“I was so nervous”: The singer Dave Grohl called a true American icon
Half of what Dave Grohl does today is more about trying to preserve his favourite music to a certain degree.
He has already been through some of the greatest highs and lows that any rock star can ever face, but when you look at the kind of record he wanted to make on Sonic Highways, he clearly wanted to paint a picture of the version of America that he grew up with and what it means to be a working musician in a country where the world seems so wide open for artists. That record specifically already had a lot of different influences, but there are only a few people who could represent the heart of the country in Grohl’s mind.
But there are only a few people in the music industry who seem to say it all for what America is supposed to be. Johnny Cash was probably the closest to what America’s core values were all about back in the day, and while the closest thing that we still have to this day is someone like Bruce Springsteen, that shouldn’t discount all of the great names in heartland rock that are representing what the working class go through every single day.
And while country music has its own category to some degree, it’s not like there aren’t people who stand for America in the best of ways. Dolly Parton is still one of the most beloved artists in the world for a reason, and that’s because she is still one of the greatest examples of what someone can do when they remain incredibly wholesome whenever they get behind the microphone.
Those are all well and good, but where Grohl came from was all about punk rock. Although punk always gets considered a British import, Ramones were really the first band to help launch everything into the mainstream a good few months before bands like Sex Pistols started taking over England. And when it reached Grohl’s neck of the woods in Virginia, he was far more interested in bands that could put as much passion as they could into every record they made.
But in between the likes of Minor Threat and Bad Brains in his record collection, bands like Husker Du were a completely different kind of heavy. Bob Mould was making some of the hardest-edged rock and roll that he could, but when you listen to records like New Day Rising and Zen Arcade, there are a lot more catchy tunes on there than outright distorted noise whenever he straps on his guitar.
This was about as close to modern alternative rock as it got back in the day, and Grohl considered Mould to be everything great about American music, saying, “I was so nervous to meet Bob because I ripped him off so mercilessly. I told him that if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t play guitar the way I do. His records have shaped me as much as The Beatles. He’s a true American icon as far as I’m concerned. I even told him that and he said ‘I know.’”
That kind of response might sound a bit big-headed, but Mould wasn’t in the industry to try and receive that kind of lip service. He was always searching for the next great song, and when you look at where he’s gone since then both with Sugar and his solo career, he’s still in the business for all the right reasons, whether it’s chasing down that melody that will be absolutely perfect or writing that one line that will stab someone in the heart when they hear it.
And that’s the same kind of way that Grohl seemed to want to live his life whenever he started making music. Yeah, the stadium-filling choruses might be what pays the bills and keeps a roof over his head, but he still abided by the rule that rock and roll isn’t about someone playing the most badass riffs of all time. All you need is an instrument and a big heart, and Mould has been showing people the shape of his heart for decades with no signs of slowing down.
