Foo Fighters lead singer and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl is the epitome of the rock god. In 2015, he famously performed from a throne after refusing to cancel his tour after he suffered a broken leg. At 49-years-old he unapologetically takes shots of Jägermeister, which he calls “RockQuil,” before taking the stage and boy, does he love his barbecue.
Dave is profiled in the latest issue of British GQ and had a lot to say about a lot of stuff. The topics ranged from Big Little Lies, of which Dave noted that the cast of the HBO series reminds him of “all the weird parents from my kid’s school back home in Los Angeles” to a schnapps drinking incident in Iceland that left him “not woozy drunk but turn-the-tables-of-the-world-over drunk.” He also spent time taking about his former band and our current president and, suffice it to say, he’s not a fan. It was hard to find highlights in an interview full of them, but here goes:
Will we ever see President Grohl?
“Taylor [Hawkins] and I talked about this the other day. He said, ‘You need to be president and run for office.’ F**k that. And that’s my quote, right there. I’m not doing an Oprah. I’m not going to go, ‘Well, you never know.’”What does Dave think of our current leader?
“I remember when we were touring in the Nineties, people would come up to me and still spoke of wanting to come to the US, to see Texas and see the desert, to walk around the Big Apple. The American Dream was still tangible, still desirable. Today, the American Dream is broken. I’ve probably travelled internationally more than our current president and the one thing I understand that he doesn’t is that the world isn’t as big as you think it is. It is all in your neighborhood. India, Asia, Iceland aren’t other solar systems. I am ashamed of our president. I feel apologetic for it when I travel…“Listen, who cares what I think about guns or religion, but the thing about Trump that stings the most is this: he just seems like a massive jerk. Right? I know a lot of wonderful people who don’t share my politics and you can bet tomorrow night in the stadium not everyone will share the same opinion or hold the same views. But when I sing ‘My Hero’ they will all sing it with me. In the three hours that I am on stage, none of that matters.”
Dave after Nirvana:
“For years I couldn’t even listen to any music, let alone a Nirvana song. When Kurt died, every time the radio came on, it broke my heart.”Does Dave listen to Nirvana’s music now?
“I don’t put Nirvana records on, no. Although they are always on somewhere. I get in the car, they’re on. I go into a shop, they’re on. For me, it’s so personal. I remember everything about those records; I remember the shorts I was wearing when we recorded them or that it snowed that day. Still, I go back and find new meanings to Kurt’s lyrics. Not to seem revisionist, but there are times when it hits me. You go, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize he was feeling that way at the time.’”
Dave also talked about his latest music project, a 25-minute long instrumental “with six different Dave Grohls playing every note, on every single instrument, all the way through in one take.” Does this remind anyone else of Spinal Tap’s “Jazz Odyssey?” Regardless, Dave is one cool dude and a hell of a musician, 25-minute instrumentals regardless. Most importantly, Dave is a big Peter Frampton fan, which makes him a-okay in my book.
Photos: Getty Images, WENN.com
I love love love love Dave. He is my forever ‘music husband’.
Mine too. Even my fiancé knows that he is my boyfriend. I love Dave (I like to call him David) so much.
Me too, Dave Grohl. Me too.
Same. 😣
Everything he said.
It’s funny, I always tell people travel is important because you realize how big the world is – that life is bigger than just the US (our insular mentality towards well, just about everything is embarrassing. Complete lack of curiosity about the rest of the planet isn’t something you should be proud of, but here we are), but the way he explains it makes perfect sense too.
The part about him not listening to Nirvana’s music – that made me tear up a little. Being a 20 something in Seattle during that whole scene gives you a weird perspective on that music – it feels very personal. I can’t imagine trying to make peace with something you were intimately involved in when it is still so present.
While i have no idea how i feel about him, i love this interview. That nirvana part is heartbreaking. The whole scene, movement, was incredible. It was back when american voice went to the people. Seattle scene and hip hop, it was like the US woke up. For a while.
