Taylor Hawkins discussed new collaboration with Brian May in their final phone call
May also praises Hawkins' drumming prowess
Last updated 29th Apr 2022
Queen guitarist Brian May says Taylor Hawkins spoke with him about a new collaboration just a week before the Foo Fighters drummer’s untimely death last month.
Brian May was the very special guest on My Planet Rocks with Liz Barnes last night (24th April) to celebrate the reissue of his second solo album ‘Another World’, which featured Taylor Hawkins on drums on the track ‘Cyborg.’
Hawkins went on to collaborate with Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor numerous times over the years both in the studio and on stage.
Reflecting upon first working with his good friend Taylor Hawkins 24 years ago, Brian May told us: “It was wonderful. Not because he was the famous Taylor Hawkins or the famous Foo Fighters, because they weren't famous by then - they were just starting off and they were great in those early days. There was a fantastic sort of raw magic.
“I remember seeing them in Brixton Academy blowing the place apart. They didn't seem to take themselves seriously, they just kind of knocked down all the barriers and Taylor was a kid, really. He’d just come out of drumming for Alanis Morissette and he had an opportunity now to do what he really wanted to do, which was to play hard rock (music).”
Reflecting upon Hawkins’ love for Queen, May continued: “The funny thing was, he turned out to be the greatest Queen fan in the world. That was always a shock to me because he seemed to be a lot cooler than we were. I think Taylor Hawkins single-handedly made Queen cool to a new generation. He knew everything about us... everything!
“At that point, he and (Foo Fighters guitarist) Pat Smear gave us an award at some ceremony - I can't even remember what it was now - but it became obvious at that point really early on that they knew everything. They knew more about us than we knew! It's always been a great thing.
“So, he was excited to come in and play (on 'Cyborg'). I was excited to have him in there because my god, I hadn't really seen anybody hit the drums like that.”
Continuing to heap praise on Taylor Hawkins’ drum playing, May continued: “Now I've seen a lot of the world's greatest drummers and (I’ve) been very fortunate to work with them, but Taylor was like some kind of lightning. I don't know what it was that he had in his body but it's extraordinary.
“Whenever I saw Foo Fighters concerts, I ended up just watching Taylor the whole time because the way his body moves and the precision, the speed, the passion was extraordinary. There are some extraordinary drummers around, and I know lots of them, but Taylor, I think everyone will agree, was a very, very special boy. A very special golden boy.”
Commenting on his final phone call with Hawkins, May said they spoke about making new music together.
“He's one of these people who retained his kind of childlike quality,” May said. “He never grew up. He never became jaded with anything. I was speaking to him a week before this terrible accident happened and he was full of joys, just full of laughs and full of fun. (He was) saying, ‘when are we going to get together?! We need to make more music!’, all this kind of stuff.”
He added: “I don't like to wallow in tragedy. I don't like to linger there. But this is life. Life is full of pain and joy, and sorrow and grief. You have to come through it all and just kind of live with it and live it. And music is a great way of healing, I think more than anything else. We all heal by sharing stuff through music and God knows rock music is the best music for that. That's why I do it. I don't think there's any other music which is food for the soul like rock music is.”
A few days after Taylor Hawkins’ death, Queen’s Roger Taylor was honoured with an OBE at Windsor Castle dedicated it to Hawkins.
Taylor Hawkins died at Casa Medina hotel in Bogotá, Colombia exactly a month ago on Friday 25th March shortly before Foo Fighters were due to headline Festival Estereo Picnic.
The expanded reissue of Brian May’s second studio album ‘Another World’ is out now.
Listen to Brian May on My Planet Rocks:
You can listen to Brian May’s full interview with Liz Barnes on My Planet Rocks for the next six days below. The show is also repeated at 9pm on Wednesday 27th April on Planet Rock.
The rejected working titles of 20 famous rock albums:
Metallica – ‘Metal Up Your Ass’ (final title: ‘Kill ‘Em All’)
Metallica's seminal debut album 'Kill 'Em All' from 1983 was originally set to be called 'Metal Up Your Ass' and featured artwork of a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl. The band changed it to 'Kill 'Em All' upon the advice of late Megaforce Records founder Jon Zazula who was rightfully worried that distributors may refuse to stock the album. Metallica did later release a 'Metal Up Your Ass' T-shirt containing the proposed artwork, and a 1982 bootleg recording of Metallica's show at the Old Waldorf also featured the sleeve.
Metallica – ‘Metal Up Your Ass’ (final title: ‘Kill ‘Em All’)
Metallica's rejected 'Metal Up Your Ass' artwork and album title. Fan sites claims that late-great bassist Cliff Burton renamed the album when out of anger, he said, "I hate the managers. Let's just Kill 'Em All".
