1995-1996 Foo Fighters Self Titled Era
118 videos • 1,255 views • by FooFightersBootlegs This is the earliest era of the band and for the bulk of it, shows consisted of around 13-16 songs per setlist. These two years were spent touring to promote the 1995 debut Foo Fighters album, simply titled Foo Fighters. They toured a ridiculous amount during this time, with Pat Smear saying it's one of the reasons he wanted to quit in 1997. From 1990 to 1994, Dave Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana, probably the most well known band he's worked with. While Kurt Cobain was Nirvana's primary songwriter, Dave did write in his spare time and I'm 1990 he recorded a set of songs onto a cassette tape. These would later be released under the name 'Late!', with the tape being called Pocketwatch. I find it important to mention that here as it very much laid the ground work for what would become the first Foo Fighters album, some of the songs like Winnebago even become staples of early Foo Fighters shows during this time. After Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Dave was unsure what to do in life, mentioning a number of times in interviews and in his book that for a while he couldn't even listen to music as he'd be reminded of Kurt. Later on in 1994, Dave recorded a set of songs onto a cassette tape yet again, and labelled it as Foo Fighters. The tape included more songs that what eventually made it onto the final album, but featured songs such as Winnebago, Butterflies, Wattershed, Weenie Beenie, This Is A Call, I'll Stick Around, Big Me and so on. After giving his cassette tape around, it later became a full album and it was clear that Dave needed a band, since he recorded the entire album by himself. Even though today Foo Fighters are a six person band with additional back up singers, in 1995 the very first lineup was very straightforward. Dave Grohl provided all lead vocals as well as playing guitar. Pat Smear, another former member of Nirvana, would play lead guitar. Joining the two were Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith, who both played in the band Sunny Day Real Estate. That band had broken up and so Nate and William joined Foo Fighters. Nate played all the bass and William played the drums, surely a very difficult role to lead. This would be the first ever Foo Fighters lineup and would end up lasting throughout 1995 and 1996, going through a considerable amount of touring. Setlist wise, during 1995 the sets consisted of songs from the first album, most commonly This Is A Call, Exhausted, I'll Stick Around, Big Me, Wattershed and Weenie Beenie. Alongside those songs were also some that weren't on the album, such as Winnebago, How I Miss You and Podunk, along with covers such as Gas Chamber and Down In The Park. Later on, a few songs from The Colour and the Shape would start to creep in, with My Hero, Enough Space and Up In Arms all getting their start in 1995 and My Poor Brain getting its start in 1996. Overall I'm a pretty big fan of this era of the band. It shows them very early on yet they still always sound very solid.