After our first conversation, the band recorded one more achievement: inauguration artist. The connection to President Biden’s campaign began in the fall, when Grohl, his mother, Virginia, and Dr. Jill Biden sat down for a Zoom call on education. (Virginia was a public school teacher for 35 years.) In a confluence of circumstances and opportunities that turned out just right, as things usually do for the band, the Foos also played “ Saturday Night Live ” on the night Biden was named the winner of the election – a performance that took place with four days’ notice.
Before the inauguration event, there was really no doubt what they would play: the hopeful ‘Times Like These’, a song released nearly 20 years ago that has endured as an unyielding, optimistic anthem, where Grohl’s voice soars from soft to thunderous as it sounds for a fresh start. No matter what year the song is played, “Times Like These” always looks to the future, imbued with a spirit of innovation like Grohl himself. The reactions on social media were overwhelmingly positive; more than that, the band was greeted like old friends. Again, Foo Fighters made sense.
Most of all, Grohl has a strong belief in the unifying power of music – in creating a space where people can come together and scream to feel something. As he explained, everything the band has done and continues to do stems from this very clear purpose.
“I just want to stay alive and play music, especially after Nirvana,” he said. “When Kurt died, I really woke up the next day feeling so happy to be alive, and so heartbroken that someone could just disappear. I decided to take advantage of that for the rest of my life. “
During our conversations, he’d been self-conscious about what people expect from Foo Fighters, but he didn’t take that responsibility lightly. “For me, this band has always represented this continuation of life,” he added. “We’ve been 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 that other band, and I know where that can lead to. That’s not why I play music. It’s not why I started playing music, and it’s not why I still play music. “After all, he already played in the biggest band in the world. Why not do it again?