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Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl's Genre:

Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Grunge, Post-Grunge

Biography

Rarely in the history of rock has a musician switched bands and instruments simultaneously with such a high degree of success as Dave Grohl. Born on January 14, 1969, Grohl grew up in Washington, D.C., teaching himself to play drums and guitar while listening to such heavy metal acts as Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Motörhead, and Black Sabbath, plus the punk outfits Black Flag, the Germs, Bad Brains, and the Stooges. While still a teenager, he joined his first real band, independent D.C. punkers Scream, and toured the world as their drummer. After Scream broke up in the late '80s, Grohl relocated to Seattle and tried out for a little-known band that had a drum vacancy, Nirvana. Immediately after Grohl joined the group in late 1990, Nirvana guitarist/singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain presented the band with the songs that would appear on the group's major-label debut, the 1991 classic Nevermind. Grohl also found time to write and record several demos around this time (playing all the instruments and singing himself), titled Pocketwatch, but more on that later. As everyone knows, Nevermind rocketed Nirvana to superstardom, as Grohl turned heads with his simple yet hard-hitting drumming style. During the sessions for the group's follow-up, 1993's In Utero, Grohl was allowed to contribute some of his own songwriting when he earned a co-writing credit for the heavy riff-rocker "Scentless Apprentice" and also recorded an original song, the quietly melodic "Marigold," which would appear as a B-side on the British "All Apologies" single.

Then Cobain's much-publicized suicide promptly ended Nirvana in April 1994. Instead of sitting around depressed, Grohl began working and playing with others, lending his drumming talents to the Backbeat motion picture soundtrack and Mike Watt's Ball-Hog or Tugboat? release (as well as serving as Watt's touring drummer for a stretch of time), plus backing Tom Petty on a Saturday Night Live appearance. Later in the year, Grohl dusted off some of the songs he recorded for the Pocketwatch demo and began writing and recording some new tracks, again playing all the instruments himself. Not sure initially if these songs would ever see the light of day, he eventually decided to issue them under the name Foo Fighters, and promptly formed an ad hoc band consisting of ex-Germs/Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear and ex-Sunny Day Real Estate members William Goldsmith (drums) and Nate Mendel (bass), while Grohl surprisingly put his drumming days behind him in favor of guitarist/singer duties. The band's self-titled 1995 release became a hit, as their sound sound was similar to his last full-time band: hard-edged punk rock mixed with melodic, midtempo pop/rockers.

While the band lineup solidified with the arrival of ex-Alanis Morissette drummer Taylor Hawkins, a revolving-door policy still applied to the other Foos fighting alongside Grohl. Nevertheless, the group widened its fan base with each successive release. 1997's Colour and the Shape became the first truly collaborative Foo album and a worldwide hit; two years later, There Is Nothing Left to Lose dropped to widespread acclaim, and further distanced Grohl the songwriter, singer, and guitarist from Grohl the ex-drummer of Nirvana. In 2000, he took a quick break from his main gig, contributing drum tracks to metal hero Tony Iommi's self-titled solo record. Early the following year, the Foos threw eager fans a bone, streaming stomper "The One" from their website. But Grohl's past came back to haunt him in late 2001, when famous Kurt Cobain widow and mouthpiece-about-town Courtney Love sued him, Krist Noveselic, and Universal Music Group for control of Nirvana's master recordings. The lawsuit would drag on for almost two years. Grohl and his band kicked off 2002 with a performance at the Winter Olympics. He then surprised fans and observers again with his emergence as the touring drummer for underground hard rock outfit Queens of the Stone Age. Grohl gigged with the band through the summer, and also played on the breakthrough Queens LP Songs for the Deaf, issued that August. The Foos' One by One appeared in October and almost immediately began spawning hit singles, each accompanied by a typically entertaining, Grohl-directed music video. The Love lawsuit was also settled, and late 2002 saw the arrival of a one-disc Nirvana retrospective. In spring 2003, Grohl, Hawkins, and the rest of the Foos embarked on an extensive tour in support of One by One.

Foo Fighters follow-up album, 2005's In Your Honor, narrowly missed the top of Billboard's album chart. After releasing a live album titled Skin and Bones in 2006, the band constructed a dozen fractured, eclectic rock songs to be released in 2007 under the name Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Two years later, the group released its first compilation, Greatest Hits, as Grohl launched his new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, which also featured Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. Foo Fighters reconvened for 2011's Wasting Light, a Butch Vig production that doubled as the official return of Pat Smear, who hadn't played on any of the band's albums since 1997. Wasting Light wound up as a smash success for the Foos, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts, going gold in the U.S., and garnering the band another four Grammy Awards. In the wake of Wasting Light, several other Foo projects emerged -- a limited-edition compilation of covers called Medium Rare released for Record Store Day 2011 and a documentary of the band called Back and Forth; the group toured the album into 2012.

