The Beatles album Dave Grohl called “Timeless”
Dave Grohl, like so many of us, grew up with a huge appreciation for The Beatles and their music. Unlike the vast majority, however, the Foo Fighters frontman has had the chance not only to meet one of the Fab Four but to form a friendship with him. Grohl’s first guitar – bought for him by his mother when he was eleven – was accompanied by a Beatles songbook. It must have felt a little surreal when he was introduced to Paul McCartney at a tribute concert for George Harrison so many years later.
Recalling their first meeting, Grohl said: “I noticed Paul McCartney out of the corner of my eye, chatting away with friends, and I couldn’t help but stare. What happened next will forever remain a blur. I don’t recall exactly how Paul and I were introduced, what was said, or how long we talked, but I do remember putting on my best ‘this is not the most incredible thing ever to happen to me’ face while trying to keep from making a fool of myself.”
Not long after that first meeting, Dave was asked to name some of his favourite records for Melody Maker. The former Nirvana drummer was quick to highlight his affection for The Beatles’ 1968 self-titled album, otherwise known as The White Album. “What year did this come out?” Grohl began, clearly still bewildered by just how ahead-of-its-time the record sounds.
After the technicolour excess of Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album was intended as a more pared-back venture, though it’s still jam-packed with innovative studio techniques. It is also perhaps the least conceptual of all The Beatles’ latter-day albums, largely because, by this point, the divergent creative visions of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr would have made crafting something as uniform as Sgt. Pepper’s practically impossible. Lennon’s surreal collage ‘Revolution #9’ sits alongside lilting ballads like Paul McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’. Meanwhile, Harrison was establishing himself as a distinct songsmith with tracks like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.
However, the sheer variety of songs on The White Album is precisely what drew Grohl to the record: “I think I was a glimpse of hope in my parents’ eyes but this has some of my favourite Beatles songs on it: ‘Blackbird’, ‘Revolution #9’, ‘Revolution’, ‘Helter Skelter’,” he continued. “It’s funny to imagine those four cute little Beatles years later on LSD. Where did they go wrong, writing something like ‘Helter Skelter’ and influencing Charles Manson? I’d call this timeless.”
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