The movie that helped Dave Grohl process Kurt Cobain’s death: “I really broke down”
Some anti-establishment movements can be deemed corny, to an extent.
An element of comedy is thrown towards the idea that youngsters are disillusioned by the status quo and that any grumblings they have, they will surely grow out of. But these movements, soundtracked by punk, grunge, hip-hop or whatever art form it may be, are rooted in truthfulness.
Kids flocked to underground venues in search of genuine meaning in a life otherwise devoid of that, and in 1990s America, that sentiment largely centred around grunge. While pockets of this new wave of musical angst developed all over the country, the essence of the idea was perhaps most concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, where in the late 1980s, bands like Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden ran with the idea.
Their success ultimately gave way to Nirvana, who not only dominated the discourse of the genre but also took it to new heights and thrust it into the mainstream charts. Like a tidal wave, their alternative view on the conventional world became quite the opposite, tapping into a widespread attitude among the country’s youth.
It was an unexpected outcome for the band, who likely resigned themselves to a future of subculture success and so their meteoric rise became somewhat of a fever dream for the band. A dream abruptly ended by the tragic death of their leader Kurt Cobain in 1994. Suddenly, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl were left staring down the barrel of an unknown future while simultaneously trying to process exactly what had just happened.
For Grohl, it was certainly a case of psychological denial as he beat on with his career in the face of tragedy. Refusing to sit still, he formed the Foo Fighters in the same year as Cobain’s death and sought to honour him by continuing on with a musical journey. But two years later, with the 1996 release of Doug Pray’s Hype!, Grohl finally had a moment to process the hurricane that had just swept through his life.
“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,” he said in reference to Pray’s documentary. “As someone who didn’t grow up in Seattle it made me understand that city a lot more and the people involved.”
Adding, “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.”
Those heady Seattle years truly capture the meaning of lightning in a bottle. But for Grohl, he was such a part of the lightning bolt that it was understandable he didn’t fully process exactly what happened. The rolling sound of his drums never relented for quiet contemplation or reflection, instead they drove his and Nirvana’s movement forward, to great effect.
