“My throat closed. My stomach dropped. My butthole turned into a Star Wars trash compactor. An audible ‘gulp’ and whimper were the only sounds I could manage to produce.”
In his hellaciously-entertaining weblog, Dave Grohl used those very phrases to explain his response when he gained phrase that his band, Foo Fighters, would precede Ozzy all over their one-and-only Ozzfest look. It used to be 1998 and Ozzfest, then in its 3rd 12 months, used to be making its UK debut at Milton Keynes Bowl. The line-up uncorked a legion of steel heavyweights, together with Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Soulfly, Slayer, Fear Factory, Coal Chamber, Entombed and Neurosis.
Originally, Korn had been at the invoice, performing as a buffer of types between Pantera and Foo Fighters. At the very remaining minute, the Bakersfield nu metallers pulled out in their solely UK pageant look that, in order that guitarist Brian Welch may well be provide for the delivery of his kid. Therapy? gamely stepped in, that means everybody else at the authentic invoice used to be bumped up one slot upper. Foo Fighters would now be following Pantera.
The cavernous stylistic disparity between the opposite Ozzfest bands and the Foos used to be now not misplaced on Dave, who wrote, “Ozzfest? The Foo Fighters? The mother of all metal festivals, the meeting of all Marshalls, the most tyrannical thrash-apalooza known to man was requesting… the Learn to Fly guys? The smiley, smirky, candy commercial dorks? The rock and roll Revenge of the Nerds? Shit, some of us even had hair ABOVE our collars! This made no sense. This must be some kind of practical joke.”
On arrival, Dave famous, “Pulling into the backstage area, I peered out of the tour bus window to see if I could catch a glimpse of some of my heroes. Tom Araya! Scott Ian! Tony Iommi! Max Cavalera! There they were, all wandering about like us mere mortals. And in the light of day, no less! I had always imagined (hoped) that these dark figures only came out at night after hanging upside down like rabid bats in their mausoleums. Nocturnal creatures refusing the sun, just waiting to terrorize us all with their evil anthems beneath a full moon. I think I saw a few of them in shorts holding soda pops, but whatever.”
Fortunately, MTV used to be there to seize the enduring behind the curtain second when the Foo frontman meets Slayer for the first actual time. A younger, spindly Dave, decked out in a Bluebird t-shirt and load shorts, marches purposefully towards Tom Araya and Kerry King. Though no creation is wanted, Tom however introduces himself and Kerry to Dave, who shakes everyone’s hand, together with the cameraman (“Nice to meet you, cameraman!”).
“I know who y’all are!” says Dave with ‘aw, shucks’ reverence, prior to introducing himself to the digital camera. “Hi, my name’s David Eric Grohl. I’m 29 years old, I’m a Capricorn, I was born in Warren, Ohio and I play guitar and sing for the Foo Fighters.”
There’s ceaselessly some degree in introductions the place the dialog runs out of steam and devolves into small communicate till the events can determine a swish method to transfer on. That juncture is right here.
“You were out really late last night, huh?” asks Tom with a figuring out grin, most likely hoping for a couple of lurid main points.
“Kinda,” Dave gives, “I was trying to get over jet lag,” he continues whilst hoisting a lager bottle in an exaggerated, party-hearty pose.
It’s were given to be unimaginable to have an actual dialog when a privacy-shattering tv digital camera is 2 toes away, beaming your impromptu dialog out to tens of millions of houses around the globe. So it’s rarely unexpected that the meet-up ends as temporarily because it starts, with Tom announcing, “Well… cool. Alright, man. Have a good time. Enjoy your show.”
“Nice to meet you,” says Dave, realising that the dialog has reached its conclusion.
“What time are you guys on?” asks Kerry from off-camera, breaking the unstated rule that after goodbyes are mentioned, no further questions must be requested.
“Uh… 6:45,” replies Dave, who starts to leap up and down, apparently triumph over by way of an abundance of kinetic power.
“Cool,” says Tom.
“Bye,” says Kerry, and with that, this historical summit involves an in depth.
Watch all of it pass down right here: