Butterflies

The first time most Foo Fighters fans would have heard 'Butterflies' was in 1995 or 1996 when the band played it during many live sets. What wasn't known by most at the time is that the track had almost been included on the debut Foo Fighters album. Indeed, the track was still present on some of the rough mix tapes Dave Grohl handed out to friends and family in late 1994 but was omitted from the final release.

The history of the song actually goes as far back as 1992, with the first known demo recording completed by Dave Grohl in May of that year. Another demo version was recorded whilst recording Nirvana's last ever studio song in January 1994 but neither of these versions currently circulate publicly.

It was one of 15 songs that Dave Grohl recorded in full for what became the first album but feeling it wasn't as strong as the other 14, it was never released, even as a B-Side to singles. When playing the song at live shows through to 1996 Dave would occasionally mention the tracks unreleased status, without ever suggesting one was forthcoming.

The full band attempted the song at a recording session in early 1996, with a thought towards including it on the next studio album, but this did not materialise and no studio version of the song has ever been officially released, although copies of the latest two demos do circulate among fans.

The track was played relatively regularly in the first years of the band with over 100 performances but by 1997 it seemed to have been shelved entirely. Dave Grohl did return to the song for an acoustic radio session in 2000 but it wouldn't be seen live on stage again until a surprising couple of appearances on the set list during shows in early 2011, whilst the band were promoting the 'Wasting Light' album in small venues.