Dave Grohl: The Life Story Behind Rock's Nicest Star

Warren, Ohio and Springfield, Virginia: A Drummer Is Made

David Eric Grohl was born on 14 January 1969 in Warren, Ohio, and he grew up in Springfield, Virginia, after his family moved there when he was a child, and the household he grew up in was musical in a way that was more about listening than about playing: his mother, Virginia, was a public school teacher, and his father, James, was a journalist and speechwriter, and the house was full of records, books and conversation. His parents divorced when he was six, and he was raised largely by his mother, who supported his music even when it was loud, even when it was punk, even when it meant the neighbours complaining. He began playing guitar as a child, but the drums, which he taught himself to play, became his instrument, and he learned by listening to records, by watching drummers, and by playing along, hour after hour, in his bedroom, until the beats that had seemed impossible became natural.

School in Springfield gave him the first band he ever played in, and it was a punk band, because Springfield, Virginia, in the early 1980s, was close enough to Washington, D.C., to feel the city’s hardcore punk scene, and Grohl, who was a teenager with a drum kit and a lot of energy, felt it strongly. He joined a band called Freak Baby, then a band called Mission Impossible, and then, at seventeen, he joined Scream, a Washington hardcore band that was already established, and the job took him on tour, across America and Europe, playing clubs, sleeping on floors, and learning how a band lives on the road. Scream was not a famous band, but it was a real one, and the years he spent in it, from 1986 to 1990, were his education: he learned to play fast, to play loud, to play for two hours without stopping, and to keep a band together through the boredom and the breakdowns of touring.

The Scream years ended in 1990, when the band broke up while on tour in Los Angeles, and Grohl, who was twenty-one, found himself stranded in a city he did not know, with no band, no money, and no plan. He had, however, a demo tape, and a friend who knew a band in Seattle that was looking for a drummer. The band was Nirvana, and the friend was Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, and the audition, which took place in Seattle, changed his life. He played, they liked what they heard, and within weeks he was the drummer of Nirvana, a band that was about to become the most important rock band in the world, and Grohl, the kid from Springfield who had taught himself drums in his bedroom, was about to become famous in a way he had never imagined.

Nirvana, Nevermind and the Biggest Band in the World

Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, was released in September 1991, and it was a phenomenon: the album’s first single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, became an anthem, the album reached number one on the Billboard 200, displacing Michael Jackson, and the band, which had been a Seattle club act, became the biggest band in the world overnight. Grohl’s drumming was a central part of the sound: powerful, precise, and full of a punk energy that gave the songs their drive, from the quiet-loud dynamics of Teen Spirit to the pounding beat of In Bloom to the controlled fury of Breed. He was not just a drummer, he was a songwriter too, and he contributed songs to the band’s later work, including the acoustic track that would become a B-side, and he sang backing vocals, and the band’s leader, Kurt Cobain, recognised his talent, giving him space to write and to sing. The band toured the world, played to stadiums, and became the face of a generation, and Grohl, who was twenty-two, was at the centre of it, playing drums for the biggest band on earth.

In Utero, Nirvana’s third album, was released in September 1993, and it was a darker, rawer record, produced by Steve Albini, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album’s singles, Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies, showed a band that was still growing, still experimenting, and still capable of writing songs that were both beautiful and brutal. Grohl’s drumming on In Utero was more restrained, more musical, and it showed a drummer who had grown in confidence and in craft. The band toured in support of the album, playing shows in America and Europe, and the tours were long, exhausting, and, for Cobain, increasingly difficult, as his health and his personal life deteriorated. The band’s final show was in Munich, Germany, in March 1994, and a month later, on 5 April 1994, Kurt Cobain died, and Nirvana ended, and Grohl, who was twenty-five, lost a bandmate, a friend, and a future he had thought was certain.

The death of Cobain was a trauma that shaped the rest of Grohl’s life, and he has spoken about it openly, about the grief, the guilt, and the difficulty of going on. He did not play music for months, he did not know if he ever would again, and the silence was a kind of mourning. But the music, which had been his life since he was a teenager, did not leave him, and in the months after Cobain’s death, he began to write songs, quietly, alone, in a studio, playing every instrument himself, and the songs became the beginning of a new band, a band that would be his own, and a band that would carry him through the grief and into a second career.

