I’m sure you know by now that Dave Grohl is not only an amazing musician, but an amazing person. The man has been a tour de force in music for two decades now and the stories of his hospitality are endless. At this point, it’s really only a matter of time before Dave cures cancer or fixes the U.S. economy in between Foo Fighters albums. If space aliens do finally decide to make contact with mankind, I think we should at least throw Dave’s name in the hat as a representative for the human race. Just as long as they don’t vaporize him, we can’t handle that kind of loss.
In case some part of your brain has forgotten for even a millisecond just how much of a cool guy Dave is in the cesspool that is show business, I’ve gathered some interesting factoids for his rock icon status. All hail the Grohl.
1. Mama Grohl holds a special place in Dave’s heart and he says she’s the reason for his success. “The connection my mother and I have is the ultimate parent-child relationship. She allowed me so much freedom growing up that when I said I wanted to drop out of high school and join a band, she gave me permission to do it. She had faith in me. She’s always said, ‘It’s nice when things are nice.’ That’s become a mantra of my own… I was going to tattoo it on my back!”
You can even catch a glimpse of Dave’s mom making a cameo as the angry driver who cuts him and his date off in the Foo’s video for “Breakout.”
2. Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll might be the motto of rock, but the drugs part doesn’t exactly mix well with Dave. “I took a couple of hits of acid on a boat from England to Belgium once, and I wound up running in circles for three hours, hallucinating that tiny dinosaurs were chewing everybody’s ankles. That was f*cked up. I didn’t come down for 12 hours.” Tiny, ravenous dinosaurs, we’ve all been there, right?
3. Absentee rock n’ roll dad? Nope. You would think that being involved in some of the biggest bands in the world, putting together film documentaries, hosting Chelsea Lately and being a part of other general awesomeness, Dave would slip somewhere. The guy seems to juggle it all, yet still be around to raise his kids. Because when a kid needs a smoothie, rocking out doesn’t mean sh*t.
4. Dave and the FF pranked the Westboro Baptist Church. Big surprise, the Westboro Baptist Church hates the Foo Fighters. When the social parasites that are WBC saw the Foo’s “Hot Buns” promo video and caught wind that the band would be stopping in Kansas City, they had to show up and condemn them all to hell, naturally. Dave and his bandmates took a break from battling foo to set their sights on the WBC protesters with a public performance of “Keep It Clean.”
5. Van Halen may have the “no brown M&Ms story” but the Foos have a coloring book. When the Foo Fighters went on tour in 2011, part of tour manager Gus Brandt’s responsibilities included distributing the band’s tour rider, which came in the form of a coloring book. Next to the band’s actual music, this is probably the coolest thing they’ve ever done on tour. Break out those colored pencils, kids, it’s time to get creative with catering!
6. The man has the best sense of humor in rock. Why he isn’t on par with Justin Timberlake for SNL hosting appearances, I have no idea. I can only assume he’s too busy working on doom metal riffs with Ghost B.C. or prepping another SXSW keynote speech. I still think “Low” is one of the funniest/strangest music videos ever done, and nearly every time Dave decides to flex his comedy chops, utter silliness ensues. If you haven’t watched “Fresh Pots” three times already this week, get on it!
7. He’s a Guinness World Record Holder. Grammy awards are cool and all, but how many rock stars can say they’ve made it into the record books for biggest drumsticks? Not only does Dave Grohl have an alley named after him in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, but in 2012 the town unveiled a pair of 902 pound drumsticks in his honor. Finally, a legitimate reason to plan your next vacation in Ohio.
8. This one is pretty much a given but the dude cares about his fans — a lot. The internets are littered with stories of Dave Grohl making it his priority to show how much he appreciates his fans. He invites fans to chill with the band on video shoots, offers up rare bootlegs, takes his band on a garage tour of fan garages, and last but not least, kicks out jerkwads who decide to fight at his rock show. “You don’t come to my show and fight, you come to my show and f*cking dance, you asshole.”
9. The man has some connection to just about everyone in rock music. I’m hereby applying the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to rock music with Dave Grohl. Yes, Six Degrees of Grohl needs to be a thing. It’s actually pretty amazing that nearly all Dave’s success and projects in music stem from coming in as the sixth replacement drummer when Nirvana was just a tiny band on Sup-Pop. To illustrate just how many rockers Dave has worked with I’ve created the graphic below, and even then I couldn’t fit everybody in. Sorry, Michael Jackson.
10. The dude shed blood when he shreds in rehearsals. At least if this photo posted to Reddit yesterday is to be believed. And we want to believe.
Sources (Foo Archive, Wikipedia)
