using the name 'Foo Fighters' to conceal his involvement. When the tapes attracted record label interest, Grohl signed with Capitol and formed a backing band to perform the songs live. Grohl soon recruited a full band, which included bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith of the recently disbanded Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist, and former Germs member, Pat Smear. Key tracks include the driving opener 'This Is a Call', defined as 'a "hello" and a "thank you"' to everyone that had played a key role in Grohl's life; the aggressive 'I'll Stick Around'; the playful 'For All the Cows'; and 'Wattershed', with a title referencing Mike Watt and lyrics that described Grohl's 'love of hardcore and old school punk rock'.

Did You Know?

• Dave Grohl recorded the entire album in just six days in October 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, with each song taking about 45 minutes to complete.
• The only outside musician on the album was Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs, who played guitar on 'X-Static' after Grohl handed him a guitar while he was watching the sessions.
• Grohl quadrupled his vocals on the album, saying 'You know how people double their vocals to make them stronger? That album the vocals are quadrupled.'
• The album cover features a Buck Rogers XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol, photographed by Grohl's then-wife Jennifer Youngblood, continuing the science fiction theme from the band name and Grohl's Roswell Records imprint.
• Eddie Vedder premiered two songs from the recording on January 8, 1995, during his Self-Pollution radio broadcast, before the album was even released.