I listened to Trevor Noah’s comedy special a while back, and one thing he said stuck with me – when you travel to a place where they don’t speak your language, you realize you aren’t the center of the universe. It’s so true, and travel is important and amazing (if you physically and financially can do it, of course.)
Have you never traveled? I’ve always been ashamed to be American overseas, and have always stated, there are Americans and then there is the “counter-culture”. I’ve always been proud of my liberal heritage, except when it comes to cult leaders or other manipulators of alternative life styles.
Same! When I was in Iceland last year and places asked me where I was from, I had to make sure they knew I was from the US but did not vote for Trump. They replied..everyone says that to us! Lol, so I guess we all do it!
I usually take my international flights from Toronto so when asked I just say Canada. It’s technically true and I avoid trump discussions which is why I need to leave the country in the first place. I started doing this during the W. administration.
I feel like people in the US have this idea that America was viewed very positively abroad before Trump, and he ruined everything. I don’t think that’s the case.
Isn’t Dave anti-vaccine?
We at least had the sense to elect Obama. I think that helped our image.
Next to Trump Obama has a halo so bright, I’m blind.
Next.
We absolutely scored points with Obama. I was in europe the summer after he won. Wandering around to people yelling, ‘yeah Obama’ when they heard our accents? What? That never happened before. I have a distinct memory of being in a particular part of Brussels where there’s a high concentration of African immigrants/culture, business owners etc, and I walked into a waffle place where there was the iconic Obey Hope poster hanging behind the register and it really hit me how big it was for him to be in office even on a global level.
Yes he’s anti-vaccine and at one point played a concert for a group that said HIV doesn’t cause AIDS (and had that information on the foo fighters website) He’s still a musical great, but I haven’t been able to enjoy him since.
I think you’re being deliberately vague. Although the United States hasn’t enjoyed sensational popularity since before 9/11 it was enjoying a steady uptick in international standing throughout the Obama administration and has since suffered a precipitous drop in popularity that can be comfortably blamed on Donald Trump and his administration’s foreign policy. Pew Research Center has the hard numbers if you don’t want to take my word for it.
As far as I know Dave Grohl has never clarified or spoken at length on the topic of vaccinations
Dave is not anti-vaccine, from what I’ve read. Taylor Hawkins supported an anti-vaccine group, I believe.
You’re new around here, aren’t you, Jac? 😅
Speaking for Germany and based on studies:
W was loathed by people because he was a dumb, war-mongering president.
Obama was and is liked by the vast amount of people. He made mistakes but he has never been hateful and mean.
Trump – even before he had become president – has been loathed by the same amount of people who liked Obama. The only ones who approve of him and his “politics” are voters of the new right-wing party AfD (Nazis who don’t want to be called Nazis).
There are a lot of people who are not travelling to the USA anymore. Personally, I am spending my tourist money somewhere else (Canada and Europe), too.
Sorry, USA, but Trump really ruins everything that Obama fixed after W left the White House. Do better next time.
Obama is much much better than Trump no doubt. And I’m sure he’s much more liked by people in a west European country. But this idea that pre Trump US was spotless is not true, IMO.
In our defense, literally more of us did.
I’m from the US, I’ve traveled a good amount, and lived overseas for half a year when I was in school. I never was under the illusion that the US was perfect or viewed overwhelmingly positively, but I was never made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because of where I’m from. I think maybe once or twice in the early 2000s I was asked about W. but me saying “I didn’t vote for him, can’t stand him” would get a nod and we’d move on. I don’t feel like that would happen now, and I wouldn’t really blame someone for being like “WTF are you guys thinking!?!”
I absolutely love the rock n roll sweetheart Dave Grohl and agree with everything he said
I spent some time in Germany, Austria and Switzerland last year (I had a contract with a company for which I was doing a little tech writing and content management, which required me to travel to sites in those countries). I know that feeling of embarrassment. Everyone I met in and outside the company was quite polite and spoke excellent English, and all of them were seriously worried about this country — not just for the impact of its poor leadership on Europe, but for the welfare of its citizens. Some of them were quite bewildered, as in, “Why, oh why, did you elect that man? He’s going to precipitate a war!” And many of them worried about what his election said about the feelings of regular Americans for Europe. No one said anything to me that could be construed as personally rude or insulting, and everyone was very kind and welcoming to me. But I felt as if I should be apologizing to everyone I met.
