Rumors have swirled over the years that Kurt Cobain was the lyrical inspiration for one of Dave Grohl’s most personal Foo Fighters songs, “My Hero.” However, Dave used his appearance on The Howard Stern Show to set the record straight when Howard suggested it was about Kurt. Dave said it was instead about “ordinary, everyday, working-class heroes,” and that he looked up to “regular people more than [celebrities].” Dave then performed an intimate solo acoustic rendition of “My Hero.”
Seeing Dave perform without the power of the Foos behind him really brings out the emotions of the song. The Music Man has to say it’s great to hear Dave’s husky voice here in all its glory, without anything else taking up the sonic bandwidth. It’s easy to see why, after 20 million views later, this remains one of the most popular performances in the history of the show. Seeing late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins sitting next to Dave and joining the interview makes this an especially special moment for fans.
Dave’s performance of “My Hero” became the sixth most-viewed performance ever on The Howard Stern Show. Viewers had a lot to say about the performance and interview, and added comments such as “Man, I bet it was hard for him when they mentioned Kurt right away. He handled it well” and “Look at the smile on Taylor’s face as he listens to Dave.” Other viewers noted that the performance took on a different meaning now that not only Kurt, but also Taylor, has passed.
The best performances of “My Hero” are always the acoustic cuts. Dave performed the song with Billie Eilish in 2022, nine months after Taylor died. Dave said that he and the Hawkins family appreciated it when Billie wore a Taylor Hawkins t-shirt at her Grammys performance. Dave then said, “Let’s sing it for Taylor.” The way the crowd sings along with Dave in this performance is really poignant. You can really feel the emotions coming from Dave here after he opened with the comments about Taylor.
A number of commenters criticized The Howard Stern Show co-host Robin Quivers for insisting that she thought “My Hero” was about Kurt Cobain, even after Dave had just said that it was not about the Nirvana frontman. However, The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that there is actually a good reason as to why Robin would think that. In a June 1997 interview with Vox magazine, the interviewer asked if Dave was talking about Kurt Cobain in “My Hero.” Dave replied: “There’s definitely an element of Kurt in that song. It was probably inspired by him. That was probably my realization that these people who are normal human beings can be way more than a famous figure.” However, it seems that for whatever reason, Dave has since walked that back, and by the time of his 1999 Howard Stern interview, he fairly firmly said it was not inspired by Kurt.