Foo Fighters: A Band Built by One Man in a Studio

In October 1994, Grohl went into a studio in Seattle and, in a week, recorded a demo tape on which he played every instrument, guitar, bass, drums, and sang every vocal, and the tape, which contained fifteen songs, became the first Foo Fighters album. He called the band Foo Fighters, a name taken from a Second World War term for unidentified flying objects, and he released the album in July 1995, on his own label, Roswell Records, with the help of Capitol Records. The album’s singles, This Is a Call, I’ll Stick Around and Big Me, became hits on rock radio, and the record, which was recorded by one man in a week, sounded like a band, because Grohl, who had spent years playing in bands, knew how a band should sound, and he played every part as if he were playing with other people. The album’s success was a surprise, and it was a relief: the drummer from Nirvana could make his own music, and the music was good.

The band that followed was a real one, and it took time to build. Grohl recruited guitarist Pat Smear, who had played with Nirvana on tour, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, both from the band Sunny Day Real Estate, and the group toured in support of the debut, playing clubs and festivals, and learning to be a band together. The second album, The Colour and the Shape, released in May 1997, was the record that made Foo Fighters a major band: it featured the singles Everlong, My Hero and Monkey Wrench, and it sold millions of copies, and Everlong, a song Grohl wrote about a relationship, became one of the most beloved rock songs of the decade, a song that is still played at weddings, at funerals, and on the radio, every day. The album’s success proved that Foo Fighters was not a side project, it was a real band, with a real future.

The band’s lineup changed over the years, with Goldsmith leaving and Taylor Hawkins, a drummer Grohl had met on tour with Alanis Morissette, joining in 1997, and Hawkins, who became Grohl’s closest friend and musical partner, stayed with the band for twenty-five years, until his death in March 2022. The band also added guitarist Chris Shiflett, and the lineup, Grohl, Hawkins, Mendel, Smear and Shiflett, with keyboardist Rami Jaffee joining later, became one of the most stable in rock, a group of musicians who toured, recorded, and grew up together. The stability was not an accident, it was a choice: Grohl, who had lost a band to tragedy, was determined to build a band that would last, and the band he built did last, for nearly thirty years.

Everlong, the Grammys and the Biggest Rock Band in America

There Is Nothing Left to Lose, released in November 1999, won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album, and it featured the singles Learn to Fly, Stacked Actors and Breakout, and it showed a band that was growing in confidence, writing bigger songs, and playing with a joy that was audible in every track. One by One, released in October 2002, featured the singles All My Life and Times Like These, and it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album as well, and In Your Honor, released in June 2005, was a double album, one disc of rock songs and one disc of acoustic songs, and it showed a band that could do both, loud and quiet, with equal skill. The acoustic disc, which featured collaborations with John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Norah Jones and others, was a revelation, and it proved that Grohl’s songwriting was not dependent on volume, it was dependent on melody, and the melody was always there.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, released in September 2007, won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, and it featured the singles The Pretender and Long Road to Ruin, and Wasting Light, released in April 2011, was recorded in Grohl’s garage, on analogue tape, with producer Butch Vig, who had produced Nevermind, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the band’s first number-one album in America. The garage recording was a statement: a band that could fill stadiums was still a band that could make a record in a garage, with tape, with no computers, and with the same energy they had in 1995. The album won five Grammys, including Best Rock Album, and it proved that Foo Fighters, sixteen years into their career, were still at the top of their game.

Sonic Highways, released in November 2014, was accompanied by an HBO television series in which the band recorded a song in a different American city each week, from Chicago to Nashville to New Orleans, and the project, which was ambitious and expensive, showed a band that was still curious, still willing to try something new, and still in love with the idea of American music. Concrete and Gold, released in September 2017, featured the single Run, and Medicine at Midnight, released in February 2021, featured the single Shame Shame, and both albums debuted at number one in the UK and in the top five in America. The band had become, by the 2010s, the biggest rock band in America, a stadium act that could fill arenas around the world, and Grohl, the drummer from Nirvana, was now the frontman of a band that was, in many ways, bigger than the one he had left.

