The Best Album You Never Bought 5.13.08: Dave Grohl is Rock's Great Teacher

Posted by Dan Yates on 05.13.2008

This week, we examine why Metallica sucks, how Metallica can not suck and look at why Dave Grohl can say whatever he wants for the rest of time.

Dave Grohl is a rock and roll populist.

He aims to please everyone, hits his mark, looks the part and is every bit a rock star. In today's age of watered down rock music, indie tunes and over-dramatic emo bullshit, a genuine rock star goes a long way, and adds a lot of volume and weight to one's voice.

When Grohl talks, people listen. Lately, he's also been a watchdog of sorts — looking out for us, the music listening public. More thoughts on that in a minute.

At this stage in his career, Grohl has earned his stripes as a veteran front man. He's proven himself as a performer, a guitar player and a songwriter. Today, Grohl has nothing left to prove. He knows this and is very comfortable with it.


Dave Grohl is a 1970s fashion icon.

I caught Grohl and his band of Foo Fighters a few months back on their swing through the Great White North. Some 13 years after the band's inception, Grohl has perfected the role of ringmaster for the big time rock show. He's got the descending stage, fancy lights, video screens, and arena scream. He starts his show by walking down a catwalk, through the crowd, and as he reaches the end of the catwalk, with his arms outstretched, the spotlight focuses purely on him. He makes jokes, hams it up for the crowds, has guitar solo battles, pretentiously makes songs seven minutes longer than they are on CD and plays real rock music for a long time every night (this show was in excess of three hours).

For these reasons, Dave Grohl is the greatest figure today in rock and roll. That doesn't make him the best, the most innovative or the most enjoyable, but when it comes to finding the greatest common denominator between all three, the answer is Grohl. Scan the crowd at a Foo Fighter show and you'll notice a wide spectrum of people, young and old, coming to the band with their own scattered tastes. Almost literally, Grohl has become the musician for every man (and woman). Thus, with his background, his following, and a long list of other credentials, Grohl has attained a particularly high platform from which to preach.

And last week, as you likely read on this very site, Grohl began to sermonize, this week from the lengthy book of Metallica.

Grohl, it seems, is quite the Metallica fan, which is not surprising given his well-documented love of the metal genre. In a widely distributed and read open letter, Grohl writes,

"Hey, its Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I'm the guy that's been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album Kill 'Em All from a mail order catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can't remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I've been listening to your albums ever since (even St Anger!).

I can't wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I'll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I'm sure you'll come out and blow everybody's fuckin' minds, because you're fuckin' METALLICA!

Good luck. And don't release it until it's kick-ass.



It appears as though Dave Grohl is madly in anger with Metallica.

The timing of the "letter" does seem a little peculiar, however, I am sure that Metallica has an album coming out sometime in the future (therapy sessions keep delaying recording …) and with Guitar Hero and Rock Band prominently featuring some of the band's older songs (many of which are completely immune to scrutiny) the band is fresh on the mind of a new younger audience. Whenever this new Metallica album drops, the band has a new opportunity to introduce its brand and catalogue to a new audience while, at the same time, redeeming themselves for some of the group's weaker efforts (Load. Reload? Saint Anger‽)

And Metallica should take Grohl's words to heart. They could also do a whole lot more than that.

Grohl, who was all but a teen upon Metallica's emergence, and who almost certainly studied those early albums, now has something to offer Metallica. The student has become the teacher.

While Grohl is many years junior to the founding members of Metallica, Grohl already has had a more prolific career. Outside of his involvement in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, Grohl has made noteworthy contributions to, and helped launched to a bigger audience, both Tenacious D and Queens of the Stone Age. The Dave Grohl seal of approval goes a long ways. He also spearheaded and served as musical director for his own metal project, the collaborative throwback Probot album.

And, more importantly, he has kept his name and his band fresh for more than a decade. What started as a grunge-like band with a few good songs and a few cheekier songs, developed into a power pop band and, eventually, came into its own as a down to earth, rootsy rock band, singing anthemic songs to the masses. Every few years Grohl tweaked the formula, stepped his own performance and effort up a notch, growing as an artist and doing something slightly different from the last time.

Metallica should have been taking notes.

Alright, so jumping on the Metallica bashing bandwagon isn't a particularly original idea. It is, however, a fun one. Metallica should be the pre-eminent rock band today, bridging the gap between heavy metal nerds and mainstream listeners. To the band's credit, they had a good 10-year run, but as the band approached the mid-1990s, the group's newly watered down sound, combined with growing egos increasingly lent the band's name and image to parody. And rightfully so.


Metallics is in fisticuffs.

Metallica is a big, epic band with a gigantic sound. When they start to release material that sounds both like an imitation of other bands of the day and of their former selves, audiences shouldn't be forgiving. The 2003 release of Metallica's St. Anger completed the band's downward spin. If Disney included a subplot in High School Musical where a heavy metal band freaked out all of the good-looking teenagers, St. Anger would be what that band would look and sound like.

Repeatedly, the band reminds you "we're loud and angry!" But you don't need to do that. You're Metallica! Play off some loud and quiet elements, throw in some classical scales, guitar solos and some growly vocals and I will gladly belt out your tune on the next Rock Band and a new generation of kids will buy your album. Congratulations Metallica, there is hope for you yet.

But Dave Grohl doesn't have to redeem himself. He's done his job well. It's as though, during his formative years as a musician, Grohl came to a fork in the road. The one path was traveled by Metallica and countless other lesser bands who were destroyed by it. Grohl chose the other, following in the path of — oh, I don't know — Tom Petty.

Grohl will never break new ground. But he will be remarkably consistent. He'll rock, loudly and quietly, he'll sing, he'll scream, and he'll write a few sharp and poignant tunes. He'll stick to his formula, while honoring the past, his past and paying respect to today.

And by doing so, he will be eternally cool. No redemption needed.