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'in Utero' Was The First Time I'd Made An Album That Reached Into The Dark Side. I Remember The Conflict And The Uncertainty. I Remember All Those Things When I Hear 'pennyroyal Tea.'

-Dave Grohl

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'in Utero' Was The

Dave Grohl

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'in Utero' Was The First Time I'd Made An Album That Reached Into The Dark Side. I Remember The Conflict And The Uncertainty. I Remember All Those Things When I Hear 'pennyroyal Tea.'

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Cbgb Represents A Lot To New York City And To Underground Rock And To New Wave And Post-punk And Whatever. But, You Know, It's Like Tearing Down The Jefferson Memorial Or Something.

There's Some Things In Life That You Really Consider To Be Priceless.

You Know Why Foo Fighters Have Been A Band For 20 Years? Because I've Never Really Told Anybody What I Think Of Them. The Last Thing You Ever Want To Do Is Go To Therapy With Your Band.

Always Have The Highest Bar For Yourself.

Mick Fleetwood Was One Of My First Interviews. And If You've Ever Talked To That Dude, He's The Sweetest Guy In The World - He's Just A Trip.

Once I Got Into Punk Rock, I Started Mail-ordering Albums, Because A Lot Of The Record Stores In My Area Didn't Carry The Punk Bands From England Or Sweden Or Chicago Or Los Angeles

I'm A Skinny, Geeky, High School Dropout - It Works, Kids! Sensitive Guys Always Get The Girl. You'll Get Laid 10 Times As Much As That Guy On The Football Team 'cause He's On Steroids And He's Gonna Get Fat.

I'd Like To Imagine I Won't End Up In Hell, But I Think I've Done Too Much Acid And Listened To Too Much Death Metal To Sit On A Cloud Next To God With Angels Floating Above My Head.

I Think Maybe People See Bands And Musicians As Some Sort Of Superhero Unrealistic Sport That Happens In Another Dimension Where It's Not Real People And Not Real Emotions. So, I Grew Up Listening To Beatles Records On My Floor. That's How I Learned How To Play Guitar. If It Weren't For Them, I Wouldn't Be A Musician.

I Had A Super Grover Doll Growing Up. Super Grover Was Very Clumsy, He Wasn't Very Good-looking. But In His Own Way He'd Always Save The Day.

I Mean, I Never Liked Being Told What To Do. It's One Of The Reasons I Dropped Out Of School. Give Me Something To Assemble, I Won't Look At The Directions, I'll Try To Figure It Out By Myself. It's Why I Love Ikea Furniture.

People Should Never Be Afraid That Foo Fighters Are Ever Going To Break Up, It's Like Your Grandparents Getting Divorced - It's Not Gonna Happen.

I Owe Everything To Nirvana. But I Can't Let That Overshadow The Future. For The First Few Years, I Didn't Even Want To Talk About Nirvana. Partly Because It Was Just Painful To Talk About Losing Kurt But Also Because I Wanted The Foo Fighters To Mean Something.

As I Get Older... I Start To Realize That Life Ain't Half Bad. Each Year, I'm Amazed That I'm Still Alive. I Don't Take Any Of This For Granted, I'm A Lucky Dude.

Some People Record Onto Tape, And Then They Pay For The Tape, And Download Those Onto A Hard Drive. Initially In A Pro Tools Program. Other People Go Straight Into Digital, And Use No Tape At All.

Actually, I Didn't Start Sweating Until I Had Children.

The Most Important Thing For Me Is My Family, And My Health And Happiness, And Making Sure Everyone's Cool.

Important Things

Whenever I Say I Made A Record In The Garage, People Just Assume That I Have, Like, A Lear Jet Parked In There Or Something. But Really There's Old Luggage, A Couple Of Bikes. It's Big Enough To Put One Minivan In. That's It. No Dartboard. I'm So Not Macho.

A Long Time Ago, I Made A Promise To Myself: "okay, You Know What? I'm Going To Play Music, And Hopefully I'll Make Enough Money That I Can Go Back To School. Once I Make Enough Money To Put Myself Through School, That's What I'm Going To Do."

I Once Received A Cape That Was Made From The Little Purple Bags That Crown Royal Whisky Comes In.

Dude, Maybe Not Everyone Loves 'glee.' Me Included. I Watched 10 Minutes And It Wasn't My Thing.

I'm Told That My Blood Sugar Level Was Twelve Times The Legal Limit - I Was Sweating Honey.