Iron Maiden – ‘Food for Thought’ (final title: ‘Piece of Mind’)
Iron Maiden initially called their fourth studio album 'Food for Thought' after the heavy metal legends opted to include a lobotomised Eddie on the sleeve. However, when Maiden decamped to Jersey to write songs for the 1983 record, they changed the title to 'Piece of Mind' during a boozy session in the pub.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Dr Johnny Skinz's Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head’ (final title: ‘I’m With You’)
Easily the most jaw-dropping working title on our list, Red Hot Chili Peppers took inspiration for the 'Dr Johnny Skinz's Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head' album moniker from an acid trip one of Anthony Kiedis' friends had. Kiedis told Spin: "(My friend) was reminiscing about one of his legendary acid trips and told us that he had been playing a sold-out show to the planets and moons, and his Number One hit was, well, that title." Red Hot Chili Peppers sadly ditched the title and called their 2011 album 'I'm With You.' Boo!
Pixies – ‘Whore’ (final title: ‘Doolittle’)
In keeping with many of the biblical themes embraced on Pixies' second studio album, Black Francis initially called it 'Whore' in reference to the Whore of Babylon. The song 'Hey' also features the lyrics "Must be a devil between us / Or whores in my head / Whores at the door / Whore in my bed." In the end, Pixies called their 1989 album 'Doolittle.'
Pink Floyd – ‘Eclipse’ (final title: ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’)
Pink Floyd had always wanted to call their 1973 magnum opus 'The Dark Side of the Moon', however they were forced into a rethink when they discovered that blues rock band Medicine Head had called their third album 'Dark Side of the Moon' a year earlier. The title was temporarily change to 'Eclipse'; however Pink Floyd ditched the title once they discovered that Medicine Head's album was a commercial flop. Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Green Day – ‘Liquid Dookie’ (final title: ‘Dookie’)
Inspired by their poor diets on tour that led them to get bouts of diarrhoea, pop punk stalwarts Green Day initially wanted to call their third studio album 'Liquid Dookie.' "We had a faecal fascination in those years," admitted drummer Tré Cool. The title was deemed "too gross" by their label Reprise and trio settled on a shortened 'Dookie' for their 1993 tour-de-force.
KISS – ‘Who Dares Wins’ (final title: ‘Crazy Nights’)
Late drummer Eric Carr came up with the idea to call KISS's 14th album 'Who Dares Wins' after seeing the slogan on a piece of clothing. "During a photo session, our wardrobe girl had this commando patch lying around with 'Who Dares Wins' on it, and I said, 'Hey, what a great idea for an album title!'," Carr said. "Then she brought it over to Paul (Stanley) who said the same thing. We ended up not using it because it didn't look good in print, and it sounded as if no one would understand it." Despite KISS ditching the title for 'Crazy Nights', 'Who Dares Wins' featured in some Japanese advertisements for the record.
Fleetwood Mac – ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ (final title: ‘Rumours’)
While recording their 11th studio album at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California back in 1976, Fleetwood Mac gave it the title 'Yesterday's Gone' from the lyrics to their future single 'Don't Stop.' John McVie came up with the final 'Rumours' title as he felt the respective Fleetwood Mac band members were writing "journals and diaries" about each other through the music.
U2 – ‘The Two Americas’ (final title: ‘The Joshua Tree’)
With many of the lyrics contrasting antipathy towards the politics of the United States with the band's deep fascination with the vast country, U2 frontman and lyricist Bono initially wanted to call the band's fifth album 'The Two Americas'. He said, "I started to see two Americas, the mythic America and the real America." Another working title was 'The Desert Songs', however it was changed to 'The Joshua Tree' when U2 decamped to the Mojave Desert with photographer Anton Corbijn to shoot some images for the sleeve. Corbijn suggested the title and Bono was suitably impressed when he read up about Joshua trees' (Yucca brevifolia) links to Mormon legend.
The Clash – ‘Last Testament’ (final title: ‘London Calling’)
According to Billboard, The Clash were going to call their third album 'Last Testament' in keeping with the notion that the double LP would close a chapter in music history that had begun with Elvis Presley's RCA debut in 1956. Although the working title was ditched in favour of 'London Calling', The Clash directly parodied the design for the 'Elvis Presley' sleeve on their album cover. Instead of Elvis it featured the iconic Pennie Smith photograph of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his Fender Precision Bass on stage in New York in September 1979.