Taylor Hawkins, Loss and But Here We Are

On 25 March 2022, Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters’ drummer and Grohl’s closest friend, died suddenly while the band was on tour in Colombia, and the loss, which came twenty-eight years after the death of Kurt Cobain, was a second trauma for Grohl, and for the band. Hawkins was not just a drummer, he was the band’s heartbeat, Grohl’s right hand, the person who made the band fun, and his death left a hole that could not be filled. The band cancelled the tour, they grieved, and they held two tribute concerts, in London and Los Angeles, in September 2022, featuring guest drummers and singers, and the concerts, which were emotional, joyful and heartbreaking, showed how much Hawkins had meant to the band and to the music world. The tributes were not a farewell, they were a celebration, and the celebration was the band’s way of saying goodbye.

But Here We Are, the band’s eleventh studio album, was released in June 2023, and it was a record about grief, about loss, and about going on. Grohl played drums on the album himself, for the first time since the debut, and the songs, including Rescued and The Teacher, a ten-minute tribute to his mother, who had died in 2022, were direct, honest and powerful. The album debuted in the top ten in America and at number one in the UK, and it was praised by critics for its honesty and its energy, and it proved that the band, which had lost its drummer, could still make a record that mattered. The album’s title, But Here We Are, was a statement: we are still here, we are still a band, and we are still making music.

The band has continued to tour and record, with Josh Freese joining as the new drummer, and the future of Foo Fighters, which was uncertain after Hawkins’s death, is now clear: the band goes on, because the music goes on, and because Grohl, who has survived two losses that would have ended most careers, believes that the best way to honour the dead is to keep playing. The resilience is not a slogan, it is a practice, and it is the practice that has carried him from Nirvana to Foo Fighters, from grief to joy, and from a garage in Seattle to stadiums around the world.

Them Crooked Vultures, Probot and the Side Projects

Grohl’s career outside Foo Fighters is almost as large as his career inside it. In 2009, he formed Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, and the band’s self-titled debut album, released in November 2009, was a hard-rock record that showed Grohl back on drums, playing with two of the most respected musicians in rock, and the album’s singles, New Fang and Mind Eraser, No Chaser, became hits on rock radio. The band toured, played festivals, and then went quiet, but the album remains a favourite among rock fans, and it showed that Grohl, who is famous as a frontman, is still, at heart, a drummer, and a drummer who can hold his own with the best.

Probot, a project he released in 2004, was a heavy-metal album on which he played every instrument and invited singers from the metal bands he had grown up loving, including Lemmy of Motörhead, to sing on it, and the record was a love letter to the metal of his youth. He has also played drums on records by Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D, Nine Inch Nails, and many more, and he has appeared as a guest on dozens of albums, always bringing the same thing: a powerful, precise, joyful drumming that makes any song better. The side projects are not distractions, they are the same project: a musician who loves to play, who loves to collaborate, and who cannot sit still.

He has also directed films, including the documentary Sound City in 2013, about the legendary Los Angeles recording studio where Nevermind was recorded, and the film, which featured interviews with musicians from Fleetwood Mac to Tom Petty, was praised for its warmth and its love of analogue recording. He has directed music videos, he has written a memoir, The Storyteller, published in 2021, in which he tells stories from his life, from Scream to Nirvana to Foo Fighters, and the book became a bestseller, because the stories are funny, honest and full of the joy of music. The memoir, like the films, shows a musician who is also a storyteller, and a storyteller who understands that a good story, well told, is as valuable as a good song.

The Nicest Guy in Rock and the Live Show

Dave Grohl is often called the nicest guy in rock, and the nickname, which he has earned over thirty years, is based on a reputation for kindness, generosity and enthusiasm that is unusual in an industry known for ego. He has been known to invite fans on stage, to play for hours longer than scheduled, to give his time to young bands, and to treat everyone he meets, from a roadie to a head of state, with the same warmth. The reputation is not a public-relations invention, it is the product of a lifetime of behaviour, and it is why musicians across the industry, from Paul McCartney to Taylor Swift, speak of him with affection. The niceness is not a weakness, it is a strength: a bandleader who is kind builds a band that lasts, and Grohl’s band has lasted, because the people in it want to be there.

His live shows are legendary for their length, their energy, and their joy. A Foo Fighters concert can last three hours, with Grohl running across the stage, playing guitar, singing, telling stories, and inviting the audience to sing along, and the shows, which are famous for their lack of pretension, feel like a party rather than a performance. He has played to stadiums of eighty thousand people, and he has played to clubs of eighty, and the energy is the same, because the joy is the same: a musician who loves to play, playing for people who love to listen. The live show is the heart of his career, and it is why Foo Fighters have remained a touring band for nearly thirty years, even when the record business changed around them.