When Something Good Comes Your Way, You Better Feel Fortunate, Because It Doesn't Last Forever.

You Look Up To Your Heroes And You Shouldn't Be Intimidated By Them; You Should Be Inspired By Them.

If You're Trying To Connect To People With Music - It's More Of An Outward Process And A Lot Of Times Musicians Can Be Very Inward.

Every Band Should Study Queen At Live Aid. If You Really Feel Like That Barrier Is Gone, You Become Freddie Mercury. I Consider Him The Greatest Frontman Of All Time. Like, It's Funny? You'd Imagine That Freddie Was More Than Human, But... You Know How He Controlled Wembley Stadium At Live Aid In 1985? He Stood Up There And Did His Vocal Warm Ups With The Audience. Something That Intimate, Where They Realize, 'oh Yeah, He's Just A F***ing Dude.'

What's The Last Thing A Drummer Says In A Band? 'hey Guys, Why Don't We Try One Of My Songs?'

I'm Not Like A Voracious Hoarder Who Has 50,000 Albums Of Vinyl Stacked In A Storage Space In The San Fernando Valley. But I Do Have Albums From The Last 40 Years Of My Life.

'in Utero' Was The First Time I'd Made An Album That Reached Into The Dark Side. I Remember The Conflict And The Uncertainty. I Remember All Those Things When I Hear 'pennyroyal Tea.'

That’s One Of The Great Things About Music. You Can Sing A Song To 85,000 People And They’ll Sing It Back For 85,000 Different Reasons.

Someone Curating Songs For You Through Your Computer Or Being Able To Hold 10,000 Songs On Your Watch - That Convenience Is Pretty Incredible, But So Is The Emotional Impact Of Holding A Beatles Record In Your Hand And Listening To Let It Be.

I Never Went To Rock Concerts When I Was A Kid. I Didn't See Any Rock & Roll Bands.

I Guess It Was Exciting That Every Time I Pulled Up To The Gate Of My House, I Wondered If Someone Was Going To Jump Out Of The Bush And Stab Me In The Face.

Neil Young Is My Hero, And Such A Great Example. You Know What That Guy Has Been Doing For The Past 40 Years? Making Music. That's What That Guy Does. Sometimes You Pay Attention, Sometimes You Don't. Sometimes He Hands It To You, Sometimes He Keeps It To Himself. He's A Good Man With A Beautiful Family And Wonderful Life.

I Know A Lot Of People Who Wouldn't Be Comfortable With Everything That Comes With Being In A Band As Big As Nirvana. The Thing That I Don't Understand Is Not Appreciating That Simple Gift Of Being Able To Play Music.

To Women, Drummers Seem Like These Adorable, Sexy Neanderthals, But Lead Singers Seem Mysterious And Dangerous. So While The Lead Singers All Want To Be David Bowie, Floating Into Parties And Being The Center Of Attention, It's The Drummers Who Are In The Corner Doing Keg Stands And Breaking Tables. Usually It's The Drummers Who Get The Fun-loving Ladies And The Singers Who Get The Nutcases.

The Best Time For Gum Is Just Before Getting Onstage. I Need A Minty-fresh Microphone.

Guilt Is Cancer. Guilt Will Confine You, Torture You, Destroy You As An Artist. It's A Black Wall. It's A Thief.

I Always Loved Writing Songs - Writing For Myself And Demo-ing Songs, Really With No Intention Of Ever Letting Anyone Else Hear Them. Finally The Foo Fighters Stuff Happened When I Just Went To The Studio Down The Street From My House And Recorded Some Stuff In About Five Or Six Days, And All These People Wanted To Release It As An Album. I Wanted To Release It On My Own, With No Photos And No Names On It.

It's Not Until Recently That I Could Even Imagine Myself As An Adult. But These Kids Today, They Look At Me Like I'm Neil Young. Nirvana Is The Band Their Parents Listen To.

There's Nothing Better Than Having A Bottle Of Beer In Your Hand In The Waves.

It's Good To Wander Into The Studio And Walk Out With Something That's Better Than You'd Imagined It To Be. If Everything Was As You Imagined It To Be, It Just Wouldn't Be As Much Fun.

How Do I Stay Humble? Because I'm The Best At Being Humble.

I Taught Myself How To Play The Guitar, I Taught Myself How To Play The Drums, And I Kind Of Fake Doing Both Of Them. But Drumming Comes More Natural To Me, And It Just Feels Better.

