The three songs Dave Grohl wrote after Kurt Cobain’s death
The former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl, has sadly encountered much hardship on his unique rock ‘n’ roll voyage. In April 1994, his bandmate, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, committed suicide, leaving him to recover, regroup and ultimately form Foo Fighters. Tragically, Grohl was plunged into the icy depths of grief once again in 2022 when longtime Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins died from an overdose.
As a drummer, first and foremost, Grohl was deeply inspired by the greats of classic rock, including Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and Cream’s Ginger Baker. He also cites The Beatles’ Ringo Starr as one of the key musicians who inspired him to pick up the sticks from a young age.
In his book, Dave’s True Stories, Grohl revealed that he learnt to drum by playing along to Beatles albums while remembering Prince’s cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ at the 2007 Super Bowl. “I realised that this was without a doubt my proudest musical achievement,” he wrote. “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.”
As we all know, Grohl isn’t just a drummer. Following Cobain’s death in 1994, he parted ways with his surviving bandmate, Nirvana bassist Krist Nosovelic, and formed Foo Fighters as a guitar-wielding frontman. This admirable transition wasn’t instant, however. Not only did Grohl have to better acquaint himself with the art of songwriting, but he had to fall back in love with music.
“For a while after Kurt died, I couldn’t even listen to music,” Grohl once told the NME of this challenging period. “I hated turning on the radio for fear that I’d hear a Nirvana song or any sort of sad music. Anything melancholy just made me so depressed. I would listen to shit like Ace Of Base. I got really into that! I was listening to some really ridiculous shit.”
Continuing, Grohl remembered a few particular albums that facilitated his return to music. “I had a record called A National Healthcare by a band called The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black that I particularly remember,” he said. “They were this sort of New York performance art band and were great. I remember Frank Black’s Teenager Of The Year came out that year around that time, that was a really great record. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion record Orange came out around the same time – that was another great record.”
“That was a funny time with me musically because I just didn’t really want to hear any music,” Grohl continued. “Then I realised, ‘Oh wait, it’s music that’s going to heal me. What am I doing? I should be listening to music. I should be making music that will make me feel better.’ And it did.”
As Grohl returned to music, songwriting became an important outlet for his grief. ‘Oh, George’, which was written in tribute to The Beatles George Harrison, ‘This Is a Call’ and ‘I’ll Stick Around’, all cuts from Foo Fighters’ eponymous debut album of 1995, were the first three songs he wrote following Cobain’s death.
‘This Is a Call’ was one of the more personal results of Cobain’s death in Grohl’s songwriting. The musician explained: “This is a call to all my past resignations. It’s just sort of like a little wave to all the people I ever played music with, people I’ve been friends with, all my relationships, my family. It’s a hello and, in a way, a thank you.”
‘I’ll Stick Around’ was a particularly resonant song because its vitriol targets Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love. Following Cobain’s death, Grohl entered an intense legal battle with Love as she sought to limit his rights to Nirvana’s music. “I don’t think it’s any secret that ‘I’ll Stick Around’ is about Courtney,” Grohl admitted to biographer Paul Brannigan in 2009. “I’ve denied it for 15 years, but I’m finally coming out and saying it. Just read the fucking words!”
Listen to Foo Fighters’ early single ‘I’ll Stick Around’ below.
