Some bands have a bit of an odd origin story and Foo Fighters is no different as it all stems from Dave Grohl wanting to be anonymous.
We absolutely love Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters here at Tone Deaf. In fact, we love them so much that we’ve dedicated a whole newsletter to them: The Foo Fighters Observer.
And we could think of no better way to kick off the Foo Fighters Observer than to go down memory lane and remember how the band only exists because Grohl wanted to stay out of the spotlight.
The year was 1994 and Kurt Cobain had just died, effectively signalling the end of Nirvana.
Unsure of what to do with himself, Grohl decided to book himself into a studio to record some songs he had stockpiled over the years.
A week of recording a heap of bangers where he played every instrument part himself, Grohl had a shiny new album in his hands.
After a bit of thinking, Grohl decided to release it as a solo project of sorts because, well, why not?
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However, he didn’t want his name on the album as that would bring a lot of unwanted attention stemming from his role as Nirvana’s drummer and the inevitable onslaught of questions about Kurt Cobain.
So to get around this, Grohl decided to release his album in a limited run, lowkey manner under the name Foo Fighters, which was a name taken from the World War II term “foo fighter” that was given to unidentified flying objects.
Of course, we all know what happened next as Foo Fighters quickly became one of the biggest rock bands in the world and has remained up there ever since.
It’s a pretty wild origin story for a band like Foo Fighters and it’s amazing how long they’ve lasted given how Grohl constantly says he wants to quit the band after every tour.
Based on what we’ve seen and heard over the decades, it seems like Grohl made the right move when he decided to form Foo Fighters.
Well, except for the actual band name itself as the rocker admits that he would’ve named the band something else had he initially taken it seriously because he thinks Foo Fighters is the “stupidest fucking band name in the world.”
If you want to keep up to date on Foo Fighters news, whatever awesome thing Dave Grohl does next, and interesting features on the band, sign up to the Foo Fighters Observer right here.
Check out Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters in ‘The Pretender’ music video:
