The prog-rock band that Dave Grohl never enjoyed: “Too hippie-ish for me”
There was never any genre of rock and roll that was off limits when it came to Dave Grohl.
Foo Fighters may be one of the most straight-ahead rock and roll outfits of the modern age, but it wasn’t that out of the ordinary for Grohl to be talking about how much he loved The Beatles, waxing poetic about Minor Threat the next, and even showing some love to the greatest names in funk and R&B along the way as well. But for as much love as he showed his musical heroes, he did plant his feet in the ground when he heard music that didn’t connect with him that much at all.
Then again, it would be a lot easier for fans of Grohl to assume that he hates the biggest names in rap or electronica. Those genres don’t exactly cater to the kind of audience that is all about great guitar riffs and Led Zeppelin-style grooves, but it’s not like Grohl was thinking of limiting his taste that much. He was more than willing to hop on an electronic groove with Nine Inch Nails, and even on Sonic Highways, he felt that the voice of people like Chuck D were as important as the greatest lyricists in the world.
But there is a sweet spot when it comes to Grohl’s music taste, and that normally comes out when things start getting a little bit heavy. He worshipped almost everything that Led Zeppelin put out, and while he still had love for every single Beatles song ever written, there’s nothing that could ever match the feeling he got when turning on some of those classic Metallica songs or thrashing away trying to play along to Rush records in his bedroom.
Everything needed to have a sense of rhythm to it, but the prog sphere can be sort of hit and miss with that kind of thing. A genre that prioritises musicianship isn’t exactly going to have bad drummers among their ranks, but for every band that took people on a journey like Rush did, there were also people like Yes that seemed to be a little too fanciful than what Grohl was willing to hear.
That’s not to say Yes is an inherently bad band at all. In fact, most of the members deserve their place up in the rock and roll heavens with the other legends in their field, but it’s Jon Anderson’s lyrics that can be hit or miss with people. The hippie idealism may have been a great idea at the time, but when Grohl was listening to music, he preferred to have songs that had a little bit more teeth than what turned up on tunes like ‘Wonderous Stories’.
Taylor Hawkins had tried his best to introduce the band to that kind of sound, but Grohl still was hesitant about ever coming back to Yes that often, saying, “Taylor is a big Yes fan and has treated us to many a Yes concert video. Of course, I grew up hearing the hits on the radio, so I have a lot of respect for Bruford and the rest of the boys. But sometimes prog really escapes me. I could always get into the Rush thing, but Yes always seemed too hippie-ish for me.”
And when you look at where Grohl came from, it’s not hard to see why he needed more of an edge to a lot of his favourite bands. There’s nothing wrong with people talking about a sense of idealism and how everything is great, but considering he came from the same scene that birthed bands like Bad Brains, a lot of the best songs that he ever made came from taking a lot of the anger and fury that comes with rock and roll and throwing it back at the audience rather than making some progressive hippie commune onstage.
Yes are still one of the most accomplished players in history, and there’s no way that anyone can deny the pure craftsmanship that goes into making a record like Close to The Edge or Going for the One, but if Grohl wanted to hear something epic, he needed the journey to be a little bit more interesting.
