When Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain died, it was easy for casual observers to think that Dave Grohl-formed Foo Fighters, was perhaps more of a buffer to ease the pain than a burgeoning musical powerhouse. That shows, of course, how wrong one can be. It’s easy to forgive those naysayers, though, especially when you consider Cobain’s larger-than-life persona. After all, who could see beyond Cobain’s shadow and realize that Grohl, who went from music-obsessed-teen in D.C. to Nirvana drummer, was also a visionary? Not that he would likely acknowledge that.
“That we’re all dorks,” said Grohl when asked by Rolling Stone what rumor he’d start about the Foo Fighters if asked. “Everyone would believe it, too, because it’s true.”
| Onstage |
| Foo Fighters |
| When: 7 p.m. Friday |
| Where: Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW |
| Info: $37.50 to $57.50; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com |
Perhaps the self-proclaimed “Dennis the Menace” of rock sees himself that way, but his music says otherwise. Consider the Foo Fighters’ recent release “Wasting Light” that is a tribute, in a way, to Nirvana, Cobain and Grohl’s past life.
“To sit in front of the speakers with [Nirvana producer Butch Vig and bassist Krist Novoselic] for the first time in 20 years was more than a musical moment for me,” Grohl told Rolling Stone. “It was a real full-circle life experience, though the intention isn’t to relive what happened 20 years ago. It’s to come to terms with it.”
Grohl has clearly done so, publicly anyway, on the album and the band’s just-released documentary “Back and Forth.” Although the film is a living history of Foo Fighters, Grohl spends time on it talking about the pain and anger he felt after Cobain’s suicide.
“This is my one chance to show people how much it hurt — and to tell the truth,” said Grohl. “It doesn’t get any easier.”
Yet Grohl also shows that survivors can thrive despite that and other pain as he has in the more than decade and a half since Cobain’s death and Foo Fighters’ formation.
Perhaps most poignant point of all is that for all the “Back and Forth” Grohl has endured and enjoyed — including playing with the super group Them Crooked Vultures, he’s found where he belongs.
“I missed being in the Foo Fighters,” said Grohl of his work with the super group. “It’s my … family, though I had a blast these last couple years playing drums in Them Crooked Vultures. It was a dream come true but this is where I belong.”
