Revisit Dale Crover’s hilarious impression of Paul McCartney
Although The Beatles’ Paul McCartney isn’t synonymous with the heavier side of rock ‘n’ roll, his pioneering influence in the 1960s and beyond touched all realms of rock, including grunge. Among the grunge stalwarts touched by McCartney’s musical command and cultural significance are Nirvana’s Dave Grohl and Melvins’ Dale Crover.
These two drummers were pivotal players in the emergence of grunge in the late 1980s and early ’90s and found their musical footing in an early infatuation with The Beatles. Reflecting on his performance with Prince, another of his idols, at the 2007 Super Bowl, Grohl revealed that he got to grips with the drums by playing along to Beatles records.
“As my tears hit the keyboard like the Miami rain that night, I realised that this was without a doubt my proudest musical achievement,” he wrote in Dave’s True Stories. “All of those years spent in my bedroom practising alone to Beatles records, sleeping in cold, infested squats on winter fan tours across Europe, battering my drums until my hands literally bled… it all paid off in this moment.”
On numerous occasions before and since, Grohl has professed his love for the Fab Four. In 2019, he revealed that George Harrison was his overall favourite. “I loved every single one of them for different reasons, but I connected to George Harrison’s sense of melody more than anyone.”
Although Crover, Grohl’s Melvins counterpart, has never landed on a favourite Beatle, his love for McCartney became apparent in 2017 as he geared up to release his debut solo album, Fickle Finger of Fate.
On July 18th, just two weeks before the album’s arrival, Crover released the third and final previewing single, ‘Bad Move’. The track arrived with a comical music video in which Crover parodied the video McCartney made for his 1980 single ‘Coming Up’.
The video in question saw several versions of McCartney performing as a band. Taking cues from the former Beatle, Crover became a one-man band for the ‘Bad Move’ video, giving his uncanny and hilarious McCartney impersonation.
“We had a lot of fun making the video,” Crover said of the video in a press release at the time. “It’s a parody of a Paul McCartney video where he plays all the characters. It was shot on VHS, which makes it look very dirty and from a different era.”
McCartney played most of the instruments appearing on his 1980 solo album, McCartney II, which inspired Crover to do the same for Fickle Finger of Fate, as he honed his skills as a multi-instrumentalist.
“Cheap Trick? Beatles? Any of that stuff. Beatles, I suppose,” Crover added, discussing the key influences behind the album. “I grew up on the Beatles and the Monkees. Obviously, Neil Young has always been a big influence.”
Watch the videos for Dale Crover’s ‘Bad Move’ and Paul McCartney’s ‘Coming Up’ below.
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