The musician Dave Grohl called as important as The Pope: “Thank God”
Dave Grohl has never once tried to talk himself up as someone to be idolised. He was always happy to be in one of the biggest bands in the world and relate to the audience like he would any one of his fans that he met back in the early days of Scream. He could get starstruck like the rest of us, though, and he knew that few artists could enter into holy territory for him.
Because like all of us, Grohl was a major music nerd when it came to his favourite bands. He would spend hours dissecting everything related to Rush to learn how Neil Peart came up with those classic drum parts for every song, and even if he didn’t play everything particularly right in those first days, he would never put anything less than passionate into every one of his performances.
Even when he was in Nirvana, he was always going to play like his life depended on it half the time. He may not have needed to say a damn word from behind that kit, but the sheer power behind most of his drum breaks made him seem like the 1990s equivalent of John Bonham whenever he performed. If Grohl listed Rush and Zeppelin as his biggest influences when drumming, it became a different ballgame when working as a songwriter.
Not everyone has to rebuild their career like Grohl did, but looking at his approach to songwriting, it has never been anything less than earnest. He was always more than happy to talk about what was on his mind than to hide behind some sort of character or build up an alternate persona for himself, and considering how many of his heroes were people like Neil Young, that makes a lot of sense.
Compared to every other veteran of rock and roll, Young never minced his words for a second and would more than likely say when he disagreed with something or deliberately go against the grain when he didn’t like where his career was headed. It wasn’t always the most sensible thing to do, but Grohl knew that no one could have managed to provide a better outlook for what an artist was supposed to be.
Despite working with people like Paul McCartney, Grohl said that he would gladly put Young up there with the holy people of rock and roll, saying, “We played his Bridge School Benefit which is a benefit he does every year to raise money for a school that helps handicapped children. That guy has built a life and a body of work, and all of his music is completely built on love, honesty and humanity. The guy is just the closest thing a rock musician could get to the pope. Thank God for Neil Young.”
And the reason why Young keeps being interesting is because he hasn’t stopped. From the beginning to the end of his career, he has been interested in nothing more than following his muse, and if that happened to bother some people who wanted him to keep spitting out songs that sounded like Harvest every time he played, they would have to either get over it or find someone new to listen to.
Although Foo Fighters are far more straightforward when it comes to their musical style, Young is still a great example of what someone can do when they play by their own rules. It’s not an easy gamble to make in rock and roll, but when you manage to win over the masses like that, no one else can touch you.
