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I'm in Los Angeles
driving this fabulous little van,

and I'm here to meet a man
who's celebrating 25 years...

..of the band that he's founded.

He started as a drummer,

and then became a front man,
and then a guitarist.

He's one of the nicest men
in rock and roll,

and one of the most hardworking.

It's the one and only Dave Grohl.

# FOO FIGHTERS: Pretender

(CHEERING)

# Keep you in the dark

# You know they all pretend

# Keep you in the dark

# And so it all begins

Come on!

# Sit in your skeletons

# Sing as their bones
go marching in again #

He's going out on tour,

and he's going to call it
The Van Tour.

(SHOUTS) D'you wanna sing it?

# What if I say
that I'm like the others

# What if I say that I'm just
another one of your plays... #

He's acknowledging the early days
of life in vans, just like this one.

And as all the other guests
I've had on this show,

Sting, Nick Mason,
Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant,

all of them, all have
their happiest memories ever

in the first vans
that they had as a group,

as people living together,
you know, and being hungry together,

and, you know,
trying to get through life,

but just to play music.

And that's why
these are so nostalgic.

And I understand
what he's getting at.

Now, this van
is a 1968 Ford Econoline.

This was an absolute rocket
compared with our first van,

which was a Morris J2.

Our J2 had three on the tree -
three gears,

and the cable kept snapping,

so I had to get a pair of pliers

to change gear, which... (CHUCKLES)

And it was always breaking down,
but we didn't care.

As long as we could get to a gig
and play our music.

GEORDIE: # I can remember the day
when I had nothing to say

# Just look at me now I'm shouting

# Hey, hey, hey
# Oh, I feel good

And here's the very beast
that we first had.

But these vans were everything.

I mean, I know it's...
They were usually illegal.

Untaxed, uninsured,
cos we couldn't afford it.

Bald tyres on them.

We... We got away with murder
in them days.

And, er...
Well, we got caught now and again.

# Hey, hey, hey

# To be happy again
to have so many friends

# Just when I thought
it was the end #

It's a joy to drive this thing.
I've never driven one.

It's a lot of fun, and it's got

four big exhaust pipes
sticking out the side.

That's why you cannot hear us.

(ENGINE REVVING)
Listen to that. Woo-hoo!

Yeah!

I'm enjoying this.

I'm meeting Dave at Foo Fighters
headquarters, Studio 606.

(LAUGHS)

G'day! (LAUGHS)

Sure makes mine looks like shit.

It's good to see you, my bonny lad.

Good to see you!
It's been...it's been a while.

It has been a while.But this is
fantastic what you're doing.

Thanks for taking time because I know
you're a busy dude.My pleasure.

But I love
as soon as you said vans,

I just went, you know,
it's just, you know,

something from the early days,
they're the happiest memories.

Oh, yeah.You know what?
I've got something for you.

Hang on. This is a photograph
of our very first van.

Really?
Yeah. And it was a...

What do you think of that?

It's a Morris J2.

My very first band was '63, '64.
I was only 16.

Two of the fathers put the money
together to buy the van for us.

But, I mean, it was a dog.

You know, the early days, you know,

when you were gonna go and do a gig.

The moment you waited in the house,

and the group van
would drive around the corner

and everybody in the street saw it.

And you walked down,
"I'm a musician," you know.

(BOTH LAUGH)
In a laundry truck.

# You got me, you got me,
you got me, whoo! #

And what's this old dog here?
OK. So this is our van

from the very first
Foo Fighters tour.

When we started the band,
rather than just

kind of jump on a bus
and travel around,

we thought, "Well, we got do it
the way we've always done it.

Let's get a van." And so
we bought this thing new in 1995,

but I'd never been on tour
in a new van.

This thing had power windows.
It had air conditioning.

Ooh!I mean, it was...
it was like a limousine.

You know, it was unbelievable.

(ROCK SONG PLAYING)

(WOMAN LAUGHS)

We would kind of build like,

a plywood platform
in the back of the van.Yeah.

So we could put all the gear
under that.Yeah.

And then you could sleep
on top of it.

The platform was higher up here
so you'd have this one shelf.

If you were brave enough,
you could sleep up on top of this.

But you'd have to figure out
the configuration of how to pack it.

Oh! It was very...
It was really important.

There's only one way to do it.
It's like Tetris.

And so you had to put all these
things in a really specific way.

So you're loading out,
like, you pull at it super-fast.

(SINGING)

When I was 18 or 19 years old,
when I first started touring,

we didn't have any of this
fancy upholstery.

It was just like a metal-bottomed
submarine, you know?

We did this one tour of Canada once
where it was so cold

and there were 11 of us in this van

like sardines in our sleeping bags
and we were sleeping in the van.

The condensation
from our...from our breath

would hit the ceiling, freeze,

and you're trying to sleep

as these little drops of ice
are hitting you on the face.

Especially when it was mixed
with nicotine.Yeah, exactly!

Or maybe something else.

But, yeah.
I mean, when we got this van,

this was absolute luxury for us.

This will be in a museum one day.
I don't know. I'm not giving it up.

I gotta use it.
Yeah.Yeah.

What, are you gonna use it on
this latest tour that you're doing?

We're actually gonna do...

We're doing this tour where,
since it's our 25th anniversary,

we're going to play in the round
in the middle of the arena...Yeah.

..which we've only done once before.
One show before.

And, erm, when the lights go out...

..we're gonna drive in, in the van,
park it next to the stage,

jump on stage.

Play for two and a half hours.
Get back in the van and back it out.

Oh, what a...
(BOTH LAUGH)

Still smells of band.

You know what's so funny?
After our first tour, you know,

this becomes your home.

When you're in a club,
there's no backstage,

you hang out in here.

When there's nowhere to sleep,
you sleep in here.

You do everything in here becomes
like your little cocoon, your home.

And so there were shows
where after a show,

you'd walk offstage,
you're just soaking wet.

And you come in here, you change
clothes, you throw your...

T-shirt. Yeah...dirty T-shirt on the
floor. So I came home from this tour

and we unloaded all the gear
and this thing was out in front

of my house for a couple of weeks.

And I came out, opened it up.

