Dave Grohl has recalled the time he accidentally insulted David Bowie, saying that he “backpedalled so fast”.
The Foo Fighters frontman appeared as a guest on the latest episode of Nick Grimshaw and chef Angela Hartnett’s food and drink podcast, Dish.
At one point in the conversation, Grohl told the hosts about a particular awkward encounter with the late music icon. “God, there was once when I went into the studio with David Bowie,” he began.
“He was recording… this was 25 or 26 years ago. I had just seen him perform at a V Festival, or something like that. It was like Prodigy, David Bowie [on the line-up], and we happened to be on the bill.
“I was standing in the photo pit, and he was right there. He was right above me, singing. It was just like, otherworldly. I mean, it was like a religious experience. I was just like, ‘He’s an angel, this is amazing’.
“I told him when I met him in the studio, I said, ‘I just saw you, like, it was such a trip to see you in human form right there, right in front of me’. And he says, ‘What did you think? What did you feel?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, fuck!’.
Having been caught off guard by the legendary artist, Grohl responded with “the first thing to come out of my mouth, like an idiot”. He went on: “I said, ‘Well, the first thing I noticed was all of your imperfections’. I backpedalled so fast.
“I don’t know how I got out of that one. But I was like, ‘What did I just…’. I would never say that to anybody! Isn’t that horrible?”
As for Bowie’s talents in the studio, Grohl said: “I swear to God, he’s one take – his voice, it’s the voice. There’s no effect. It’s just exactly like this. You get chills. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the most reassuring, beautiful thing. This is real’.”
He had been recording a song with Bowie’s guitar player, Reeves Gabrel, for his 1999 solo album ‘Ulysses (Della Notte)’. Grohl and Bowie contributed to the song ‘Jewel’ on the project.
Grohl likely got his timings mixed up when he said the encounter took place “25 years ago”. He seems to be referring to Foo Fighters sharing the line-up with Bowie and The Prodigy at Phoenix Festival 1996 near Stratford-upon-Avon.
You can watch the frontman tell the story at the 32:52-minute mark in the video above.
In 2020, the Foos frontman recalled the time Bowie told him to “fuck off” shortly before he passed away, after rejecting an invite to collaborate again.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised the singer was joking, saying: “Hallelujah! I could finally breathe knowing that David Bowie did not actually wish me to ‘fuck off’ (or maybe he did, but in the nicest way possible, and even that was an honour).”
Grohl looked back on the first time he saw Bowie on stage at the time, as he did on Dish. Similarly, he shared: “So when he walked (levitated?) onstage that night, I felt as if I were being visited by another life form. The kind of ‘Starman’ I searched the night sky for as a child, waiting for his gilded spacecraft to descend upon my front yard and take me away from my banal suburban life.”
The musician once described Foo Fighters’ 2021 album ‘Medicine At Midnight’ as the band’s “David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ record”. Last year, Grohl covered Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’, and Bowie and Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’ at a surprise fundraiser show in LA.
Elsewhere on this week’s edition of Dish, Grohl revealed the boozy secret to keeping his vocal cords in a healthy condition. Meanwhile, he has made a rare political statement about the “deeply divided” America, saying: “There needs to be change.”
Foo Fighters release their 12th studio album, ‘Your Favorite Toy’, tomorrow (Friday April 24). It’ll feature the singles ‘Asking For A Friend’, ‘Caught In The Echo’ and ‘Of All People’, as well as the record’s title track.
The group played a run of intimate UK and Ireland gigs in Dublin, London and Manchester earlier this year. They’ll head out on their European ‘Take Cover’ tour this summer, including two shows at Liverpool’s Anfield (find any remaining tickets here). Their European festival dates feature stops at Mad Cool, Nos Alive, Pinkpop and more.
The Foos are set to play some North American dates over the summer and autumn, too, and have announced an Australia and New Zealand leg for 2026 and 2027.
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