Taylor Hawkins ruled on the drums long before he joined the Foo Fighters. Exhibit A: this video from 1987, in which the talented teenage Hawkins plays his ninth grade battle of the bands.

Wearing a white shirt and a black bow tie befitting a busboy at a fancy restaurant far more than a musician rocking out to an adoring audience, Hawkins covers Van Halen’s “Panama” with his band at Hawkins’ Laguna Beach High School in California.

Screams consistently fill the auditorium during the performance, which really has no right being as good or as entertaining as it. Besides showing how good the young Hawkins already was, the video showcases two pretty amazing tasseled-jackets that deserve just as much adoration.

It would be ten years after this video was shot when Hawkins would join up with the Foo Fighters, replacing William Goldsmith on drums. The band’s last album, Sonic Highways, was released in November of 2014. The band has been touring this summer, despite Dave Grohl breaking his leg during a show in Sweden this past June.

Hawkins has also released two solo albums with the band Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, the self-titled 2006 debut release and 2010’s Red Light Fever.

What other musicians would you like to see rocking out before they got famous? Well, besides all the ones that got their start on the Disney Channel. Tell us in the comment sections below.

HT: Entertainment Weekly