God! It just smelled like a morgue.
It was disgusting.(LAUGHS)

And I looked and I saw this T-shirt
that I had thrown in there

like, three or four weeks before,
this wet T-shirt.

And it was on this plywood
platform thing.

And I pull up the T-shirt and
it's... It's just solid as a rock.

And I looked down
and there were mushrooms

growing under there.
Was there? (LAUGHS)

You know, but some of the smells
of vans, guys...(LAUGHS)

We were coming back from London
once in my first band, Geordie.

It was about 1972, and we had
a big old Ford Transit double wheel.

That meant you were making it.

Yeah.And our roadie at the front
let off a biblical fart.

I mean it was biblical.
We had... We were...

We had to pull over
at the side of the road.

And what made it extra funny
was the radio was on,

and just then, this song started.
Do you remember that song...

# There's something in the air #

(BOTH LAUGH)

# THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN:
Something In The Air

# Because there's something
in the air #

You know, the other great thing is
when you're that close to each other

in close proximity
for that amount of time, you know,

you either become best friends

or you become enemies
or you become both.

But when you're in this thing
driving for so long,

you can't wait to get out
and do a gig.

And because you've been like this
for hours and hours
or weeks or months,

when you get onstage,
it makes you tighter.

# FOO FIGHTERS: All My Life

# I love it but I hate the taste

# Weight keepin' me down

# Don't let it go to waste

# I love it but I hate the taste

# Weight keepin' me down #

Look at this baby, ho-ho!

We're playing musical vans here.

That's beautiful, my son.
Isn't that great?

And it's original as well.
This looks like a family bus.

Exactly, yeah.

I think it was the BMW thing
started it, didn't it?

Remember the big W, little buses,
you know, from Germany,

the servicemen bringing them over
and the manufacturers here

suddenly went, "Hang on a minute.
They're on to something."

ANNOUNCER: 'The work-loving,
fun-loving, Econoline station bus.

It's priced less than most
compact station wagons.

Yet has twice the room of
the biggest full-sized wagon,

and it converts to
a load carrier in a jiffy!

They're at your Ford dealers now.
The trucks with a new shape,

a new design, and the new name:
Ford Econoline.

For the most part,
it is as it was.Yeah.

There was one day when I was driving
my daughters to school

right after I got it on the road

and they were sitting in the back
and they said, er...

They said,
"Dad, everyone's looking at us."

And I said, "Yeah, I know."
And my daughter Harper said,

"I think it's because
all new cars look the same.

And this one looks different.
It has style."

And I said, "That's it."
Well spotted, girl.

And she's gonna go far.
Yeah, that's right!

Getting on in the world.
In this van!

She's gonna want this
when she grows up. But, yeah.

I drive this van almost every day.

Yeah.
Erm...

I take the kids to school in it.
I mean, to me,

if you've got an old van, if you've
got any van, you should use it.

Yeah.I love this thing so much.
Don't you! Look at him.

He loves it.
My baby.

But the other great thing about
a van like this or a van like that

is the experience of driving it.

I mean, you're really driving it.
Yeah.

When I'm taking this thing around
turns, it's like steering a boat.

No, I'm just saying, with the vans,

I remember my first band,
that I saw was The Pretty Things.

Oh, wow.You know,
# Don't bring me down #

But the greatest moment was when

we'd go to the back to see
if we could catch sight of them

and they got into the van,
and then drove off in it.

"Oh, I wanna do that."
Exactly. No, that same thing.

And that was always my favourite
thing when I was young,

and we'd be at a club
waiting for our favourite band.

You know, we'd never seen
them before.

We've never seen them in person.
And you're outside of the club

having a cigarette,
waiting for them to show up.

And then you see their van pull up.
Yeah.

The door opens... The lead singer
walks out of the van...

And then the roadie
opens up the back

and you can see all the gear
and you just go... (SCREAMS)

And then they blow your mind.

And then you see them sweaty,
and loading stuff back in the van,

and then they disappear.
Another destination.

They're not gonna stay here
like you have to.

# Weight keepin' me down

# Done, done
and I'm on to the next one

# Done, done
and I'm on to the next #

# FOO FIGHTERS: These Days

# I bet your heart'll be broken

# I bet your pride'll be stolen

# I'll bet, I'll bet,
I'll bet, I'll bet

# One of these days

# One of these days #

This is our studio that we built
maybe 15, 18 years ago.Oh.

We kind of wanted to have
our own little headquarters,

a place where we
could rehearse, record,

have all of our equipment
and a lot of memorabilia.

These things were given to us
by the Australian record company.

You see, they got...
they got my smile right.Yeah.

Everything else, a little off.
(LAUGHS)

You know, over the years, we've
just gathered a bunch of stuff.

But the great thing
about recording here is,

you know, if you need,
if you need a specific sound

you could just kind of come back
and pull from whatever we have.

Wow. Look at this.

But also, you know, we have
other bands record here as well.

So when younger bands come in

and they don't really have
enough equipment,

they can just pull from the things
that we have here.

But pretty much
almost everything in here,

we've used on one track
on an album at some point.

Do you know, see this one here,

this reminds me
so much of the very first, er...

..PA system I had.
Oh, wow.

It was a Selma 10 Watt.
Oh, really?

And how was that?
It cost £21

and seven shillings and six pence.

My dad had to sign
the agreement for the hire purchase

and I had a crystal mic
with four foot of wire on it.

So you couldn't really move anywhere.
You had to stand in place.

# You're a no-good woman
you took my money

# You said it was just too bad

# You don't wash my clothes
or call me honey

# But I don't feel so sad

# So tell me, maybe that's true

# Still I say to you #

We like to collect artwork
that fans do for us.

Oh, yeah.
These are nice ones. Argentineans!

Aren't they just fantastic?
Oh, my God, they're the craziest!

They're the craziest of all.
You said once, to watch them...

Oh, bouncing?..bouncing in unison,
the whole stadium.Nothing like it.

(CROWD CHEERING AND SCREAMING)

(SCREAMS)

Look at the tackle in here.

And then those guitars, too.
Oh, man, there's so many guitars.

It's ridiculous.

