Following the death of his Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain in 1994, Dave Grohl bravely turned a new leaf as the frontman of Foo Fighters. Gohl had previously been primarily a drummer. But as the leader of the Foo Fighters, he began to hone his skills as a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
Despite Nirvana’s massive success, Grohl had to start from scratch to build his rock ‘n’ roll reputation. Grohl was also less financially solvent than one might expect, owing to legal disputes over song rights with Cobain’s former wife, Courtney Love. Fortunately, Grohl’s debut album, Foo Fighters, in 1995 gave him the confidence to pursue his new dream. And its 1997 follow-up, The Colour and the Shape, solidified its success.
Grohl wrote and recorded Foo Fighters entirely on his own, with only producer Barrett Jones’ assistance. Grohl began the project as a cathartic diversion from the previous year’s tragedy. But it quickly became clear that he had something special.
In a 2005 interview with Classic Rock, Grohl reflected on his post-Nirvana state of mind, recalling feeling unable to perform in bands. “I just couldn’t imagine [playing in other bands],” he said. I would think of that every time I sat down at a drum set because it would just remind me of being in Nirvana.
When record labels expressed interest in his debut album as the Foo Fighters, Grohl decided to form a live band. Grohl replaced Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic with bassist Nate Mendel. He also replaced drummer William Goldsmith from the recently disbanded Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate. Meanwhile, Pat Smear, Nirvana’s former touring guitarist, joined as a backup guitarist.
Grohl performed material from the debut album. It included the fourth and final single, ‘Big Me,’ with this early Foo Fighters lineup. The single was released in February 1996. But the band accompanied it with a music video that parodied the comical Mentos mint advertisements of the time.
Fans loved the video, but Grohl and his bandmates had no idea it would inspire them to throw mints at them during performances. These peppermint missiles, according to Grohl, could pack a punch but were not conducive to sound performance. They were forced to remove the song from setlists for a few years. Only when Weezer began to cover ‘Big Me‘ during their live shows six or seven years later did Grohl reintroduce the song to setlists.
In a 2006 interview, Grohl stated, “[Weezer] played it every… night.” “And we began to miss it.” So when that tour ended we went back out on our own. we threw it back in the setlist. We did, however, stop playing that song for a while because it honestly feels like being stoned. Those little… things hurt like pebbles.”