There's Something About Heartbreak That Makes For Great Music, But The Same Could Be Said For Jägermeister. Hangovers Make For Great Music, Too.

Neil Young Is My Hero. You Know What That Guy Has Been Doing For The Past 40 Years? Making Music. That's What That Guy Does.

Most People Don't Take Some Things Into Consideration. When They Hear An Album, They Hear The Artist Or They Hear The Lyric Or They Hear The Melody. But They Don't Really Think About The Environment In Which It Was Recorded, Which Is So Important. It's That Thing That Determines What The Album Sounds Like.

I Dropped Out Of High School And I Couldn't Go To College 'cause I Wasn't Smart Enough, So I'd Resigned Myself To Loading Trucks And Playing Punk Rock On The Weekends.

The Human Element Of Making Music Is What's Most Important.

It's Terrifying To Play Your Favorite Band's Song In Front Of Your Favorite Band.

Ladies And Gentlemen, God Bless America - Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave.

I'd Love It If Everyone Knew One Foo Fighters Song.

The Whole Slacker Generation Totally Didn't Apply To Us Musically.

Never Lose Faith In Real Rock And Roll Music. Never Lose Faith In That. You Might Have To Look A Little Harder, But It's Always Going To Be There.

I Believe The History Of American Music Is Just As Important As Anything Political Because It's Changed Generations Of People.

I Don't Want To Say That Most Rock Bands Live These Formulaic Biography Existences - But They Kinda Do. There's Always A Divorce. There's Always An Od. There's Always A Bad Business Manager.

I Think I'm Scared A Lot. I'm Scared Of Almost Everything. And I'm Constantly Trying To Work My Way Through Each Obstacle, Whether It's A Present, Past, Or Future Relationship.

Music Will Never Go Away, And I Will Never Stop Making Music; It's Just What Capacity Or What Arena You Decide To Do It.

I Stopped Doing Drugs When I Was 20. I Was Finished With Drugs Before Nirvana Even Started.

Always Have The Highest Bar For Yourself. Wake Up Everyday And No Matter How Crappy You Feel, Want To Change Something For The Better. Do Something That Makes Someone Happy. Create Something That Inspires Someone. Be Someone's Light When They Are Hopeless.

Make Someone Happy

People Are So Into Digital Recording Now They Forgot How Easy Analog Recording Can Be.

For Every Foo Fighters Record, We've Had Two Or Three Beautiful, Acoustic-based Songs, But They Never Usually Make Their Way To The Record, Because We Want To Make Rock Records.

No One Is You, And That Is Your Power.

Don't Look At The Poster On Your Wall And Think 'i Could Never Do That.' Look At The Poster On Your Wall And Think 'i'm Gonna Do That!'

To Women, Drummers Seem Like These Adorable, Sexy Neanderthals, And Lead Singers Seem Mysterious And Dangerous. So While The Lead Singers All Want To Be David Bowie, Floating Into Parties And Being The Center Of Attention, It's The Drummers Who Are In The Corner Doing Keg Stands And Breaking Tables. Usually It's The Drummers Who Get The Fun-loving Ladies And The Singers Who Get The Nutcases.

A Lot Of The Records You Buy, There's Nothing You Can Hold In Your Hand, It's All 1′s And 0′s, This Digital Cloud Floating In The Ether, But With Analog Albums, You Can Hold It In Your Hand.

I Think Maybe What Happened Was The Convenience Of Technology Overshadowed The Experience Of Holding An Album In Your Hands, And Sitting On Your Bedroom Floor, And Staring At A Picture Of John Lennon Or Gene Simmons Or Johnny Rotten. That Tangible Experience Can Sometimes Become An Even More Emotional Experience, Because It's Really Happening.

And Later, If I Ever Felt That I Was Getting Swept Away By The Craziness Of Being In A Band, Well, I'd Go Back To Virginia.

We Only Do What Feels Right. If Something Feels Forced Or Contrived, Then We Pull Back. We Remain The Foo Fighters.

Who's To Say What's A Good Voice And Not A Good Voice?

Be Someone's Light When They Are Hopeless.

Nickelback Walks Into A Bar...there's No Punchline Because Ruining Music Isn't Funny.

Singing Into A Microphone And Learning To Play An Instrument And Learning To Do Your Craft, That's The Most Important Thing For People To Do. It's Not About Being Perfect, It's Not About Sounding Absolutely Correct, It's Not About What Goes On In A Computer. It's About What Goes On In Here [your Heart] And What Goes On In Here [your Head].

