“[I met David Bowie] the day before yesterday. And he looks totally fucking amazing! He's 50 years old, he could practically be my parent. He's such a gentleman. It's strange, cos when you meet people like David Bowie and Iggy Pop...you think Iggy Pop's going to be this monster, he's going to vomit on you, he's going to have needles hanging out of his arms - but he wasn't like that at all. He's a sweet guy.”

Dave Grohl (January 1997), Melody Maker, February 1997

"I was surprised at how willing he was to jump into any conversation. When you meet people like David Bowie- and it doesn't happen very often - your expectations are so askew. You don't know whether they're going to be the Big Star, or the Big Star That Tries To Be Nice To The Little Star. With him it's so effortless. He's from another planet, but he's such a human being.

When we were rehearsing the triple drummer thing for 'Hallo Spaceboy', I asked him whether he'd ever been to Brazil and seen the Samba drum troupes at their annual carnival. Each neighbourhood has their own drum troupe - 75 people, 15 with kickdrums, 10 with massive deep snares, 12 with toms and another 50 with tambourines - and it's fucking un-be-lieve-able. And he starts explaining 'Hallo Spaceboy' to me, how it's all about the male tendency to war, and I lost it. Because I'm sitting there looking at his right eye and his left eye and...I just couldn't fucking believe it."

Dave Grohl (January 1997), Melody Maker, February 1997

"Being a drummer and loving solid pop-rock drumming, I love the solidity and power of some of those 'Modern Love' songs. It's hard to choose, because David Bowie is such a chameleon. You have the Ziggy era, you have the soul era, you have the pop/'Modern Love' era...He's covered so many bases."

Dave Grohl (January 1997), Melody Maker, February 1997

“I'll be dead at 50! I would always swear to myself that I would not step foot on a stage after I'm 33 years old. I'm 28, now. Why 33? I don't know. What the fuck?! Look at Mick Jagger. You see this man in tight yellow pants, bouncing around as if he's in a step aerobics class, Keith Richards has just got back from his 85th transfusion, and you think 'This is not going to happen to me.' But then you meet someone like Bowie and it's so inspirational."

Dave Grohl (January 1997), Melody Maker, February 1997