Foo Fighters is a popular American rock band that was formed back in 1994 by Dave Grohl. Three years after the band was formed in 1997 Taylor Hawkins joined the band as a drummer replacing the previous drummer of the band William Goldsmith. Ever since then Hawkins was in the band until 2022.
Hawkins passed away on March 25, 2022. He was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia. Furthermore, he died just hours before the band was to perform at a festival. Later the band announced the news and stated, “The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of Taylor Hawkins, his musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children, and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”
However, we are not here to discuss Hawkins’ death but we are here to talk about the favorite Foo Fighters songs of the drummer of the band Taylor Hawkins. So let’s start by knowing the bonding between Hawkins and the leader of the band Dave Grohl.
Grohl and Hawkins immediately bonded
As mentioned above, Hawkins replaced the original drummer of the band in 1997, and talking about their first meeting Grohl said in 2021, “Taylor Hawkins, my brother from another mother, my best friend, a man from whom I would take a bullet, upon first meeting, our bond was immediate, and we grew closer with every day, every song, every note that we played together.”
However, since Grohl was the drummer of the huge band Nirvana before he formed Foo Fighters, Hawkins was a bit nervous because Grohl is a magnificent drummer. But after meeting Grohl he realized that he was very friendly and as mentioned above, they immediately bonded.
Moreover, unlike the other members of the band, Hawkins was into traditional rock music instead of punk rock. He was inspired by the 60s and 70s bands like Queen. Furthermore, he used to play at weddings as well as for cover bands.
Favorite Foo Fighters songs of Taylor Hawkins
Here is the list of Taylor Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters songs:
Aurora (1999)
There are a few Foo Fighters songs that Hawkins has mentioned as his favorites and one of them is the 1999 released song Aurora from the album “There Is Nothing Left To Lose.” This song was recorded by just Grohl, Hawkins, and the bass guitarist of the band Nate Mendel. And since Hawkins is more into traditional classic and soft rock, this song really got into him.
While talking to Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music Hawkins said, “I love it when Dave gets in his almost yacht rock softness in his voice and he double tracks his voice really nice.” He added, “That was the first drum track that I ever did for the Foo Fighters that I was really, really proud of because I only played half the drums on the ‘…Nothing Left To Lose’ record because it was my first time in the studio and I was just… I didn’t know how to record.”
Low (2002)
Another of Hawkins’ favorite songs from the band is Low from the album “One by One” and although Taylor himself did not mention it as his favorite, Dave Grohl stated that Low is everyone’s favorite song. Moreover, Grohl said,
“That’s the kind of song that you pray would be a single, but there’s just no way because it’s, like, the coolest song on the record. It’s the one that everybody likes, but there’s just no way ’cause it’s too weird. And we made it a single, so I’m looking forward to it. I love playing it live, and that’s what kind of counts the most.”
Rope (2011)
This song from the album “Wasting Light” was kind of Hawkins’ thing because this song was inspired by Queen’s “Keep Yourself Alive,” and since Taylor was more into traditional rock and got inspiration from the bands like Queen and Genesis, it was really something that was close to him.
This Is A Call (1995)
This song is from the album “Foo Fighters” and it is a song that was recorded before Hawkins even joined the band. Moreover, it was also the first time he heard Foo Fighters. While talking to Matt Wilkinson he said, “I could also say the first time I heard ‘This Is A Call’ was the first time I heard the Foo Fighters and I wasn’t in the band yet.” He further said, “I was playing with Alanis and we were all in the van, traversing the Foo Fighters, playing all the same clubs as they were. I just wore that album out: ‘This Is A Call’ might be my favorite Foo Fighters song of all time, too.”
Although Hawkins never mentioned Low or Rope as his favorite songs from the band, we just estimated it as those songs are the kind of music Hawkins loved.
