The three classic bands Dave Grohl described as “not human”
After playing in various hardcore punk bands in the 1980s, Dave Grohl found himself in Nirvana, replacing Chad Channing as the group’s new drummer. An incredibly skilled musician, Grohl quickly became lauded for his talents, helping the trio to become even more successful. His first album with the band was Nevermind, which contained the hit single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, a song that shot the band to international stardom.
Grohl’s pummelling drum beats became central features of the songs, thundering down on each track with a sense of power he’d learned to exert from years of studying other musicians. From ‘70s hard rock acts that soundtracked his childhood to ferocious punk bands, his musical education was incredibly varied, allowing him to deliver pure excellence when it came to performing with Nirvana, one of the biggest alternative groups in the world.
Nirvana became the face of grunge, a genre inspired by a mix of punk, noise rock, and sludgy metal. Their lyrics were typically concerned with disillusionment, isolation, and alienation, which attracted a large fanbase, generally younger listeners who identified with these themes. However, the band’s tenure was cut short when lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. Nirvana disbanded, and Grohl formed Foo Fighters, releasing music that he had started writing privately while Cobain was still alive.
He didn’t realise that his new band would become so successful, but now they’re one of rock’s most popular outfits, selling out stadiums across the world. Foo Fighters are a far cry from the punk bands that Grohl cut his teeth in back in the ‘80s, but he welcomes that progression in his musical career.
Despite his love for DIY and punk, gaining his early years of experience playing in sweaty, cramped venues where the boundary between the band and the audience blurred, Grohl first fell in love with classic rock. He told the BBC, “As a child, I had posters on my walls of Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, AC/DC and these huge stadium rock bands. To me, that was like this incredible fantasy. They seemed almost not human.” Just like countless other people during the ‘70s, Grohl was enthralled by these musicians, who were idols and symbols of a world that felt inaccessible, dangerous and glamourous.
You can hear the influence of these classic hard rock outfits in Foo Fighters’ sound, which feels like a spiritual continuation of those ‘70s stadium bands that Grohl grew up on. Little did the young Grohl know that as an adult, he would be playing with many of these musicians, such as The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
The influence of these bands has never left him. He once told Rolling Stone, referring to the latter band, “I spent years in my bedroom — literally fucking years — listening to [John] Bonham’s drums and trying to emulate his swing or his behind-the-beat swagger or his speed or power. Not just memorising what he did on those albums but getting myself into a place where I would have the same instinctual direction as he had.”
While Grohl found fans in most of the musicians that made him fall in love with music, AC/DC’s Malcolm Young wasn’t so keen on Nirvana. When asked if he liked them, he once replied, “Naaaah. Singer’s a blond fella. Bit of a poser.”
Still, with the spirit of bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin in mind, Grohl has learned to embrace playing in stadiums, telling the BBC, “I’m one of those people that just wants to share everything with everybody, whether it’s pain or joy, a song or a drink. So I think I finally got to the point where I came to terms with it and got really into it.”
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