As drummer for the legendary Nirvana and front
man for the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl has been
one of the most important and influential
figures in rock music for almost three decades.
Yet despite his fame, Grohl still sometimes
manages to go under the radar.
Here's a look at the untold truth of Dave
Grohl.
"Oh, what's that?
A bell?
Time for school!"
Heartbreaker
After Nirvana broke up in 1994 following the
tragic suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain, Grohl
found himself in high demand.
And he was soon offered an amazing job: as
the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
For his audition, Grohl played with the band
on Saturday Night Live.
No pressure!
Naturally, Grohl killed it.
but he decided to turn down the offer of a
permanent position because he wanted to do
his own music.
It would prove to be the right choice.
Solo artist
Following his brief stint with the Heartbreakers,
Grohl went into the studio intending to record
some demos for some songs he was working on.
He came out with an entire album, playing
every instrument on every song except for
one guitar part on a solitary track.
For the album, he even taught himself how
to play the guitar in a unique fashion, translating
the strings into their drumset equivalents.
He told Rolling Stone,
"The low E string is the kick drum.
The A and D strings are snares.
The G, B, and high E are the cymbals."
Grohl originally intended for the songs to
be released anonymously, but after he got
a record deal, he decided to put the album
out under the name Foo Fighters.
Drum master
Despite being one of the best drummers in
the world, Grohl primarily sings and plays
guitar in Foo Fighters.
That means some poor guy has to play drums
in front of Dave Grohl everyday.
At first, it was William Goldsmith, who Grohl
hired onto the band when he realized he needed
other people in order to perform his songs
live.
But in 1997, during the recording of the second
Foo Fighters album, The Color and the Shape,
Grohl became unhappy with Goldsmith's work,
requiring the poor guy to record 96 takes
for one song, and over 13 hours worth of takes
on another.
Even worse, all of that work got thrown out
later when Grohl decided to just re-record
the drums himself for almost the entire album.
Understandably frustrated, Goldsmith quit
the band, and was later replaced by Taylor
Hawkins, who is still in the group today.
"Was it hard for you to give up being the
drummer?
I mean, a lot of people would say you're the
best drummer of your generation of rock and
roll."
"Well, I disagree with that, but, when you
have a drummer like Taylor Hawkins in your
band.
I don't necessarily miss being the drummer,
because I have the greatest drummer in the
world."
Bad behavior
Grohl has been married to his wife, Jordyn
Blum, since 2003, and they have three daughters
together.
His romantic life hasn't always been so rosy,
however.
He was in a high-profile relationship in 1998
with Louise Post of Veruca Salt … until
he dumped her via long-distance phone call,
simply because he wanted to hook up with Winona
Ryder.
What's sadder: Post got the call right before
a Veruca concert, and she got so drunk, she
could barely play.
Those bad romances came in the wake of Grohl's
first marriage to Jennifer Youngblood, which
ended in divorce in 1997 due to his infidelities.
But it also led to a professional split.
Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear is very good
friends with Youngblood.
When the divorce happened, he sided with Youngblood—so
much so, that he left the Foo Fighters, eventually
reconciling with the band years later.
Dave loves Dave
Foo Fighters are one of the few bands in recent
memory that transcend genre or demographics—it
seems like everybody loves them, even grumpy
old David Letterman.
In 2015, he invited the band to be the last-ever
musical guest on his last-ever Late Night
show.
He had but one request: play their 1997 hit
"Everlong."
So why the Foos, and why "Everlong"?
Back in 2000, Letterman had open heart surgery.
Afterwards, he had one request: he wanted
the Foo Fighters to play his show.
Fan favorite
As much as the fans love Grohl, he loves them
right back.
For example, in 2006, a pair of miners in
Tasmania were trapped underground and sent
a request to rescue workers to have an iPod
full of Foo Fighters songs lowered to them.
Grohl responded first with a heartfelt note,
and then later by giving them free concert
tickets and backstage passes to meet with
him.
He even wrote a song for them, called "Ballad
of the Beaconsfield Miners," which appeared
on the Foo Fighters album Echoes, Silence,
Patience & Grace.
And in 2015, after a group of a thousand Italian
musicians playing the Foo Fighters hit "Learning
to Fly" went viral, Grohl traveled to Italy
to put on a show for them, and even brought
some of them onstage to play the song with
him.
Awesome.
No Love lost
After the death of Kurt Cobain and the end
of Nirvana, there was no love lost between
Grohl and Cobain's widow, Courtney Love.
For 20 years, Grohl and Love took turns suing
each other over the rights to Nirvana's music
while taking petty pot-shots at each other
in public.
"I've never written a song about him so I'm
gonna sing you one right now: When the drummer
tries to sing, everybody better hide!
When the drummer tries to sing, God!
Let's all go inside!
Oh ya all of you that love all things Foo,
Dave I have to tell you, Kurt hated you!"
In recent years, though, the hostility has
subsided, with the pair even embracing when
Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 2014.
"I mean look if you can like, give up a grudge
like that, cause there was a lot of crap that
went on, I think anyone could do it."
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