Foo Fighters Drop 80-Second Cover Spanning 30 Years—Averaging Just 2.67 Seconds of Progress Annually
By Website Content Manager
Check out the post-grunge giants’ rendition of “I Don’t Wanna Hear It,” originally by hardcore pioneers Minor Threat.
Foo Fighters Share Minor Threat Cover Three Decades in the Making
Foo Fighters have released a blistering cover of Minor Threat’s 1981 punk anthem “I Don’t Wanna Hear It”—a track they began recording nearly 30 years ago.
The iconic post-grunge band initially laid down the instrumental parts back in 1995, with frontman Dave Grohl completing the vocals earlier this year. The result is an 80-second burst of hardcore energy, shared as part of the group’s #FF30 celebration, marking their 30th anniversary.
Accompanying the release is a music video featuring a montage of photos spanning the band’s three-decade journey. They’ve also launched a Substack series that dives into the stories behind all 11 of their studio albums. To cap off the anniversary, the band will hit the road again with live shows across Asia and Central America this October and November.
“I Don’t Wanna Hear It” marks the Foo Fighters’ first new recording since the release of their 2023 album But Here We Are. Since then, the band has navigated a series of internal challenges. In September 2024, Grohl publicly revealed that he had fathered a child outside of his marriage, sparking widespread media attention.
More recently, the band parted ways with drummer Josh Freese in May 2025. Freese, who had joined Foo Fighters in 2023 following the death of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins, said he was “a bit shocked and disappointed” by the decision and noted that no explanation had been provided. The band has not yet commented or announced a replacement.
Grohl, known for his multi-instrumental talents, played drums, bass, and guitar on the 1995 instrumental recording of the Minor Threat cover—mirroring his approach to Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut album, which he recorded almost entirely on his own. That original effort only included one outside contribution: a guitar part on “X-Static” by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.
“I Don’t Wanna Hear It” was first released in June 1981 on Minor Threat’s debut self-titled EP. The track later appeared on the 1984 compilation Minor Threat and again in 1989’s Complete Discography. A rawer demo version surfaced in 2003 on the First Demo Tape release.
Though Minor Threat were only active from 1980 to 1983, their influence on the hardcore punk scene has been profound and long-lasting. They were instrumental in inspiring the straight edge movement—named after their song “Straight Edge”—which promoted a lifestyle of abstinence from drugs and alcohol.
After Minor Threat disbanded, frontman Ian MacKaye went on to co-found the influential post-hardcore group Fugazi in 1986. According to Paul Brannigan’s biography of Dave Grohl, This Is a Call, MacKaye once invited Grohl to join Fugazi, but Grohl declined, as he was already playing drums with the D.C. punk band Scream at the time.