He has also become a cultural figure beyond music, appearing on television, in films, and in the public conversation about rock music, about the value of live performance, and about the importance of kindness in an industry that often rewards the opposite. He has spoken about the death of Cobain, about the death of Hawkins, and about the work of going on, and the openness has made him a trusted voice, not just for rock fans, but for anyone who has lost someone and had to keep going. The niceness and the resilience are the same thing: a person who believes that music is a gift, and that the gift should be shared, generously, with everyone.

Where He Stands Now

As of 2026, Dave Grohl is one of the most respected musicians in the world, with two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first with Nirvana in 2014 and then with Foo Fighters in 2021, a rare honour that only a handful of musicians have achieved, and with a catalogue that runs from Nevermind to But Here We Are, from a garage in Seattle to stadiums around the world. He has won fifteen Grammy Awards with Foo Fighters, he has sold tens of millions of records, and he has become, in the words of many, the last great rock star, a musician who still believes in guitars, in drums, in live music, and in the power of a song to bring people together. The kid from Springfield, Virginia, who taught himself drums in his bedroom, is now the frontman of the biggest rock band in America, and the drummer who once played for Nirvana is now a legend in his own right.

He continues to record, to tour, and to write, and the next chapter of his career will be watched by an audience that has grown up with him, from the teenagers who bought Nevermind to the adults who bought But Here We Are. The lesson of his career is not that talent is enough, he has been honest about how hard the road was, but that resilience, properly practised, can carry a person through anything, and that a musician who loves to play will always find a way to play. Dave Grohl, the drummer from Springfield, is still here, still playing, and still the nicest guy in rock.

My Take:

Dave Grohl is the musician I admire most in rock, and the reason is not the drumming, it is the resilience. He lost Kurt Cobain in 1994, he lost Taylor Hawkins in 2022, and he kept playing, kept writing, kept building bands, and the keeping going is the story. Most musicians would have stopped after the first loss, and almost all would have stopped after the second, but Grohl did not, and the reason is that music, for him, is not a career, it is a way of living, a way of grieving, a way of celebrating, and the living does not stop because someone dies. I have watched him play, I have read his memoir, and I am struck by the same thing every time: a man who loves to play, playing, because that is what he does, and that is what he will always do.

Nevermind is the album that changed my life, and I think it changed the lives of millions of people. A record that displaced Michael Jackson at number one, a song, Smells Like Teen Spirit, that became an anthem, a band that became the face of a generation: that is the story, and Grohl’s drumming is at the centre of it, powerful, precise, and full of a punk energy that gave the songs their drive. I was young when I first heard Nevermind, and I remember the feeling of hearing a record that sounded like it was made for me, like it understood something about being young and angry and alive, and the feeling has never left me. The album is a masterpiece, and Grohl’s drumming is a masterpiece within it.

The Foo Fighters debut is the record that proves his talent most clearly, because he made it alone, in a week, playing every instrument, singing every vocal, and the result sounded like a band. That is not a small thing: a drummer who can play guitar, bass and drums, who can sing, who can write songs, and who can make a record that sounds like a group of people playing together, is a rare musician, and Grohl is that musician. The debut album’s singles, This Is a Call, I’ll Stick Around, Big Me, are great songs, and they are great because they were written by a person who understood how a band should sound, and who could make that sound by himself, in a studio, in a week.

Everlong is the song I love most in his catalogue, because it is perfect. A song about a relationship, written with a melody that is both beautiful and powerful, played with a drumming that is both precise and emotional, and sung with a voice that is both tender and strong: that is Everlong, and it is a song that is played at weddings, at funerals, on the radio, every day, because it speaks to something universal, the feeling of loving someone completely. I have heard Everlong a thousand times, and it still moves me, which is the test of a great song: does it survive the years, and does it still move you? Everlong does, and it will for as long as people listen to rock music.

The Colour and the Shape is the album that made Foo Fighters a major band, and I love it for its completeness. Everlong, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, these are songs that work on every level, the melodies are great, the production is great, the playing is great, and the whole thing holds together as an album rather than a collection of singles. The record’s success proved that Foo Fighters was not a side project, it was a real band, with a real future, and the future, which is now nearly thirty years long, has proved the point. I play the album often, and it still sounds fresh, which is remarkable for a record made in 1997, and the freshness is the proof of its quality.