When we built the studio,
we finally had a place

to put all of these things
which were just in boxes, you know?

Cos I mean, we've never really had
any of these in our houses.

Our wives
would never let us do that.

And so we finally had a place
we thought like, "OK."

Then it was nice because
when we would make a record here

you walk up and down this hall

and you realise,
"OK, we gotta make it good."Yeah.

Cos if we've done...All of this.
If we've done all of this and this,

we gotta make it good.

# It's times like these

# You learn to love again

# It's times like these

# Time and time again #

That's... (CHUCKLING)
That's an Anton Corbijn picture

from this MTV advert I did.

Erm, he put me in drag.

That's not drag.
That's Scottish, laddie.

Is that what that is?It's a kilt.
Ah, that's right.

That's from our first tour
in Vancouver.Yes, yes.

Erm, and this is
a Grammys performance

where we did a tribute
to Joe Strummer.

Yeah.
And, so there's Elvis Costello

and Springsteen,
Little Stevie and me.

We did London Calling.
That was great.

And then, oh, here's an old Nirvana
picture from one of our last tours.

And we were young. I mean, this is,
I think I was 24 maybe.

It was...
(LAUGHING)

Anything. I can do anything.
And then...

(EXCLAIMS) Would you look at this?

Home sweet home. The Neve.
The Neve.

This is a one of a kind.
It was custom-built

for a studio just down the street
called Sound City.

The head engineer designed
this board with Rupert Neve

and they installed it in
the early '70s and it sat there...

Uh-huh.
..until about ten years ago.

The studio started going under
because most studios, you know,

have kind of swapped over to digital
stuff, right?Yeah. That's right.

So, something like this old Neve
or the old Studer tape machines,

most people don't really need them
any more cos you could do everything
on a computer now.

So they were closing. And I have
a personal connection to this board

because this is the board
that Nirvana recorded

our Nevermind album on.
Yeah.

So this is really the first board

that was like a real quality piece
of equipment, you know.

# NIRVANA: Smells Like Teen Spirit

# With the lights out
it's less dangerous

# Here we are now, entertain us!

# I feel stupid and contagious

# Here we are now, entertain us #

Since it was installed in Sound
City, everyone from Fleetwood Mac

to Tom Petty to Ronnie James Dio

to Metallica to Slayer,

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of bands have made albums on this.

Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash.

# Too cold to start a fire
I'm burning diesel

# Burning dinosaur bones #

Like, everyone has
made an album on this board.

And so when they were closing,
I said, "What are you gonna
do with that board?"

Cos I thought it was just
gonna go to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.

And the woman that ran
the studio, she said,

"I'd sell my grandmother
before I sell that board."Right.

Then as they were going under,
they said, "Are you really serious
about buying it?"

I said, "Absolutely."
Cos I'd hate for it to go somewhere
where it wouldn't be used.Oh, yeah.

You know? Because it has
a very specific sound.

And because
it's one of a kind, erm...

It should be used
to make music, you know.

So we pulled it out of there.
It was like the Titanic.

You know? Trying to pick that up
and move it. Drove it over here.

It hadn't moved
since the early '70s.

Put it on the floor, plugged it in.
(CLAPS) Straight up.

# Give me some rope I'm coming loose

# I'm hanging on you

# Give me some rope I'm coming loose

# I'm pulling for you now

# Give me some rope
I'm coming, out of my head

# Into the clear when you

# Go, I

# Go

# Loose

The great thing about recording
in a simple analogue process,

it's just the musician
and a microphone,

this board and that tape, and
there's really nothing in between.
Yeah.

So it really comes down to your
hands and your heart, you know.

So when you strap on an instrument,
the way you play it

is what you're gonna hear
when it hits the tape.

And that human element,

I mean, it's one of the things
everyone loves about AC-DC.

When it's the combination of people

in that configuration,
it sounds like that.

If you remove one of those things,
it sounds different.

It's the human element, I think,
that makes music really exciting

because it inspires people
to do it themselves.Yeah.

So when you see someone onstage
singing their heart out,

it has that energy and that passion,
then you look at it and you think,

"That's a human being doing this
thing. Maybe I could do that, too."

Yeah.And then you've got
the next generation of bands.

# Give me some rope
I'm coming, out of my head,

# Into the clear when you, go

# I, go

# Noose #

I found out early on in life
I hated to be in there singing.

I hated to be in the booth.
And so I said to them,

cos you see, you know, I'm not lying.
I said, "Can I stand in here?"

And he went, "Well...
Yeah. I think you can.

But, you know, you cannot have
any effects in or nothing."

But the good thing is, when you do
that, what you hear is what you get.

And you really have to try hard
cos there's other people in there,

and if they're just sitting,
going like this,

but if you can get them going...

Yeah. And so you're performing.
Yeah.

In a funny kind of way
you're performing in here.

And you're knocking shit over,
cos I get all excited, you know.

It doesn't matter because at the end
of the day you've performed.Yes.

And in there you're just singing,
and then you'd look inside

and somebody's reading the paper
or getting a pizza delivered.

And you're going, "What the
fuck's going on out there?" (LAUGHS)

When we've built this studio,
I thought, "OK, well,

let's have another clubhouse."

Cos it's kind of cool when it's you
and your friends, you know?

You don't feel like
it's some professional laboratory.

You're just fucking making music,
you know?

Shut off the world
and just do this. So...

The contractor said, "OK.

Like, what colours, what kind
of materials do you want to use?"

And that day, Taylor, our drummer,
had brought us...

..as a gift, this ABBA book.

I turned to this one page

of ABBA's recording studio...
(WHISPERING) Oh, shit, where is it?

And I said, "I want it to look
like that."Ah, wow. It is.

But we had to do it quick because
we were about to make a record.

So there were times where I was out
there doing a vocal on a song,

I'm screaming my heart out and
someone walks by with a two-by-four.

Because we're
still building the place.

# Give me some rope
I'm coming, out of my head

# Into the clear when you, go

# I, go #

# MCCARTNEY, GROHL, NOVOSELIC
AND SMEAR: Cut Me Some Slack

Dave and I sat down
to talk about the early days,

and when his love
of rock music started.

