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Right now, Foo Fighters consists of Chris Shiflett (guitar), Dave Grohl (vocals/guitars), Nate Mendell (bass) and Taylor Hawkins (drums), but in the beginning there was only one - Dave Grohl.
Shortly after the death of Kurt Cobain and the break up of Nirvana, Grohl and friend and record producer Barrett Jones booked a studio and recorded the 15 tracks of what was intended to be a demo tape but was destined to become the Foo Fighters first album. Amazingly, Grohl played all the instruments on the album with the exception of a single guitar track contributed by Greg Dulli (Afghan Whig/Twilight).
The self-titled first album was released in the summer of '95 and went platinum by early '96. Deciding to make Foo Fighters an actual band, Grohl recruited bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, both former members of Sunny Day Real Estate whose leader had turned to Christianity and in effect had put an end to the group. Also joining the group was former Germs and Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear.¹
"I'm sort of tired of these bands who write really amazing pop songs and record them on an 8-track for the sake of recording their album on an 8-track; people who think that's the punk rock purist thing to do." ~ Dave Grohl
"Well, I don't really consider what I do a job. lt's not like I'm going to do this for 20 years and then move to Hawaii. I feel like I'm on vacation all the time." ~ Dave Grohl