I am not American and have lived in Canada and the Mediterranean – there is a definite bewilderment with the electorate in the US. People were hopeful with Obama, and happy for Americans who could see themselves in the President (because of their bi-racial or racial ancestries, being raised by a single parent, living abroad, having a different path to government than most previous presidents, etc), and generally liked him and his relationship with his wife and Biden. There seemed to be humour, thoughtfulness, and a sense that he wanted to do the right thing, whatever that meant in the circumstance. But why in the world do people living in poverty or disenfranchised areas of Red States vote for the lunatics in the Republican party?! I cannot believe the people of Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee and so on vote against their interest, it seems so bizarre.
Because at the end of the day, this country was founded on genocide, slavery and systemic racism, and Cheeto is white and male. That’s it. The backlash of a Black President was so intense that it was not just poor in Southern states who voted for him but well-to-do also. Obama was a historic moment in this country’s history but white people in this country feel that every gain is taking away their rights and they had to roll back equality, no matter it if resulted in their own decimation. Remember, 54% of white women voted for #45 and now see how they (along with the rest of us) ending up living in the Handmaid’s Tale. That book and tv series, especially last episodes, really shows how it was the white women (commander’s wife in particular) who spearheaded the cloistering and control of all women under the guise of saving the nation due to low birth rate. Even as we speak here on CB, there are new laws each week rolling back everything from women’s rights to abortion, children being seized from their parents by the illegal ICE gestapo and now being put into camps, and we see how emboldened racists are in calling the police–a death sentence–on Black people at every moment of the day, just for walking their children, ordering a cup of coffee, having a barbeque, not smiling at someone, walking down the street, basically living our lives. The stress and PTSD are unbelievable, and it was already difficult but this is beyond. I am afraid I will die from the stress of this and I’m already in a high-risk category being Black and a woman, but the times make it even worse. Those of us who have grown up in fascist countries or those with military dictatorships and coups, we saw what was coming early on. I am just praying to get out of this country sooner than later.
I just got back from a 3 week vacation in the Czech Republic (where my husband’s family lives) Germany, and Austria, and I anxiously wondered what the people in those countries thought of me when they found out I am American. I, too, felt like apologizing for my nationality—especially when I had to spend 3 days in a Czech hospital w a tube up my nose for a chronic, recurring stomach condition. I can speak/understand only a limited amount of Czech, so my husband had to keep translating for both me and the doctors—none spoke fluent English. When one of the nurses asked where I was from, I said, “The U.S., sort of—-well, California.” That seemed to soften her and several others, perhaps since California is sometimes known abroad for being super liberal: the overwhelming majority of us did NOT vote for Trump, and I made certain to inform her of this. (I have a few fairly insufferable relatives in different regions of the U.S., who don’t even feel that California should belong to the country., mostly due to its politics, such as the fact that it’s a sanctuary state. ) Much of California really isn’t politically like the rest of the nation., which is part of what makes it intensely disliked in certain parts of the U.S. Still, it IS the U.S. (and certainly, through Hollywood, feeds a lot of the international image of the whole country) so I felt cautious and almost guilty nonetheless. Czech, Austria and Germany are such “green” states, so environmentally aware (and no wonder, w all their spectacular physical beauty!) while Trump has no care about the preservation of the planet at all, to him a golf course is the pinnacle of “nature.” He’s a terrible, terrifying specimen, and I feel ashamed that, to others, I may appear to represent him.
I admire Dave because his music knowledge is really incredible. He’s been a part of some amazing musical entities: Nirvana, Foo, Queens of the Stone Age, ProBot, et al and he’s an ambassador to heavy metal/hard rock icons who are inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame.
Living Legend
One more reason to love Dave…
Love him.
