Dave Grohl’s favourite member of The Beatles
Dave Grohl has one of the most eclectic musical tastes in rock and roll. Throughout his upbringing, it wasn’t out of the question for Grohl to talk about the wonders of Minor Threat and Bad Brains and then switch to how Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones changed his life. If there’s one band that set Grohl’s musical self in motion though, it was The Beatles.
When talking about his upbringing, Grohl said that half the reason why he played the guitar was getting a Beatles songbook when he was a kid. Although Grohl talked about liking all flavours of music, everything changed when he heard ‘Hey Jude’ for the first time, as he explained: “I remember having a sleepover at a friend’s house when I was four or five years old and listening to ‘Hey Jude’. I don’t think I’d ever listened to a rock and roll record. This was my introduction, and it’s stuck with me ever since”.
Out of all the Fab Four, Grohl hasn’t had a bad word to say about any one of them. Being a drummer by trade, Grohl mentioned loving Ringo Starr’s playing during Starr’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction: “Define the best drummer in the world,” he said. “It’s in someone who sits in the song with his own feel. Ringo was the king of feel”.
As Grohl came up the ranks with Nirvana, he and Kurt Cobain bonded over a shared love of John Lennon, with Cobain: “I don’t know who wrote what parts of what Beatles songs, but Paul McCartney embarrasses me. Lennon was obviously disturbed [laughs]. So I could relate to that”.
Once Grohl found himself on top of the world with the Foo Fighters, his Beatle dreams came true when he was able to collaborate with Paul McCartney for the song ‘Cut Me Some Slack’. Grohl remembered: “I looked over at him during recording and said, ‘why can’t it always be this easy.’ Then he looks at me and says ‘It is’. I’m like ‘Dude, for you'”.
While Grohl always humbles himself when in the presence of one of the Fab Four, his favourite Beatle always came down to the quiet one. While Lennon/McCartney may have gotten Grohl hooked, he mentioned always gravitating towards George Harrison’s style of songwriting. He said: “There was something about him that I almost preferred the most. I loved every single one of them for different reasons, but I kind of connected to George Harrison’s sense of melody more than anyone”.
After Harrison’s tragic death in 2001, Grohl wrote his own quasi-obituary for the fallen guitarist: “George Harrison was always my favourite Beatle. His quiet sensitivity always seemed so noble. His songs seemed sweeter and deeper than the rest. Beyond being an amazing player, his ability to convey such emotion with just his guitar played a huge part in the Beatles’ music for me. He was the secret weapon”.
You can hear that Beatle touch in many different Foo Fighters songs as well. Though the band favour traditional hard rock, Grohl’s way with melody is descended from Lennon and McCartney, always focusing on hooking in the listener before anything else. Even before the Foos’ commercial turn, ‘Oh George’ has a Harrison-ian style solo towards the end, being just as lyrical as Harrison’s lead breaks for Beatles recordings.
Dave Grohl may have an assorted list of influences to draw from, but the Beatles are more than just a passion for him. The music of the Fab Four may as well be a part of his musical DNA.
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