I have a recurring fantasy about Dave Grohl, and it is fiery hot!Picture this, if you will… summer is coming to an end, the Labor Day bar-b-ques are heating up, and as soon as I throw those burgers on the open fire, my neighbor, six pack in hand, pops his uninvited head around the corner of my garage, looks me square in the eyes, and says, “Mmmmmm, can you make mine a cheeeeeeeeeseburger?”
That neighbor is Dave Grohl.
Of course, Dave isn’t actually my neighbor, and of course were he my neighbor I would always invite him to my cookouts. But, you see, in this fantasy, he never even needs an invitation, such is the open marriage of our backyard friendship. We feed his family tasty, flame broiled meats in our yard; and our family hangs while he jams out in his. We live like this forever and ever.
OK, really, that’s my hot fantasy about Dave Grohl. (Hot because, well, did I mention the flame broiling?!?)
But, it’s a fantasy I’ve had for years, ever since I first saw him perform with Nirvana in 1992. I’ve always had a thing for drummers. Stewart Copeland was a childhood crush, Charlie Watts (RIP) was the nattiest man in rock, ne’er do wells like Tommy Lee and Travis Barker were the bad boys whose bands couldn’t work without them. John Bonham, Neil Peart, legends. I even learned to play drums (badly) myself a few years ago.
But Dave was different. He wasn’t bigger than life, despite being rock royalty. He was just like a neighborhood dad! Dave just seemed like the neatest guy ever, a perfect blend of intensity and casual cool, talent for days combined with the hard work to back up the marquee name in lights. And for the past 30 years, Dave has been the gift that keeps on giving.
So, yeah, I have this hot fantasy about being Dave Grohl’s pal for all sorts of reasons but, mostly, it’s because he seems like the kind of guy who gasses up his friends and cheers on every one of their accomplishments large and small. “You made my burger with cheese before I even asked? How’d you know? You’re such a star!” “Your show is being produced on broadway? Wow, amazing! You kick ass!” “You got an A on that chemistry test? Rock on, kid, you’re a genius!”
And he’d take such joy in it, too, just the way he takes joy in bringing people on to stage with the Foo Fighters.
Why am I telling you all of this now? Well, the world is filled with bad news, and getting more terrible by the day, but in the worst of times, we will always have Dave Grohl.
Take, if you will, this past weekend when his pandemic-long drum battle with a 10-year-old girl (now 11) culminated on her joining the Foo Fighters onstage to play Everlong. Dave previewed this for the sold out arena by telling the story of how he started getting texts from friends and he thought, “oh that’s cute,” but his friends said, “Nah man, you gotta take this seriously… it’s a drum off! It’s a battle!” And he did, and then she kicked his ass… three time
So, he invited her to play with the band, and play she did. What is so special about this is the sheer joy that Dave takes in ceding the spotlight to her, letting her be the star, giving her mad props, not because she is some cute 11-year-old girl, though she is friggin’ adorable, but because she is qualified. She has the talent, and clearly did the hard work to back it up. Seriously, watch this video and tell me if you aren’t sitting in your office (or your home office, or the bus, or the coffeeshop or wherever) with a smile from ear to ear, just clapping as if you were in the audience. I know I am.
But, does that alone make Dave Grohl amazing? No.
It’s that he does this ALL. THE. TIME. Want more proof? Look no further than Kiss Guy.
It’s the shock. It’s the delight. It’s the JOY.
He can’t believe how good they are, these regular people who have worked so hard and blossom right into their moment of glory as if they were born to do exactly this.
Because Dave Grohl once said: “When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The Voice, then they think, ‘Oh, OK, that’s how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight fucking hours with 800 people at a convention center and… then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it’s not fuckin’ good enough.’ Can you imagine?” he implores. “It’s destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy and old fucking drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll fucking start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some shitty old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-ass shit, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a fucking computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol.”
Dave respects the work. He respects the suck. And, most importantly, he respects so much the courage that it takes to suck at something new that he literally brings people on stage over and over and over to share his well-earned spotlight with their well-earned work and gas them up like he’s their very best friend… or backyard neighbor.
And that, my friends, is why I love Dave Grohl.
And, couldn’t we all use a little more Dave Grohl right now?