David Bowie – ‘New Music: Night and Day’ (final title: ‘Low’)
David Bowie called his experimental 11th studio album 'New Music: Night And Day' and it still had the title when Bowie's schoolfriend George Underwood commenced work on the album artwork. Bowie changed the title to 'Low' at the eleventh hour and the album was already mentioned in various forthcoming release lists for January 1977 as 'New Music: Night And Day.' The labels on some international cassette editions of 'Low' also featured the 'New Music: Night and Day' title on the cassette sticker but the final title on the sleeve.
Led Zeppelin – ‘Thanksgiving’ (final title: ‘Presence’)
Led Zeppelin completed work on their seventh album on 26th November 1975, the day before Thanksgiving, leading Robert Plant to suggest naming it after the American holiday. The idea was quickly abandoned. Designer Aubrey Powell suggest the title 'Obelisk' in reference to the mysterious black object on the record sleeve, however the band opted for 'Presence' instead. Jimmy Page explains: "The record-jacket designer said 'When I think of the group, I always think of power and force. There's a definite presence there.' That was it. He wanted to call it 'Obelisk'. To me, it was more important what was behind the obelisk."
The Who – ‘Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy’ (final title ‘Tommy’)
In keeping with the story of Tommy Walker, The Who wanted to call their upcoming rock opera album 'Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy'. Pete Townshend said in 1968: "The package I hope is going to be called 'Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy' is a story about a kid that's born deaf, dumb and blind and what happens to him throughout his life ... But what it's really all about is the fact that ... he's seeing things basically as vibrations which we translate as music." When the album was released in 1969, they settled on Tommy Walker's first name 'Tommy' for its title.
Queen – ‘The Invisible Men’ (final title: ‘The Miracle’)
Queen's 13th studio album was all set to be called 'The Invisible Men' after the song 'The Invisible Man', however drummer Roger Taylor says that just three weeks prior to release they changed it to 'The Miracle.'
Bon Jovi - ‘Sons of Beaches’ (final title: ‘New Jersey’)
After achieving global success with their blockbuster third album 'Slippery When Wet', Bon Jovi commenced work on the follow-up in early 1988 under the working title of 'Sons of Beaches'. It's lifted from the lines "I can see those sons of beaches / With the surf and the sand and they're living it up" from penultimate album song '99 in the Shade.' It was eventually ditched in favour of 'New Jersey' in homage to Bon Jovi's home state.
Nirvana – ‘I Hate Myself And I Want To Die’ (final title: ‘In Utero’)
Now reluctant global rock icons thanks to the surprise success of 'Nevermind', Kurt Cobain wanted to call Nirvana's third album 'I Hate Myself And I Want To Die.' The title was based on Cobain's standard reply whenever someone asked him how he was doing and was intended as a joke. Bassist Krist Novoselic talked Cobain out of the idea and Nirvana adopted a new title 'Verse Chorus Verse' before settling on 'In Utero', which was lifted from a line in one of Courtney Love's poems.
Sex Pistols – ‘God Save the Sex Pistols’ (final title: ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols’)
Sex Pistols were originally going to give their only studio album the relatively tame title of 'God Save the Sex Pistols'; a play on the title of their anti-monarchy anthem 'God Save the Queen.' At Steve Jones' suggestion, album name was changed to the more anarchic 'Never Mind the Bollocks…' after Jones heard two fans using the phrase. John Lydon said it was a working classic expression meaning to "stop talking rubbish."
The Rolling Stones - ‘Automatic Changer’ (final title: ‘Let It Bleed’)
The artwork to The Rolling Stones' eighth studio album, which depicts a surreal sculpture of a phonograph designed by Robert Brownjohn and a cake made my Delia Smith, was inspired by the working title 'Automatic Changer'. The 'Let It Bleed' title reportedly came from when Keith Richards' fingers were bleeding while recording the album. Refusing to stop playing his guitar, Keith apparently said "let it bleed."
David Bowie – ‘Shilling the Rubes’ (final title: ‘Young Americans’)
Seemingly unable to choose a suitable name for his ninth studio album, David Bowie gave it a number of working titles including 'Dancin', 'Somebody Up There Likes Me', 'One Damned Song', 'The Gouster', 'Fascination' and the somewhat bizarre 'Shilling the Rubes.' He eventually called it 'Young Americans' in keeping with his blue-eyed soul anthem of the same name, which opened the record.
Nirvana – ‘Sheep’ (final title: ‘Nevermind’)
Kurt Cobain initially called Nirvana's second album 'Sheep' in an apparent dig at the flocks of people who might buy the record. He even poked fun at the title in his journal, writing: "Because you want to not; because everyone else is." They eventually settle on the deliberately misspelt title 'Nevermind' as it was a metaphor for Cobain's attitude on life.