Dave Grohl: 15 Questions for the Naysayers

Dave Grohl is the musician Generation X grew up with—and the one who’s mercifully still around. Yet despite massive success—or perhaps because of it—he’s been a preferred target for naysayers. This is for them.

The Ultra-Quick Bio

Dave Grohl was born in Ohio in 1969, his mother a teacher and his father a conservative journalist and classically-trained flautist. He spent his childhood in northern Virginia, witness to a divorce though never short on maternal love. Formal education wasn’t his thing, but punk rock was, and he ditched high school at age 17 to drum for Scream, living the van life for several years until the band’s first run hit the skids.

From there, he was introduced to Nirvana, joining them after their first album and living through their meteoric rise and tragic end, that of lead singer Kurt Cobain and his self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Lost for a while, Grohl was offered the chance to man the drums for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, turning down the opportunity in favor of a creative solo project that would blossom into Foo Fighters. As the group’s frontman, guitarist, and primary songwriter, he’s been a part of 11 albums and 15 Grammys, all the while dabbling in multiple other projects—Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, filmmaking, and a memoir to name a few.

After a failed first marriage, he’s had a wildly successful second fling, a partnership that has yielded three daughters and a relatively standard family life, at least as measured on the scale of a bona fide rock star.

But, of course, along the way, he has been derided as many things: a traitor, a sellout, too happy, too corporate, and on and on.

In that light, let’s ask the following…

15 Questions for the Naysayers

Must all artists have tortured childhoods?

When signing up for nonconformity, is that a lifelong commitment?

Are heroin addiction and crippling depression prerequisites for true art?

When someone chooses to exit life, must those left behind remain frozen in time?

Isn’t there a fine line between genius and mythology?

Is it okay to be happy?

When opportunity knocks, can the door be answered?

Does monetary compensation devalue art?

Are indie music and popular music mutually exclusive?

Is punk rock even good?

If so, isn’t it better with an actual melody?

Or at least a hint of technical expertise?

Is versatility a problem?

What makes something mainstream? Marketing? Or quality?

Is going through the standard progressions of life a bad thing?

2 Quotes Courtesy Dave Grohl

There’s this idea that rock and roll should come from darkness. I’ve seen that sh*t firsthand and I disagree. –From a Rolling Stone interview

I’ll stick around. –From track 2 of Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut album

And we’re lucky he has.