I had never been
to a rock concert.Yeah.

And we used to vacation up
in Chicago...All right.

..er, during the summers

because my mother's best friend
from high school

lived in this beautiful big house
that was right down the street
from Lake Michigan.

And there were four kids.
There was Tripp, Todd,

Troy and Tracey.

So, Tracey, you know, she was
kind of like the tomboy.Yeah.

So, one year we come up
to Chicago, we get to the house,

walk up the front steps,
Aunt Sherry meets us at the door

and she says, "Tracey, they're
here." Tracey comes down the stairs,

and she's a punk-rocker.
Oh. Great.

She's got like this leather jacket.

She's shaved her head and she's got,
like, bondage pants and boots.

And I'd only seen that on TV.
You know?

I thought it was
the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
She was like a superhero.

I think I was maybe 13 years old
and I knew nothing about punk rock.

And that night,
she was going to a gig

to see this local punk rock band
in Chicago.

They're called Naked Raygun.

Brilliant name.
So, we take the subway down there,

and, erm, get to the club.

And I'm surrounded
by punk rockers in a tiny stage.

And it smells like beer and it
smells like bleach and it's...

And there's only a few lights
on the stage,

and this band comes on
and just destroys.

# You're not one of them
You're pure

# You're something special

# Yeah, that's for sure

# You are my electric
Got a black jag for you

# And that's why I call you

# My sweet vanilla blue #

I mean, they only had
three or four chords,

and they were these three guys
in the band and the singer was
jumping in the audience,

and people were banging
into each other and dancing around.

And I was like, "That's what
I'm gonna do with the rest
of my life, right there."

# Lost control again today

# Lost control again today

# Lost control again today #

The thing that I loved
about it the most,

which still applies
to what we do today,

is that they were all
doing it themselves.

The band was loading into the gig
by themselves.
Yeah, that was the way it was.

The band was plugging in and tuning
their stuff by themselves.

They were making their records
by themselves. They were going

to the little studio
down the street,

spending their hard earned money
to make a recording,

and they'd send that
to the pressing plant and then
they get the pressings back.

And then they'd make the covers
themselves and stuff the sleeves,

and go to the record store and
say, "Could you sell our record?"

I thought that was so cool because
it was like, "I could do this, too."

Like, you know, I only know
four chords. I could mow lawns

until I get enough money to go down
to the studio and make a record.

So that was really
a huge inspiration to me.

Yeah, but you said
"The record store was my church."

Oh, yeah."The rock stars
were my sins."Yes.

"And the music were my hymns."
Yeah.

It would sound fabulous in Latin.

In a tattoo, like right here.

No, I mean, honestly,
music became my best friend.

I couldn't wait to get home
from school and play my records.

I couldn't wait to pick up
my instrument and learn a new riff.

I couldn't wait to get the sticks
and figure out one little trick.

And something happens with children

where it's kind of
in between the ages of

maybe ten and 13 years old

when you're discovering identity.

So you're no longer really,
like, so attached to your parents.

You're becoming independent.
So you get to decide who you are.

And if you have any sort
of musical inclination or ability

in that little window of time...
Aye.

..if you get the spark and the fire

to do it then...Uh-huh...then you
decide like, that's who I am.

Like, I'm a musician.

# Is someone getting the best,
the best, the best, the best of you?

# Is someone getting the best

# The best, the best,
the best of you? #

Where did you play
for the first time?Oh, man.

Well, I mean, one of the first shows
I remember playing

was with my neighbourhood band.

Someone at the school asked if
we would go play at a nursing home.

Oh... OK.

It's so weird.
(BOTH LAUGH)

You know, we were little boys.
We were 13, 14,

maybe 15 years old.

And we'd load all the equipment
into the nursing home,

and they wheel everybody
into the room.(CHUCKLING)

And...I just remember
that we played, er...

Time Is On My Side
by the Rolling Stones.Yeah.

I didn't realise the cruel irony
of that until much later.

But there's a bunch of 13-year-old
kids playing to some senior
citizens.

But it's the best way
to learn how to do it.

You know?
To get out there and do it.

# FOO FIGHTERS: Run

Dave has revisited
the nursing home gig

in the video
for the Foo Fighters song Run.

# Run for your life with me

# In another perfect life

# In another perfect light

# We run

# We run

# We run

Dressing up
and larking around in videos

is a bit of a trademark
for Dave and the Foo Fighters.

# The rats are on parade

# Another mad charade
What you gonna do?

# The hounds are on the chase

# Everything's erased
What you gonna do? #

You can't take yourself
too seriously.No. Well...

That's why I love 'em.
Because you're just sitting, going...

Yeah, I'm kidding.
We're gonna make a rock video.

I mean, like the You Shook
Me All Night Long video.

It's a great example.
Here you've got this...

..song that's just like,
"This, man. It's great."

And then you watch the video.
And you guys are having a good time.

You're taking the piss.

# AC-DC: You Shook Me All Night Long

# She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean

# She was the best damn woman
I had ever seen #

As a teenager, Dave played in

a variety of bands around
Washington, DC,

before joining
hard-core punk band Scream.

PETER STAHL: Scream. Got something
in my heart, something in my soul.

Trying to get it out,
there's something in my head.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

Some people like me that were
dreaming of being in a rock band,

but you jumped straight into
the dream and went off and did it.

At 17 you joined the Scream.
Yes.

And there you were,
a teenager in Amsterdam,

of all places,
walking around, going...

"Everything's legal here.
I mean, everything."Yeah.

You must have had a ball there.

When I was that age,
the fucking world was a mystery.

Yeah.Around every corner
there was something new

and I loved that.
But the most important thing to me

was always,
"I got to get to the gig."Yes.

It didn't matter how much I had
to drink or smoke.

"I got to get to the gig."
Yeah.But, you know, like,

when you get to Amsterdam
for the first time

and you walk into one
of those coffee shops

like, you're afraid to ask...
For a joint.A joint.

And, so I'm sitting with my friend
that I grew up with, you know,

and we're like, "You ask him."
I'm like, "No, you ask him."

Everybody else in the coffee shop is
just blazing weed everywhere.

