Dave Grohl on Lorde: “‘Royals’ is its own little revolution in the sea of bullshit”
No musician wants to sit down to write a song in the hopes that someone glosses over it. These are true artists, and the core of their identity is about making a tune that stirs people up and tries to take them to places they have never been before. Even though it’s hard for anyone to capture something visceral in the span of a few minutes, Dave Grohl knew that he was witnessing history when listening to this pop smash cut through the rest of the charts.
When Grohl was first starting out, though, there was no way of knowing what constituted a smash hit. Most people had grown accustomed to what hair metal was supposed to be, but if Grohl had known that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was going to change the landscape of rock and roll overnight, chances are he would have worked on his drum part a little bit more or fine-tuned everything so it would be the greatest thing the world had ever known.
But that’s not how classic songs are birthed. ‘Imagine’ only needed a few takes to get down, and even though ‘Heroin’ by The Velvet Underground is known as one of the perfect progenitors to genres like punk, it’s not like Lou Reed was pouring over every bit of feedback to make sure that everything sounded deliberately raucous throughout the song.
By the 2010s, though, many people seemed to forget what made those kinds of songs so interesting. Rock and roll had long since been replaced by the cheap dad-rock that clogged up the radio, and even when looking at the pop charts, everyone seemed to be embracing the sounds of dance music rather than looking for artists who actually had something to say beyond partying all night long.
So when ‘Royals’ by Lorde came out, it was practically a splash of cold water. The whole song was much denser than anything on the radio, and hearing her sing about the shallowness of modern music and not wanting to be caught up in that kind of lifestyle is still one of the best commentaries on the faceless side of pop music.
While Grohl was already making strides with Foo Fighters on Sonic Highways, he couldn’t deny that Lorde had hit the nail on the head for what was wrong with pop music that decade, saying, “Her song ‘Royals’ is its own little revolution in the sea of bullshit. Pop music in America right now is so superficial. If the number one song is about your butt, that’s a problem. So when I heard ‘Royals’ in the middle of all of these other songs, I thought, “Thank God! Someone’s singing something that actually has a little bit of something.”
And it’s not like Lorde didn’t practice what she preached. She may have become an international star thanks to her smash hit, but after releasing her follow-up Melodrama, she was more interested in not playing the traditional game of a pin-up star, usually staying out of the spotlight and only coming out when she had something worthwhile to say or making new strides with her material.
Although Grohl eventually suggested getting Lorde to jam with Nirvana during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she was not interested in paying lip service to rock’s past, either. She was about living in the here and now and seeing her influence trickle down into artists like Billie Eilish. She’s still teaching artists not to get caught up in that love affair that she talked about all those years ago.
