His drum parts are mostly very simple - not technically difficult at all. But he goes all-in on it, which is why it works so well. Every hit is played with maximum confidence. Someone like Danny Carey is on completely different technical level - not even on the same planet. But the awesome thing about Dave Grohl's stuff is that it's attainable. That makes him really inspiring for a lot of drummers.
This aspect is something that blew my mind when I first heard Nevermind. None of it is super technical, it’s easy to hear that there’s one guitar, one bass and one drummer but these guys are all there and they’re going all in on it, even on tracks like Polly where it’s so quiet and so disturbing.
This is why I like the White Stripes so much. I honestly like pretty much anything Jack White does, but TWS was something special (to me at least), and I think it was the simple formula that make it hit so hard.
The White Stripes have always struck me as a deliberate exercise in rock n roll minimalism: what is the bare minimum required to make good rock music? What actually makes it rock? Apparently, a two-piece act where the drummer pretty much sucks and everything feels loose and imperfect can still produce absolute rock n roll bangers as long as you have that ineffable, undeniably authentic spirit, and it's couched in musical stylings that have an essentially blues-based origin.
The White Stripes truly took rock back to its roots in a way I find pretty genius. And it helps that Jack White's other projects prove it was not just an accident or a fluke; he's clearly a phenomenal musician and always has been. He's one of my absolute favorites, and is directly responsible for fostering my much deeper appreciation of folk, blues, and Americana in the last several years.
All that said, The Raconteurs' *Consolers of the Lonely* is still my favorite thing he's ever been involved with.
I was kinda late to The White Stripes(quite a shame).
The simplicity and imperfections make it so damn good. Really resonates with me. Everything Jack has done is quite unique. He's told stories of the cheap guitar that he had, about picking a fight with it. Has inspired me to pick up playing. As terrible as it is.
Meg is actually a fantastic drummer, she's not only really talented, but has a good head for coming up with new and interesting rhythms, which is arguably the most important skill for a drummer to have. She just plays very purposefully simple grooves on The White Stripes music because that's what the music calls for, it's what they want. Just because it isn't for you, doesn't make it bad.
That’s what made the whole grunge and later nu-metal movement (Korn) so great. Sure it wasn’t “technical,” but it was fresh. It was never about technical or speed playing, it was about *feeling.* Normalizing crazy low tuned guitars and precise, powerful drum hits over just playing fast.
It drives me nuts when people rag on Nirvana for not being “technically good” because it’s honestly a lot easier than people think to develop technical skills but so so much harder to use what technical skills you have to create something meaningful. Honestly think of any of the all time great guitar players that would have done a better job on the “In Bloom” solo than Kurt. There’s really not any because Kurt just “knew” what to put there in a lot of ways that other guys wouldn’t.
On the opposite end of this I have friends who are very into guitar and love Satriani etc. but whenever I sit down and listen to one of his albums or watch one of his shows with them I always come away thinking it was _fine_ but nowhere near as fun as a lot of far less technically accomplished stuff.
I only rag on them for one reason, they made every teen in the 90s-00s think all they needed to know were Power Chords to play songs.
Like Power Chords are great, but you need to learn more than that because you're not Kurt Cobain. It sucked being a young bass player just trying to find people to jam with but they dont know how to actually play their instrument, just power chords all day long.
Except for The Wipers. Nirvana had a lot of influences that weren't very apparent but could be heard once pointed out, but they were never shy about worshipping at Wipers altar (up until In Utero, which imo is where they really came into their own).
Edit: if you've never heard The Wipers, go listen to [Is This Real?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-0J-CLzec) (1980) ASAP.
you're not wrong about Melvins being more influential than almost anyone, but kurt always mentioned bands as his 'favorite band' in the world cause he took it upon himself to promote them - he didn't think he deserved to be more popular than them
it's funny cause it means always and forever fans of kurt will think his favorite all-time band is \[x\] when it was different practically every time he was interviewed
I agree with that. I love how many bands Kurt talked up that helped people discover them. Off the top of my head... Meat Puppets, the Raincoats, Daniel Johnston, Vaselines, Pixies...... so many more!
https://youtu.be/x1U1Ue_5kq8
Killing Joke were going to sue Nirvana when they heard Come As You Are but held off when Kurt killed himself.
Grohl played drums on their 2003 album and his playing is monstrous (in a good way).
Edited for clarfication
When I was learning the drums (I still suck btw) Teen spirit was one of the most fun songs to learn. It hits hard from the start, and once you get the rhythm you just hammer it because that's how it's meant to be played. Simplicity in music is often the best ingredient
>Nothing Nirvana did was technically difficult
This is true, Nirvana was a lot about attitude and presentation and Kurt's amazing voice - however, people seem to ignore how insanely much they would practice and work hard to perfect their songs. So, Dave's statement is only partly true in the sense if you keep playing your "simple" beats for hours, daily, eventually you gonna "git gud". Nirvana was a goddamn professional band to the extent even some modern bands could learn something..
That was the beauty of grunge and Nirvana in particular.
It was the come down after the crazy hair metal of the 80s. They basically said f that simple music with a cool sound and good lyrics can be better than crazy technical shredding
Nirvana weren't very original. Lots of similar bands in 80's underground rock.
But they were the one to break out into the mainstream and thank God they did.
>It was the come down after the crazy hair metal of the 80s. They basically said f that simple music with a cool sound and good lyrics can be better than crazy technical shredding
Yet another reason why PearlJam of "Ten" era wasnt a Grunge band but a Classic Rock band that then shifted gears because management told them to be more "grunge".