And finally, one of us had
the nerve to say, like, "Erm...

Excuse me, sir, could we have
two joints, please?"

The guy looked at us like...
Fuck, yeah.

"This your first time
in the coffee shop?"

You know, in those days, we wouldn't
stay in hotels and things.

And we, for the most part,
wouldn't even play in clubs.

Most of the places
we played were squats.

So they were just buildings
that weren't being used

that were occupied
by these rockers or punk rockers

and they'd pirate the electricity.

You'd play the gig and all
these punk rockers would show up
and maybe you got $100.

Yeah.And you'd use that
for gas money to the next town.

And then the people
who lived in the squat,

they'd give you a bed, they'd maybe
make you a big bowl of pasta.

Uh-huh.That was it.
A simple exchange.

I'm gonna rock you tonight
and then afterwards you're gonna

give me some pasta
and then I'm off to Hamburg.

# SCREAM: Fool Like That

(VOCALISING)

In 1990,
Kurt Cobain saw Scream play

and he asked Dave to join
his band Nirvana as the new drummer.

# I'll take advantage while

# You hang me out to dry

# But I can't see you every night

# But I can't see you every night

# Free

# I do

# I do

# I do

# I do #

Grunge at that time,
it was like a sledgehammer

to the music industry.

Everything else is done.

And it's funny how it all comes
from one place.

Seattle, you know.
Seattle in some way was...

kind of disconnected
from the rest of the country.

You know, geographically speaking,
it's just kind of way up there.

Because of that isolation...
Yeah.

..they were just blissfully cut off
from a lot of popular culture,

cos nobody thought like,
"We're not gonna become
fucking rock stars."

Yeah."But I wanna play
rock and roll."Yeah.

So, get that old guitar
that you've got at the yard sale,

and we'll practise in that guy's
basement and play at that pub
down the street.

And when you're doing it from there,
and for these reasons,

is you get real rock and roll,
you know?

# I like it, I'm not gonna crack

# I miss you, I'm not gonna crack

# I love you, I'm not gonna crack

# I miss you, I'm not gonna crack

# I love you, I'm not gonna crack #

I think I was 22 years old when...

er, the Nevermind record came out,

and really, nobody had
real expectation

because at the time,
that type of music wasn't popular.

So when we started
the tour for that record,

we were in a van, you know,
and we had a trailer

and we're driving around
and we show up to a club,

and maybe it holds 90-100 people
and we play a show.

We have a great show. Then the
next night we play at another club.

That one holds
a couple of hundred people

and there's another hundred people
that can't get in.Yeah.

And then we play the next show.
Now there's 500 people there.

And there's another 300
that can't get in.

You just saw that
kind of building like that.

It blew up so quickly,
that right before Christmas,

the album had only been out
a couple of months.Right.

But we already had a gold record.

I remember the most important
thing to me is,

I called the record company
and said, "I need a gold record."

They said,
"They haven't made them yet."

And I said, "You've got to at
least make one cos I'm giving it
to my mom for Christmas."

And I remember giving my mom
the gold record for Christmas.

(MIMICS CRYING)

But I thought, like, "Oh, my God,
maybe I don't have to...

Maybe I don't have to work at
the furniture warehouse any more.

Maybe I don't have to go back to the
record store or the pizza place."

All the jobs I had before,
I thought, "Wow, I can...

Wait, I can survive just
making music?" Unbelievable.

# I'm so happy because today
I've found my friends

# They're in my head

# I'm so ugly, but that's OK,
cos so are you

This is one of the reasons
why we work so fucking hard,

it's cos I don't wanna work
as Shakey's Pizza again.

No.You know what I mean?
I think about that sometimes.

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah #

# NIRVANA: Come as You Are

# Come as you are, as you were

# As I want you to be

# As a friend, as a friend

# As an old enemy

# Take your time, hurry up

# Choice is yours, don't be late

# Take a rest as a friend #

In April 1994, Dave's roller coaster
ride with Nirvana

came to a sudden and shocking end

when lead singer Kurt Cobain
took his own life.

Kurt's passing,
must have shook you all to the core?

When Kurt died,
even just listening to music

would break my heart
because it reminded me of him.

You know, being in a band like
Nirvana was a dream come true to me.

So, to have that rug pulled out
from under you,

I just felt lost.

And I didn't know if I would ever

play music again
or play the drums again.

And I don't know if anyone's
ready for that to happen. Really.

It's hard, you know,
when the band...I know.

..blows up and then life changes.

Fortunately, any time I felt
overwhelmed with anything,

I'd go back to Virginia,
to the house where I grew up in.

Yeah.
And I'd ride motorcycles

and have barbecues with the people
I went to elementary school with.

All of my oldest friends
and all of that would go away.Yeah.

When Kurt passed away,
I remember waking up the next day

and thinking like,
"OK, I'm still here and he's not.

All right. So,
what am I gonna do today?"Yeah.

"You know, I'm not just gonna sit
on my ass. I can't do that."

Erm... and somebody sent me
this card that basically said,

"I'm sure you don't wanna play
music now, but someday you will.

And that's what will
save your life."

That card was really the beginning
of the Foo Fighters.

Because I thought,
"I don't know what I'm gonna do,

but I have to do something."

And so going in to record
the early songs

was more of a continuation
of life...

Yeah.
..than any kind of plan.

# This is a call to all
my past resignations #

The first Foo Fighters album was just
Dave playing all the instruments.

He then had to find a band to play
the songs live.

# It's been too long #

You put it so eloquently there
that you have to keep going,

or you will die inside.

I don't know what else I would do.
I mean, it's kind of a running joke

with everyone in my life.
Yeah.

Where after I've been on the road
for a year and a half,

I come home from tour and I say,
"I'm never doing that again."

Yeah."That's it. That's the last
time. I'm never doing this.

Never, never again.
I'm gonna take two years off."

And all of my friends look at me
they say, "Bullshit."Yeah.

There's no way,
"Am I gonna watch this?"

And after a month and a half,
I got a guitar in my lap

and I'm writing songs, I call
the guys, "OK, let's make a record."

You know, I do it every time,
you know.

