Post by Hey Man on Sept 29, 2011 7:10:11 GMT -5
With all the attention that’s been lavished upon the Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures – not the mention Nirvana – it would seem no stone’s been unturned when it comes to examining the inner and outer life of Dave Grohl. Still, we managed to uncover a few little-known tidbits about the gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
10. His first drum kit consisted of pillows and furniture.
“Until I was 17, I didn't have enough money to get a drum set,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “But I knew the configuration of a drum set, so I’d set up a pillow between my legs as a snare drum, and I’d use my bed as a tom and a chair as a high hat. I’d just play along with the records all day long, [mostly] fast hardcore punk rock albums like Bad Brains and Minor Threat. It was great. And it was cheap.”
9. The first song to get his attention for its drumming was … The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.”
“I remember being really inspired by that song,” Grohl told Mojo in 2005. “Up to that point I would just listen to whatever my parents or my sister were listening to, things like the West Side Story soundtrack, Carly Simon and The Beatles . But when I heard ‘Frankenstein,’ I thought, ‘Wow, everything about this song stands out – the riffs, the keyboards and particularly the drums.’”
8. The classic album he would most like to have been involved with was by… The Zombies.
“I would have loved to have been in the studio when The Zombies recorded [their 1968 masterpiece] Odessey and Oracle,” Grohl told New Musical Express in 2011, when asked which classic album he would most liked to have put his stamp on. “It’s such a simple record, and such an amazing album, but the sounds are really primal and raw because of the technical limitations of the time. So yeah, probably that.”
7. His favorite Beatles song is… “Julia.”
“If I could write just one song as beautiful as ‘Julia,’ I would achieve my life’s goal,” Grohl told Classic Rock magazine in 2009. “That song has such a soothing and healing quality to it. I could hear it a thousand times in a row and it would draw me in every time. The guitar and vocals are so delicate and right – they’re celestial. When I found out it was about Lennon’s mother, who abandoned him, and returned then died, it made it even more amazing.”
6. His favorite Paul McCartney song is also a Beatles song.
Q magazine asked Grohl to name his favorite McCartney track in 2010. “You can't even answer that question,” Grohl responded. “It's just not fair – but I’m going to say ‘Blackbird.’ It’s such a beautiful piece of music, perfect in composition and performance, and in its lyrics and in the range of his voice. Learning that song made me a better guitar player and gave me a better appreciation of songwriting. It’s musical bliss.”
5. He almost got the chance to play with… Little Richard.
“I was doing a soundtrack for the film Backbeat in 1992,” Grohl told New Musical Express, in 2011. “[Producer] Don Was assembled a bunch of musicians to play the music, and we were doing a cover of ‘Long Tall Sally.’ Little Richard was living in a hotel just up the street from the studio, so we gave him a call, to see if he would come down and jam with us. He said he wanted $10,000 to do it. We were all like, ‘Well, I’ll put in $2,000...’ but in the end we just decided, ‘Nah.’ I wish we’d have done it.”
4. He did get the chance to play on a Michael Jackson song… sort of.
In 2011, Grohl told Classic Rock the story of how Lenny Kravitz asked him to play on an unfinished Michael Jackson song that Kravitz and Jackson had worked on in 1992. “Lenny sends over the track, and I sit down with Butch Vig and we record this huge [drum track],” Grohl explained. “I sent it to Lenny and he's like: ‘Dude, this is going to be awesome.’ I'm like: ‘I’m on a Michael Jackson track!’ A month goes by, and another, and another, and I still haven’t heard anything. Finally, I hear the song online. You know what they used? One snare hit. That’s it. I don't know who’s playing drums, but it ain’t me.”
3. He hates drum machines.
Grohl delivered a rant against modern technology to London’s The Sun in 2011. “All that [expletive] ruins music these days,” he said. “Drum machines work for pop artists, but when it comes to rock and roll, don’t [mess around] with the human element. I had favorite drummers because of their inconsistencies. Modern production has robbed drummers of personalities, and it really pisses me off.”
2. His childhood fascination with UFOs remains intact.
“When I was 10 or 11, I had this romantic idea that there was something outside the world we know,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “I’ve always done my own little investigations here and there. I’ve never been visited by aliens or had any sort of close encounter, but I’ve had a couple of dreams that were really vivid, dreams where the sky implodes and it's the dawn of this new era where we learn to live in the same world as things from other planets.”
1. His all-time favorite guitar riff is… the one in Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.”
“My favorite guitar riff of all time has gotta be ‘Black Dog’,” Grohl told Q, in 2007. “It has these wicked turnarounds where John Bonham stays in 4/4 time, but John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page turn the riff over. Jimmy played his guitar with swagger; it was in his shoulders. ‘Black Dog’ just drips, it’s so smooth. It has groove and a pulse, and it sounds easy enough, but when you actually wrap your hands around a guitar, you realize that it takes a little more than what you got.”
