Foo Fighters: Back and Forth

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We must adjust to changing times...

...execute the office of President

of the United States...

I challenge a new generation

of young Americans...

My biggest fantasy when I was a kid

was that I would go to see

my favorite band play,

and someone would come out and say,

"Sorry, the band can't play tonight,

their drummer broke his fuckin' leg.

"Unless there's someone

that knows all the songs... "

Then, of course, I would jump up

and be the greatest drummer in the world.

I fantasized about that.

With Nirvana, the process

of making the music

was so entirely simple and pure and real.

Kurt was a great lyricist,

he had a beautiful voice,

and he wrote really simple songs.

There were things I learned about songwriting

from being in a band with Kurt

that I don't think anyone else

could have taught me.

That record, Nevermind, came out

almost a year to the day

after I had joined the band.

This song is called Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Before Dave had joined the band,

there was a message on my

answering machine from Kurt, saying,

"Butch! We have the best drummer in the

world! He's the greatest drummer in the world.

"I'm not kidding you. He's awesome, dude!"

And he hung up.

About a week later we were in LA

and I walked into a rehearsal space with him.

And Dave walked up - skinny, long hair...

"Hey, man, I'm Dave. Nice to meet you. "

He was just full of energy.

I was like, "Let's play.

Play me some songs, you guys. "

And they played Teen Spirit.

Dave did the...

...and it just floored me.

Of course, everybody was telling the band

that they thought we were great,

but I don't think the three of us ever believed

a word of anything anyone was telling us.

We never thought we were gonna sell

a million records.

None of us had any idea that it was gonna

completely change my life and their lives.

But I knew that they sounded really tight

and pretty focused,

and that they had written

some amazingly powerful songs.

We knew something was happening

because the atmosphere of the gigs

just changed.

They went from being cool, hipster,

underground people in a club

to, like...

jocks were coming to the show.

That was the first thing, like,

"Oh my God, there's jocks here,"

you know?

"That's kind of strange.

They like our music?

"You used to kick my fucking ass

for listening to this music. "

I was a really big fan of Nirvana,

like everybody else,

and I happened to be reading

an interview with Kurt

where he had mentioned,

Nirvana was always meant to be a four-piece,

a two-guitar band.

It was never meant to be a three-piece.

I thought, "Oh, well that's my in. "

Pat is from this legendary punk rock band

called the Germs

that we all grew up listening to.

There was no one more badass

than the Germs.

Germs didn't give a f*ck.

So Pat shows up in Seattle,

and all of us were just like,

"Oh my God, hey, it's Pat Smear

from the Germs.

"He's alive?"

So now Nirvana is hitting the big halls,

with guitarist Pat Smear

helping to make the loud louder.

The day before the first rehearsal

I saw my picture on MTV News, saying,

"Nirvana has a new guitar player, Pat Smear. "

I was like, "My God, it's real! There it is!"

I don't think Kurt wanted to be

a huge fuckin' rock star.

And I don't think he could handle

how complicated it had all become.

No one was very happy with the tour,

or the band.

So Kurt decided he wants a break,

even though we're on this tour

you can't get out of,

because you're a big band

and you get sued.

We had, like, a week and a half off

in between two legs of the tour.

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