# Is someone getting the best

# The best, the best
the best of you?

# Is someone getting the best,
the best, the best, the best of you?

# Has someone taken your faith?
It's real, the pain you feel

# You trust, you must confess

# Is someone getting
the best, the best,

# The best, the best of you? #

(VOCALISING)

Once you said
Nirvana in a small club,

you could feel the intensity
in the air.

And then, we had to go at arenas.

You said, "I felt like I was playing
in clothes that didn't fit me yet."

Remember that?

When Nirvana became popular,
it happened so quickly,

that it really was a quick jump
from a place the size of this room

to headlining a festival in Europe.

(VOCALISING)

That transition can be
really difficult.Yes.

Erm... With the Foo Fighters,
you know,

we've had this really slow 25-year

steps building to where we are now.

Had we gone straight
from a room this big,

to playing at Wembley Stadium,
I wouldn't know what to do.

No, it is a different art, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.

And to me, the interaction
and the connection to the audience

really is the most important thing.

# I

# I'm a one-way motorway

# I'm the one that drives away

# Then follows you back home #

When you sort of,
break down a lot of those walls

and the audience feels
like you're their friends.

I mean, like,
I grew up listening to you.

You know,
we can sit here having a talk,

but I've known you
for 40 fucking years.

When you guys break into
Back In Black

or Highway to Hell
or Have A Drink On Me,

things like that, everybody's
singing that song.Yeah, I know.

And it's one of those things
that you've got that chorus,

everybody's gonna sing it together

and they might be singing it for
100,000 different reasons.

When everybody sings
that song together,

that's something politicians
can't even do.Yeah.

# Well, I'm back in black

# Yes, I am

# Ooh, I'm back

# Hey, hey, hey, hey

# Hey, hey, hey

# Back in black

# Well, I'm back in black #

I'm gonna jump to your mom.

Your mom comes on the road
with you sometimes.

And she was the one that recognised
right from the start.

You know what? What better education
than going out in the world?

And she's written a book which I'm
gonna get my hands on some day:

From Cradle To Stage, which would
mean it could be embarrassing

cos moms have this nasty habit
of bringing out the baby pictures.

"This is our Dave when he was peeing
up against the wall

when he was four,"
and you go, "No, Mom!"

My mother is a huge
inspiration to me

because here you've got this woman
who's a public school teacher.

She's raising two kids on her own.

There are times where
the heat's turned off

because she couldn't pay the bill.

There were times where the lights
were turned off, the phone is off,

and there's times where
it's scrambled eggs for dinner

because there's not much else.

But I was happy.

Yeah.
I never felt poor.Yeah.

She was a public school teacher
for 35 years.

So, she had to deal with assholes
like me her entire life, right?

I say, like, "OK. I'm not
really good at this school thing."

Yeah.
And she says, "I know."

I said, "I've had a chance to go out
on tour with this band."

And she said, "You know what?
Go, just go do it."

So then when she retired, you know,
most people when they retire,

they go on one of those cruise ships
or they go with a group of people.

And I was like, "Fuck that,
I got a cruise ship."

Yeah.
"It's called a tour bus."

# FOO FIGHTERS: No Way Back

# Lately, I've been

# Living in my head

# The rest of me is dead
I'm dying for truth

# Make me believe

# No more left and right

# Come on, take my side
I'm fighting for you #

She instilled a few things in me,
in my life.

One of them is the love
of being a parent.Yeah.

Cos I had such a great mother.
She made my childhood so much fun.

Also, her work ethic.
Not only was she a school teacher,

but she worked at Bloomingdales,
a department store, twice a week.

And then on the weekends she worked
at this carpet cleaning place.

So, she worked her fingers
to the bone, man.

Now, when I'm on stage
at the Reading Festival,

and I'm getting paid more than she
ever made in her entire career,

she's on the side of the stage,
I'm looking at her like,

"How could I not feel like
the luckiest person in the world?"

So she's got a fucking house
with a swimming pool.

I'm like Elvis with that shit.
Yeah, right.

You know, I actually did the thing
where I bought my mom a new car,

put a bow on it and on Christmas
morning, open up the curtains.

And I went like that
because, you know,

it's a fucking dream come true.
Buying your parents a house.

You're right. You just think,
"I made more money

in a couple of gigs
than my dad made all this life..."

Yeah.
"..working in a foundry."

See, I never take
that shit for granted.

I wrote the foreword to my
mother's book and one of
the things I realised

is that, I think
DNA has a lot to do with it.

If it weren't for these women,
there would be no music.I know.

It's funny because, you know, my
mother interviewed Dr Dre's mother,

and Warren Haynes' mother
and Michael Stipe's mother

and Pharrell's mother and all of
these really incredibly brilliant,

successful musicians' mothers.

But all the stories
are basically the same.Yeah.

Where you've got this kid
who falls in love with music

and you're trying to keep
their nose in the books at school

and trying to keep them
on the field for sport or whatever.

But there's just nothing you can do.

And so, all you have to do is give
them love and get out of the way.

# There goes my hero

# Watch him as he goes

# There goes my hero

# He's ordinary

# There goes my hero

# Watch him as he goes

# There goes my hero

# He's ordinary #

# One in ten

# Don't wanna be your monkey wrench

# One more indecent accident

# I'd rather leave than suffer this

# I'll never be your monkey wrench #

Moving from drummer to front man
doesn't happen much, does it?

I think that there's a lot of
lead singers that are also drummers.

I know a few. I mean,
Kurt also played the drums.Yeah.

I know Steven Tyler from Aerosmith
is a drummer.Yes.

I mean, you know,
Phil Collins from Genesis

obviously went from being
an amazing drummer,

to then a lead singer of a band.

I think one of the great things
about playing more

than one instrument is understanding
how they all work together.

Yeah, I guess, for yourself,

it must've been quite a move
from complete anonymity

to being right in the front.
It's all on you.

Took a really long time before I
felt comfortable with it.

I mean, like a good ten years.
You look like you've always done it.

I mean, if you had
a cavalry uniform on,

the men would follow you.

Well...You know what I mean? That
kind of presence is what you need.

I think that some people
feel the need

to get on stage
and be someone else.Mm.