I Never Needed Much, And I Never Thought I'd Get More Than What I Had. A Trip To Burger King Was The Biggest Thing In The World To Me. Heaven.

From One Generation To The Next, The Beatles Will Remain The Most Important Rock Band Of All Time.

A Place Like Sound City, Which Was Just A Big, Beautiful Room Where You Would Hit Record And Capture The Sound Of The Performer - A Place Like That Isn't Necessarily In Demand Anymore.

It's Funny; Recently I've Started To Notice People's Impersonations Of Me, And It's Basically Like A Hyperactive Child.

I Like The Rock Documentaries That Make It Seem Real. Some Rock Documentaries Are Meant To Make The Bands Look Larger Than Life.

When You're Young, You're Not Afraid Of What Comes Next. You're Excited By It.

Usually, When You Go In To Make A Record, You Have 30 Songs, And You Record 30 Of Them, And 12 Of Them Make It To The Record.

I Love Being A Drummer But I Love Being A Musician In General And I Love The Foo Fighters.

I'm So Not Macho. It's Crazy. My Man Cave Is So Not A Man Cave.

Usually, When Nirvana Made Music, There Wasn't A Lot Of Conversation. We Wanted Everything To Be Surreal. We Didn't Want To Have Some Contrived Composition.

I Think The Producers Or Whoever's Doing The Show Are Tripping So Hard. They Must Be On Acid. They Live In This, Like, Weird Grass Mound And There's This 'sun' In The Sky With This Little Baby's Face That's Just, Like, Bleaaargh-aarghagh. It's Just So Totally Insane. It's Such An Acid Thing, Man. For Kids!

I Was At A New Year's Eve Party, And Someone Asked Me How Was My Year, And I Said, 'i Honestly Think 2011 Was The Best Year Of My Entire Life,' And I Actually Meant It.

When You Have Kids, You See Life Through Different Eyes. You Feel Love More Deeply And Are Maybe A Little More Compassionate. It's Inevitable That That Would Make Its Way Into Your Songwriting.

There's A Big Difference Between Falling In Love With Someone And Falling In Love With Someone And Getting Married. Usually, After You Get Married, You Fall In Love With The Person Even More.

Falling In Love

How Come Drummers Leave Their Drumsticks On The Dashboard Of Their Car? So They Can Park In The Handicapped Spaces.

Wow, I Get To Wake Up Again? Ok. You Have To Make Good With What You've Got.

What We Feel Most Comfortable Doing Is Playing Loud, Screaming Rock Songs.

I Think My Biggest Musical Hero Growing Up Was Probably Ian Mackaye He Set A Great Example For All Of Us Local Musicians. Still To This Day I See Him As The Best Example Of A Right-on Musician.

I'm Happy That I Have My Family, And I'm Happy That I Had Virginia, Where I Grew Up, To Retreat To Any Time I Felt Overwhelmed. Whenever There Were Times When I Felt Like The Rug Was Being Pulled Out From Under Me And I Was Floating In This Crazy Space, I Would Stop And Go Back To That Neighborhood And Realize Nothing's Changed, Really.

Being In Nirvana Was Amazing An Experience That Will Never Happen Again For Me. And I Look On Them As Some Of The Best And Worst Times Of My Life.

Time Of My Life

Develop That Individuality By Working As Hard As You Can At What You Love.

You Can Make Yourself The Greatest Singer In The World Or The Best Drummer In The World With The Aid Of Technology.

Rock Stars Are Like Sports Stars: If You Snap Your Ankle, You're Done.

When It Comes To Making An Album I Take That Very Seriously. I Am Meticulous, Overworked. That's My Time To Put Everything Under The Microscope.

I Mean, I Never Liked Being Told What To Do. It's One Of The Reasons I Dropped Out Of School.

I'm Not Allergic To Fashion. I'm Just One Of Those People Who When They Put On A Suit Look Like They're Going To A Funeral Or To Court.

What I Really Miss These Days In Music - Is The Music. I Prefer To Listen To Melodies And Songs, Not Just Sounds.

The Word ‘grunge’ Became A Household Term, And Fashion Runways Were Filled With Flannel Shirts And Long Underwear. Oh, How We Laughed… Every Now And Then When I’m Feeling A Little Nostalgic, I Put On My ‘grunge Tuxedo’ - Flannel Shirt, Long Shorts With Long Underwear Underneath Them, And A Pair Of Doc Martens - And Dance Around The House To Tad Records.

