The one kind of band that Dave Grohl “always” wanted
There are no limits to where Dave Grohl can take his music.
As much as people like to take the AC/DC approach and put themselves in a little box and play for their audience, there’s hardly any reason to think that Grohl can pull off anything he puts his mind to if he’s working with the right people. He definitely has a distinct sound in Foo Fighters, but the 2000s were the perfect time for him to get weird with whatever new music was being put out.
Because as much as people loved him cranking out ‘Everlong’ and ‘Learn to Fly’, there comes a point when even the songwriter has to get tired of hearing those tunes. He was no doubt proud of working on everything he could to make his band legendary, but there were going to be limits on where he could go. Even if some people despised the idea of him carrying on making music that sounded even mildly like Nirvana, chances are you didn’t want to hear him pull out the bagpipes on an album or make a record of non-stop ska bangers.
He knew his limits, but limits are also meant to be pushed as well. Nine Inch Nails might not have been one of the first collaborations you would think of when it comes to Grohl, but getting that percussion to punch the same way those Nirvana records did usually requires the guy behind the kit. And looking at his track record, no one has been able to work the same magic playing with everyone from Tom Petty to Queens of the Stone Age to Lemmy and still manage to hold his own.
There were definitely a few moments where songs didn’t work, but in between Foo Fighters making There is Nothing Left to Lose, Probot seemed like the exact opposite of that. Grohl had spent time making the sunniest rock and roll he could think of up until that point, and now here he was taking the most menacing riffs of all time and getting the biggest names in hard rock to add their spice to it.
It’s not exactly the first thing you’d think of for Grohl, but he always felt that there was a part of him that needed to be in that kind of outfit, saying, “The most kick-ass death-metal compilation ever. I played all the music and invited guests to sing, so you’ve got your Lemmy from Motorhead, Cronos from Venom, Max from Sepultura, Tom G. Warrior from Celtic Frost, King Diamond, and Snake from Voivod. I always secretly wished I was in a death-metal band and now I kind of am, but it’s more like that fuckin’ Santana record than anything.”
Then again, there was already that spirit brewing when Foo Fighters first formed. Keep in mind that Grohl was a punk rocker before he ever started making songs of his own, and when he managed to take that next step, there were already tracks like ‘Weenie Beenie’ from the first record and tunes like ‘White Limo’ that would come later where he could wear those influences on his sleeve.
And while that round-robin Santana-style approach to a record is always going to be an acquired taste, every guest brings their A-game to the record. Don’t expect the likes of Ozzy Osbourne or James Hetfield by any stretch, but when looking at the way that Cronos from Venom or Max Cavalera from Sepultura approached their songs, they clearly understood the kind of epic album that Grohl was going for.
Grohl may have left the side projects behind for a while to focus mainly on Foo Fighters, but given that they were able to switch things up with their turn to disco on Hail Satan, maybe it’s time for him to dust off the old metallic pipes again. It’s one thing to keep the rock classics flowing, but sometimes the best way to recharge your creative batteries is to do something completely off the wall.
