The singer Dave Grohl called “the coolest motherf***er in the world”
Despite the immense success of Foo Fighters in recent years, Dave Grohl still comes across as the same down-to-earth guy fans knew from his Nirvana days. While he now commands entire stadiums, Grohl remains humble and would likely still be starstruck by any musician he hasn’t had the chance to jam with yet. While memories of playing with legends like Prince and Paul McCartney would be enough to fulfil most musicians’ dreams, Grohl recalls being completely captivated by Barry Manilow during their interview for the documentary Sound City.
Looking at both of them together, though, Grohl seems like the last person who would be listening to tunes like ‘Mandy’ in his spare time. After all, this was the same intense drummer that would pound out blistering hardcore punk tracks before he joined Nirvana, and that movement’s entire MO was to go against the lavish instrumentation that Manilow would put into his songs.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t some overlap. Because as much as Grohl loved hardcore punk, his first love was always The Beatles, and their knack for melody on their ballads was all that far away from what Manilow was working with. If anything, some of the sappier ballads like ‘The Long and Winding Road’ could probably qualify as ‘proto-Manilow’, hence why John Lennon had absolutely no time for them.
Once Grohl got to know the crooner for the documentary, he knew he was dealing with one of the best celebrities he ever met, saying, “Barry Manilow is the coolest motherf***er in the world. The only time I’d seen Barry before was at a Clive Davis party where he performed a medley of his hits that went on for half an hour that left everyone – from Puff Daddy to Pearl Jam – in tears.”
And as long as we’re being honest, it’s not like Grohl didn’t know how to pour on some of the sappiness when writing his own ballads. He was no Manilow, but listening to the beginning of ‘February Stars’ or the second half of In Your Honour, the frontman at least knew how to write the kind of songs that could get both hardened badasses crying alongside the housewife crowd.
Grohl would even find time to play one of Manilow’s classics when working with producer Greg Krustin. During the holiday season, Grohl put together several cover versions of classic tunes for Hannukkah, which included him doing one of the most charming karaoke versions of ‘Copacabana’.
If anything, the Sound City just served to show how many different artists can find common ground within just one studio. The gatekeepers of the world might frown upon any artist even attempting to work outside of their comfort zone, but part of the beauty of music is drawing a straight line from fans of Barry Manilow to Foo Fighters to Metallica to Slayer. It doesn’t always make the most sense, but if Grohl could pull off a version of disco hits convincingly with The Dee Gees, pleasing the easy listening would hardly be a problem.
