Dave Grohl says Prince’s ‘Best of You’ Super Bowl cover is his ‘proudest musical achievement’
Dave Grohl’s proudest achievement in music does not record a song with Paul McCartney. It doesn’t last most Grammy Awards by some American band with Foo Fighters, and it’s not one of them best drummers of the 1990s, thanks to his work with Nirvana. No, Grohl’s “proudest musical achievement” is Prince, who covered Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” during his halftime performance at the 2007 Super Bowl.
Prince didn’t like it when Foo Fighters covered ‘Darling Nikki’ and might have retaliated
In 2003, the Foo Fighters recorded a cover of Prince’s 1984 song “Darling Nikki” and released it as the B-side on the Australian version of their single “Have It All”. Corresponding MTVthe cover became so popular that the Foo Fighters started playing it at the end of their shows in 2004.
Hawkins said the band took it as a joke. “Dave loved ‘Darling Nikki’ because it was really funky,” Hawkins said. “And so we just recorded our version in my garage, and it kind of got played on the radio — which was weird because we were just doing it as a kind of joke.”
However, Prince didn’t like the cover at all. According to one of Grohl’s True Stories (via Instagram), the band asked for his blessing. “He shut us down faster than you can say, ‘Honey…'” Grohl wrote. “I seem to remember him saying, ‘They should write their own tunes…’ or something like that.”
Grohl was right. Prince told Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t appreciate the cover and that Foo Fighters would have to write their own material.
“We wanted to release it here in the States, but Prince wouldn’t let us,” Hawkins said. “I heard he didn’t like our version. Or maybe he just didn’t like that we did it.”
Four years later, during his Super Bowl halftime performance, Prince performed Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” in his medley, which included “let’s do crazy things‘, ‘Baby I’m a Celebrity’ and ‘Proud Mary’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Everyone was shocked. However, Hawkins was skeptical that Prince had covered the song because he admired her.
“Dude, I have no idea why he did that, but I’d like to find out,” laughed Hawkins. “I mean, the thought popped into my head that maybe he did it as a kind of ‘F—you’ for us, or maybe he really likes the song. Anyway, it was pretty amazing to have a guy like Prince cover one of our songs – and actually do it better than us.”
Grohl was also shocked, although he seemed to be one of the few who knew Prince would be performing the song.
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Dave Grohl said his biggest musical success came when Prince covered “Best of You”.
After Foo Fighters released Darling Nikki, Grohl felt like he and the band were on Prince’s “S*** list.” So it’s understandable that Grohl couldn’t believe Prince would cover “Best of You” during its cover Super Bowl Halftime Perfomance.
In his True Stories, Grohl wrote that someone told him Prince was going to perform the song. He said he was shocked and didn’t understand. Grohl didn’t even watch the Super Bowl because he “written the whole thing off as something too good to be true.”
Grohl describes himself as “cautiously optimistic”. So imagine his surprise when someone told him Prince was actually performing the Foo Fighters song.
“When my tears hit the keyboard the Miami rain that night, I realized that this was without a doubt my proudest musical achievement,” Grohl wrote. “All the years I’ve spent in my bedroom practicing alone to Beatles records, sleeping in cold, contaminated squats on winter fan tours across Europe, banging my drums until my hands literally bled… all of it paid off at that moment.
“I watched the greatest living artist known to man sing my song to 1000 million people as if it were his own… Volumes were written about his performance that day as it truly was the best halftime show in history ( sorry, JLO) But I will always remember it as the greatest compliment of my life.”
Grohl didn’t know it at the moment, but he would have another memorable moment with Prince.
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Grohl met Prince four years later
In 2011, Grohl visited Prince during one of his 21 shows at The Forum in LA. When Grohl arrived, someone told him that Prince would call him on stage to jam. Grohl refused because he was so drunk but could to meet the prince tonight. They planned to jam next Friday.
“I sat with this phone in my hands, on vibrate, slept with it near my head, the whole thing, for a week, waiting for him to call,” Grohl said during the call Grammy Salute to Prince in 2020. “He never called.” Grohl was worried but eventually went to the forum on Thursday.
When Grohl checked that his gear had arrived, Prince magically appeared, surprised to see him. Grohl had to remind him that they would be jamming the next day. Prince asked Grohl if he wanted to play, so they did.
“I’m like, ‘Oh God, that’s incredible.’ Then we end and we all give each other high fives. He says, ‘Man, you’ve got a heavy foot.’ I thought, ‘Yes, I have a heavy foot. That’s great [Under his breath].’
“Then we finish it and he’s like, ‘That’s great, we should do that!’ I say: ‘Yes, we should do that!’ And he says, ‘What are you doing next week?’ [Pause] And I never saw him again. [Laughs] I had a fundraiser for the school. The end.”
Grohl clearly had to live out Prince’s time. However, having so much time with Prince was rare, like trying to catch smoke in your hand. Grohl, at least, experienced many “divine” moments with Prince.
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https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/dave-grohl-said-princes-best-of-you-super-bowl-cover-proudest-musical-achievement.html/ Dave Grohl says Prince’s ‘Best of You’ Super Bowl cover is his ‘proudest musical achievement’