Dave Grohl’s favourite songs of all time
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is, quite literally, living the dream. A self-confessed music nerd, the songwriter rose in prominence as the drummer for grunge rock poster boys Nirvana before forming Foo Fighters in 1994. Regularly collaborating with his musical heroes, the frontman has never passed up on an opportunity to discuss his influences.
From espousing the joys of Little Richard to gushing over Radiohead’s OK Computer, the tastes of Dave Grohl are as passionate as they are eclectic. Back in 2011, he appeared on an episode of Apple’s Celebrity Playlist Podcast, released via iTunes. In a similar vein to the flagship BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs, the 71-episode series asks notable people to share their life story through music.
Appearing alongside noted record producer Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s genre-defining album Nevermind, Grohl’s picks were predictably characterised by his love for punk and hard rock. However, there were some interesting moments littered within the podcast, in between his punk awakening and his deep adoration for The Beatles. For instance, Grohl shared the incredible effect that Edgar Winter Group’s ‘Frankenstein’ had on him as a youngster.
The frontman remembers hearing the track for the first time with his mother, who was a school teacher, “We didn’t have a record player in the house, but she’d go to school, and on Fridays, she’d bring the public school record player home for the weekend. We would buy one record and listen to it all weekend,” he explained.
Given the limited variety in buying one record per week, compilation albums were the obvious way forward. Purchasing one compilation to listen to with his mother at the weekends, Grohl recalled, “‘Frankenstein’ by Edgar Winter Group was on there; it’s the most classic riff of all time. I think I was maybe six or seven years old, and hearing that, I thought, ‘Oh my god, I want to be a musician’. I just thought, ‘this rocks!’”
Elsewhere, the drummer spoke of the revelation of punk rock. Selecting The B-52’s ‘Dance This Mess Around’ as one of his favourites, Grohl opened up about the stunning effect that the new wave icons had on him, “It was probably seeing the B-52’s on Saturday Night Live that changed my life forever. I had never seen anything like that.” The singer has been open about his adoration of their eponymous debut elsewhere, often citing it as one of his favourites.
Of course, no list of Grohl’s favourites would be complete without including Liverpool’s finest. The Beatles are a particular love of the singer, especially given his recent friendship with bassist Paul McCartney, with whom he performed at Glastonbury in 2023. Choosing the White Album’s ‘Blackbird’, he affirmed, “If I’m ever sitting down with an acoustic guitar, it’s one of the first things I do. I really consider Paul McCartney to be one of the most important people in the world,” he said.
Dave Grohl’s favourite songs of all time:
- The Edgar Winter Group – ‘Frankenstein’
- The Beatles – ‘Blackbird’
- Ace Frehley – ‘Ozone’
- Devo – ‘Uncontrollable Urge’
- The B-52’s – ‘Dance This Mess Around’
- Black Flag – ‘Room 13’
- Die Antwoord – ‘In Your Face’
