Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl joined an interview with National Public Radio in which he revealed that he was mortified due to his ‘terrible’ voice.
Before forming his band Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl was drumming for the iconic rock band Nirvana. After joining the band, Grohl appeared on their most commercially successful album ‘Nevermind.’ Shortly after that, Nirvana began to rise to prominence and achieve recognition. Thus, Grohl also climbed the ladders of fame as a renowned drummer.
Apart from Nirvana, Dave Grohl also played drums for various bands and artists. However, following the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain back in 1994, he formed his solo project Foo Fighters and tried singing vocals. Currently, Grohl is the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter of the band, and surprisingly, he doesn’t play drums for the Foos.
In an interview on National Public Radio, Dave Grohl talked about this shift from drumming to being a singer. The Foo Fighters frontman said that he didn’t have a plan with the Foos at first. He then stated that he used to record songs by singing along to his cassettes on which he recorded his drumming and guitar playing. So, Grohl said that he knew how to record by himself.
Following that, the musician revealed that he never let anyone hear his recordings when he started recording his own songs in studios. According to Grohl, this was because he was terrified of his lyrics and voice. Although this was the case, Grohl continued making music and recording songs of his own.
During the interview by National Public Radio, Dave Grohl stated that:
“I really had no blueprint or no real plan. You know, when I was young, I would record songs by myself where I would play drums with pots and pans and record it on a cassette and then put another cassette in the other player and play guitar along to that cassette. Then I’d have a cassette with guitar and pots and pans, and I’d put that on and sing along to it. So I knew how to sort of multi-track and record by myself.
Once I started recording in studios, I would record songs of my own — I never let anyone hear them because I was mortified. I thought, ‘Oh God, these lyrics are terrible. Oh my God, my voice is terrible.’ I would never let anyone hear, but I had banked maybe like 25 or 30 of these songs. I was recording this stuff while I was in Nirvana, but nobody knew.
And then when the band was over, when Nirvana was finished, I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to pick my favorite 14 or 15 songs, go into a studio.’ I booked six days and I thought, ‘Well, that’s an eternity. I could make ‘The White Album’ for six days!’ And so I just went in and recorded everything by myself as fast as I could, really with no idea what to do with it or where to go with it.
Like a divining rod or whatever you call it. I just kind of like, I found some guys that their band had broken up and we jammed together … and things just sort of started coming together. But I didn’t really see it as any kind of reinvention. I just saw it as a continuation.”
Although Dave Grohl thought his voice was terrible at first, he didn’t give up and continued to record his own songs. Thanks to that, we now have a successful rock band in the scene, the Foo Fighters.
