After performing a loving tribute to David Bowie during a recent Grammys pre-party, Foo Fighters members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear decided to take a special David Bowie tour of Los Angeles for Playboy, whilst discussing their own experiences with the late icon.
As they make their way over to Bowie’s old home on Doheny Drive, Grohl and Smear (who used to stalk Bowie around LA in the ’70s) discuss how Nirvana’s famous cover of ‘The Man Who Sold The World‘ came about. Apparently, it was a Pat Smear special.
Grohl later recounts how Bowie told him to “fuck off” after rejecting a collaboration idea. “We played at his 50th birthday party at Madison Square Garden and that was the last time I saw him, so that was in 1997?”
“About two years ago, I got approached by this movie to do a song for the movie, so I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll have someone else sing, I’ll do the music and then have another vocalist.’ And then I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll ask and see if David would want to do it,'” Grohl explains.
“So the next day I get an email and it says, ‘David, I watched the movie and I got to be honest, it’s not my thing.’ He said, ‘I’m not made for these times.'” Grohl sent Bowie a ‘Thanks anyway’ for at least considering the idea.
“Alright, now that’s settled then, fuck off,” Bowie replied. Unsure if his fellow rocker was joking, Grohl said he would see him at his next big birthday concert, to which Bowie replied, “No more birthdays. I’ve run out of them. But that was a really fun night, wasn’t it?”