A Lot Of People Are Promoting Records That Are Just Throw-it-agains T-the-wall-see- If-it-sticks Meaningless Bullshit. Everybody Has The Responsibility To Do The Right Thing And Promote Artists That Mean Something.

Through Kurt I Saw The Beauty Of Minimalism And The Importance Of Music That's Stripped Down.

I Hate The Solo Artist Aspect Of Rock-'n'-roll. I Don't Have Enough Personality Or Charisma To Be A Solo Star.

My Songwriting Is Like Extending A Hand To The Listener.

When I Listen To Music These Days, And I Hear Pro Tools And Drums That Sound Like A Machine - It Kinda Sucks The Life Out Of Music.

We Just Do What We Always Do. We Play Shows And Go Home And Rest And Then Play More Shows.

When I Was A Teenager, Working Towards Dropping Out Of High School To Starting To Tour With Bands, I'd Drive Around In My Vw Bug Every Morning Before School, Very Stoned Listening Over And Over To Zeppelin. This Song Got To Me Because It Just Seemed Mystical. There Is Something About Those Celtic Tunings That Almost Sounds Eastern. Somehow It Would Sweep Me Up Into My Own Little Trance-like State, Like Sting With Those Shamans In The Amazon. But All I Had Was A Bong And A Led Zeppelin Cassette.

I Had Long Hair Since I Was 17 Years Old. It Was Time For Me To Let Go. I Hated Being The Guy At The Wedding In A Suit With A Ponytail.

I Have Crazy Claustrophobic Dreams, Weird Elevator Dreams Where The Elevator Closes In And All Of A Sudden I Am Lying Down - Oh My God, It's A Casket. Just Freaky Stuff Like That.

To Me The Most Important Thing Is Getting Into A Studio And Making An Album That Is 12 Or 14 Amazing Songs, Getting Up Onstage, And Making People Happy By Livening The Rock.

Chicago Gave Me More Music Than Any Other City In America.

Cbgb Was A Wild Place, ... The First Time I Ever Played There Was In 1987, I Think, With My Hardcore Band, Scream. And I Remember The Craziest [thing] About That Club Was You Could Be In Front Of The Stage And It Could Be Louder Than Any Show You've Ever Been To In Your Life. But If You Were Towards The Back Of The Club At The Bar, You Could Sit And Have A Conversation With Someone. It Was The Weirdest Thing To Me.

I'm Obsessed With Led Zeppelin And Have Been Since I Was A Teenager

Different Boards Do Different Things To The Sound That's Coming Through Them. An Old Neve Desk Does Embellish It In A Way That Makes It Sound Sort Of Bigger Or Warmer. It Doesn't Change The Performance But It Does Enhance The Way That It Sounds.

When You're Recording To Analog Tape, It Captures Performance And You Can't Necessarily Manipulate That In Different Ways. It Is What It Is.

Everybody Now Thinks That Nashville Is The Coolest City In America.

Being In Nirvana Was Amazing An Experience That Will Never Happen Again For Me. And I Look On Them As Some Of The Best And Worst Times Of My Life. But We're In This Band, The Foo Fighters, Making Music For The Love Of Music. We All Came From Bands That Had Disbanded, And We Were Drawn To Each Other Because We Missed Playing - We Missed Getting In The Van, Loading Our Equipment, And Watching It Break Down In The Middle Of A Show. And That Feeling Hasn't Gone Away. There's Nothing I'd Rather Do Than Make Music. It's The Love Of My Life.

Love Of My Life

The Late '60s And The '70s, A Lot Of This Really Beautiful Equipment Was Being Made And Installed Into Studios Around The World And The Neve Boards Were Considered Like The Cadillacs Of Recording Consoles. They're These Really Big, Behemoth-looking Recording Desks; They Kind Of Look Like They're From The Enterprise In Star Trek Or Something Like That. They're Like A Grayish Color, Sort Of Like An Old Army Tank With Lots Of Knobs, And To Any Studio Geek Or Gear Enthusiast It's Like The Coolest Toy In The World.

There's Nothing I'd Rather Do Than Make Music. It's The Love Of My Life.

Love Of My Life

No One Has Any Faith In The Tape Anymore - Everyone Just Relies On Computers And Considers The Hardrive To Be The Safest Option, And I Don't. I Think An Analog Tape Is Something You Can Hold.

I Think Actually Singing The Words Is More Therapeutic Than Just Sitting Down To Write Them, Because Then You Are Letting It Out, And It's Coming From Your Gut.

