Credit: Alamy

Dave Grohl’s favourite album by The Beatles

Sun 5 March 2023 16:30, UK

Dave Grohl always had a diverse love of music. Whether it was scooping up a disco beat for the classic Nirvana track ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ or recording an entire Bee Gees cover album with the Foo Fighters, Grohl could cite influences from across the world of music. But Grohl’s heart belongs to rock, and like any good music nerd, Grohl worships the ground that The Beatles walked on.

When asked by Melody Maker to compile a list of some of his favourite albums of all time, Grohl responded with some wild choices. Major influences like Led Zeppelin and Bad Brains were covered, but strangely, so were left-field picks like The B-52s and Public Enemy. Of course, Grohl had to start by paying tribute to an all-time classic: The Beatles, better known as The White Album.

“What year did this come out? I think I was a glimpse of hope in my parents’ eyes but this has some of my favourite Beatles songs on it: ‘Blackbird’, ‘Revolution #9’, ‘Revolution’, ‘Helter Skelter’. It’s funny to imagine those four cute little Beatles years later on LSD. Where did they go wrong, writing something like ‘Helter Skelter’ and influencing Charles Manson? I’d call this timeless.”

Grohl continued his Beatle fandom into his more recent years, saving a special reverence for the band’s two living members, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. When asked by The Guardian what was on his reading list in 2022, Grohl responded with McCartney’s then-recent collection of lyrics aptly titled The Lyrics.

“I’m familiar with every one of Paul McCartney’s songs, and I could probably recite most of them off the top of my head,” Grohl gushed about the book, “but to have this new perspective coming from the writer, explaining the songs himself, is really rewarding. It humanises the whole process.”

During the same interview, Grohl hilariously expressed sympathy for what Starr had to endure through the recording of what eventually became Let It Be. “I did love the documentary Get Back too,” Grohl said. “I watched Ringo the entire time: I know what it’s like to sit on a drum stool and watch a bunch of people argue. All you want to do is play a beat. Come on, fuck it, no more words!”

Check out Grohl paying tribute to Starr’s abilities down below.