The close friendship between Dave Grohl and the late Taylor Hawkins is well known.
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When Hawkins died unexpectedly in 2022, it was a devastating blow to the music community and Grohl personally. Grohl had already survived the end of Nirvana following Kurt Cobain’s suicide, and many wondered whether Foo Fighters would continue without Hawkins.
However, when the group began work on its fourth album One by One, the relationship between the two drummers wasn’t so warm. Moreover, the band almost split up while making the album.
During this period of animosity, they recorded the song Hawkins hated.
“I‘ve Always Hated This Song”
In the spring of 2002, Foo Fighters were completing work on One by One when actor Colin Hanks (Tom’s son) asked Grohl to write a song for his movie Orange County.
The comedy, which also stars Jack Black, follows a teenager who spends his days surfing and partying until his best friend dies in a surfing accident. On the beach, he discovers a novel that inspires him to become a writer. He plans to leave Orange County for a more stimulating place but ultimately stays in his hometown, inspired by the lives of James Joyce and William Faulkner.
Grohl wrote “The One” with his bandmates and Hawkins wasn’t excited about it. So, what did Hawkins dislike about the song? Apparently, everything.
The drummer told Kerrang, “I’ve always hated this song.” He wasn’t finished. “I hate the way it sounds, the production of it; it was a total cop-out.”
Times Like These
One by One opens with “All My Life,” a thrashing stadium anthem that represents the dirtier side of the Foo Fighters’ sound. Hawkins said the band was just figuring out who they were, and he told NME he enjoyed the “messed-up ugliness” of One by One.
However, the album also features the nostalgic “Times Like These,” which echoes The Cult. Though it almost broke up the band, the song became a defining anthem for Foo Fighters.
But “The One” is a power-pop song that Hawkins felt was a little too pop. The bouncing song appeared on the soundtrack with Social Distortion, The Offspring, Cake, Brian Wilson, Lit, and Pete Yorn, among others.
The song resembles the pop-punk of Orange County band Lit and feels out of place within Foo Fighters’ vast catalog.
Check the Meaning
“The One” is about elusive love. Grohl told MTV the song speaks to pursuing a relationship with someone who remains just out of reach because someone or something always gets in the way.
Because you’re not the one, but you’re the only one
Who can make me feel like this
You’re not the one, but you’re the only one
Who can make me feel like s–t
Grohl, Hawkins, and bandmates Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett recorded the song, with Adam Kasper producing the single. Kasper is known for his collaborations with Nirvana, Cat Power, Queens of the Stone Age, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.
Kasper began producing the tumultuous sessions for One by One, but engineer Nick Raskulinecz eventually replaced him.
Something never meant to be
Everything you meant to me
Wake me when this punishment is done
The Music Video and Fame
The single artwork features a ballerina’s foot and nods to the 1980 musical drama Fame.
Continuing the theme, Jesse Peretz directed the music video, which follows the band members attending various classes.
Grohl studies acting, Hawkins learns violin, Mendel mimes, and Shiflett attempts ballet. Grohl tries to get a girl’s attention throughout the video, but a handsome classmate keeps getting in the way.
The Foos play on top of tables in the cafeteria, and the video ends with Grohl watching the girl exit while a single tear falls from his eye.
On to the Next One
Hawkins’ disdain for “The One” originates with the band’s tumult during this period of their career. They needed to distinguish whether Foo Fighters was a band or a Dave Grohl solo project.
Still, Foo Fighters not only survived themselves but continued their rapid ascent to becoming a stadium band. One by One, their heaviest and darkest album yet, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in 2002 and remained on the chart for 50 weeks.
Josh Freese now sits behind Hawkins’ drum kit, and though he, too, is an extraordinary drummer, Hawkins is profoundly missed.
Taylor Hawkins became a legend like the rock heroes he idolized as a child, but perhaps what his fans miss the most is the toothy grin that never left his face.
He looked like a guy who had the best job in the world.
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Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images
