The one “perfect” song Dave Grohl wishes he’d written
There aren’t many people in the world who can claim to have had such a serious impact on the world of rock music as Dave Grohl. The former Nirvana drummer and current leader of Foo Fighters, Grohl’s legacy in the world of riffs and rock music is longer than most tapestries. It pertains to a serious musical journey.
The musical journey doesn’t end once someone becomes a rock star. Even though it’s easy to become pretentious when the money starts rolling in, real musicians are always eager to listen to the next thing that excites them, prompting them to make something even bigger on their next major project. Even though some artists like to find their niche and stick to it, Dave Grohl always wanted to go beyond traditional rock and roll.
Throughout his musical life, Grohl has mentioned different musical genres he loved along the way. Though he may have started in the hardcore punk scene in his native Virginia, Grohl was always a classic rock nerd, always blasting Led Zeppelin and Rush in his car when he was forming his first handful of bands. By the time he got to Nirvana, things had changed drastically, with most fans dropping out of their heroes’ shadows to make something bold and inventive.
After coming up with Minor Threat and Bad Brains in his stereo, Grohl started to become enamoured with the sounds of more interesting rock bands like Sonic Youth, each of whom began pushing the boundaries of what rock music could be. Nirvana made their way to the top with guitars, but something different was happening in the background.
Around the time of Nevermind’s success, the sounds of trip-hop were also starting their chart takeover, with some of the biggest names trading in their guitars for buzzy synths and creating songs more interested in setting a mood instead of lashing out in anger. Even after Kurt Cobain’s death, Grohl was still paying attention to the music around him, drawing from his early influences like The Pixies and admiring more artsy acts on MTV like Bjork.
When discussing one of the songs he wishes he had written, Grohl didn’t immediately go back to something like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Hey Jude’. In an interview with Q Magazine, Grohl admitted that he wished he wrote: “’Mass Destruction’ by Faithless. That’s perfect”. For all of the amazing acts coming out in rock at the time, like The Strokes and The White Stripes, Grohl’s addiction to this electronic tune might have been a strange choice for a handful of fans.
Faithless remain one of the greatest British exports for the dance music scene. A powerhouse band who triumphed in the late 1990s and early ’00s, Faithless’ live shows were a thing of true wonderment before lead singer Maxi Jazz passed. One need only revisit their collection of impressive Glastonbury Festival performances to confirm that.
Underneath the surface of the electronics, though, the song knows the power of a strong melody more than anything else, never focusing on jamming and keeping everything tight to establish a certain mood for the listener. Since the interview was from 2011, it’s easy to hear what lessons Grohl took from the song, leaning into more varied instrumentation on Wasting Light before expanding the Foos’ musical palette even further on albums like Sonic Highways.
Then again, electronic music is far from the first strange genre Grohl has dabbled in, from recording an entire album of rock and roll versions of Bee Gees songs to admitting to nicking the drum groove from ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ from the sounds of disco. Any rocker can claim to want to write the next rock masterpiece, but Grohl is more interested in seeing what else he can do with The Foo Fighters beyond just loud guitars.
