During the spring in 1995, Foo Fighters made their first tour, which coincided with the release of their first single, “This Is a Call”, in June of the same year. Foo Fighters ‘first album, titled homonymous, was released on July 4, 1995, with tracks recorded by Grohl and featuring Barrett Jones’ production. The reviews were very positive and the compositions were praised. The commercial result of the album was equally successful and by the end of the year they had already sold more than two million copies worldwide.
Foo Fighters ‘ second album was finally released on May 20, 1997, under the title “The Colour and the Shape” and featuring Gil Norton’s production. The creation of the album was presided over by the divorce of Grohl and photographer Jennifer Youngblood a year earlier and this is noted in the lyrics of the songs, introspective songs of great lyricism and some ballad that express mixed feelings. The album was nominated for a Grammy in 1998 for Best Rock Album, reaching the third place on the British charts and over two million sales. From the album were extracted the singles “Monkey Wrench”, “Everlasting” and ” My Hero”.
In September 1997 Pat Smear announced his departure from the band due to exhaustion and is replaced by Franz Stahl, who had coincided with Grohl in the band Scream, in the pre-Nirvana era. Stahl’s adventure in Foo Fighters lasts a short time, as the orientation and creative differences between him and Grohl become evident from the beginning, so the guitarist leaves the group before recording the next album.
In 1998 Grohl bought a house in Alexandria, Virginia, in whose basements he set up a recording studio, called Studio 606. There he is locked in with the core of the band to compose the songs that will compose Foo Fighters ‘third studio album,” There Is Nothing Left to Lose”, which appears on November 2, 1999, under RCA Records.
In 2001, Foo Fighters honored the British Band Queen by sharing the stage with Roger Taylor and Brian May. Since then, a relationship has been established that has led them to collaborate on some issues and to carry out some joint actions. While ruminating on Foo Fighters ‘ next work, in August, following a performance at the fifth Chelmsford Festival, Hawkins suffered a heroin overdose that kept him in a coma for a few days. During his recovery, Dave Grohl set out to collaborate with the band Queens of the Stone Age, playing drums on some of the tracks from the band’s album “Songs for the Deaf”.
On October 22, Foo Fighters ‘ fourth album, entitled “One by one”, was finally released. Production was carried out by the band itself, supported by recording engineer Nick Raskulinecz and producer Adam Kasper, who already produced the band’s previous work. With a sound considered heavier and more aggressive than that of his previous work and with powerful guitar riffs, it includes two singles of great success for the band, “All My Life “and”Times like These”. The album gained great commercial and critical acclaim and helped the band win their second Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2004. “One by One” debuted in third place on American tracks and first place on British tracks and also includes the singles “Low” and” Have it All”.
Foo Fighters ‘fifth album, ” In Your Honor”, was released on June 14, 2005. For the recording sessions the band set up a new studio in the city of Los Angeles (Studio 606 West) and at Grohl’s express request the album was divided into two parts, forming a double album in which one CD was dedicated to rock music pure and hard and the other was full of acoustic songs that Grohl himself had been recording waiting to release as a solo album in which to show a different sound record than usual in the Seattle band. This contrast between Hard rock and acoustic melodies was a concept christened by Grohl as”the bottle and The Hangover”.
“Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” was the next album on Foo Fighters ‘ discography and was released on September 25, 2007. For this work, they had the production of Gil Norton, who had previously worked with the band. The album mixes rock tracks with acoustic songs and the first single to be released was “The Pretender”, which remained for 19 weeks at the top of the American Billboard rock charts.
The album won five Grammy nominations, eventually winning the award for Best Rock Album. The song “The Pretender” was chosen as the best performance of Hard Rock. On the other hand, in the UK he won a Brit Award for Best International Album. The album’s promotional tour took them to various continents for a year, until October 2017, with performances in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
In December 2013, after a long stop, the band reappears again on stage to offer two recitals in Mexico City. Meanwhile, the group begins work on their new project. On November 10, 2014, Foo Fighters ‘new album, the eighth in their musical career, was released, titled “Sonic Highways”. It is a set of eight songs recorded in eight different cities. To prepare the material for this album Dave Grohl traveled to different cities in the United States, interviewing local musicians and characters who told him the musical story of each city.
In June 2015 Dave Grohl falls off the stage at a concert the band offered in Sweden. The result was a fracture in the leg. Despite this, the musician devised a kind of chair from which he could participate in the performances of the group, thanks to which it was not necessary to suspend the tour. After the end of the tour, Grohl announced an indefinite stop at the concerts, due to the sequelae and pain he continued to suffer in the leg, taking a period of relaxation and recovery, which lasted until the moment when ideas for a new album came up and began to compose the songs.