Dave Grohl digs deep into Foo Fighters' "The Teacher" on 'Song Exploder' podcast

Dave Grohl guests on the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast, in which musicians go deep into explaining how a particular song of theirs came together.

For his appearance, Grohl talks with host Hrishikesh Hirway about the Foo Fighters song "The Teacher," a 10-minute track that appears on the band's new album, But Here We Are. Grohl shares that the track is about his late mother, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, who he confirms passed away in 2022, just months after the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

"Last year, I went through a period of really deep mourning, because I lost two very important people in my life," Grohl says.

Grohl explains that, as he cared for his mother up until her passing, he would write new music on the guitar each day.

"I felt like if I didn't have that release, I would explode," Grohl says. "I would spend the day at the hospital and then come back to my house, and try to translate it musically, with no clear intention of what I was trying to achieve. I was just finding these chords and progressions that mirrored the way that I felt."

Eventually, those chord progressions would form the foundation of what became "The Teacher."

"She was the most important person in my entire life," Grohl says of his mom. "So I thought, 'This has to be the most important music I've ever made.' And that's when 'The Teacher' started to take shape."

The episode also includes various voice memos and demo recordings of "The Teacher." You can listen now via SongExploder.net or via the podcast platform of your choice.