How Taylor Hawkins, Dave Grohl's Drumming Styles Differed: Foo Fighters Members Inspired By Their Idols?

Foo Fighters members Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl were bonded by their love for music, but their drumming techniques and styles differed.

Before Foo Fighters welcomed Josh Freese as their new touring drummer, they previously had Hawkins, who became the successor of the original drummer William Goldsmith. Meanwhile, Grohl famously played as Them Crooked Vultures and Nirvana's drummer but started focusing on his work as lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter in Foo Fighters.

How Taylor Hawkins, Dave Grohl's Drumming Styles Differed

Despite playing in one band for years, Hawkins explained in a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone before his demise how he and Grohl's drumming styles differed and said they could be compared to the rock industry's best drummers.

Per the late musician, the Foo Fighters lead singer was a disciple of John Bonham while he was The Police Stewart Copeland's follower.

"I mean, that is really kind of the easiest way of putting it," he explained. "I'm on top. I push just more like that, where Dave is not lazier in the sense of being a lazy person, but his feel is... behind the beat more."

Hawkins then described Grohl as someone who got more of a studio drummer's feel compared to him.

The magazine asked him whether he could shift and play behind the beat as needed, to which he admitted that he was not comfortable playing midtempo songs.

Taylor Hawkins Wanted Foo Fighters To Have Different Sound

When Hawkins was officially welcomed onboard, the late drummer pushed himself to rebrand Foo Fighters while working with one of the best drummers of the 1990s.

Instead of following Grohl's styles, he expressed his desire not to sound like him when he joined the band. Meanwhile, Foo Fighters singer said he only wanted someone to travel the world with and chose Hawkins to fill that spot.

In a separate interview with "The Howard Stern Show," Hawkins shared how intimidated he felt when he met Axl Rose for the first time as the Guns N' Roses frontman asked him what it felt like to be Grohl's drummer.

"It was never my goal to sound like Dave," he said, adding, "When I have to play his songs from the first two records, it just doesn't sound like him, and that's fine."

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Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, Dave Grohl