Five artists who hate Dave Grohl
It’s hard to really find too many things wrong with Dave Grohl. While it might not seem fair that one man is able to sing, play guitar and drums that well for that long a period of time, Grohl has made up for it by being rock and roll’s answer to Tom Hanks, the kind of guy that anyone can like with little effort. Then again, not everyone feels as strongly about Grohl’s nice-guy persona.
Throughout his career, Grohl has had just as many detractors as fans, with many saying he is one of the worst people they have ever worked with. Despite being willing to work with every single person under the sun, Grohl has been known to rub a few people the wrong way, either by not showing up to rehearsals or doing despicable things behind their backs and no one noticing it.
Besides the major names in alternative rock, Grohl has had just as much bile thrown at him from within his band as well. From previous band members who got kicked out to those who felt stifled by him in the first place, plenty of artists have been known to drag him through the mud because of how they treated him during rehearsals.
Then again, no amount of bitterness can diminish the shine that Grohl has put on himself over the years, still making the kind of music that appeals to the everyman and being more than willing to have a beer with any fan that he comes across. Grohl is still one of the most likeable faces in the music industry, but let’s go through the people who have had a few problems with him over the years.
Five artists who hate Dave Grohl:
5. Franz Stahl
It was a sad day for Foo Fighters fans when Pat Smear announced he would be leaving the band. After being an integral part of their early days, Smear didn’t want to commit to another massive tour with the group, electing to spend more time at home and living a laid-back lifestyle. While Grohl thought he had the perfect solution with Franz Stahl, things began to go haywire as soon as the new album began.
Not gelling with the rest of the group, Stahl would not fit with the band during the writing sessions for the next record, only getting in the way of everyone else’s energy. Even though Grohl had worked with Stahl in the band Scream, he ultimately had to ask him to leave the band, breaking up with him over the phone during a business meeting.
Despite it being some of the greatest years of his life, Stahl admitted feeling completely blindsided, saying that he didn’t even know how to react to the news that he had been fired. After cutting his teeth for years, Stahl is one of the few who had all his dreams come true and then had them taken away in an instant.
4. Buzz Osborne
Buzz Osborne is much more instrumental in putting Grohl on the map than people realise. Outside of noticing him in Scream, Osborne was the one who introduced Grohl to Kurt Cobain, suggesting that he would be a good replacement for Nirvana. When Osborne got the chance to collaborate with Grohl later down the line, though, he claimed that his old friend played the rock star card on him.
When putting together various songs for a record, Osborne thought it would be a great idea to bring Krist Novoselic and Grohl in, making for an impromptu Nirvana reunion. The only problem was Grohl, who ended up flaking out on the sessions due to trouble with scheduling, having to perform at the Oscars a few nights ahead of the date.
Since Grohl never showed up, the sessions had to be folded, leading to Osborne holding a grudge towards Grohl for being too cool for school and not letting anyone else work around him. The bridges might not be burned with Osborne just yet, but Grohl definitely left some raw wounds when he decided that the Oscars were more important than a starstudded jam session.
3. Noel Gallagher
Once Nirvana fell apart, Oasis was one of the few who let us know everything was going to be alright. If Kurt Cobain was the one singing about his inner torment, Noel Gallagher was writing the kind of life-affirming that made rockers feel like they could take on the world again. After Oasis went kaput after decades together, Noel had some harsh words to fire back at Grohl regarding his old band.
During a handful of their gigs, Grohl mentioned that he was a huge fan of both Noel and Liam’s solo careers but was pissed that they would never come together to play. Once Taylor Hawkins stepped in front of the microphone to sing at one of their shows, they had a banter back and forth about everyone signing a petition for Oasis to get back together.
When Noel played at the same venue a few days later, he didn’t take kindly to Grohl’s remark, referring to him as “the drummer for Nirvana” and saying that he would gladly start a petition for Foo Fighters to split up. Then again, any rock star that has been around the block a couple of times and hasn’t gotten a tongue-lashing from one of the Gallaghers is probably not as big as they think they are.
2. William Goldsmith
Foo Fighters had always begun as a healing process. To get over the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, Grohl started the band in an attempt to keep his musical self alive, bringing together a group of musicians on the road to help him. Although the rhythm section of Sunny Day Real Estate felt like the perfect fit at the time, William Goldsmith didn’t take kindly to how he was treated in the band.
During the recording of the band’s sophomore effort, The Colour and the Shape, Goldsmith would be slowly pushed out of the studio, with Grohl re-recording the entire record behind his back and playing drums in his place. Once Goldsmith was told, he was absolutely mortified when he was asked to go onstage and play the songs as Grohl wanted.
Returning to Sunny Day Real Estate, Goldsmith still resented Grohl for taking his creativity away from him when he entered the studio, thinking that he was never given the proper time of day. While that ultimately left the drum stool open for drumming god Taylor Hawkins, Grohl even admitted that he knew Goldsmith would never forgive him for playing drums on that record.
1. Courtney Love
The ending of a band like Nirvana was never going to be easy. Throughout their time together, the band had gone through some of the biggest hurdles any band would ever go through within the span of just a few months, ultimately ending with Kurt Coibain’s tragic suicide. From there, though, the estate of Nirvana would split into two distinct camps: the rest of the band and Courtney Love.
While Love has been given the image of a Yoko Ono figure in the Nirvana story, she did get a bad reputation that might not have been completely deserved, making songs that were just as good as her husband’s on albums like Live Through This and Celebrity Skin. When it came time to release Nirvana’s later catalogue, battle lines would be drawn between Love and Grohl, including one show where Love took a heckler to task, saying, “Go see the Foo Fighters and do that shit”.
The battle may have gone on for ages, but the waters seemed to settle at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Grohl and Love were able to set aside their differences and even have an onstage hug when accepting the award. Grohl may have had a few scores to settle with other musicians, but there’s nothing that he couldn’t make better at some point down the road.
