The band Dave Grohl owes his career to: “Inspired me to follow this unreasonable dream”
Every artist is inspired by a collection of heroes who put them on their path, make them want to pick up a guitar, and dedicate their lives to rock ‘n’ roll. Dave Grohl knew from an early age that it was the only way he wanted to earn a living, and at the first opportunity, Grohl dropped out of high school to follow his dream.
While it would have been wise for Grohl to continue with his education to allow him to have a backup plan if his musical ambitions failed to materialise, there was nothing else he wanted to do. He lied about his age to join Scream as a teenager, began touring the world and has never looked back since. It was a brave decision that could have backfired greatly, but one that helped him become a double inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Beatles acted as his initial gateway into music. Their songbook taught him how to play the guitar and the art of structuring arrangements. Naturally, his tastes evolved, and new influences, such as Kiss, entered his life and ignited a fire in his belly. Fortuitously, the glam rockers stumbled upon Grohl’s radar when he found one of their records at a yard sale as an eight-year-old. Immediately, he became transfixed by the album cover of Destroyer, and the love was affirmed when he pressed play upon getting home. It opened Grohl’s mind to sounds he’d never heard before and retains a special place in his record collection all these years later.
While he’s no longer the eight-year-old child who first heard Destroyer, the same feeling is evoked whenever he hears the band that changed his life forever. In 2015, Grohl had the honour of giving the band an award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles. During his impassioned speech, the Foo Fighters frontman delved into his lifelong love affair with the hair metal pioneers.
Grohl began by returning to the beginning, reciting his memory of hearing Destroyer for the first time, sharing: “With nuclear anticipation, I let the needle drop on that legendary intro to ‘Detroit Rock City,’ perhaps the greatest introduction to any rock ‘n’ roll album ever recorded. It filled my speakers and my imagination. 34 minutes and 27 seconds later, Kiss had filled my soul. I was now a member of the infamous Kiss army.”
After his introduction to Kiss, Grohl’s bedroom quickly morphed into “a fucking shrine” to the rockers, filled with posters, action figures and whatever other memorabilia his pocket money could afford. He continued: “Every morning, I would wake up in my tiny bedroom and take a good look at my superheroes before walking to school. They got me through those years and ultimately inspired me to follow this unreasonable dream of becoming a professional rock ‘n’ roll musician.”
At the height of his obsession with Kiss, he used his mother’s money, without her knowledge, to buy an official radio by the band, which she swiftly returned upon its arrival. Thankfully, it did have a happy ending for Grohl, who revealed he spends his days talking to “Paul Stanley in the parking lot of our kids’ fuckin’ elementary school, chatting about Zeppelin and Electric Lady and touring and school fundraisers”. More importantly, Grohl, continued, “And I finally got my Kiss radio — it’s the cheapest fucking A.M. radio I have even seen in my life! With the Kiss logo on it.”
Growing up, Kiss were superheroes to Grohl and sold him the dream of rock ‘n’ roll, which seemed unattainable for a kid from Virginia. Yet, he held out hope of following in their footsteps and etched his name into the rock history books. From the age of eight onwards, Grohl has only ever had one ambition, and to this day, it’s the main reason he wakes up in the morning.