I Always Loved Writing Songs - Writing For Myself And Demo-ing Songs, Really With No Intention Of Ever Letting Anyone Else Hear Them.

It's Funny, There Aren't Too Many Musicians That Also Moonlight As Studio Engineers. There's A Few - The Really Brilliant Ones.

Joining A Band Without Ever Having Really Met The People Before, You Just Want To Be Musically Powerful.

If You Play A Nickleback Song Backwards You'll Hear Messages From The Devil. Even Worse, If You Play It Forwards You'll Hear Nickleback.

There Are Times When I Feel Like I'm A Traveling Minister. I'm Trying To Go Out And Get Kids To Pick-up Yard Sale Instruments And Change The World.

My Whole Life, I Have Listened To People Like Neil Young, Or Crosby, Stills & Nash, And Artists That Have Made A Career Out Of The Mellow, Folky, Acoustic Dynamic.

Your Personal History Is A Part Of What Happens With Your Hands And Your Head As You Play Music.

Personal History

There's Something About Pulling Out A Real Tape From A Shelf And Looking At It And Knowing That 'everlong' Is On It, Or 'best Of You' Is On It, And It's Really Special.

When Digital Technology Started Becoming The Norm, You've Got 50, 60, 70 Years Of Recordings On Tapes That Are Just Deteriorating. Like, A Two-inch Reel Of Recording Tape Won't Last Forever. It Dissolves. It Will Disappear.

With This Record [the Colour And The Shape], I Started Taking The Lyrics More Seriously. This Is A Very Personal Album.

Because You Have Things Like 'american Idol' And You've Got Radio Stations That Play Music Made Entirely By Computers, It's Easy To Forget There Are Bands With Actual People Playing Actual Instruments That Rock.

There's Poetry In Being The Band That Can Sell Out Wembley But Also Makes A Record In A Garage. I Don't Like Doing What People Expect Me To Do.

The Thing That Will Never Go Away Is That Connection You Make With A Band Or A Song Where You're Moved By The Fact That It's Real People Making Music. You Make That Human Connection With A Song Like 'let It Be' Or 'long And Winding Road' Or A Song Like 'bohemian Rhapsody' Or 'roxanne,' Any Of Those Songs. They Sound Like People Making Music.

When There's So Much Left To Do, Why Spend Your Time Focusing On Things You've Already Done, Counting Trophies Or Telling Stories About The Good Old Days?

My First Instrument Was Actually The Trombone, But That Didn't Last Long. Soon I Was Playing Guitar In Bands From The Time I Was 11 Or 12.

Nothing's Going To Keep Me From Making Music. If I Were In The Want-ads In The Back Of The Paper Or Playing To Six People At A Coffee Shop, I'd Still Love To Make Music.

When I Joined Nirvana, I Was The Fifth Or Sixth Drummer - I Don't Know If They'd Ever Had A Drummer They Were Totally Happy With. And They Were Strangers. There Was Never Much Of A Deeper Connection Outside Of The Music.

I Don't Think Of Kurt As 'kurt Cobain From Nirvana'. I Think Of Him As 'kurt'. It's Something That Comes Back All The Time. Almost Every Day.

When I Sit Down To Interview People, I Don't Hold Questions And I Don't Know The Answers. They're More Like Conversations That Become Lessons.

I Get Confused Between The Rock And Roll Thing And My Movie Star Thing... We're F - -ing Movie Stars.

Sharing Music Is Not A Crime. It Shouldn't Be. There Should Be A Deeper Meaning To Making Music Than Just Selling Downloads.

I'm Not Into Albums That Are Meant To Sound Perfect.

I Can Understand How Some People Might Resent Me For Having The Audacity To Continue Playing Music, But It'd Take A Lot More Than That To Stop Me From Doing It. I Started Foo Fighters Because I Didn't Want To Retreat.

Ramones Or Ac/dc Are Two Bands That Have Managed To Keep Their Signature Sound And Their Signature Formula For Years And Years And Album After Album After Album, Without It Seeming Like A Dead-end Street.

At School Where You A Dunce Or A Teacher's Pet? All Of The Above. I Was Stupid So They Thought I Was Cute.

I've Always Been A Fan Of Melody And Emotional Melancholy, Whether It Was Rites Of Spring Or Tears For Fears Or Neil Young. If I Hear A Song That Has A Sweet Melody, I'm A Sucker For It, Whether It's Linkin Park Or Little Richard.

