Photo Credit: RKH Images (RKH-Images.com)
The history of the Foo Fighters came full circle over the weekend. The band covered Tom Petty’s “Honey Bee”; a reference to a key point in the band’s early history.
Back in 1994, Dave Grohl was reeling after the death of Kurt Cobain and had lost interest in playing music, until Tom Petty called and asked him to play drums on Saturday Night Live.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were without a drummer when they were booked for their 5th SNL appearance. Heartbreakers drummer, Stan Lynch, had quit the band a month and a half earlier.
Petty tapped (former) Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl for the gig, and offered him a permanent job afterwards. After careful consideration, they both agreed Grohl needed to focus his burgeoning talent on his own project, which would come to be known as Foo Fighters.
“Honey Bee” was one of two songs Grohl played with Petty that night, and says it was “the first time I’d really looked forward to playing drums since Nirvana”.