DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT Says Foo Fighters TAYLOR HAWKINS One Of The Greatest Modern Drummers

Saturday, 2nd April 2022

Def Leppard 2022

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott has commented of the sad passing of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins during his weekly radio show.

Joe was speaking during his weekly Planet Rock radio show earlier tonight.

He commented on Taylor's death which happened in Bogota, Colombia on Friday 25th March.

Due to timing issues he was not able to address it on last week's show but played three Foo Fighters songs in his honour tonight.

He also played the Def Leppard song 'White Lightning' from 'Adrenalize' and explained the similarity between this situation and that of Def Leppard with Steve Clark's death in 1991.

Read his comments below where he states that Taylor was "One of the greatest modern drummers" - which of course for those of us who've followed him and enjoyed his drumming since 1995 will very much agree with.

Alanis Morissette Band 1995-1996

From April 1995 to December 1996 Taylor was introduced to a worldwide audience as the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette as her 'Jagged Little Pill' album sold over 30 million copies.

Over 200 live shows were played by her band which also featured future Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney along with Taylor in a group they jokingly called 'Sexual Chocolate' (from the movie 'Coming To America').

View their first major US TV appearance on David Letterman performing You Oughta Know in 1995. Mine and many others first glimpse of Taylor's drumming after seeing the promo video.

Foo Fighters 1997-2022

Taylor joined the Foo Fighters in early 1997 after leaving Alanis' band and replacing William Goldsmith.

View the first major TV appearance for Taylor with the Foo Fighters in May 1997 on TFI Friday in the UK. The band performed new singe 'Monkey Wrench' on the show days before starting their tour in Cambridge, England (not that far from where Def Leppard filmed their new video for 'Kick'.

Once again the first time most people saw Taylor in the band after the promo video had debuted on MTV a few weeks before.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

The Joe Elliott Show - 2nd April 2022 Interview Quotes - (Transcribed by dltourhistory)

Show Introduction

"Always a pleasure to be with you although obviously this week very sad to hear about the news of Taylor Hawkin's passing."

"Um it's just over a week since it happened which sadly happened just after I'd recorded my last show. So I didn't say anything otherwise obviously I would have done."

"What a life force that man was. An incredible drummer. One of the greatest modern drummers there's ever been. What a lovely, humble, sweet guy he was as well."

"He's gonna be severely missed by his family, by his band mates and of course by us his fans."

"We're gonna be celebrating his life tonight with a bunch of Foo Fighters songs that are gonna be in tonight's show. Mixed in with a lot of new music tonight actually as well which I think Taylor Hawkins would actually approve of."

Foo Fighters/Steve Clark

"Yeah I still can't believe it myself actually. Of course most of you will know that I've been through this myself with Steve Clark 30 years ago. So I know how the guys feel."

"All we can hope for is that they take a bit of time to let themselves grieve. Circle the wagons, and just wait it out and then decide what they wanna do."

"And of course life does go on and let's hope for the sake of the rest of the band and their fans that they do decide to honor his memory by carrying on."

"It's the right thing to do I think. They ultimately make that decision not me. But as I said it's so sad."

Foo Fighters

"My third and final Foo Fighters song for tonight. But what a song!. In my humble opinion it's one of the greatest things that they've ever done. And inspiring for me to think that they're writing songs that good almost 30 years into their career. If it was the last thing that Taylor Hawkins ever played on it would have been a great way to go out. But a) it wasn't the last track on the album. And b) I know for a fact that there's music in the can by both the Foo Fighters and Taylor as a solo artist. So we do have that to look forward to at some time in the future. But what we just heard there is from their latest album Medicine At Midnight. The song Waiting On A War."

Relive Joe's very cool chat with Dave Grohl from last October via these links.