Which makes you kind
of self-conscious.

You're always thinking about,
"Do I look cooler?"

"Am I moving the right way?"
Or something like that.

And we did this one show with Bowie

at a festival in, like,
Switzerland in the '90s.

And I was still trying to get used
to just standing there and singing.

And I remember watching
Bowie on stage

and he was just so cool, you know.

And he would he just walk up
to the mike and sing a couple lines

and light a cigarette.

Even just like
a flick of his shoulder,

the audience would be like, (GASPS)
they thought it was so cool.

But he was being David Bowie.
Yeah.

And I had this realisation,
I thought,

"He feels
completely at ease onstage.

Well, maybe if I just go up
and be myself,

I'll feel a lot more comfortable."

And then over the years,
I've watched our audience

go from being these
18-, 20-year-old kids

to now people that bring their 18-
and 20-year-old kids to our shows.

And so in a way we've kind of
grown up together.Yeah.

And I don't walk out
on stage and think,

"These are a bunch of strangers."
Right.

Someone once told me that
when you walk out on stage...

people want you to do well.
Yeah.

Like they're already
on your side.Yeah.

They're holding you up.
It's true.

So now before the show I go out

and I sort of poke my head around
and I look at the arena,

I look at the audience
and I think to myself, like,

"I'm gonna fucking light this place
on fire tonight." And I go back
to the dressing room

and I say to the guys in the band,
I'm like, "We're gonna tear this
shit up tonight."

Every show I do that.
I look out and I'm just like,

"Oh, I'm gonna give it to 'em."

# Stack dead actors
stacked to the rafters

# Line up the bastards
All I want is the truth

# Stack dead actors
stacked to the rafters

# Line up the bastards... #

You can't be a rock and roll singer

and say, "I'll take it easy tonight."
You can't do that.

It's just impossible.
If you do, you shouldn't be there.

I agree. Still to this day,
I'm still learning.

I still, I walk out on stage and I
never know what's gonna happen.

That's one of the things I love
about it, is you walk out on stage,

you're like, "Right. This is the
46th time I've played St Louis.

What's gonna happen tonight?"
I don't know.

It's never the same, is it?
No.

Never the same.
You proved that by the leg break.

# Don't wanna be
your monkey wrench #

THOMAS RITTER: It happened during
the second song of the evening,

at a Foo Fighters concert
in Gothenburg, Sweden.

I don't know how many times
I've nearly done it,

you know, with all
the modern lights and the dazzle,

razzle dazzle around you,
and you keep forgetting

there's a big black chasm there.

Just weird. But it must have hurt.

No, it didn't actually.
It didn't?No, because...

And you'll understand this.
You know, also when you're on stage,

this adrenaline kicks in...

Oh, yes.
Right? When I walk out onstage,

the most important thing
to me is that

the energy in the house
goes like this.

So whatever it takes, right?
So I'm thinking about the people.

And I've got this adrenaline going.
And it was a beautiful night.

It was a stadium. 50,000 people.
It was great.

And then the second song,
they're going nuts and it's great.

I'm shredding this guitar thing

and I go running over
to this side of the stage

and there's a cable
on the stage and I trip over it.

I see the lip of the stage right
there and it's an 11-foot drop.

And I'm kind of doing
one of these. Whoa...

And I think, "OK, I'll just jump,
you know, I'm fucking Superman.

I'll just jump. It'll be fine."

But I land on my feet.

I land so hard, man,

but I don't feel anything,
so...Jesus.

..I get up to get back on stage
and my leg is gone.

So my ankle is out and I've broken
this bone right here. And no pain.

But, you know, when it's gone,
you know it's gone.

And I just... (GASPS) And I sat down
and I'm looking at my security guy.

I'm like, "I broke my leg."

So the band can't see me, though.

They're still on the stage,
so they're like,
going for it like that.

And they're like, "Where's Dave?
Where did Dave go?"

And I'm lying on the thing
down there. The song stops.

(BASS GUITAR PLAYING)

Paramedics come over,
they've got the gurney thing

and they said,
"You've broken your leg."

I go, "Gimme the mike."

So I get the mike
and the whole audience is like,
"What's going on right now?

This is weird." I said...

I think I've just broken my leg.

(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS)

I think I really broke my leg.

So, look, OK.

Ladies and gentlemen,
let me tell you.

Right now, I'm gonna go
to the hospital.

I'm gonna fix my leg.

But then I wanna come back

and we're gonna play for you again.

(CROWD CHEERING)

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

But I didn't know
what I was talking about.

It was just coming out of my mouth.
So I looked at Taylor and those guys

I'm like, "Just play a Rod Stewart,
a Queen song, just play something."

So they pulled me over the side.
The guy looks at me.

He's like, "Your ankle's out."
Right.

"And I got to put it
back in right now."

You see, you're saying it didn't hurt
but God damn it, seriously.

And so I looked at my tour manager
and I said,

"I need the biggest cup of whisky
you could find right now."

So I went...hit this whisky.
They put it back in.

And... So then
I was just sitting there

and then these guys are playing.

The whole stadium is like,
"What's happening right now?"

And I said, "OK, can I finish
the show if I just sit down?"Yeah.

The guy said, "If I let go your
ankle, it's just gonna fall out."

(WINCES)

I said, "Well, then you're fucking
coming on stage with me right now."

And this Swedish guy comes up
onstage and sits in front of me

and holds my ankle.
I've seen the photographs.

It was amazing! I couldn't believe
it. And then I thought, "Wait,

I'm telling you what to do.
That's a bad idea."

# Chipping around,
kick my brains around the floor

# These are the days
it never rains but it pours

(VOCALISING)

To me, the most important thing
that night really was like,

I'm not walking offstage
after two songs.

You know, all these people
came all this way to see the show.

I came all this way
to do the show...

Two songs into
a two-and-a-half-hour show.

Back then I knew I could do that.

# Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'

# Pray tomorrow gets me higher

# Pressure on people,
people on streets #

(CROWD CHEERING)

The next day sucked.

