Dave Grohl, the frontman for Foo Fighters, is practically living the dream. The composer, a self-proclaimed music fanatic, rose to notoriety as the drummer for grunge rock poster boys Nirvana. He then cofounded Foo Fighters in 1994. The frontman, who frequently collaborates with his musical heroes, has never turned down the opportunity to talk about his influences.
Dave Grohl’s interests range from praising Little Richard to gushing about Radiohead’s OK Computer. In 2011, he appeared on an edition of Apple’s Celebrity Playlist Podcast, which was distributed on iTunes. The 71-episode series is comparable to the iconic BBC Radio program Desert Island Discs. It invites noteworthy people to share their life stories through music.
Dave Grohl’s favorites, which he shared with acclaimed record producer Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s genre-defining album Nevermind, were dominated by his love of punk and hard rock. However, there were some intriguing moments interspersed throughout the podcast, between his punk awakening and his great love for The Beatles. Grohl, for example, described how Edgar Winter Group’s ‘Frankenstein‘ had a profound impact on him as a child.
The vocalist also recalls hearing the song for the first time with his mother, a schoolteacher. “We didn’t have a record player in the house, but she’d go to school, and on Fridays, she’d bring the public school record player home for the weekend.” “We’d buy one record and listen to it all weekend,” he said.
Given the limited variety of purchasing one record every week, compilation albums were the natural way forward. Dave Grohl remembers purchasing a compilation to listen to with his mother on weekends, and “‘Frankenstein’ by Edgar Winter Group was on there; it’s the most classic riff of all time.” I was maybe six or seven years old when I heard that, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to be a musician‘. “I just thought, ‘This rocks!'”
In addition, the drummer discussed the revelation of punk rock. Dave Grohl chose The B-52’s ‘Dance This Mess Around’ as one of his faves and opened up about the incredible impact the new wave giants had on him, saying, “It was also probably witnessing the B-52’s on Saturday Night Live that altered my life forever. “I’d never seen anything like that.” The vocalist has also been candid about his admiration for their eponymous debut elsewhere, frequently mentioning it as one among his favorites.
Of course, no list of Grohl’s favourites would be complete without mentioning Liverpool’s best. The singer has a great fondness for the Beatles. He recently became friends with bassist Paul McCartney, with whom he will perform at Glastonbury in 2023. He chose ‘Blackbird‘ from the White Album and stated, “If I ever sit down with an acoustic guitar, it’s one of the first things I do.” “I believe Paul McCartney is one of the world’s most important people,” he stated.
Dave Grohl’s favourite songs of all time:
- The Edgar Winter Group – ‘Frankenstein’
- The Beatles – ‘Blackbird’
- Ace Frehley – ‘Ozone’
- Devo – ‘Uncontrollable Urge’
- The B-52’s – ‘Dance This Mess Around’
- Black Flag – ‘Room 13’
- Die Antwoord – ‘In Your Face’
