Dave Grohl doesn’t believe people can guess his bandmate Pat Smear’s favorite musical artist.
Considering the origins of his career as co-founder of the Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs, his time in Nirvana, and his many years in Foo Fighters, one might assume that Smear’s favorite musician lies somewhere within the rock, punk rock, or even heavy metal realm — but that assumption would be incorrect.
During an appearance on the Broken Record podcast, Grohl asked host Justin Richmond if he could guess Smear’s top artist and told him, “You’re just not gonna get it.”
Richmond asked if the musician was from the ’80s or ’90s and initially guessed Guns N’ Roses.
“So right, you would think it would be maybe some rock ‘n’ roll, maybe some glitter from the ’70s right? Maybe some punk rock, maybe some prog,” Grohl teased.
“Number one: Mariah Carey.”
Grohl noted that Smear saw The Sex Pistols’ legendary final concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in 1978 and acknowledged the guitarist’s resume of bands he’s worked with — none of which would indicate he is a Mariah Carey superfan.
Smear’s fondness for Carey isn’t too far off from rock though — the singer actually recorded a secret grunge album in the mid-’90s called Someone’s Ugly Daughter. A version of the record was released in ’95 by Chick, featuring Clariss Dane on vocals, but Carey’s version remains unreleased.
READ MORE: Dave Grohl Names Huge ’90s Grunge Band As His ‘Favorite Band Now’
Foo Fighters played a few of the songs with Taylor Momsen on vocals the night before the Grammy Awards this past February at the 2026 MusiCares Person of the Year event, which honored Carey. Apparently, it was Smear’s idea to have Momsen sing the tracks with them.
“It was a random call on… a Wednesday, Pat called me and left a message and he goes, ‘Hey I have a favor to ask you, [it] involves Mariah Carey. Call me back,’ And I didn’t… What does that mean?” Momsen recalled of how the collaboration came about during a conversation with Loudwire Nights.
“I call him back and he proceeds to tell me, ‘She’s getting honored this year at MusiCares, she has this secret grunge record,’ which I strangely had heard about and was familiar with… He sent me the songs and I took a listen and it was an easy yes.”
For more ’90s throwbacks, see how we ranked the best hard rock and metal albums that came out in the decade below.
Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1990s