(CROWD CHEERING)

# Under pressure

# Under pressure

# Pressure #
(CROWD CHEERING)

(SCREAMS)

# Ramble on

# Gotta find the queen
of all my dreams

# Sing my song

# I'm going round the world
I got to find my girl

# On my way

# I've been this way
ten years to the day

# Ramble on

# Gotta find the queen
of all my dreams #

The people you played with,
I tried to write the list down.

I ran out of paper. I mean,

from Paul McCartney,
Queens of the Stone Age.

You know, Jimmy Page.

I could go on forever.

First of all, I love being in
a band. I love being with my guys.

Yeah.
We're a gang of old dads now,

but like when we get together and do
our thing, that's the Foo Fighters.

But I also like going out

and playing with
other people because,

you know, you...you kind of
get to know someone musically.

Maybe more so than like having
a conversation.

You get to know someone when you
strap on the instruments and do it.

Now you're sharing something
that you can't in a conversation.

This is a musical conversation.

So we don't know what we're doing.

So we could just do anything.
Just, yeah...

To start with?

(SONG INTRO)

Having the absolute honour

and blessing to play
with Paul McCartney,

I mean, he's the reason I started
playing music in the first place.

And we sat right here
and wrote a song together.

Maybe then go to the...
# A doo doo doo doo doo

# We don't know what's
gonna come on top of this

# But something is
Doo doo doo #

And for those two hours,

we actually got to like do
this thing together. It's great.

(BOTH VOCALISING)

Sounds pretty cool.
I love it.

Should we do in the
other section, too?OK.

Why can't it always be this easy?

It is.

You learn things when you play
with other people.

If you jam with the
Preservation Hall jazz band,

you learn, like,
you learn to swing a different way.

(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)

We should open
our fucking doors, man.

(JAZZ CONTINUES)

If you play with someone like
Queens of the Stone Age,

it's this whole other focus
of determination.

# Indeed a fool am I

# Ah #

What you have is the great power
of communication.

You have it in spades.
And I was laughing the other night.

I said, you know,
"I bet the only thing

that Dave Grohl could be
ticked off about

was the fact that he's only got
one pair of arms."

(LAUGHS) Hey, I need more.

DAVE:
'These people and their stories.

These cities and their history.

The culture, the accent,

the geography, the music.

These interviews
have all been more like lessons.

And it's all led us here

to the greatest city in America.'

Dave's boundless energy
has also led him

to directing music documentaries.

I think you're
a great explorer of music,

cos the Sonic Highways series
that's brilliant.

Cos it's so important to
the history of music...

That kind of started with
the soundboard that's in there.

Yeah?I made a movie
about that studio

and that Neve console -
it's called Sound City.

So then I started thinking
about the environment

like where you make a record.

So why did Chicago get the blues?

What happened in Austin, Texas,
to make that a capital?

What about Nashville?
What about Seattle?

Why did that music happen in
Seattle? And a lot of those reasons

aren't musical reasons at all.

A lot of them have to do
with the geography, the accent,

the...the food, the tempo of life.

But, yeah, the process was amazing
because I got to meet and interview

everyone from Dolly Parton
to Chuck D from Public Enemy

to Tony Joe White
to President Obama.

To me, the beautiful thing
about our country is that...

you can be Buddy Guy and make
your instrument

from a piece of your screen porch
and wind up in The Kennedy Centre.

Or be a kid
from Springfield, Virginia,

and then get into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Or be a kid from Hawaii who becomes
the President. You know what I mean?

Absolutely.

What's also nice, though,
is how there is a connection...

all these different musical rivers
that run together

to make American music.

There is nothing more unifying
in this country...

..than our music.

The most important thing to me
is to really humanise...

..the story so people understand

that it's not just this glossy image
that you see on television.

It's real people.Yeah.
Because the next generation,

if they could get that same feeling
I had when I...

saw the punk rock band in Chicago.

Because that's all it took.Yes.
It's not fucking rocket science.

You know what I mean? Like,
if you... if you pick up a guitar,

three fucking chords
and this and this, like you got it.

That's all you need.

You guys, I'd like to thank you
for making this...

..the most unbelievable Foo Fighters
show we've ever had in our lives.

(CROWD CHEERING)
Thank you very much, all of you.

We can get dark
or we can get deeper.
We can get serious, sometimes.

I feel like
we have to keep it real in a way.

Before we go on stage,
I'm not like doing yoga and Pilates

and warming up my voice
and stuff like that.

The most important thing to me

before we walk out on stage
is that we're all laughing.

So the 20 minutes before we go on,
there's a whisky out.

Everyone's having a drink. The tour
manager's like, "Ten minutes."

"OK, five minutes." "OK."

And we're telling stories
and we're all laughing.

And I don't wanna hit the stage
and have the house lights go out

until we get that
one big laugh backstage

and everyone's cracking up
about something. It's like,
"OK, now we can go on stage."

(SINGS)

(SCREAMS)

# If everything could ever feel
this real forever

# If anything could ever be
this good again

# The only thing
I'll ever ask of you

# You've got to promise
not to stop when I say when #

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Thank you very much, Hyde Park!

You're a beautiful fucking audience.

Thank you!

It's been lovely to sit
and talk to you.

I would give anything to be
inside your brain just for one day.

You don't wanna get in there.

It's like sticking a hand
in a fucking bees' nest.

Yes, it'll be fascinating.

And I know you're always busy.

I know you've got an album
to finish before lunch.

And...That's easy.
Cos you're always working.

But thank you so much
for taking the time.

You have no idea. I mean,
I could go on and on and on

about how much of an honour
it is just to sit here.

Cameras or not, and be able
to to chat with you.

You got everything you want?
Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Hey!
(CREW CLAPPING)

(ENGINE REVS)

What a great day.
I enjoyed every single second of it.

And, you know, just talking to him
about rock and roll,

his attention to detail
is just unbelievable.

So now I'm leaving Los Angeles

knowing that rock n roll
is in good hands with Dave Grohl.

He's a great kid. And what can I say?
He likes AC-DC a lot.

And that means
we've done something right.

See ya next time. Ta-ta.

# FOO FIGHTERS: Wheels

# When the wheels come down

# When the wheels come down

# When the wheels come down

# When the wheels touch ground

# When the wheels touch ground #

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