Our 2023 Annual Report continues with the announcement of our 2023 Band of the Year, an accolade we give to a band we felt commanded 2023. Stay tuned for the rest of our annual report, detailing the best music, film, and television of the year. Check it all out here.
In 2023, Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee pushed the power of rock to its absolute limit — they had to. After facing new levels of hardship, Foo Fighters would have been fully justified unplugging their amps and calling it a career. No one could have blamed them, but how un-Foo of a decision that would have been. Through any conflict, setback, or tragedy, the band has always found a way to rise from the ashes; of course they’d find a way to do it again.
The unexpected passing of long-time drummer and Foo-lifer Taylor Hawkins in early 2022 devastated not only the band members, but the music world at large. Tributes, condolences, and stories of his life poured in from around the industry, all to honor the incredible drummer, friend, and father. So, much like the first time he lost one of his best friends and closest collaborators, Grohl turned to his guitar for healing, organizing two incredible, star-studded celebrations of life for the late Hawkins.
“When Dave came out and shed tears in front of thousands of people at those Taylor benefits, it was completely real,” Nancy Wilson of Heart tells Consequence. “Those guys were inseparable best friends. They were like the John and Paul of Foo Fighters, switching instruments and switching lead vocals and just in hysterics most of the time.”
As the tribute events wrapped up and the tears dried, fans began to wonder what such a monumental loss would mean for the future of the band. Would they continue? If so, who could possibly fill the hole Hawkins left? And, importantly, how long would we go without rock music’s most prominent ambassadors?
The following months saw Foo Fighters, understandably, take a step back from the limelight, canceling shows and largely retreating from the public eye as a group. Members would pop up here and there, like Grohl’s notable appearance at 2022’s Vets Aid, but the biggest of the question marks would go on to linger for the remainder of the year.
“Taylor will never be forgotten, but we were all cheering for the band to continue,” Nile Rodgers remembers. “The world needs them.”
Then, on New Year’s Eve, they finally teased their return. Soon after, the band began popping up as headliners (or sometimes secret guests) for what felt like every major festival on the circuit. Foo Fighters were about to rise again, but just how ferocious and powerful this return would be, no one could have possibly seen coming.
“Rescued” came as the first taste of Foo Fighters’ new era. Booming, emotive, and larger-than-life, the track found Grohl tackling his grief head-on. “It came in a flash/ It came out of nowhere/ It happened so fast/ And then it was over,” he sings in a half-scream. And yet, despite the looming themes of confusion, “Rescued” was also shockingly hopeful, acknowledging darkness without letting it take over. Talking with those who spent time with Grohl during this period, such empathy and resilience couldn’t have been truer to his experience.
“[I thought] I was gonna have to be a maybe a little gloomier, a little more retrospective or thoughtful about how much sadness there was,” The Breeders’ Kelly Deal says when talking about their 2023 run of dates with the Foos. “And it wasn’t like that at all. [Hawkins] is in the video montages and he’s around everywhere, but at no point did it seem like this was a sad moment. It was a festival. It was a celebration of everything, a celebration of life and music and camaraderie and bands and touring and being a fan of music.”
The subsequent album, But Here We Are, was undeniably a product of loss, of melancholy, of confusion. Whether it’s the lamenting “Under You,” the touching duet of “Show Me How” (featuring Violet Grohl), or the sprawling, epic “The Teacher,” the record was the sound of Grohl healing in real-time, inviting fans to heal along with him. At the same time, not once does But Here We Are allow the sense of gloom to consume the listener. Across the album’s 10 tracks, Grohl, Smear, and Shiflett’s guitars soar triumphantly, Mendel’s bass feels more life-affirming than broken, and the drums, once again helmed by Grohl, exercise any negativity through hard tom hits and rebellious crashes. Even at its lowest, the project never fails to showcase the promise of a brighter tomorrow, one where the spirit of those lost walk alongside you.
As the Foos returned to the stage — now accompanied by one of the most accomplished drummers in the game, Josh Freese — the subtle positivity of their rock songs only fell further into focus. The shows weren’t angry or depressive, nor were they only concerned with the past. Rather, Foo Fighters emerged, somehow, as themselves: a bunch of genuine, goofy music fans playing rock music. Life can try its darnedest, but nothing can keep Foo Fighters from rocking the world’s collective ass off.
