Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters is an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist/drummer Dave Grohl in 1995.Grohl formed the group as a one-man project after the dissolution of his previous band Nirvana in 1994. Prior to the release of Foo Fighters in 1995, Grohl drafted Nate Mendel (bass), William Goldsmith (drums), and Pat Smear (guitar) to complete the group. Goldsmith left during the recording of the group's second album The Colour and the Shape (1997), soon followed by Smear. They were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl left prior to the recording of the group's third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999).

Chris Shiflett joined as the band's second guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band released its fourth album One by One in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor (2005), which was split between acoustic songs and harder-rocking material. Foo Fighters released its sixth album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007. Over the course of the band's career, three of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, and all six have been nominated for Grammys.

When Grohl first started the band, its music was often compared to that of his previous group, Nirvana. Grohl acknowledged that Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain was a major influence on his songwriting. Grohl said, "Through Kurt, I saw the beauty of minimalism and the importance of music that's stripped down." Foo Fighters also utilize the Pixies' technique of shifting between quiet verses and loud chorus, which Grohl said was influenced by the members of Nirvana "liking the Knack, Bay City Rollers, Beatles, and ABBA as much as we liked Flipper and Black Flag, I suppose". Writing and recording songs for the first Foo Fighters album by himself, Grohl wrote the guitar riffs to be as rhythmic as possible. He approached the guitar similar to how he approached playing a drumkit, assigning different drum parts to different strings on the instrument. This allowed him to piece together songs easily; he said, "I could hear the song in my head before it was finished." Once Grohl assembled a full band, his bandmates assisted in song arrangements.

The members of Foo Fighters meld melodic elements with harder sounds. Grohl noted in 1997, "We all love music, whether it's the Beatles or Queen or punk rock. I think the lure of punk rock was the energy and immediacy; the need to thrash stuff around. But at the same time, we're all suckers for a beautiful melody, you know? So it is just natural."

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