INTERVIEWS4 Foo Fighters Cover Stories for Dave Grohl's 44th Birthday

Dave Grohl turns 44 today, and we're celebrating with four Foo Fighters cover stories from the SPIN archives. Read 'em all for an illuminating look at the nicest dude in rock's evolution from giddy Nirvana grad to a defiant bandleader in his own right:

July 1997: So Happy Together

"Nirvana was nuts, it was crazy. I made my way through all of that other bullshit, and now I'm back to square one. That feels nice." Bonus: SPIN goes to the Playboy Mansion with Pat Smear!

November 2002: The Good Fight

"Shit, it could have been better [without me]. What happened in Nirvana happened because of timing. It could have been us or Jane's Addiction or the Pixies or Hüsker Dü."

August 2005: The Chosen Foo

"If there were anything I could tell a young band, it'd be just "Don't do coke." Go take Ecstasy and fuck your friends and buy giant bags of weed and wear a condom."

November 2007: The Tao of Foo

"Most people just assume that any song I've written about loss or death or anger is about Kurt or Courtney. But I've been surrounded by musicians for 20 fucking years; there's a lot of people that have gone that direction."