In 2012, the Foo Fighters announced they were taking a hiatus and Grohl immediately returned to the confines of Queens of the Stone Age, drumming on their 2013 album ...Like Clockwork. He also threw himself into directing a documentary about the legendary Los Angeles recording studio Sound City. The film appeared early in 2013 to positive reviews and it was accompanied by a soundtrack called Sound City: Real to Reel, which featured Grohl-directed jams with a variety of Sound City veterans, plus Paul McCartney. Not long after its release, the Foo Fighters announced their hiatus had ended and they were working on a new album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Dave Grohl

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Krist Novoselic, Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders, Taylor Hawkins, James Iha, Alex Turner, Jimmy Chamberlin, Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters, The Last Shadow Puppets, Eddie Vedder and more.

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Artists Related to Dave Grohl (50)

	Krist Novoselic	Former Nirvana bassist Chris Novoselic is one of rock's most politically minded musicians. Born Krist Anthony Novoselic on May 16, 1965 in Los Angeles, CA, to Croatian immigrants, Novoselic and his family remained in California until 1979, when they moved to the tiny logging town of Aberdeen, WA.
	Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders
	Taylor Hawkins	Known principally for his role as drummer for the post-grunge rock act Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins was born in Dallas on February 17, 1972.
	James Iha	Throughout their existence, the main focal point of the Smashing Pumpkins was undoubtedly singer/guitarist Billy Corgan -- due to the fact that he was the group's main songwriter, as well as his penchant for colorful quotes in interviews.
	Alex Turner	Alex Turner became one of Europe’s most popular frontmen in early 2006, when the first Arctic Monkeys album became the fastest-selling U.
	Jimmy Chamberlin	As the propulsive engine driving the Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Chamberlin earned respect as one of the most popular, influential drummers of the '90s.
	Billy Corgan	As the guitarist/singer/head-songwriter for the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan was one of alt-rock's leaders and focal points for much of the '90s.
	Foo Fighters	When Foo Fighters released a debut album written and recorded entirely by leader Dave Grohl -- at that point known only as the powerhouse drummer for Nirvana -- in the summer of 1995, few would have guessed that the group would wind up as the one band to survive the '90s alt-rock explosion unscathed.
	The Last Shadow Puppets	A Scott Walker and David Bowie-inspired collaboration between the Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and the Rascals' Miles Kane, the Last Shadow Puppets began when Kane's previous band, the Little Flames, toured with the Arctic Monkeys in 2007.
	Eddie Vedder	Along with Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder reluctantly became a celebrity and an alt-rock spokesman when his band, Pearl Jam, hit the big time in the early '90s.
	Chris Cornell	Originally finding success as the frontman of Seattle's Soundgarden, rock vocalist Chris Cornell forged a successful career after the band's 1997 demise, both with the supergroup Audioslave and as a diverse solo artist.
	Zwan	Following the dissolution of the Smashing Pumpkins in December 2000 and a brief stint moonlighting with New Order, Billy Corgan quietly put together his first official post-Pumpkins project in late 2001, a quartet known as Zwan.
	Julian Casablancas	Best known as the lead singer/songwriter of the Strokes, Julian Casablancas was born on August 23, 1978 to Elite Model Agency Group founder John Casablancas and model and former Miss Denmark Jeanette Christiansen.
	McFly	Similar to fellow British pop act Busted, London-based McFly came together and quickly won over the youth masses with their boyish charm and lively tales of adolescence.
	Kurt Cobain	As the lead singer and guitarist of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain's musical success began in his twenties and was heightened when he formed the band Nirvana.
	The Wombats	British indie rock trio the Wombats make driving guitar post-punk and electronic-influenced pop. Formed in Liverpool in 2003 while the members were all attending the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, the Wombats feature vocalist/guitarist Matthew Murphy, drummer Dan Haggis, and Norwegian-born bassist Tord Øverland-Knudsen.
	The Jesus Lizard	Willfully abrasive and atonal, the Jesus Lizard emerged in the early '90s as a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground.
	Dream Street	Joining the massively successful circus of teen pop comes the pre-pubescent boy band called Dream Street.
	Jerry Cantrell	Jerry Cantrell first came to prominence as a member of Alice in Chains, one of the prototypical Seattle grunge bands.
	Bush	Led by guitarist/vocalist Gavin Rossdale, Bush became the first post-Nirvana British band to hit it big in America.
	Queens of the Stone Age	Formed from the ashes of stoner rock icons Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age reunited the group's singer/guitarist Josh Homme, drummer Alfredo Hernandez, and bassist Nick Oliveri along with new guitarist/keyboardist Dave Catching.
	Nirvana	Prior to Nirvana, alternative music was consigned to specialty sections of record stores, and major labels considered it to be, at the very most, a tax write-off.
	Mudhoney	Nirvana may have been the band that put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney were truly the band that made the '90s grunge rock movement possible.
	Sponge	Sponge was one of the more underrated groups in the post-grunge boom of the mid-'90s. When they were on top of their game -- as evidenced by the hits "Plowed" and "Molly (Sixteen Candles)" -- the band's songs had a knack for jangly riffs and catchy, anthemic hard rock hooks, despite being wrapped in the fuzzy guitars and brooding seriousness that typified grunge music.
