Dave Grohl on the 1990s album that “changed my life”
As a former member of Nirvana and current frontman of Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl is undoubtedly one of rock and roll’s most esteemed living legends. However, his loquacious and enthusiastic endorsement of peers and luminaries has never abated; he’s both the ultimate fanboy and the ultimate rock star.
Beyond obvious influences in hard rock – bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin – Grohl found his first love in music through The Beatles. As a child, he listened to Beatles records incessantly and learned to play the drums by following Ringo Starr’s beat.
Grohl has also frequently expressed his love for 1980s pop icon Prince. When the ‘Purple Rain’ singer covered Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ at the 2007 Super Bowl, Grohl revealed that he had been shocked.
“As my tears hit the keyboard like the Miami rain that night, I realised that this was without a doubt my proudest musical achievement,” he wrote in Dave’s True Stories. “All of those years spent in my bedroom practising alone to Beatles records, sleeping in cold, infested squats on winter fan tours across Europe, battering my drums until my hands literally bled… it all paid off in this moment.”
In a 2019 interview feature with BBC Radio 2, Grohl picked out one of his favourite Beatles tracks and revealed his particular affinity with George Harrison. “I would like to play my favourite song by George Harrison, called ‘Something’,” Grohl said, introducing the track. “I think that of all The Beatles — of course, each one of them is so entirely different; melodically they’re so different, songwriting, lyrically — but George Harrison, there was something about him that I almost preferred the most.”
“I loved every single one of them for different reasons, but I connected to George Harrison’s sense of melody more than anyone,” he added.
Grohl’s interest in music was undoubtedly elevated by the Fab Four and his blood-spattered drumming sessions, but his life was changed by a host of music from a healthy variety of artists. Speaking to Melody Maker in the 1990s, the Foo Fighters singer discussed some of his favourite records of all time, one of which he described as life-changing.
“Oh my God! This album changed my life,” Grohl beamed, picking out Blues for the Red Sun by Kyuss. “I was 24, and something about the grooves and the guitar sounds and the drums and the bass made this new noise that kinda sounded familiar, like you’d heard it in the early ‘70s, but you’d never heard it that good. They reinvented this genre of music, ‘70s hard rock.”
Formed in California in 1987, Kyuss was the formative group of the Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. Following his mid-20s infatuation with the band and their brilliant second LP of 1992, Grohl became esteemed in his own right and eventually befriended Homme.
Over the past 25 years, Grohl has collaborated with Homme and Queens of the Stone Age on several occasions, on stage and in the studio. Most notably, Grohl joined the band while they recorded their hit 2002 album, Songs for the Deaf.
In a 2018 conversation with Kerrang! Grohl discussed his working relationship with Homme. “When Josh and I play, it’s like a conversation between two old friends that have had too much to drink,” he explained. “That’s what it’s like when we write together… He’ll play something, and I’ll hit it back to him like that [snaps fingers].”
“When we were doing Songs For The Deaf, we would sit there, laughing at each other hysterically, saying, ‘This is fucking amazing,’” Grohl added.
Listen to ‘Green Machine’ from Kyuss’ Blues for the Red Sun below.
