10 Hidden Details In Legendary Rock Songs

The entire concept of Sonic Highways was already a big undertaking before the Foo Fighters even got started. Looking to document the different styles of American music, the band had to crisscross the entire country, working out of different legendary studios and internalizing the culture that they saw in every single city. Going back to Seattle was a little more haunting for Dave Grohl though, and he managed to translate that strange feeling behind the drumkit on Subterranean.

While the track was coming together well enough in the studio, there was some added element that just wasn't working, with Dave thinking that the drums needed to have a sort of tension to them. After brainstorming different ideas of what to do, Taylor Hawkins suggested breaking up the drums into different sections, with Dave playing the cymbals while Taylor covered the rest of the percussion. Although the documentary shows them making fun of the concept for a little while, it only took a few takes before things started to gel, with both Dave and Taylor playing in sync with each other without missing a single hit.

For all of the tributes that have come out in Taylor's memory recently, this is one of the biggest things to miss about him, having an almost symbiotic relationship with Dave and always finding creative ways to give us something we hadn't heard before. There might be two overqualified drummers playing this song, but by bringing in two people, the track ends up feeling a lot more human.