The life and death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins

0:00 - Early Life & Bands
3:18 - Taylor Joins Foo Fighters
7:10 - Near Death Experience/Tensions
10:25 - Taylor's Later Life/Struggles

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Born in Fort Worth Texas, drummer Taylor Hawkins was the youngest of three siblings having a mother and father who seemed like polar opposites. According to Rolling Stone he would describe his father as and i quote “stony coldness, typical of a Seventies man,”, while mother was and i quote full of love, sweetness, and tenderness, and the total opposite of my dad.” His mother encouraged Taylor to become a musician.

His family would relocate to Laguna beach when he was 5 years old. Hawkins would tell the BBC that at the age of 10 he had a neighbour who had an old drum kit and a few beat up guitars and by this point in his life he didn’t excel at anything including academics and sports. Hawkins would admit that he initially wanted to play guitar but it seemed like too much work to him and his neighbour encouraged him to try the drums. After observing Hawkins play he would tell him and i quote “you’re a drummer.’

In December of 1995 Grohl would meet hawkins for the first time at the KROQ almost acoustic christmas concert where both foo fighters and alanis morisette were on the bill. Grohl would recall meeting hawkins for the first time saying ‘we got along like brothers from the second we met. We were best friends from that moment with taylor hawkins adding in the book ‘this is a call “i was this little dork playing in this back up band and the first thing that struck me was that dave was really nice and fun to hang out with. I’d met some other people from big bands musicians i’d looked up to and when i met them the vibe was oh you’re not important. Hawkins who was a huge fan of nirvana and foo fighters first record noticed a camaraderie and likeness between himself and grohl as they smoked together and talked about their favourite music. They would reconnect the summer of 1996 when they played some shows together in europe.Hawkins would admit that alanis morissette predicted he would join foo fighters at the time telling the Daily Mirror “We met the Foo Fighters when I was still playing with her, and she said, 'Dave [Grohl]’s gonna ask you to join them someday.' She called it a year before it happened."

The following year in 1997, Grohl was now without a drummer. He would call up hawkins to see if he knew any good drummers. Keep in mind foo fighters were still an up and coming band and were nowhere near as popular as they are today . Grohl would recall that conversation with hawkins “he said ‘f*** yeah i’ll do it. I reminded him we weren’t selling out stadiums like alanis and he said ‘i don’t care man i just want to be in a f***** rock band. To Hawkins alanis was a solo act and he wanted to play more hard rock music. The move surprised Grohl who told entertainment weekly I thought he would never leave Alanis’ band. At the time, they were packing stadiums around the world. And what, he’s going to jump in our red Dodge van and play the f**** Viper Room again?”

The on-boarding process for Hawkins wasn’t smooth though. The first day of rehearsals guitarist Pat Smear announced he was quitting the band telling Grohl and company they should consider being a three piece. The band was in a tough spot having already booked a tour and having their second album to promote.. For Smear he was tired of life on the road and was eldest band member. The band managed to talk smear to stay in the band for another six months until they found a replacement which they did in Grohl’s old scream bandmate Franz Stahl. ’ Taylor’s first show with foo fighters would happen on april 19, 1997 at a secret gig in santa monica at the alligator lounge. The band would spend the next year and a half on the road.


The band would get off the road in 1998 and Grohl gave some insights into where the band’s third record could go in the book this is a call “now i’m looking forward to our next record more than i ever have been. For a while i was thinking. God what are we gonna do for our next record. Taylor plays piano and guitar and writes songs and sings. Nate writes stuff. It’s just gonna be the frea