10. His first drum kit consisted of pillows and furniture.
“Until I was 17, I didn't have enough money to get a drum set,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “But I knew the configuration of a drum set, so I’d set up a pillow between my legs as a snare drum, and I’d use my bed as a tom and a chair as a high hat. I’d just play along with the records all day long, [mostly] fast hardcore punk rock albums like Bad Brains and Minor Threat. It was great. And it was cheap.”
9. The first song to get his attention for its drumming was … The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.”
“I remember being really inspired by that song,” Grohl told Mojo in 2005. “Up to that point I would just listen to whatever my parents or my sister were listening to, things like the West Side Story soundtrack, Carly Simon and The Beatles . But when I heard ‘Frankenstein,’ I thought, ‘Wow, everything about this song stands out – the riffs, the keyboards and particularly the drums.’”
8. The classic album he would most like to have been involved with was by… The Zombies.
“I would have loved to have been in the studio when The Zombies recorded [their 1968 masterpiece] Odessey and Oracle,” Grohl told New Musical Express in 2011, when asked which classic album he would most liked to have put his stamp on. “It’s such a simple record, and such an amazing album, but the sounds are really primal and raw because of the technical limitations of the time. So yeah, probably that.”
7. His favorite Beatles song is… “Julia.”
“If I could write just one song as beautiful as ‘Julia,’ I would achieve my life’s goal,” Grohl told Classic Rock magazine in 2009. “That song has such a soothing and healing quality to it. I could hear it a thousand times in a row and it would draw me in every time. The guitar and vocals are so delicate and right – they’re celestial. When I found out it was about Lennon’s mother, who abandoned him, and returned then died, it made it even more amazing.”
6. His favorite Paul McCartney song is also a Beatles song.
Q magazine asked Grohl to name his favorite McCartney track in 2010. “You can't even answer that question,” Grohl responded. “It's just not fair – but I’m going to say ‘Blackbird.’ It’s such a beautiful piece of music, perfect in composition and performance, and in its lyrics and in the range of his voice. Learning that song made me a better guitar player and gave me a better appreciation of songwriting. It’s musical bliss.”
5. He almost got the chance to play with… Little Richard.
“I was doing a soundtrack for the film Backbeat in 1992,” Grohl told New Musical Express, in 2011. “[Producer] Don Was assembled a bunch of musicians to play the music, and we were doing a cover of ‘Long Tall Sally.’ Little Richard was living in a hotel just up the street from the studio, so we gave him a call, to see if he would come down and jam with us. He said he wanted $10,000 to do it. We were all like, ‘Well, I’ll put in $2,000...’ but in the end we just decided, ‘Nah.’ I wish we’d have done it.”
4. He did get the chance to play on a Michael Jackson song… sort of.
In 2011, Grohl told Classic Rock the story of how Lenny Kravitz asked him to play on an unfinished Michael Jackson song that Kravitz and Jackson had worked on in 1992. “Lenny sends over the track, and I sit down with Butch Vig and we record this huge [drum track],” Grohl explained. “I sent it to Lenny and he's like: ‘Dude, this is going to be awesome.’ I'm like: ‘I’m on a Michael Jackson track!’ A month goes by, and another, and another, and I still haven’t heard anything. Finally, I hear the song online. You know what they used? One snare hit. That’s it. I don't know who’s playing drums, but it ain’t me.”
3. He hates drum machines.
Grohl delivered a rant against modern technology to London’s The Sun in 2011. “All that [expletive] ruins music these days,” he said. “Drum machines work for pop artists, but when it comes to rock and roll, don’t [mess around] with the human element. I had favorite drummers because of their inconsistencies. Modern production has robbed drummers of personalities, and it really pisses me off.”
2. His childhood fascination with UFOs remains intact.
“When I was 10 or 11, I had this romantic idea that there was something outside the world we know,” Grohl told Uncut in 2007. “I’ve always done my own little investigations here and there. I’ve never been visited by aliens or had any sort of close encounter, but I’ve had a couple of dreams that were really vivid, dreams where the sky implodes and it's the dawn of this new era where we learn to live in the same world as things from other planets.”
1. His all-time favorite guitar riff is… the one in Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.”
“My favorite guitar riff of all time has gotta be ‘Black Dog’,” Grohl told Q, in 2007. “It has these wicked turnarounds where John Bonham stays in 4/4 time, but John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page turn the riff over. Jimmy played his guitar with swagger; it was in his shoulders. ‘Black Dog’ just drips, it’s so smooth. It has groove and a pulse, and it sounds easy enough, but when you actually wrap your hands around a guitar, you realize that it takes a little more than what you got.”