Sorry to ruin your Frampton love, Corey, but he sexually harassed me backstage when my dad’s band opened for him. This was around 2002-2003. I was fifteen. #metoo
Dave is the shit, though.
I just got back from Europe and spent a few days in Paris – I had a long conversation with my Uber driver one night during the ride. I left him know in no uncertain terms what I thought of trump, and he said pretty much every American in his cab had similar views (and named the places they came from: Seattle, Texas, Georgia, etc.). That made me feel a bit better.
Well, Can I ask a question? Do you think the kind of person that voted for Trump and the racists people are the kind to travel outside the US? For me they sound like the kind that don’t see outside of the US.
I have (french, one black and one arab) friends in L.A. at the moment and even in this city they told me they found some of them really dumb (one said asked how far Paris was from France lmao) and some of those they met outside University didn’t want to even hear arguments for gun control or even talk about it and hear different arguments (this issue seems mindblowing to mind from here, everytime I read a pro-gun person comment on a post I roll my eyes)…
And I only feared once for the lives of my friends during the Paris Attacks in 2015 and I’ve never worried so much for them since they are in the US.
One thing that I keep coming back to in my mind, is all the wealthy white people that voted for Trump. They always vote Republican because the GOP helps them financially by lowering their taxes. And yes, these people travel. For business and for leisure, on the regular. The only thing I can think is that they are smart enough to understand how Trump is viewed in other countries so they also use the “I didn’t vote for him” line, even though it’s a lie, because it’s just easier than risking an argument with someone while overseas, or being viewed as one of “those stupid Trump Americans” because their egos can’t handle it.
@Juls. It blows my mind that wealthy people, who have more access to information and education still stand besides Trump after all of this.
Yes, the wealthy people are not ashamed, as long as they are in America. Their “I’m gonna get mine and I don’t care how the destruction of society or the planet affects other people and I don’t care about poor people, they are just lazy” attitude is totally in line with their racism and bigotry that they feign shock and repulsion at being accused of. Yes, their are millions of lower-middle class people that will not travel overseas because they think America is the best place to be (nevermind they might not be able to afford it anyway). But they share the same hatred with their wealthier counterparts of anybody that isn’t a straight-white-Christain-American. And vote against their own best -interest out of fear and loathing.
Completely agree. I’m ashamed of the president and ashamed to learn what people in other countries think of us. I love traveling and it has been quite the experience since Trump took office.
“The man who sold the world” came on the radio while I was driving the other day. It blew me away, like it was the first time. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Their MTV Unplugged album is one of my faves to this day. Still so raw and haunting.
It’s not only the president, it’s the internet. In the 90s, most people in the US genuinely believed that, for example, the US health care system was the best in the world and that everywhere outside the US was a worse place to be. Only people who travelled extensively internationally had any kind of perspective. Now, people in other countries post online about how they go to the doctor and don’t pay, or how they’re not afraid to send their children to school because they’re not worried they’ll get shot, and Americans read it.
I really enjoy Dave Grohl.
I get the Trump apologist thing because I kinda felt like I had to do that with my Dutch cousins. Did you know on the visa form they fill out to travel to the USA it asks them if they like Donald Trump? My cousins said it never asked something like that about the president before Trump was elected. I asked them what they marked and they said “yes” because they wanted to come visit me!
OMG! That man’s ego is such a deep black hole of neediness that infects everything with his personality cult crap. “Do you like Trump” for a visa? What da fuk?
Love Dave Grohl SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!
I’m not American and I’m embarrassed.
He spoke the truth. His comment about parents at his kid’s school are like that tv show is spot on. I can’t tell you how many nuts are at my kids’ school.
I do the same thing, Dave…
Ugh I don’t think so man. I’m not carrying shame around with me because idiots I don’t know voted for this piece of crap. No. I’m not carrying shame for ANYTHING someone else has done. I can only control my own actions.
Women are too often made to be apologetic for even existing or taking up space. Im not about to take on the baggage of a broken nation as if it’s MY fault.
LOVE DAVE GROHl. LOVE.