“That’s the way he was”: How Dave Grohl’s mother knew he was destined for stardom
Somewhere along the pathway to adulthood, our dreams get crushed. It feels inevitable in many ways. Whether it’s a footballer, actor or heck, even an astronaut, for the majority of us, the grim reaper of nine-to-five normality catches up with us and rests us into a life of mediocrity. A pretty bleak way to look at it I know but the fact is, we can’t all be in a globally successful rock band. Which I guess, makes it more annoying that Dave Grohl has been in two.
From the drums of Nirvana to the microphone of the Foo Fighters, Grohl has been an unwavering constant in an ever-changing industry. He’s seen off multiple genres, talent shows and fashion trends to be the unassigned godfather of millennial rock.
But there’s something innately different from him and say David Bowie. Bowie’s greatness felt elusive and otherworldly, as though he descended upon earth in a one-piece stage outfit and face paint. Despite Grohl’s obvious genius, he’s more of an everyman. He could easily be stood alongside us in the moshpit with a plastic pint glass in his hand as he could be on stage at Wembley, playing to 80,000 screaming fans.
But how well do we really know him? Maybe his mother has the beauty of retrospect to cast the memory of such an accurate premonition, but according to Mrs Grohl, his stardom a predetermined fate.
“I didn’t know he was going to be a rock star, I knew he was going to be a musician.” she explained. “I knew really early he was going to be an entertainer; I had the feeling that some of you have it in your blood somewhere that you just start out being goofy, and silly, and making people laugh. That’s the way he was.”
Grohl’s mother makes a point that speaks to the obvious. His destiny as a performer wasn’t rooted in classroom aloofness and alien-like creative genius, rather a connection with people. Grohl’s shows at their very best are unifying and life-affirming, which at its grassroots is simply the same feeling you get from telling a joke or making a funny face.
It’s the sort of character trait that history has often told us gets pushed aside by societal structures. But where Grohl differed, and where he is forever indebted to his mother for the gift she provided him, was her emotional understanding.
He said, “One of the reasons why my mother was OK with me dropping out of high school is because she was a high school English teacher. So she knew that no two children learn the same. Sometimes it’s not the kid that fails the school; it’s the school that fails the kid.”
The fibre of those teaching has been woven into the musical fabric of Grohl. While we as fans fully understand the proficiency of his technical ability he has always refuted it, citing a more natural feel to his playing style. It was what allowed him to transfer from drummer to guitarist and vocalist with relative ease, for he wasn’t bogged down by the pre-assigned rules of what is wrong and right.
