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Throughout history, there have been musical conspiracy theories everywhere you look. From the notion that Paul McCartney died and was replaced by a clone, to the idea that Elvis Presley is still alive, music fans love adding the unbelievable to the entertaining.
Of course, as the internet has taken over, conspiracy theories have become all the more accessible, with people able to have their voices heard on any matter of belief, regardless of how unlikely it is.
However, one person that most music-lovers wouldn’t have expected to see at the centre of a conspiracy theory is undoubtedly Dave Grohl, the beloved frontman of the Foo Fighters.
Despite this, there are some people out there who believe that rock’s nicest guy might have actually faked an injury to help himself make some extra cash. Whether you believe it or not, this is another rabbit hole that some folks love to go down.
Back to the start
If you’ve ever listened to rock radio for any amount of time over the last 25 years, you would have heard at least something by the Foo Fighters. Founded by Dave Grohl in the wake of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death, the group initially started as a solo project for him to exercise his musical talents.
When the Foo Fighters released their self-titled debut in 1995, show bookings came in, and Dave Grohl recruited some musicians to flesh out the lineup.
Before long, the Foo Fighters had become staples of alt-rock radio, with their subsequent albums reaching higher and higher positions on the charts, and their tunes becoming anthems of the post-grunge world.
Throughout all this time, the band were touring relentlessly, playing close to 150 shows in 2000 alone. As a result, their profile as one of the finest live acts flourished as well, proving Dave Grohl’s worth as one of the most talented musicians alive today.
Misfortune strikes
By the end of 2014, the Foo Fighters had played upwards of 1,000 shows and had just released their eighth studio album, Sonic Highways. As a result, the group were getting ready to hit the road as part of an 80-date world tour.
In June of 2015, the band found themselves in Gothenburg, Sweden, ready to rock the 52,000-strong crowd at the Ullevi Stadium. As support act Ghost left the stage and the lights dimmed, Dave Grohl and his band of musicians appeared before the audience.
Kicking things off with a performance of ‘Everlong’, the night was off to a great start. However, by the time the band were halfway through their second song, ‘Monkey Wrench’, misfortune had befallen the group, as Dave Grohl managed to fall off the front of the stage.
As gasps filled the air, fans clamoured to see what was going on, only for Grohl to break the news to his fans. “I think I just broke my leg,” he explained. “I think I really broke my leg. ”
After explaining to the Swedish audience that the band would be forced to cancel the show in order for him to receive medical attention, Grohl returned to the stage only two song later, appearing to perform a cover of ‘Under Pressure’ while seated on a chair.
Despite a few trips backstage to receive more medical attention and a cast, Dave Grohl managed to finish out the show in true rockstar fashion, giving his audience something to remember forever. “I may not be able to walk or run,” he told the crowd. “But I can still play guitar and scream.”
Dave Grohl fought past the pain to deliver an amazing performance.
In an open letter to his fans after the incident, Grohl explained the thought process behind the rest of this memorable performance.
“They said I needed a cast (which was 20 minutes away at the hospital) to hold my ankle in place,” he explained. “So I looked my EMT, Johan, in the eyes and said, ‘Well, then you’re coming up there with me right now and holding it in place until they can bring the cast here. Ready?’”
“He stared at me wide-eyed for a second and said, ‘OK, let’s go….'”
“Let’s just say that singing our song ‘Walk’ with a straight face was pretty goddamned hard,” Grohl explained, noting that it was “the single most bizarre Foo Fighters show in the entire 20 years of being a band.”
Swedish fans didn’t realise they were witnessing a part of rock history
While the Foo Fighters cancelled the rest of their European tour, they reconvened in early July, returning to the stage in Washington, D.C. to continue their US tour.
This time around, something was different, and Dave Grohl performed these shows atop a custom-built throne, enabling him to keep on rocking without injuring himself further.
The pretender?
However, rumours soon began to spread online as fans began to think that things weren’t adding up. “Did Dave Grohl really break his leg?” they asked, noting that the whole scenario didn’t quite add up.
As one conspiracy theorist on Reddit pointed out, it all seemed rather strange that despite a number of phones at the Sweden show, nobody actually caught footage of Grohl physically breaking his leg, just the lead-up and aftermath to the incident.
Likewise, the fact that Grohl broke a bone and managed to return to the stage in just 15 minutes also seemed fishy. Surely the rocker would have been too incapacitated to play, right? Unless… unless he didn’t actually break his leg?
As this anonymous Redditor explained, it almost seemed as though Dave Grohl decided to play up a minor injury by putting into an action a plan that would not only see him and his band go viral, but would also drum up plenty of of sympathy in the process.
“I think he just sprained his ankle or something and kind ‘made the best of the situation,” the Redditor explained. “Getting some attention equals more money and fame. And it definitely worked. It just didn’t seem genuine, like [a] reality TV show.”
In addition to this, the Foo Fighters were forced to cancel a number of shows in the wake of Dave Grohl’s, including a headlining appearance at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival.
As a result, fans soon began to theorise that maybe this whole broken leg was just a way for the band to increase their demand, selling a bunch of extra tickets to disappointed fans when they finally made their return to the live stage.
After breaking his leg, Dave Grohl said singing ‘Walk’ “with a straight face was pretty goddamned hard”
While some fans came to the defence of Dave Grohl and his legitimately broken leg (Dave actually posted an x-ray of his leg following his trip to the hospital), many explained that a mixture of adrenaline and medications clearly made one of rock’s most resilient artists to once again achieve the impossible.
By September of 2015, news of this conspiracy theory had made its way to Grohl himself, who joked about the incident during a concert in Portland, Oregon, likening the whole situation to rumours of Paul McCartney’s death.
“Let me tell you, I’m sorry about the f**kin’ delay, my apologies,” he told the eager American crowd. “I have a note from my doctor! Although I’m really into the idea of a conspiracy theory, I think it’s f**kin’ rad.”
“What if, what if I didn’t break my f**kin’ leg? What if I jumped off stage and I fell on the ground, and I made it all look like it was a f**kin’ emergency? And then they dragged me off to the side, and the band keeps playing, and then 10 minutes later, I magically f**king reappear on stage.”
“And then I get somebody else’s X-Ray of a broken leg, and I make it into a t-shirt, and we make millions of f**king dollars. And I design this f**king awesome throne, so I don’t have to f**king stand up any more! Imagine that.”
The Foo Fighters’ 2018 return to Sweden featured a bit of a prank
Of course, the playful nature of Dave Grohl didn’t quite end there. While Dave would lend Axl Rose his throne after the Guns N’ Roses frontman broke his foot in 2016, the Foo Fighters’ 2018 return to Sweden was marked by a rather humorous moment.
In June of 2018, the band returned to the Ullevi Stadium to play a show to a crowd that undoubtedly featured folks who witnessed the incident three years earlier. However, as the Foo Fighters took to the stage, something was up.
As a figure dressed in black grabbed his guitar and made his way to the front of the stage, he fell off onto a well-placed mat below him. As fans began to realise that it was all a ruse, the real Dave Grohl appeared onstage, ready to rock out like he planned to a few years previously.
Of course, considering how much proof and video evidence there appears to be in regards to this incident, it seems pretty unlikely that Dave Grohl did indeed break his leg as a means to make a few extra dollars.
However, if ever there was a rockstar who had the power, influence, and general believability to trick everyone into falling for such a ploy, it would indeed be Dave Grohl.
Regardless, while this indeed sounds like a great story to debate with friends over a responsible beverage or two, this looks like one we might need to chalk up to some folks on the internet causing trouble for no reason.
