Dave Grohl Says There’s an Alternative to Being a Typical Rock Star

2014-11-14

Story by Anne Erickson

Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl says you don’t have to be on drugs to be a true rock star

Dave Grohl is a survivor. After the tragic end of his ‘90s band, Nirvana, after the tragic loss of frontman Kurt Cobain to drugs and ultimately suicide, Grohl forged on with his new band, Foo Fighters, and went from sitting behind the drum kit to singing out front.

Speaking with The Guardian, Grohl explained that being a musician doesn’t mean having to fall prey to the demos so many musicians battle each day.

“Maybe people just don’t understand that there is an alternative to what you would imagine a rock star to be,” he said. “You don’t have to have a needle hanging out of your arm. You don’t have to … lock down a festival backstage. Why not just go … knock on everybody’s door with a bottle of whisky and say: ‘Hi, I’m Dave, how are you? Nice to meet you,’ and see who’s going to … join the party? That’s the first thing I do.”

Looking back on the period following Nirvana’s end, Grohl said his band Foo Fighters struggled with being second to Nirvana for years.

“There were times where I’d get questions that were just … questions you’d never ask a total stranger, someone that you’d just met, who had been through something really terrible,” he said, adding it just wasn’t polite.

“There were a few years of that, and then it quieted down,” he continued. “It’s started happening that kids go, ‘Aren’t you the guy from Foo Fighters? How did your band begin?’ ‘Well, I was in this band before, called Nirvana.’ ‘You were in Nirvana?’”

Photo by Ringo Starr

Anne Erickson
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