The Beatles song Dave Grohl thought was heavier than Black Sabbath: “Melodically darker and deeper”
Though his position as the frontman of the Foo Fighters or as the drummer for Nirvana rightly suggests that Dave Grohl is a man who loves the heavier side of rock and roll, he also might well be considered one of the ultimate fans of The Beatles. It’s a little difficult to equate the shimmying pop majesty of the Liverpudlians with Grohl’s brutish periods behind the drum kit or ferocious moments singing for fiery festival crows, but the rocker is an uber-fan of the band.
“I can honestly say, that if it weren’t for The Beatles, I would not be a musician,” Grohl once claimed. In countless interviews, he has stuck true to his word, more often than not elucidating on what makes the group so influential to him and the entire music world. For Grohl, the band are so much more than simply pop music merchants. They are the epicentre of modern music as a whole.
The rocker even appeared on a radio programme to pick some of his favourite songs from The Beatles, detailing his admiration for a group who influenced his formative years. His choices offer not only a view of a deeply appreciative fan, as Grohl is, but also the huge impact the Fab Four had on him and the entire rock scene ever since.
Some choices are from the front of the queue for ‘Best Beatles Song’ and probably speak more to Grohl’s ability to possess ears rather than his deep love for the inner workings of the band. Tunes such as ‘Blackbird’, ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, ‘Hey Jude’ and more—the classics are given a runout. But the real interest comes from the more obscure selections that he sees fit to include, perhaps hinting at his strong fandom.
As well as paying tribute to what he considers to be typical of the band, the blistering track ‘Hey Bulldog’ by noting: “The track I performed alongside ELO’s Jeff Lynne at a Grammy celebration in 2014. It was to mark the 50th anniversary of their first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and although it wasn’t one of The Beatles’ greatest hits, to me, it’s a quintessential Beatles rock ‘n’ roll song.”
However, he also picked out a track which he thinks may well trump what many would consider to be Grohl’s heavier favourites. “Since it’s the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road,” he told the show and its audience. “I thought that I’d start playing songs from that album, and the one that stands out to me the most, and has always been my favourite from that record, is called ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)'”.
For Grohl, the song is one of the best the band ever did and also the heaviest thing on record: “Of course, I love heavy music, I love Black Sabbath, I love Motörhead, but I think that nothing is heavier, melodically darker and deeper than the riff in this song.”
Though some have pointed to The Beatles as the starting pistol for a whole range of music, only a select few, including John Lennon, think they had a hand in the heavy metal dominance that would follow. It would seem that the few als include none other than Dave Grohl.
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