The album Dave Grohl called the “most underrated American” rock record ever made
In recent years, Dave Grohl fans have positioned him as one of rock’s godfathers, a gatekeeper of culture whose say on records, good and bad, is a mantra upon which people build their taste. This is fair, given the fact that for the past 30 years, he’s sat deeply within the cultural zeitgeist, be it at the drum kit or behind the microphone.
A Dave Grohl seal of approval on DIY or underground tracks understandably sparks excitement amongst fans and hopeful musicians, because he is one of the few living bridges between Pyramid Stage stardom to sweaty venues from the independent scene, a world he has remained a bastion of since the heady days of Nirvana’s Seattle come up. But before the power chords of Nirvana became the soundtrack of 1990’s alternative America, who was Grohl harvesting his now revered taste with?
In a walk down a musical memory lane for Melody Maker, Grohl remembered a particular album that resonated with him in a quintessentially adolescent way. Listing the albums that inspired Grohl’s life, he said: “Oh fuck! I haven’t picked any Hüsker Dü! Jeez, that’s unforgivable. If I had to pick one LP, it’d be Zen Arcade. This is a triple LP that they recorded in about 48 hours. They just took acid, stayed up for two days, and turned out this fucking incredible album. Once again, it’s a hardcore band who’ve started writing pop songs, even folk songs, and this LP captures such an incredible recording moment, such a rush of genius, you get the feeling it could never be repeated again.”
Grohl worships the mythology and production of this record in a way so familiar to music fans that you can almost visualise him in the kitchen of a house party, probably invading your personal space, telling you about the drum fills on ‘Broken Home, Broken Heart’.
It’s indeed an expansive record that blended classic rock melodic tropes with punk rhythm sections and vocal takes. In 1984 America where a powerful but polished rock sound was popular, for a 16 year old Grohl it would have undoubtedly been a record that allowed him to understand how his energetic intensity could fit within the landscape of popular rock music.
Come the emergence of Nirvana five years later and their debut album Bleach in 1989, you can see the hallmarks of Hüsker Dü’s influence on their sound and Grohl’s drum parts in particular.
Speaking to Mojo, Grohl said “I was a huge fan of Hüsker Dü. Their album Zen Arcade is one of the most underrated American rock ‘n’ roll records of all time. And only recently did I realise how much I’ve ripped Bob off for the last 16 years! I met him for the first time last summer and said, ‘You know that I’d be nowhere and nobody without your music, right?’ and he very politely nodded and said: ‘I know’.”
It’s an influence Grohl isn’t afraid to wear on his sleeve, either. While melodic and rhythmic influences from artists are commonplace and a natural step in music’s evolution, the same can’t be said for direct lyrical references.
As Foo Fighters tour the globe playing sold-out stadiums and festival headline slots, fans eagerly await ‘Times Like These’ and the chance to belt out “I’m a new day rising” in the second verse, utterly unaware they’re, in fact, singing the name of Hüsker Dü’s third album.
While Hüsker Dü may not have become the household names that Nirvana and Foo Fighters went on to be, perhaps the poetic irony of seeing millions of second-hand fans screaming their album title arm in arm is somewhat of a conciliation.
