15 February 2021
Newsdesk
Dave Grohl turned down the chance to become Tom Petty's drummer because he couldn't stomach returning to the stage so soon after Kurt Cobain's death.
The Foo Fighters star has revealed the offer came in just after Nirvana called it a day following Cobain's death in 1994. Grohl had joined Petty's band The Heartbreakers for a Saturday Night Live appearance and the American Girl rocker suggested he should be Stan Lynch's permanent replacement.
"We had so much fun (on SNL) and we all got along so well," Grohl told Howard Stern on Friday. "We played SNL and afterwards he was like, 'Man, that was good. It would be a shame if that’s the only time we do it'.
"And then he called me at home and he's like, 'Well look, if you want... here's how we do it: you get your own bus and we don't tour too hard'. He was kind of explaining like, 'If you’re into it, come out and do it for a little while'.
"I just felt weird about going right back to the drums, because it would have just reminded me of being in Nirvana. It would have been sad for me personally. It would have been an emotional thing to be behind the drum set every night and not have Kurt there. So I was like, 'Nah, f**k it. I'm gonna try this other thing'."
The other thing was Grohl's new band, Foo Fighters.
