Dave Grohl picks his favourite Led Zeppelin album: “No one can deny that band anything”
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl famously rose to prominence as Nirvana’s wild and frenetic drummer. Sitting behind the drumkit was his first love, largely due to his admiration for Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, who played a significant role in Grohl’s decision to take up the instrument.
Although Grohl occasionally plays the drums for a few songs during live shows and Foo Fighters recordings, it’s largely a part of his life he prefers to leave in the past. Despite now being predominantly a lead vocalist rather than a drummer, Grohl’s admiration for Bonham and Led Zeppelin remains strong.
Over the years, Grohl has spoken about his adoration on multiple occasions, and he even considered bassist John Paul Jones a bandmate when they formed Them Crooked Vultures alongside Josh Homme. Additionally, when Foo Fighters played Wembley Stadium in 2008, Jones joined the band with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to perform a smattering of the legendary rock group’s classic hits.
When Grohl was growing up in Virginia on a diet of Led Zeppelin records, the idea that he’d one day be sharing a stage with half of the band seemed ridiculous, yet it became a reality. Long before Grohl considered Jones and Page his friends, though, he sat down with British music magazine Melody Maker for one of its final issues. During the conversation, the Foo Fighters leader was asked to name his ten favourite albums of all time, which, of course, included a Led Zeppelin record.
Outside of the iconic heavy rock pioneers, Grohl also gave a shout-out to the American alternative rock icons, the B-52’s, another group he’s spoken highly of for decades. Notably, in his memoir, The Storyteller, he recalled being bedazzled by their brand of “weird music” as an 11-year-old upon laying eyes on them for the first time when they performed on Saturday Night Live.
Aside from the B-52’s, his list also included cuts from The Beatles, Bad Brains, Melvins and Public Enemy. However, his most surprising entry was courtesy of Led Zeppelin, not because of the band in question, but due to the album from their discography that Grohl selected.
Notably, Grohl has multiple tattoos depicting Bonham’s iconic ‘Three Rings’ symbol from the cover of the seminal Led Zeppelin IV. Therefore, it would be expected that Grohl chose that album from their exceptional career. Additionally, the LP features beloved hits such as ‘When The Levee Breaks’, ‘Stairway To Heaven’, and ‘Black Dog’.
Instead, Grohl opted to pick their 1982 compilation, Coda, which was released four years after Bonham’s death. The deep cut consists of tracks that Led Zeppelin didn’t deem suitable to appear on their studio albums and live recordings, the primary reason that Grohl chose the LP.
Explaining his controversial decision, Grohl said: “Led Zeppelin completely moulded the way I play the drums. No one can deny that band anything. All their albums are great. I prefer Houses Of The Holy and In Through The Out Door to their first two, but Coda was the best, ‘cos Bonzo’s ‘Montreux’ was on it – John Bonham’s one drum symphony. I stayed up many a night working on that one. I’ll play it for you right now if you want!”
Coda has long been a favourite of diehard Led Zeppelin fans. It features some of the band’s most notable live performances, including ‘Bonzo’s Montreux’, which Grohl mentioned in his reasoning for naming Coda as their greatest record.
Due to its unconventional patchwork nature, curating Coda proved to be a challenge for Page, who once said to The Guardian, “It was a difficult album. People say: ‘What was the most difficult album?’ and that was it.”
However, the guitarist believes it was worth the pain, adding, “It was what it was, but it wouldn’t have gone out if I hadn’t thought it had a place. But it was a difficult one to do and put together.”
Grohl and countless other Led Zeppelin fans’ opinions also demonstrate that Coda was a fitting way for the band to sign off following the devastating loss of Bonham, which prevented them from re-entering the studio.
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