Credit: Apple Music
Aside from his enduring popularity, it’s important to note that Dave Grohl is also one of the best songwriters of our time.
For some reason, this phenomenon is perhaps less recognized than it should be. To put it as simply as possible, few musicians have as eclectic a depth in their catalog as he does, while maintaining both a mainstream presence and artistic integrity. What other star can count the smiling rhythmic force behind the greatest cult band in history, the frontman of one of the most successful rock ‘n’ roll bands of the 21st century, an author and being part of the Bee Gees’ most famous cover band as shining achievements on the same CV?
He sits right in the middle of the Venn diagram, where the mainstream and alternative spheres overlap, and he does so through supreme musicality, compositional understanding, endearing enthusiasm and a collegiate side that he never really lost despite his appearances at Wimbledon in his final days. With Grohl, you can always sense that the Kiss poster he grew up with on his bedroom wall may be out of sight, but it’s not out of sight.
His music may not be to your taste, but anyone who can shred a drum solo, write a folk song, a grunge classic, and a stadium rock anthem while remaining singular and recognizable is a feat to be admired. One of the reasons his music is so eclectic is that his musical taste is equally impartial. In fact, the beauty of his writing is that it relies on structures that permeate all genres, and Grohl is quick to recognize that sensibility in every song that comes to mind.
In fact, he even decreed that he believed there were no guilty pleasures, period. “I remember when ‘Gangnam Style’ came out. I wasn’t ashamed to say it was my favorite song of the year,” he said. Planet Radio; ours was probably Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” but to each their own.
The drummer even unabashedly added, “I know I’m supposed to be a hardcore punk rock and heavy metal guy, but ‘Gangnam Style’ is one of my favorite songs. I should be able to say that, right? What’s wrong with that?” he asked rhetorically, although I’m sure many of you come up with reasons, continuing: “So I don’t believe in the idea that guilt should be associated with how many people listen to your music.”
Alas, his recognition that all music has merit was also crucial when it came to Nirvana’s sound. Beneath the band’s surly exterior, Grohl later explained that all of the drum beats he created for the group were based on the propulsive spirit of disco.
This trend started from his childhood, as he told Mark Maron during his WTF podcast. “The music that really came to mind first was the AM radio in the car. So, it was the mid-’70s, so you’re talking about Andrew Gold and Phoebe Snow and Helen Reddy and Carly Simon and 10cc – all that AM bullshit, man. “He might talk bullshit there, but it’s a mark of his open ears that he welcomed it and admired it all the same.
Grohl, beaming with nostalgia, continued: “There’s something about that era of music, where you had all these incredibly gifted songwriters who were really mastering their game. Someone like Andrew Gold (…) I swear to God, he sang this song called ‘Never Let Her Slip Away’. Man, that song isn’t a huge hit in America, but it’s the greatest piece of music ever written.”
It may not have been a big hit in America, only reaching number 67 in the charts, but it reached number five in the UK, and it’s the song I grew up hearing my dad sing while he did the dishes. It may seem like an extremely personal corroboration to put in a piece that, as any editor would agree, has no room for me to appear in it, but it’s the feeling of nostalgia that the song somehow spiritually conjures up, just as Grohl no doubt remembers it blaring through the AM radio speakers on long summer drives when he was a kid.
Truly transcendent music seems to stop being just a song and somehow enter our lives at large. Take Grohl’s beloved Beatles, for example: they didn’t just write great songs, they wrote songs you couldn’t imagine the world without. Likewise, “Never Let Her Slip Away” is so simple that it feels deeply familiar, and yet the microscopic production and composition is so unique that nothing could replace it. There’s this rare quality of reminiscence that lingers somewhere in the choruses and defies musicology alone.
However, beyond the almost haunting nostalgic spirit of the song, the structure itself is something that Grohl also eagerly appreciated. “The keyboard sound is maybe a little cheesy, you could say it’s cheesy, it’s not cool anymore, but melodically (…) it’s maybe one of the most melodically sophisticated songs I’ve ever heard in my life. You have to hear it. It’ll blow your mind.”
The opening sets the tone by alternating between two closely related chords, with subtle changes in their upper notes. Rather than relying on a dramatic riff, this nuanced approach creates a circular, gently rocking feel. The melody flows naturally into this pattern, making it feel like the song can go on forever without becoming boring.
In fact, the Foo Fighters frontman has even announced plans to one day try his hand at the 1978 song. As he emphatically stated, “We’re going to talk about it just so you know.” ” Well, let’s hope it does justice to the anthem of the sun and retains all that rarefied atmosphere that the original crams into its breathtaking joie de vivre.
After all, Grohl is a man happy to simply celebrate the joy of music as it is. As he explained when discussing the idea of letting the non-cynical celebration of art triumph over the forced expectations of rock ‘n’ roll: “Now you’re a top 40 band and you’ve sold millions of records,” he said, “How do you deal with that?”
Continuing, “A lot of people feel this feeling of guilt or shame.” And many fans curiously confuse commerciality with the happy medium, as if true art and success should never coincide except in the 1960s.
Grohl continues, “It’s like, ‘Oh no, I’m too popular,’ or ‘Oh no, we sold too many records.’
So why should there be guilt about Gold’s beautiful melody just because he was on AM radio a few decades ago and his clothes were more “geography teacher chic” than Pavement scruffy? After everything from Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Linda Ronstadt to Carly Simon, Roy Orbison, Don Henley and Art Garfunkel, it certainly didn’t seem to bother the musicians who admired him so much that they enlisted his services.
Gn entert
