Foo Fighters are celebrating 20 years as a band this year so here are 20 things you need to know about them.

 

1. THE MOST BASIC OF ALL FOO FIGHTERS FACTS…
Dave Grohl was the drummer in Nirvana.

2. IN 1992, ONLY A YEAR AFTER ‘NEVERMIND’ WAS RELEASED…
Grohl released a cassette of songs which served as an early stage of the Foo Fighters’ development. It was called ‘Pocketwatch’ and was released under the name Late!

3. FOO FIGHTERS FORMED IN 1994.
They performed their first public show on February 23, 1995 at the Jambalaya Club in Arcata, California.

4. THEY GOT THEIR NAME FROM THE UFOs AND AERIAL PHENOMENA that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II, which were known collectively as foo fighters.

5. ALL INSTRUMENTS ON THE FIRST FOO FIGHTERS ALBUM… were performed by Dave Grohl.

6. TAYLOR HAWKINS WAS THE DRUMMER FOR ALANIS MORRISSETTE.
He joined Foo Fighters in 1997.

7. DAVE GROHL USED TO PLAY MUSIC FROM THE LIKES OF CIRCLE JERKS AND BAD BRAINS OVER THE SCHOOL INTERCOM.
He was allowed because he was Vice President of his Freshman class in high school.

8. FOO FIGHTERS LAST PLAYED THE GLASTONBURY MAIN STAGE IN 1998.

9. THE BAND HAVE RECORDED 3 ALBUMS IN 2 OF DAVE GROHL’S HOMES. “There Is Nothing Left To Lose” and “One By One” at his Virginia home and “Wasting Light” in the garage of his current California home.

10. THE LONGEST FOO FIGHTERS LIVE SHOW WAS JUST UNDER 3.5 HOURS LONG. It consisted of 36 songs and took place at the Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina.

11. THEY WERE JOINED ON STAGE BY JIMMY PAGE AND JOHN PAUL JONES (LED ZEPPELIN) AT WEMBLEY STADIUM IN 2008.
During that performance Grohl switched to drums, with Hawkins taking vocals. As Page and Jones left the stage, Grohl screamed: “Welcome to the greatest f***ing day of my whole entire life!”

12. THE FIRST BATCH OF ‘Wasting Light’ CDs INCLUDE PIECES OF THE ALBUM’S ANALOGUE TAPE MASTER.
If you were one of the first fans to pick one up, chances are it included a piece of the original analog tape the album was recorded on.

13. THEY WERE THE FINAL MUSIC ACT TO PERFORM ON THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN on May 20th, 2015.

14. THEY HAVE WON LOADS AND LOADS OF AWARDS: 11 Grammy Awards, 5 NME Awards, 4 Brit Awards, 3 Kerrang! Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards and 1 American Music Award.

15. THEY HAVE SOLD 15 MILLION RECORDS WORLDWIDE.

16. THE BAND’S TOUR RIDER IN 2011 CAME IN THE FORM OF A COLOURING BOOK. More info here

17. DAVE GROHL HAS AN ALLEY NAMED AFTER HIM IN HIS HOMETOWN (Warren, Ohio).

18. THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DRUM STICKS WERE MADE FOR DAVE GROHL AND WEIGH 900lbs:

19. PAT SMEAR, FOO FIGHTER’S ORIGINAL GUITARIST WAS ALSO THE SECOND GUITARTIST FOR NIRVANA WHEN THEY TOURED IN UTERO.
Pat Re-joined Foo Fighters as a touring guitarist in 2005 and as a full band member in 2010.

20.FOO FIGHTERS ARE HEADLINING THE SATURDAY AT GLASTONBURY 2015.