Foo Fighters Celebrate Unity, Longevity in Rock Hall Speeches: ‘We Stick Together Like a Family’
In their first year of eligibility, Foo Fighters were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Cleveland museum’s Class of 2021.
The induction marks the second for frontman Dave Grohl, who was previously enshrined as a member of Nirvana in 2014.
Following news of Foo Fighters’ Rock Hall acceptance, Grohl spoke to IndieLand about receiving the honor a second time. “Nirvana’s induction was obviously bittersweet. But we were honored to be there, mostly to honor Kurt’s amazing music. This will be a different vibe, for sure,” Grohl said.
“I’m mostly happy for Pat [Smear] and Nate [Mendel] and Chris [Shiflett] and Taylor [Hawkins] and Rami [Jaffee]. I don’t think any of us ever imagined that this would happen.”
Read all six members’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech below:
Nate Mendel
It’s been a long way from [Washington venues] the Party Hall and the Hoedown Center, and the road from there to here was a long one and required the assistance of some people that I’d like to thank, briefly. Kate, my love, you’re my heart. [My children] Noah, Cormac, Oona, and Neave. On the business side, we’ve got a wrecking crew who’ve been with us from Day One or near to it: John Silva, Lee Johnson, Jill Berliner, Steve Martin, and Gus Brandt and Don Muller. Thank you very much. Jason Cobb, my original partner in musical crime, I miss you, man, and this is for you. Geoff Templeton and Claire Van Herck. And these weirdos [my bandmates]: The honor of my life has been playing music with them for the last 20-plus years.
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Taylor Hawkins
First, I’d like to thank Dave, ’cause none of this shit would have happened if it wasn’t for Dave. So thank you for letting me be in your band. I want to thank SAM [Silva Artist Management], John Silva and your badass team for making us a shit-ton of money. Thank you. My beautiful wife, Alison, my beautiful children … I love you guys so much. I want to thank Paul McCartney — that was insane. I want to say thank you to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for putting us in. I’d like to share this award with a couple bands that I’d like to see get in there someday too: I’d like to see George Michael in there one day. I’d like to see Jane’s Addiction in there; I’d really like that. I’d like to see Soundgarden in there; I’d really like that. So I’ll share this with you guys, but when you guys get it, you’ve got to give me back your bit. And thanks, everyone.
Rami Jaffee
I’d like to think five people. And you’re looking at them right now.
Chris Shiflett
I gotta thank my mom and my dad, my brother Mike, and my brother, Scott and my brother, Steve-O and my beautiful wife Cara, and our beautiful boys … . And I’ve got to say a big thanks to every single person I ever played in a band with at keg parties and dive bars from Lost Kittenz to No Use for a Name. Luke Tierney, Marko DeSantis, Bill Armstrong, Fat Mike, Tony Sly just to name a few. Because if it wasn’t for you guys, I’d have never been ready in August of 1999, when I got the chance to try out for my favorite band, the Foo Fighters. I remember when I got the gig, Dave asked me, he said, “Are you ready to pack your bags and say goodbye to your friends for a while?” I was like, “Fuck yeah, are you kidding? What kind of question is that?” And luckily, “for a while” turned into the last 22 years and this life that I never could have imagined. So my biggest thank you is to these guys, my bandmates. Thank you, brothers.
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Pat Smear
… I will thank the Germs, the Adolescents, 45 Grave, Twisted Roots, Vagina Dentata, Celebrity Skin, Nirvana. … And most of all, that motherfucker, Dave Grohl, and [to bandmates] you and you and you and you.
Dave Grohl
First of all, what’s up, Ohio? I was born here! I’m usually the guy who talks too much. I didn’t prepare any sort of speech because I figured I’d make it short because the last 25 years has been me, just like, “Blah, blah, blah … rock & roll … blah, blah, blah.” So I would like to say that the best thing about being here tonight is being surrounded by our family. And when I say that, I mean, if anybody knows how the Foo Fighters work, the people that we are with and we’ve worked with, it’s been 20, 25, 30 years and we stick together like a family. And I think that’s important because then you’re doing it together, not just because it’s work, but because you love each other. And so there’s a whole section over here of our extended family for the last 25, 30 years that I have to thank. But I also have to thank my beautiful family who without my beautiful family, I would not be as happy as I am, so I love you guys so much and thank you very much. And I have to thank these people, because we wouldn’t be here tonight if it weren’t for each one of these Foo Fighters. And, we did it.
