Dave Grohl’s impact on culture is difficult to capture.
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His work with Nirvana and The Foo Fighters has left an irrefutable impact on the music world—just look to his status as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer for proof. He’s also been dubbed “The Nicest Guy In Rock” for a myriad of reasons, one being his tendency to leave $1,000 tips for waitstaff. But what is not commonly known about the rocker? Find out below.
1. The Foo Fighters Was Just Grohl in the Beginning
“When Nirvana ended, I was in a deep, deep rut emotionally,” Grohl told American Songwriter in 2021. “I didn’t know if I wanted to play music anymore, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be a drummer anymore. So I just turned to that old habit of recording things on my own and thought, ‘All right, maybe I’ll do this in an actual recording studio.’ I booked six days at a place down the street from my house in Seattle and recorded what became the first record [Foo Fighters, 1995], without having much expectation.”
“I called it ‘Foo Fighters’ because I wanted people to think it was a band,” he concluded.
2. He Doesn’t Put Up With Rude Fans
In the middle of a 2011 performance at the iTunes Festival, Grohl halted his performance mid-song. Grohl had spotted a fight in the crowd and put a swift end to the scuffle. “You don’t come to my show and fight. You come to my show and fucking dance, you asshole,” he told the rowdy fan. “I don’t put up with that bullshit.”
Grohl demanded that the instigator exit his show, and then he resumed playing.
3. Rockstars Have Their Insecurities Too
Interestingly enough, Grohl is insecure about his nostrils. In a 2000 interview, Grohl revealed that he would get his nostrils “tightened” if he were to get any plastic surgery. “[T]hey are a little large,” he said, “I’ve had a complex of them since I was 12, and Bobby St Francis, my sister’s friend said he could see my brain through my nostrils.”
4. Grohl Personally Met One of The Beaconsfield Miners
In 2006, the Beaconsfield gold mine collapsed in Tasmania, Australia. Fourteen miners immediately escaped, but one miner was tragically killed and two others were trapped below the surface. The trapped miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell requested an MP3 of the Foo Fighters’ music to keep their spirits up while a rescue mission was underway. (It took two weeks to rescue them.)
When Grohl heard of the miners’ request, he sent over a personal message to the miners: “Though I’m halfway around the world right now, my heart is with you both, and I want you to know that when you come home, there’s two tickets to any Foos show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for you. Deal?”
Several months later, Webb took Grohl up on his offer and the two grabbed a cold one together after the Foo’s concert at the Sydney Opera House. The Foo Fighters later released the song “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” in honor of the men.
5. He’s Got an Impeccable Sense of Humor
Grohl isn’t one to take life too seriously. What would the fun in that be? He’s known for saying things like, “It was that famous joke: What’s the last thing the drummer said before he got kicked out of the band? ‘Hey, I wrote a song.’”
What would we ever do without Dave Grohl?
Photo Credit: Andrew Stuart