It’s Every Band’s Right, You Shouldn’t Have To Do F___ing Glee. And Then The Guy Who Created Glee Is So Offended That We’re Not, Like, Begging To Be On His F___ing Show… F___ That Guy For Thinking Anybody And Everybody Should Want To Do Glee.

All I Really Had Was A Suitcase And My Drums. So I Took Them Up To Seattle And Hoped It Would Work.

The Most Important Thing Is That You Honor That Musical Integrity, Whether You Make Music That Sounds Like Abba Or You Make Music That Sounds Like Void.

Mom, Thanks For Letting Me Drop Out Of High School. Haha!

When You're Thirteen And Listening To Punk, The Aggressive Nature Of Music Can Sway You To The Dark Side.

I Love Black Sabbath. They Made An Amazing Contribution To Music Today. Almost Every Band That Made It Big In The Nineties Owed A Debt To Them.

Most Of Our Songs Were Written On Acoustic Guitar Before They Made It To The Practice Stage.

It's A Weird Thing When You Make Records. You Try To Hear It Before You Make It, So You Walk Into The Studio With This Idea Of What You Expect To Happen, And That Usually Changes. That Usually Turns Into Something Else, And That's A Good Thing. If Everything Was As You Imagined It To Be, It Just Wouldn't Be As Much Fun.

I Was Ready To Quit Music. It Felt To Me Like Music Equalled Death.

When You're Recording To Tape, You Usually Just Settle For What You Have. There's Not A Lot Of Options To Manipulate The Performance.

From The Time That 'nevermind' Came Out In September Of 1991 To The Time That Nirvana Was Over, It Was Really Just A Few Years, And A Lot Happened In Those Few Years.

I'm Big On Taking The Lady Out To Dinner. We Have Some Candlelight Romance Every Now And Then. And Our Whole Family Is Within A 6-mile Radius. It's Disgustingly Domestic. I'm Big On Costco.

'some Kind Of Monster' Is Such A Nightmare For Any Musician To Watch Because You're Watching A Band Be Honest To Each Other. Not A Good Idea, Man!

When You're Sequencing A Record, You Want The Listener To Stick With It From Beginning To End, And In Order To Do That, You Really Have To Map Out The Journey From The First Song To The Last.

I'm Kind Of Claustrophobic... It's Not Even Like Enclosed Spaces. It's Like I Hate Being Stuck In One Band, You Know? Just Being Stuck Is The Biggest Drag, For Fear That, You Know, Just That You Can't Get Out.

In This Day And Age, When You Can Use A Machine Or Computer To Simulate Or Emulate What People Can Do Together, It Still Can't Replace The Magic Of Four People In A Room Playing.

I Had Never Been In Charge Of Anything. I'd Always Worked For Someone. I Worked For A Furniture Warehouse. I Did Masonry. I Always Had A Boss Yelling At Me. So I'd Never Been In Charge Of An Organization.

If There's One Thing I'm Good At, It's Gathering People Together To Do Something Fun.

I Love Everything About My Job, Except Being Away From The Kids.

When Nirvana Became Popular, You Could Very Easily Slip And Get Lost During That Storm. I Fortunately Had Really Heavy Anchors - Old Friends, Family.

Going Out And Playing Music - That's What I Do. I Don't Do Much Else.

There's Always Gonna Be Rock N' Roll Bands, There's Always Gonna Be Kids That Love Rock N' Roll Records, And There Will Always Be Rock N' Roll.

A Musician Should Only Sound Like What They Do, And No Two Musicians Sound The Same. It's An Individual-feel Thing, You Know?

At 13 Years Old, I Realized I Could Start My Own Band. I Could Write My Own Song, I Could Record My Own Record. I Could Start My Own Label. I Could Release My Own Record. I Could Book My Own Shows. I Could Write And Publish My Own Fanzine. I Could Silk-screen My Own T-shirt. I Could Do This All Myself.

The Nirvana Unplugged Album Was Something We'd Always Knew We Were Capable Of Doing, But It Was Just A Matter Of Doing It Right.

I Think That If You're Passionate About Something And You're Driven And You're Focused, Then You Can Pretty Much Do Anything That You Want To Do In Life.

It's Important To Me That People Feel Connected To The Band Through The Music, You Know? I Don't Want It To Be Wallpaper. I Don't Want It To Be Background Music. I Want It To Be Clear: This Is The Song. These Are The Words. If You Feel The Same Way As I Do, Sing It As Loud As You Can.

