Our 2023 Annual Report continues with the announcement of our 2023 Band of the Year, an accolade we give to a band we felt commanded 2023. Stay tuned for the rest of our annual report, detailing the best music, film, and television of the year. Check it all out here.
In 2023, Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee pushed the power of rock to its absolute limit — they had to. After facing new levels of hardship, Foo Fighters would have been fully justified unplugging their amps and calling it a career. No one could have blamed them, but how un-Foo of a decision that would have been. Through any conflict, setback, or tragedy, the band has always found a way to rise from the ashes; of course they’d find a way to do it again.
The unexpected passing of long-time drummer and Foo-lifer Taylor Hawkins in early 2022 devastated not only the band members, but the music world at large. Tributes, condolences, and stories of his life poured in from around the industry, all to honor the incredible drummer, friend, and father. So, much like the first time he lost one of his best friends and closest collaborators, Grohl turned to his guitar for healing, organizing two incredible, star-studded celebrations of life for the late Hawkins.
“When Dave came out and shed tears in front of thousands of people at those Taylor benefits, it was completely real,” Nancy Wilson of Heart tells Consequence. “Those guys were inseparable best friends. They were like the John and Paul of Foo Fighters, switching instruments and switching lead vocals and just in hysterics most of the time.”
As the tribute events wrapped up and the tears dried, fans began to wonder what such a monumental loss would mean for the future of the band. Would they continue? If so, who could possibly fill the hole Hawkins left? And, importantly, how long would we go without rock music’s most prominent ambassadors?
The following months saw Foo Fighters, understandably, take a step back from the limelight, canceling shows and largely retreating from the public eye as a group. Members would pop up here and there, like Grohl’s notable appearance at 2022’s Vets Aid, but the biggest of the question marks would go on to linger for the remainder of the year.