Taylor Hawkins (1972-2022)

I’m the kind of person who buys magazines. You go at the airport and you buy magazines before flying out because what else is there to do in an airport? I seldom read them, and sometimes keep them around for a later reading. One that’s been sitting in the car for a while is the 2021 October issue of Rolling Stones, with Dave Grohl on the cover and a story titled Foo Fighters and the Art of Survival.

The passing of Taylor Hawkins a few days ago hit me pretty hard — I was not able to go to sleep that night. He was a truly great artist and, from the looks of it, an equally decent human being. The Rolling Stones piece feels both like it has aged poorly and also oddly prescient:

“I think Taylor really underestimates his importance in this band,” Grohl says. “Maybe because he’s not the original drummer, but, my God, what would we be without Taylor Hawkins? Could you imagine?

As a band that was kickstarted in the wake of Cobain’s death, the Foos have consistently given their music a life-affirming, joyous impulse. Many of their songs stem from grief and land as invitations to the listener to actively resist the apathy that follows tragedy:

“Times Like These” was a post-9/11 song retrofitted as a pandemic-era anthem, but the sentiment could pass for the Foo Fighters’ overall mission statement

On coping with the absence of Kurt Cobain:

As it happens, Smear is correct about the inspiration behind [Walk]. “It kind of comes from the day after Kurt died,” Grohl says, his voice a little softer than usual. “Waking up that morning and realizing, ‘Oh, shit, he’s not here anymore. I am. Like, I get to wake up and he doesn’t. I’m making a cup of coffee. And he can’t. I’m gonna turn on the radio. And he won’t.’ That was a big revelation to me.”

To this day I recall the moment, back in 1995, when the radio I was tuned onto announced they were about to play a song from Grohl’s new post-Nirvana venture. This is a Call came out of my crappy FM receiver’s speakers and I was instantly wooed over. The CD I got that same year is one of the few I’ve chosen to keep with me after digitizing my collection.

As a fan of the Foo Fighters since that day, the feeling of loss is immense. Rest in peace, Taylor Hawkins (1972-2022).