Wasting Light is the album that shows his principles most clearly, because it was recorded in a garage, on analogue tape, with no computers, and it debuted at number one. The garage recording was a statement: a band that could fill stadiums was still a band that could make a record in a garage, with tape, with the same energy they had in 1995. The album won five Grammys, including Best Rock Album, and it proved that Foo Fighters, sixteen years into their career, were still at the top of their game. I love Wasting Light because it is honest, and honesty in rock music is rare, and the honesty is audible in every track, in the sound of a band playing together, in a room, with no tricks.

But Here We Are is the album that moves me most, because it is a record about grief, written by a man who has grieved twice. Grohl played drums on the album himself, for the first time since the debut, and the songs, including Rescued and The Teacher, a ten-minute tribute to his mother, are direct, honest and powerful. The album is not a comeback, it is a continuation, and the continuation is the point: the band goes on, because the music goes on, and because Grohl believes that the best way to honour the dead is to keep playing. I have listened to But Here We Are many times, and every time I am struck by the courage of it, the willingness to write about loss, to sing about it, and to share it with the world.

Them Crooked Vultures is the side project I love most, because it shows Grohl back on drums, playing with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones, two of the most respected musicians in rock, and the album is a hard-rock record that sounds like three masters enjoying themselves. New Fang and Mind Eraser, No Chaser are great songs, and the band’s live shows were legendary, and the project, while short-lived, showed that Grohl, who is famous as a frontman, is still, at heart, a drummer, and a drummer who can hold his own with the best. I wish the band had made more records, but the one they made is enough, and it is a reminder that a musician who loves to play will always find a new room to play in.

Sound City, the documentary, is the film that shows his love of music most clearly, because it is a love letter to a recording studio, to analogue tape, to the idea that a great record is made by people playing together in a room. The film, which featured interviews with musicians from Fleetwood Mac to Tom Petty, was praised for its warmth, and it showed Grohl as a storyteller, a historian, and a fan, as well as a musician. I watched Sound City and felt the same thing I feel when I listen to his records: a love of music, pure and simple, and a belief that music matters, that it brings people together, that it is worth preserving. The film is a gift, and it is one of the best music documentaries ever made.

The Storyteller, his memoir, is the book I recommend to anyone who wants to understand him, because the stories are funny, honest and full of the joy of music. He writes about Scream, about Nirvana, about Foo Fighters, about his mother, about his daughters, and the writing is direct, warm and self-deprecating, the writing of a person who has lived an extraordinary life and is still surprised by it. I read the book in two days, and I laughed, and I cried, and I came away with a deeper respect for a musician who has survived more than most people could bear, and who has done it with kindness, humour and grace.

The nicest guy in rock is a nickname that he has earned, and I think it is the most important part of his reputation. He is kind, generous and enthusiastic, he invites fans on stage, he plays for hours longer than scheduled, he gives his time to young bands, and he treats everyone he meets with the same warmth. The kindness is not a weakness, it is a strength, and it is why his band has lasted, why musicians across the industry speak of him with affection, and why his audience stays loyal. I have never met him, but I have watched him, and the watching is enough: a person who is kind, in public, for thirty years, is a person who is kind, and the kindness is real.

If I were introducing someone to Dave Grohl, I would start with Nevermind, then the Foo Fighters debut, then The Colour and the Shape, then But Here We Are, because that sequence shows the arc: the drummer, the one-man band, the major band, the survivor. And I would tell them to see Foo Fighters live, because the live show is where the joy is most visible, and to read The Storyteller, because the book is where the stories are. Dave Grohl is a drummer, a singer, a songwriter, a director, and a storyteller, and the combination is rare, and the career is still going.

There is a final thing I want to say, and it is about the two Hall of Fame inductions. Nirvana in 2014, Foo Fighters in 2021: only a handful of musicians have been inducted twice, and Grohl is one of them, and the honour is deserved, because he is one of the few musicians who has been in two great bands, and who has made both of them matter. The inductions are not the point, the music is, but the inductions are a recognition, and the recognition is deserved, because a drummer from Springfield, Virginia, who taught himself in his bedroom, became a legend, twice, and the legend is still growing.