It Was Supposed To Be Gross, And Now It's Gorgeous.

I Love To Play Music. So Why Endanger That With Something Like Drugs?

Just The Other Day Someone Threw A Bra Duct-taped To A Tennis Ball. I Just Stood There, Playing Guitar, Thinking How This Was Totally Premeditated. Some Girl Sat Around Inventing A Way To Get Her Bra Onstage From 40 Rows Back.

I Think People Should Feel Encouraged To Be Themselves.

I Think Musicians Like Me Are Drawn To Those Older Desks, Not Just Because They're Legend And Lore But Also Because They Do Something Really Specific That Is Hard To Emulate Or Re-create Digitally.

I Listen To Boy Band Music Before I Have To Fire Someone.

Singing Into A Microphone And Learning To Play An Instrument And Learning To Do Your Craft, That's The Most Important Thing For People To Do.

One Of The Great Things About Taylor Hawkins Is His…shirtless Body, Really.

If It Weren't For The Beatles, I Would Not Be A Musician.

In A Way, As Much As We Love To Be A Big, Loud Rock Band, The Acoustic Album Was A Lot Easier To Make Than The Rock Records. I Think Because It Was Brand New Territory For The Band.

The Fact That I'm Virtually Deaf. Any Woman Who's Going To Date A Rock Musician Has To Be Prepared To Repeat Herself Every 10 Seconds. My Wife Asks Me Where We Should Go For Dinner And It Sounds Like The Schoolteacher From Charlie Brown.

You Know, Nirvana Used To Start Rehearsals With The Three Of Us Just Jamming. For, Like, A Half An Hour, Just Noise And Freeform Crap - And Usually It Was Crap. But Sometimes Things Would Come From It, And Some Songs On Nevermind Came From That, And 'heart Shaped Box' And Stuff On 'in Utero' Just Happened That Way.

We're In This Band, The Foo Fighters, Making Music For The Love Of Music. We All Came From Bands That Had Disbanded, And We Were Drawn To Each Other Because We Missed Playing.

It's Tough To Go To Sleep At Night, And I Wake Up After Five Hours Because I Feel Like I'm Wasting Time. I Just Sit Up At Night And Think About What I Can Do Next.

When I Listen To The Radio, I Just Hear So Much Music That Doesn't Even Sound Like People. The Vocals Are All Tuned, And The Drums Are All Fake.

It's Nice When People Are Happy To Hear That You're Still Alive, Rather Than Feeling Like "oh, Finally He's Dead?"

There's A Reason Why The Foo Fighters Don't Blast Out Nirvana Songs Every Night: Because We Have A Lot Of Respect For Them. You Know, That's Hallowed Ground. We Have To Be Careful. We Have To Tread Lightly. We Have Talked About It Before, But The Opportunity Hasn't Really Come Up, Or It Just Hasn't Felt Right.

After 10 Years, I Have Been Touring For 20, Playing Basically The Same Type Of Music, A Four-piece Or Three-piece Type Of Music With Loud, Crashing Drums And Screaming Vocals. It Gets To The Point Where You're Looking For Something New, And You Don't Want To Do Something That's Way Too Left-field, For Fear That It Might Seem Contrived.

You Will Only Be Great At Things You Love To Do Don't Pursue A Career In Something You Hate To Do.

Things You Love

My Mother Was A Public School Teacher In Virginia, And We Didn't Have Any Money, We Just Survived On Happiness, On Being A Happy Family.

If You Were To Sit Me Down In A Classroom, With Fluorescent Lights Humming And Some Woman Trying To Teach Me Italian, There's No Way. But Scream Goes To Italy, We Stay In A Squat, And The Only Way You Can Ask Someone Where To Take A Piss Is To Do It In Italian. So I Learned Italian.

There's A Band In A Garage Right Now Writing Songs For An Album That Will Do The Same Thing 'nevermind' Did Some 20 Years Ago. We Don't Know Who And Where, But It Will F***ing Happen Again. All It Takes Is For That Storm To Break.

I've Experienced Great Things, I've Experienced Great Tragedies. I've Done Almost Everything I Could Possibly Ever Imagine Doing, But I Just Know That There's More.

There Weren't A Lot Of Career Opportunities In Crazy-fast Hardcore Punk, So You Didn't Have A Lot Of Ambition, Just The Love And Passion To Play Music With Your Friends.

A Lot Of People From My Generation Of Music Are So Focused On Playing Things Correctly Or To Perfection That They're Stuck In That Safe Place.

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