Yesterday, the Foo Fighters left a cryptic Tweet on their page detailing an announcement that would come tonight, and speculation grew that the long-running modern rock band would break-up.
Official band announcement tomorrow night. Stay tuned.
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) March 2, 2016
This idea was bolstered by the repeated appearances of singer and founder Dave Grohl in a solo capacity. Just a few days ago the musician performed at the Oscars, performing a stirring cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” over the In Memoriam tribute.
Drummer Taylor Hawkins dropped a bomb before the band could make its official statement in an interview with Artisan News. In the interview he explained that while the band members are all still on good terms and the word “break-up” was never used, they want to take a step back from making music together:
We’re on ihateus right now, we’re on an indefinite ihateus,” Hawkins said. “That’s not because we don’t love each other, or don’t want to make music together. We did so much in the last five or six years. We as a band could go into the studio tomorrow and have just as much fun as we ever had, but I think that the world needs a break from us for a little while.
You can also take a look at the video; at the 5:10 mark is when Hawkins begins talking about the Foo Fighters.
It was all a guise. In hilarious fashion, the band has released their statement to Youtube, and it is a tale of what could have been if the prognosticators were correct.
The video begins with fanfare music as the backdrop to increasingly-dramatic news/gossip headlines before cutting to a mildly-confrontational red-carpet interview with Taylor. The next scene features Dave Grohl and Butch Vig speaking about the singer’s opportunity to go solo, only this time “something hip,” electronica, with laptops, and Grohl instrument-less. As Vig puts it: “All you gotta do is hit one button.”
The video then cuts to the remaining Foos discussing their lead singer “going Hollywood,” before returning to Grohl in the studio recording a song that includes the lyrics “phony bologna.” Meanwhile, the other four members discuss a frontman fill-in, and familiar names like Hagar, Stefani, Diplo, and even Collins pop up.
Who will be the next lead singer of the Foo Fighters? The answer is Nick Lachey.
The video closes with a simple statement. “For the millionth time, we’re not breaking up. And nobody’s going fucking solo!”