Five music documentaries recommended by Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl is a music fan, first and foremost. Although he’s become canonised as a rock star thanks to his time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, Grohl probably would have made some kind of music connection had he not become a professional musician. Hell, Grohl could have been a writer for a magazine like this one (the door is always open for a guest column, Dave).
Having authored his own memoir, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, Grohl has the skills to share his favourite stories of rock and roll lore. But Grohl has found another avenue to share those stories: documentary films.
In 2013, Grohl directed his first film, a documentary on the legendary Los Angeles music studio Sound City. The studio was where a whole host of classic albums were recorded, including Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedos, Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, the Grateful Dead’s ‘Terrapin Station’, and even Nirvana’s iconic sophomore LP Nevermind.
Grohl then followed up Sound City with another rockumentary, What Drives Us. This time focused on the gruelling touring life that all musicians go through at different points of their careers, the film showed off Grohl’s nostalgia for travelling in vans balanced with his gratitude for not having to live that life anymore. One thing is clear: Grohl loves a good music doc.
While being interviewed by Mojo around the production of What Drives Us, Grohl was asked about some of his favourite music documentaries that he enjoys. As a man who has made a few himself, it’s not surprising that Grohl has some good taste in rockumentaries. Check out five of his favourites down below.
Dave Grohl’s favourite music documentaries:
The Decline Of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris, 1981)
This classic Penelope Spheeris-directed music documentary follows some of the first wave of Los Angeles hardcore punks, most notably The Germs. Future Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear was prominently featured in the film, something that Grohl referred back to time and again.
“You can see how reckless those musicians were. When Kurt said Pat Smear was going to be the next guitar player in Nirvana, I said ‘Isn’t he dead? He was in The Decline…’ Penelope Spheeris coaxed all these unwilling punk rockers – misfits, fuck-ups and junkies – into documenting what was everybody’s best-kept secret. There wasn’t a lot of mainstream documentation or footage of that time, because no one was allowed in. The Decline… is one of the greatest rock’n’roll documentaries of all time, the only one that captured the essence of that early-’80s hardcore scene.”
Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)
While grunge was exploding in the early 1990s, another genre of music was taking hold in Britain. Britpop would be a direct counter to grunge’s dominance, but the scenes and bands that popped up in the wake of the explosion were just as interesting.
“The Dandy Warhols had the same romantic notion as Nirvana did: that now their music was accepted, all of their friends music would be as well. Unfortunately, Anton Newcombe, the singer of Brian Jonestown massacre was a schizophrenic mess who beat the shit out of his entire band at their showcase gig! No one has ever tapped into the train wreck like that movie. It made Anton so iconic, I can understand why people worship him like Charles Manson. I fell in love with Newcombe too. I would be in the guy’s band – for a day, and then I’d run for my life.”
Hype! (Doug Pray, 1996)
Grohl also decided to take some time to give a shout-out to the documentary that best brought to light his own musical scene: the Seattle grunge explosion of the early 1990s. Grohl learned a lot about his adopted city of Seattle thanks to the footage captured in the documentary Hype!
“From the early punk rock clubs to the explosion of ’91 to Kurt’s death and where Seattle had to go from there, I thought Doug Pray summed up that entire era. As someone who didn’t grow up in Seattle, it made me understand that city a lot more… and the people involved. I’d never hung out with Jack Endino but after watching that movie I felt like I knew him a little better – such a beautiful interview and such a great man. The section in the film where they talk about Kurt dying was so moving – it was maybe the first time I really broke down and cried hard about it.”
Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
All music documentaries have to pay homage to the original: Woodstock. The film capturing the most iconic music festival of all time had some serious pedigree behind it (that’s assistant editor Martin Scorsese in the credits), and Grohl couldn’t help but gush over a film that captures true rock and roll history.
“I saw it as a nine-year-old child and was so blown away that the live versions of these classic rock songs by Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills and Nash or The Who sounded different from the studio versions. Watching Jimi Hendrix drowning in feedback – that’s better than the album! Seeing these people slacking and gritting their teeth, it was such a raw vision of live music. More than watching any sports, or science fiction, watching the Woodstock movie as a kid took me to another place”
The Song Remains The Same (Joe Massot, Peter Clifton. 1976)
If there’s one band that Grohl is a known fan of, it’s Led Zeppelin. He has the tattoos to prove it, after all. So it should come as no surprise that Grohl has a soft spot for The Song Remains the Same, the all-out music doc capturing some of Zeppelin’s best live performances at Madison Square Garden in 1973.
“A coming-of-age movie for me. My friends and I had just discovered drugs, and I remember watching it for the first time and seeing Jimmy Page play as if it were his last day on Earth. He’s barely hanging on, but it’s so emotive. It definitely made a huge impression on me. John Paul Jones’s hair – you can’t go wrong with that. Seeing Robert Plant’s balls pulled to one side on his jeans. It’s wonderful that they captured both of those moments.”
