The hilarious way David Bowie rejected Dave Grohl: “Fuck off”
Rejection is never pleasant to experience, no matter who you are. It’s a sensation that everybody reading this article has felt at some point in their lives, and it can even happen to world-famous rock stars at the peak of their powers like Dave Grohl.
Over the course of his 30-year career in rock music, Grohl has embraced the opportunity to work with many of the biggest names in the history of music. In 2022, he stood tall next to giants when he joined Paul McCartney during his headline set at Glastonbury Festival alongside Bruce Springsteen. That aside, he also recorded a collaboration with Mick Jagger in 2020 and considered Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones his bandmate during their time in Them Crooked Vultures.
Due to his wealth of experience with Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Grohl is now on the cusp of legendary music status. Therefore, he’s often the one who receives requests to collaborate rather than having to do the begging himself.
For the last 15 years, Grohl’s standing has meant that he has only needed to pursue collaborations with a select few musicians, such as the late David Bowie. In Grohl’s eyes, Bowie could walk on water, and his brutally honest reply to the ambitious proposal only enhanced the Foo Fighters frontman’s view of his greatness.
While Grohl’s first musical obsession was The Beatles, a pivotal role in his rock ‘n’ roll awakening also arrived at the hands of David Bowie. Grohl’s whole generation was swallowed up by ‘The Starman’, who followed him throughout his career as he shifted between different personas and sounds.
In his own right, Grohl has integrated this ethos into his career. Famously, he began as the drummer with Nirvana before tragedy led him to evolve into the singer in one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world, Foo Fighters.
Explaining his love of Bowie, Grohl once wrote on social media: “David Bowie provided an indelible addition to the soundtrack of my life from an early age,” Grohl wrote on his Instagram page. “His first live album, David Live was on regular rotation in my living room when I was a kid, and his classic track ‘Suffragette City’ was quite a hit at the backyard parties I played with my nerdy high school band in the early ’80s (I sang the ‘Hey Man!’ background vocals with the best pre-pubescent shriek I could possibly squeeze out of my skinny little neck).”
Fast-forward to 1997, and Grohl’s world finally collided with Bowie’s. Foo Fighters were invited to be special guests at Madison Square Garden to mark Bowie’s 50th birthday. The night went swimmingly, as they joined forces to perform ‘Hallo Spaceboy’, and most importantly, Grohl secured Bowie’s email address.
“So when he walked (levitated?) onstage that night, I felt as if I were being visited by another life form,” Grohl later remembered of that precious New York evening. “The kind of ‘Starman’ I searched the night sky for as a child, waiting for his gilded spacecraft to descend upon my front yard and take me away from my banal suburban life. It was my first time witnessing Bowie’s grace and power live, and it provided me with a surprising revelation.”
After performing together in 1997, Grohl succeeded in keeping the communication flowing with Bowie over the decades. Their relationship reached a stage where Grohl felt he could turn to Bowie for a collaboration, which proved optimistic.
In 2014, the Foo Fighters frontman was exploring an opportunity to create a soundtrack for a mysterious blockbuster film. However, he believed one song required a different voice than his, and he thought Bowie would be perfect for the role. In response, Bowie politely turned down the request, claiming that he watched the film that Grohl had sent over to him and it was “not his thing”.
Undeterred by Bowie’s polite way of saying no, Grohl’s correspondence with Bowie continued until the late singer put an end to their chat by bluntly telling the Nirvana drummer: “All right, now that’s settled, then fuck off.”
At first, this response sent Grohl into a state of panic. For a split-second, he thought his hero hated his guts, but once he realised Bowie was humourous, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Grohl recalled: “With every muscle in my body loosening from the crippling anxiety of the past few minutes, I sunk back into my living room chair, born again. Hallelujah! I could finally breathe knowing that David Bowie did not actually wish me to ‘fuck off’ (or maybe he did, but in the nicest way possible, and even that was an honour).”
Even though Bowie had no interest in Grohl’s attempt to collaborate, the pain of rejection was worthwhile due to the hilarious execution. Being told to fuck off isn’t a typically enjoyable experience, but even via email, Bowie could deliver those two words with heartfelt beauty.
