The 1980s song Dave Grohl wishes he wrote: “That’s why I recorded my own version”
Dave Grohl never claimed to be a snob about music. From the minute that he picked up a drumstick and a guitar, Grohl had wanted to use his music to make people happy. That could be through the world of punk, and it could also be the sunniest pop music you’ve heard in your life.
It’s part of the man’s charm. He hasn’t ever seemed too good for a certain genre, or found himself atop such a momentous mountain that he would take a dip in a local valley from time to time. From adding disco beats to Nirvana to championing almost any music that made his hips shake, Grohl loves music, no matter the genre or category or, most importantly, the perception.
For years, Grohl has held firm to his punk roots, mentioning some of the lesser-known lights of punk rock that never got their time in the spotlight, like Naked Raygun, for example. When talking about some of the songs he wished he had written, however, Grohl singled out one of the most upbeat songs in pop music history.
When asked about the songs he wished he had created, Grohl mentioned ‘Kids in America’ by Kim Wilde, saying: “Every punk-rock boy I knew was hopelessly in love with Kim Wilde, and so was I. That’s why I recorded my own version of ‘Kids in America’. It was in the days before I joined Nirvana – maybe 1989 – and I did it on a whim”.
Listening to Grohl’s version of the song, you can hear him just getting a hold of what would become Foo Fighters, still sounding in the same vein as Nirvana, but putting a more positive spin on it by the end. ‘Kids in America’ isn’t a song that you can sing on a downbeat without trying to sound like Elliott Smith, so Grohl’s options to take it into a punk world with a bit of fun land pretty perfectly.
Even though ‘Kids in America’ is a part of children’s television around the world these days, Wilde also had a punk rock streak at the time, sounding a lot grimier than the more photogenic female rockers like The GoGos or Madonna.
Outside of the cheesy side of rock and roll, Grohl also had a love for his hometown heroes from DC, Bad Brains. When asked about some of the songs he wanted to write, he singled out their song ‘Sailin On’, saying: “I was in love with their music – it was so fast, so distorted, so dissonant. It made me want to drink a hundred beers and break windows. Now, if that’s not a good enough reason why I wish it had been written by me”.
The Foo Fighters never shied away from that hardcore influence either. On the band’s first album, Grohl gets in touch with the heavier side of rock on songs like ‘Weenie Beenie’ and even featured some of his friends from the hardcore scene for the track ‘Feast and the Famine’ off of Sonic Highways.
When talking about the songs that he would call perfect, Grohl also turns back to the Beatles, singling out John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ as one of the songs that taught him how to play. He explained: “When I was young, and I first started playing guitar – around the age of 10 or 11 years old – I would sit and strum along to John Lennon’s records all day long. That’s how I learned to play guitar – John was my teacher”.
Although Grohl was born and bred out of the punk scene in Washington, DC, his upbringing was never limited to the gnarliest punk rock. It always comes down to the power of the song, and whether it’s a piece of ‘80s cheese or punk rock mayhem, it’s alright in Grohl’s book.
