When Dave Grohl and Jack Black united for a banned MTV video
If we were to listen to Jack Black‘s character in the film School of Rock, the whole point of rock music is “sticking it to the man.” The reason why anybody devotes their life to rock is to fully submerge themselves in its rebellion, which means laughing in the face of authority. The character certainly had a point, as throughout the history of rock music, regardless of which subsection of the genre you consider, there has always been some form of controversy closely behind.
Dave Grohl has never been a stranger to this controversy. When he was the drummer for Nirvana, the band constantly found themselves at the centre of controversial conversations thanks to the raucous nature of the band. They were always incredibly opinionated on societal and political matters, which always got a rise from those both for and against the points being made.
When Kurt Cobain passed away, Dave Grohl wanted to continue making music and so stepped up to form his own band, Foo Fighters. While Foo Fighters might not have been at the centre of controversy as much as Nirvana were, there is no denying that Grohl continues carrying the flag for rock ‘n’ roll while also sticking it to the man. One of their heaviest songs was the third single from their second album, ‘Low’.
The whole album was a much more aggressive turn for Foo Fighters, which was welcomed by the rock ‘n’ roll world. Taylor Hawkins’s drumming on the track ‘Low’ was some of his very best, and while Grohl and his team recognised the track was a bit far out, he was adamant it was a single to give people a better taste of the band and the music they intended to make.
“That’s the kind of song that you pray would be a single, but there’s just no way because it’s, like, the coolest song on the record,” Grohl said in an interview in 2003. “It’s the one that everybody likes, but there’s just no way ’cause it’s too weird. And we made it a single, so I’m looking forward to it. I love playing it live, and that’s what kind of counts the most.”
Given that the band was incredibly passionate about the track, it was important that they had a music video that could complement it. Foo Fighters were already making a name for themselves with quirky videos, and this one was no different. Grohl enlisted the help of Jack Black and the two of them made a strange clip that showed them both dressed as tough American bikers, going into a motel room, drinking, doing drugs and watching smut. When one of their briefcases opens by accident and shows it’s filled with lingerie, the other man reveals his has the same thing, and the rest of the video is the two of them scantily clad and dancing.
MTV was the height of music at the time, and if you wanted a video to do well, it had to be shown on there. Unfortunately, the band had no chance of getting promotion by MTV as they banned the video quickly, not happy with the glorification of some of the activities in the video and the overtly sexual nature of Grohl and Black’s relationship.
We return to School of Rock and Jack Black’s speech about the reason for rock music, which now feels even more appropriate: “The world is run by the man. The man, oh, you don’t know the man? He’s everywhere. In the White House… down the hall… Ms Mullins, she’s the man. And the man ruined the ozone, he’s burning down the Amazon, and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank! And there used to be a way to stick it to the man, it was called rock ‘n’ roll. But guess what, oh no, the man ruined that too, with a little thing called MTV!”
