The artist Dave Grohl called an American musical hero: “He’s one of the greats”
Dave Grohl has never been afraid to wear his musical influences on his sleeve. Even though he’s predominantly a rock musician, whenever someone tries to define what Foo Fighters are all about, he’s never been one to be confined to a single genre. He can jump onstage with anyone—from Nine Inch Nails to Ghost, if the unholy father would have him for the night. When it comes to the great music that has come out of America, though, Grohl has said there are artists in his record collection who define everything it means to be from the US.
Then again, there’s usually a certain picture that comes to people’s minds when thinking about American music. And while Grohl has had his fair share of rootsy music come and go throughout his life, he never envisioned himself as the country type of musician, usually looking to plug his guitar into a Marshall stack rather than breaking out the acoustics and sprinkle in some bluegrass licks in between his playing.
But rock and roll itself was always a predominantly American genre of music. Before the biggest names in British rock crossed the Atlantic and sold the genre back to the people, Little Richard and Chuck Berry were the ones responsible for making their tunes a household name, even if some of them were given a more pretty face when Elvis Presley did his own versions of them later in his career.
When going through rock’s history, though, there have been plenty of legends that stack up from the States. Bruce Springsteen has embodied everything great about the country for years, and even if he didn’t necessarily get along with everyone in the music industry, an artist like Tom Petty is still one of the benchmarks for what people think of when they think of middle American living.
Once the grunge revolution kicked into high gear, rock and roll had a different face. People like Nirvana and Pearl Jam had been droning on about their personal pain, but listening back to what Mark Lanegan was doing was a much different beast. His voice was like a grunge rocker combined with the guttural baritone of Tom Waits, and listening to many of his solo records, there was always a dark spirit running through his lyrics.
“Mark Lanegan is one of America’s greatest music heroes. Unsung, for sure.”
dave grohl
While Grohl did eventually get to work with Lanegan when putting together Songs for the Deaf with Queens of the Stone Age, he knew that he was looking at the key figures in American culture, saying, “His voice, the arrangements, the songs, his lyrics. I hold it to the same standard as Tom Waits or Nick Cave. Mark Lanegan is one of America’s greatest music heroes. Unsung, for sure. But he’s still prolific and still makes great records. He’s one of the greats.”
Although Grohl has had a more positive outlook on music, he’s still found ways to incorporate that darkness into his sound as well. As much as Concrete and Gold was meant to be a stadium-rock record, something like the title track wouldn’t have existed without Lanegan, especially the beginning which sounds like Black Flag mixed with Nick Cave.
While Lanegan is still considered one of the lower lights from the era of flannel and alternative rock, there is a lot to uncover in his solo career. Not everything is a thrill ride, but anyone vaguely interested in the same American gothic tone that Johnny Cash was so good at could benefit from taking a deep dive into his catalogue.
