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‘Let’s Go Crazy: A Grammy Salute To Prince’: Foo Fighters cover 'Darling Nikki', fans say Prince never approved

In 2003, when the Foo Fighters had fashioned their own cover of Purple Rain's familiar ode to auto-eroticism, 'Darling Nikki,' they reached out to Prince for approval and he refused

BY JENIFER GONSALVES

PUBLISHED APR 22, 2020

Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, Dave Grohl, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear of The Foo Fighters (Getty Images)

11-time Grammy winners perform their cover of 'Darling Nikki' for the first time in 20 years, but fans aren't sure if this was the best choice.

Naturally, some fans were over the moon seeing the band perform. As one fan eloquently puts it, "FOO FIGHTERS OH YM GOFOD DAVE !!!!!!! DAVE F*CKING GROHL #GRAMMYSalutePrince," while another stated, "DAMN #davegrohl@foofighters make this a rock show!! #iminlove #Prince"

Some viewers were a fan of the Foo Fighters' version of the classic, tweeting "I love this cover of #DarlingNikki by @foofighters #GRAMMYSalutePrince," while others couldn't believe it had been two decades since the band last performed the song, stating "Foo Fighters haven't played "Darling Nikki" in 20 years?!?! #GRAMMYSalutePrince"

Not all have been a fan of the tribute so far, but this performance helped save the day for them. One fan stated, "OK WOW. The Special has been partially saved with this @foofighters performance. #GRAMMYSalutePrince"

Frontman Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters performs at the Intersect music festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on December 7, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Getty Images)

Others, however, were angered that the show got the Foo Fighters to perform a version of the song that Prince said he did not like. One viewer tweeted, "PRINCE DIDNT LIKE IT FOR A REASON.. NOW YALL GON LET THE FOO FIGHTERS DO IT?!! #GRAMMYSalutePrince y’all disrespectful" while others were already predicting the performance would fail before it even began, stating "I'm prepared for The Foo Fighters to suck. #PrinceTribute"

And their prediction was seemingly confirmed by a few viewers as one tweeted, "Now I know why Prince didn’t like this Foo Fighters cover"

Even fans of the band found it hard to get behind the performance, tweeting "I LOOOOOVE The Foo Fighters. So this always pains me."

Some viewers, however, were amused that the song was being played on cable at all. "Foo Fighters doing Darling Nikki on cable television oh my god lmao," tweeted a viewer alluding to the song's heavily sexually charged lyrics and explicit references to masturbation. The song's titular 'Nikki' is described as being a 'sex fiend' and 'seductress' throughout the song. The song's ending features lyrics played in reverse and when played unreversed, reveal Prince singing "Hello, how are you? / Fine, fine, 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon / Coming, coming soon."