The live show is the part of his career I keep coming back to, because a Foo Fighters concert is not a performance, it is a party. Three hours, Grohl running across the stage, playing guitar, singing, telling stories, inviting the audience to sing along, and the shows, which are famous for their lack of pretension, feel like a celebration rather than a concert. I have watched footage of his shows, and I am struck by the joy: he is clearly having fun, and the fun is infectious, and the audience, which is often eighty thousand people, leaves feeling like they have been part of something. That joy is not a performance, it is the real thing, and it is why Foo Fighters have remained a touring band for nearly thirty years.

And one more thought, about the drums. Grohl is a great frontman, a great singer, a great songwriter, but he is, first and last, a drummer, and the drumming is the foundation of everything. Listen to Smells Like Teen Spirit, listen to Everlong, listen to the Them Crooked Vultures record, and you hear a drummer who plays with power, precision and joy, a drummer who understands that the drums are not just a beat, they are a heartbeat. The heartbeat is the reason his music moves people, literally, and the moving is the point: a song that makes you move is a song that lives, and Dave Grohl’s songs live, in stadiums, in clubs, in cars, and in bedrooms, wherever there is a person who needs to move.

One last thing, and it is about his mother. Virginia Grohl, a teacher, supported his music even when it was loud, even when it was punk, even when the neighbours complained, and The Teacher, the ten-minute song on But Here We Are, is a tribute to her, and to the love that made his career possible. I think about that song, and about the mother who believed in a drummer, and I am grateful, because without her, there would be no Nirvana, no Foo Fighters, no Everlong, no story at all. The career is a tribute to a teacher, and the tribute is beautiful, and it is the most personal song he has ever made.

His drumming on Songs for the Deaf, the Queens of the Stone Age album from 2002, is the record that I return to when I want to hear Dave Grohl as a drummer, not as a frontman, because the drumming, which is powerful, precise, and deeply musical, is the sound of a man who grew up playing drums in a punk band, and who, at thirty-three, could still play like a teenager, with a energy that is infectious, and the energy, which is the point, is the reason the album is still, twenty-four years later, one of the greatest rock records of the decade. I love the album because it is a reminder that Grohl, who is now known as the leader of the Foo Fighters, is, first and foremost, a drummer, and the drumming, which is the art, is the reason he was in Nirvana, and the reason he is still, after thirty years, one of the most respected musicians in rock, and the respect, which is the point, is earned, not given, and the earning, which is the point, is audible in every track on Songs for the Deaf, in every beat he plays, and in every song he drives, forward, with a power that is unmistakable, and that is entirely his.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Dave Grohl from?

Dave Grohl was born on 14 January 1969 in Warren, Ohio, and grew up in Springfield, Virginia. His mother Virginia was a public school teacher and his father James was a journalist. He taught himself to play drums as a teenager and joined the Washington hardcore band Scream at seventeen.

Was Dave Grohl in Nirvana?

Yes. He joined Nirvana as drummer in 1990 and played on the albums Nevermind (1991) and In Utero (1993). Nevermind reached number one and Smells Like Teen Spirit became an anthem. The band ended after Kurt Cobain’s death on 5 April 1994.

How did Foo Fighters start?

After Cobain’s death, Grohl recorded a demo in October 1994 playing every instrument himself. It became the first Foo Fighters album, released in July 1995. He then formed a full band, and the second album The Colour and the Shape (1997) featured Everlong, My Hero and Monkey Wrench.

What is Dave Grohl’s most famous song?

As a songwriter, his most beloved song is Everlong, from Foo Fighters’ 1997 album The Colour and the Shape. As a drummer, his most famous work is Smells Like Teen Spirit with Nirvana. Both songs are still played constantly on rock radio.

What happened to Taylor Hawkins?

Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters’ drummer from 1997 and Grohl’s closest friend, died suddenly on 25 March 2022 while the band was on tour in Colombia. The band held tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles in September 2022, and released the album But Here We Are in June 2023, with Grohl playing drums himself.

Is Dave Grohl in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Yes, twice. He was inducted with Nirvana in 2014 and with Foo Fighters in 2021, a rare honour achieved by only a handful of musicians. Foo Fighters have also won fifteen Grammy Awards.

What is Sound City by Dave Grohl?

Sound City is a documentary film Grohl directed in 2013 about the legendary Los Angeles recording studio where Nevermind was recorded. It features interviews with musicians including members of Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty, and it celebrates analogue recording and playing together in a room.