After our first conversation, the group recorded another achievement: the inauguration. The connection with President Biden’s campaign began in the fall when Grohl, his mother, Virginia, and dr. Jill Biden sits down for a Zoom call on education. (Virginia was a public school teacher for 35 years.) In a confluence of circumstances and opportunities that worked out exactly right, as things tended for the group, the Foos also played ‘Saturday Night Live’ the night Biden was declared . the winner of the election – a performance that took place with four days notice.
For the inauguration, there was really no doubt about what they would be playing: the hopeful “Times Like These”, a track that was released almost 20 years ago and that existed as an uncompromising, optimistic national anthem, where Grohl’s voice rising from soft to thunderous. as he sounds for a new beginning. No matter what year the song is performed, “Times Like These” always looks to the future, imbued with a spirit of renewal, just like Grohl himself. Across social media, the response has been overwhelmingly positive; moreover, the group was greeted like old friends. Once again, Foo Fighters made sense.
Above all, Grohl maintains a powerful belief in the unifying power of music – to create a space where people can come together and shout to feel something. As he explained, everything that the group has done stems, and continues, from this very clear purpose.
“I just want to stay alive and play music, especially after Nirvana,” he said. ‘When Kurt died, I woke up the next day and felt so happy to be alive, and so sad that someone could just disappear. I decided to take advantage of this for the rest of my life. ”
During our conversations, he was self-conscious of what people expect from Foo Fighters, but did not take the responsibility lightly. “For me, this group has always represented this continuation of life,” he added. ‘We’re accused of being the least dangerous band in the world, and I think that’s justified in some ways, because I know what it’s like to be in the other group, and I know what it can lead to. That’s not why I play music. This is not why I started playing music, nor is it why I still play music. After all, he has played in the biggest orchestra in the world. Why not do it again?