	Wolfmother	Truly a band out of time, the Australian power trio Wolfmother were conceived in 2000 -- about 30 years too late, considering that the musicians' psychedelic brand of proto-heavy metal sounded similar to the late-'60s/early-'70s craft of Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath.
	Soft Cell	Art students Marc Almond and Dave Ball formed Soft Cell, a synth pop duo famed for its uniquely sleazy electronic sound, in Leeds, England in 1980.
	Meat Puppets	Out of all of the bands that made SST Records a towering force in the American underground during the mid-'80s, Meat Puppets lasted the longest, surviving where other bands fell apart.
	Blind Melon	Whereas most up-and-coming alternative bands of the early '90s borrowed from the leaders of the pack (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
	Sonic Youth	Sonic Youth were one of the most unlikely success stories of underground American rock in the '80s. Where contemporaries R.
	The White Stripes	The White Stripes formed on Bastille Day in 1997, aiming to create simple, vigorous rock & roll with little more than Meg White's percussion and Jack White's guitar-and-vocal attack.
	Lenny Kravitz	There may have been other "retro" rock acts before him, but Lenny Kravitz was one of the first to not be pigeonholed to a single style as he touched upon such genres as soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk, and ballads over the years.
	Stone Temple Pilots	Stone Temple Pilots were able to turn alternative rock into stadium rock; naturally, they became the most critically despised band of their era.
	Melvins	The Melvins were the first post-punk band to revel in the slow, sludgy sounds of Black Sabbath. Their music is oppressively slow and heavy, only without any of the silly mystical lyrics or the indulgent guitar solos; it's just one massive, oozing pile of dark slime.
	Pearl Jam	Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone to become the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s.
	Social Distortion	The enduring L.A. punk band Social Distortion has overcome numerous personnel shifts, the demise of the Los Angeles hardcore scene that spawned them, and the heroin addiction of singer/guitarist/bandleader Mike Ness to achieve a measure mainstream acceptance for their rootsy, hard-hitting punk without compromise.
	AFI	Although they didn't reach platinum status until 2003, hardcore punk revivalists AFI originally formed in 1991, when the band's four founding members -- vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Markus Stopholese, bassist Vic Chalker, and drummer Adam Carson -- were attending high school in Ukiah, CA.
	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Few rock groups of the '80s broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
	Colby O'Donis	Already an entertainment business veteran by the age of 18, singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter, dancer, and actor Colby O'Donis seems to approach the whole world as a stage.
	Soundgarden	Soundgarden made a place for heavy metal in alternative rock. Their fellow Seattle rockers Green River may have spearheaded the grunge sound, but they relied on noise rock in the vein of the Stooges.
	High School Musical Cast	One of Disney's most successful endeavors of the 2000s, the High School Musical franchise wasn't just one of the most-watched projects on the Disney Channel; it also launched nearly as many teen pop stars as The Mickey Mouse Club did in the '90s, when Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake were among the cast members.
	The Smashing Pumpkins	Of all the major alternative rock bands of the early '90s, Smashing Pumpkins were the group least influenced by traditional underground rock.
	Zac Efron	Best known as Troy Bolton, the captain of the basketball team who discovers a passion for singing in the Disney Channel movie High School Musical, Zac Efron has been an actor and singer since childhood.
	Weezer	As one of the most popular groups to emerge in the post-grunge alternative rock aftermath, Weezer received equal amounts of criticism and praise for their hook-heavy guitar pop.
	Sublime	Formed in 1988 as a garage punk band, Sublime rose to fame in the mid-'90s on the back of the California punk explosion engendered by Green Day and the Offspring, though Sublime boosted their punk influences with heavy elements of reggae and ska.
	The Ramones	The Ramones are the first punk rock band. Other bands, such as the Stooges and the New York Dolls, came before them and set the stage and aesthetic for punk, and bands that immediately followed, such as the Sex Pistols, made the latent violence of the music more explicit, but the Ramones crystallized the musical ideals of the genre.
	Smash Mouth	A novelty rock band in the same vein as Presidents of the United States of America, but with surf and garage influences instead of the Presidents' punk/thrash background, Smash Mouth found a hit in 1997 with the '50s-influenced "Walkin' on the Sun.
	Bowling for Soup	Cheeky punk-pop outfit Bowling for Soup were formed in 1994 in Wichita Falls, Texas, featuring lead vocalist/guitarist Jaret Reddick, guitarist/vocalist Chris Burney, bassist Erik Chandler, and drummer Gary Wiseman.
	OK Go	OK Go didn't find an audience until 2005, when the band began creating homemade music videos to support their combination of off-kilter guitars, Pixies/Cars fetishism, and straightforward power pop sensibilities.
	The Black Keys	It’s too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities -- their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they’re guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos -- but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaces in the Stripes.
	Arctic Monkeys	By distilling the sounds of Franz Ferdinand, the Clash, the Strokes, and the Libertines into a hybrid of swaggering indie rock and danceable neo-punk, Arctic Monkeys became one of the U.