Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl spoke to ABC News about Nirvana’s unexpected commercial success and fame by telling the details about experiencing such challenging aspects of making music. The rocker didn’t forget to mention how he dealt with such popularity even though he was very young back then.
The alternative rock genre grunge rose its most tremendous popularity with the new bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice in Chains. These bands wanted to create their independent and unique style during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Their lyrics reflected the anger, sadness, loneliness, and cry for help combined with well-crafted sounds that built the essence of grunge. Some of these bands’ albums changed people’s perspectives towards the genre for good and boosted grunge’s popularity among young fans.
As one of them, Nirvana released their breakthrough second studio album entitled ‘Nevermind’ on September 24, 1991. It received significantly positive critical acclaim and hit the charts worldwide. Its tracks such as ‘Come as You Are,’ ‘Lithium,’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ became the band’s most popular songs. Thus, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl gained huge success and a fortune in a short time.
During a recent interview, Grohl described fame as ‘a tricky path,’ which was very hard to find and follow, especially in your twenties. According to the former drummer, living with this sudden success or attention was dangerous, but he was happy about not thinking about money while surviving and focusing on music only. The rocker also stated that he was dealing with overwhelming situations by going back to his family and friends, to the real world far from the illusions.
The interviewer’s statement follows:
“Kurt Cobain’s death obviously was a shockingly traumatic event. What was also shocking was the sudden rise to fame of that band and how almost dangerous it was when it happened so rapidly. How overwhelming must have been for a young guy.“
Grohl responded:
“We were kids. I think I was 21 or 22 years old. It’s a very tricky path to navigate, especially at that age. You don’t necessarily have this emotional skill or toolset to deal with a lot of the complications that come with that kind of sudden success or attention. So I can only speak of myself. I was mostly happy that I could finally pay for my mother’s house and buy her a new car.
I wasn’t going to have to go back to working at Shaky’s Pizza or the furniture warehouse anymore. I thought, ‘Oh, great! I could play drums. This is my job,’ but when things became really overwhelming, I would retreat back to Virginia to be with my family and friends because all of that is kind of an illusion like television stuff and platinum records. They are flattering rewards, but ultimately the real stuff is over here. As long as you can keep the real stuff over here, whenever that becomes too much, you just go that way.”
You can watch the interview below.
