Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett Picks Hanoi Rocks’ Andy McCoy As His Rock God

If anyone wondered what Foo FightersChris Shiflett‘s rock God is, the guitarist shared his pick with Raised on Radio. Shiflett’s high school years, in the mid-80s, consisted of Hanoi Rocks and Andy McCoy‘s guitar playing, which not only opened his eyes to European rock but also became a massive influence on him growing up.

Shiflett shared that when he was growing up, his brother had brought a Hanoi Rocks record titled ‘Two Steps from the Move.’ It was around the time the band was on the cover of rock magazines like Kerrang! He was familiar with bands in the US, but their vibe was so different from everything he heard.

The guitarist explained that McCoy’s guitar playing taught him so much about playing that he even tried to emulate his ways of handling a guitar. Even all these years later, he still loves to listen to his Hanoi Rocks records consistently.

Chris Shiflett’s words about his rock God Andy McCoy:

“Hello everybody, this is Chris Shiflett from the Foo Fighters, and the artist I’d like to choose is my rock God is, Andy McCoy, from the legendary Hanoi Rocks; when I was in junior high in the mid-80s, I remember my brother brought home a Hanoi Rocks record it was ‘Two Steps from the Move,’ and it was right around the time that came out and we had seen some pictures of Hanoi Rocks in our Kerrang! magazines, and they just, I’d never heard them, but just the way that they looked was like a left turn; it was rock, and it was punk rock and just super duper what I imagined European rock and roll to sound like.”

He added:

“They were like a portal into this fantasy land of what was out there in the world that I hadn’t, you know, no real knowledge of, and it’s just a gigantic influence on me and Annie McCoy’s guitar playing at that time I don’t know he might be the most influential guitar player to me. I’d like definitely tried hard to emulate a lot of what he did, and the songwriter in the band as well, so I think he wrote all those great songs. For people that have never heard of Hanoi Rocks, it’s worth diving into that catalog. I still listen to him; my Hanoi Rocks records a ton.”

Take Chris’ words for it and give Hanoi Rocks a chance if you have yet to discover them; it might also influence you, just like it did for the Foo Fighters guitarist. The record that he and his brother got introduced to the band ‘Two Steps from the Move’ could be an excellent starting point.