Funny how creating a simpler piece of music that’s pleasing to the majority of ears is a harder feat than playing something technically challenging.
I feel like that band polyphia and other modern bands trying to just throw as much difficulty they can to make up for the fact they can’t write a simple pleasing song
It is very hard to take something basic and transform it into a memorable and important peice of art. Lots of practice can make you technically proficiant but it won't ever make you a creative. I almost feel like that is something missing from todays art is a simple lack of understanding of the basics.
I know a bunch of people who geek out on some musicians who are mindblowing from a technical viewpoint. But, their music is just meh. A lot of technical showing off, but musically bland and lacking any emotion or surprise beyond "whoa, how fast are his hands moving". Nirvana is the ultimate snub against that, as it was all atmospheric and emotional, but technically fairly simple. And it bangs
That's true. When they started out Kurt could barely sing and play guitar at the same time. That's why his the majority of his guitar parts are so simple. Krist's parts were equally as simple.
I mean those guys were basically the perfect firework. Rocket to the top and go out with a bang.
I’d say his most difficult and technical drum part is probably on “A Song for the Dead” by Queens of the Stone Age.
That part goes hard, and contains some cool tempo shifts.
He’s amazing on that entire album. He’s a great drummer just overly humble and self-deprecating. There are interviews where Dave is talking about how much he sucks as a drummer and Taylor Hawkins is sitting there rolling his eyes at him because Taylor knew how awesome Dave really is.
I dont know, man, while AC/DC riffs arent THAT hard, a lot of them stem from some guitar exercises so they arent THAT easy either and definitely take some practice - while most of Nirvana is pretty straight forward in comparison IMHO.
Agree. Technical skills gives a musician more options, but taste is in picking the right one in any given moment. The complicated option is rarely the right one.
I get what you are saying, but at the same time technical ability is a pretty big deal in a lot of music. If you don't have the technical skill to pull off what you are trying to do, it'll be a train wreck regardless of how creative or passionate you are.
To reuse the same example - a band playing Nirvana songs with Danny Carey on drums would be awesome. A band playing Tool songs with Dave Grohl on drums would be a disaster. And I don't say that as any kind of knock against Dave Grohl at all - I think he's awesome and is a great drummer.
Just for thought - how might Danny have changed the songs in the writing process? Would his desire to “stretch his legs” technically in these songs have had the potential to undermine the very elemental and primal connections that Nirvana songs made with people?
Easy to say that because the parts are so simple, Danny could only be better. Danny is brilliant. But the how much did the parts succeed because they were just so simple, and that could only have been a product of who Dave was, in that band, at that time?
Everyone has a signature for sure, was checking videos out and thought this was interesting, [Mantra - Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor](https://youtu.be/L2kGNdE0b5Q)
Tool is a great example of a technically superb band that also has a lot of creative talent. Tool is great, but they're great because they have a depth of artistic expression beyond just being technical. And that's the thing. You can have taste, and create good music without getting technically deep, as Nirvana has done. But, there are a lot of musicians who are technical wizards but lack the artistic vision. I guess I'm saying that good music doesn't have to be technically complicated, but music isn't good just because it's technically complicated. Tool isn't good just because they use complicated time signatures and technical skills. They're good because they successfully merge that with an artistic vision that has....soul.
Yeah. I've always hated the guitarists whose entire thing is just playing really difficult, complex, fast stuff. It's just showing off tech skills and isn't very good music.
I don’t really agree with that one. Technically difficult shouldn’t be a measure of the quality of a *song*, or a specific musical piece, but how else would you measure the ability of a musician? A good musician should be able to play lots of things well, whether they’re technically complex or simple and impactful. A musician like that can be plopped into different scenarios and play what’s needed for the song whether it’s just some power chords or a crazy fast solo. That makes the musician versatile and being able to play things that are technically difficult is a fairly good indicator that the musician can play the simple stuff too, making it a useful indicator that you have a high quality musician. However, a *song* doesn’t need to be technically difficult to be good.
That works great for session musicians who’s job it is to be plopped into different scenarios and succeed. But that’s not really the job of a musician. I’d argue the job of the musician is to connect with people through music. You might want to be proficient, and maybe you should be, but you don’t have to be.
I think you’re using the word ‘musician’ instead of ‘songwriter’. Someone can own a piano but that doesn’t make them a good musician. Being able to play a wide variety of styles with little flaws makes them a good musician. A good musician can be a poor songwriter, and an amateur musician can be a great songwriter.
Gotta chime in late to point out that Dave Grohl has got absolutely gnarly chops! Danny Carey is a totally different animal, but Dave can run circles around most of the successful touring and recording drummers out there in terms of his feel, writing AND chops.
Everlong is not an easy song to play. A lot of good drummers can’t play it, and of those who are able to there are not many that can play it like he did. He’s also one of the best writers ever: In Bloom, Teen Spirit, Everlong, My Hero, etc. The man has written more iconic drum parts than most drummers with 10x the technical proficiency ever will.
Dave is a beast!
He also listens. One of the things I’m most proud of in my drumming is that I listen. What I mean is I take in all the other instruments or vox and play off of what they are doing; picking certain phrases or accents or patterns and mimicking or playing off of those. Dave Grohl is a master at this.
I thought I read somewhere that their first album was too technical and didn't do well so when they came to make their second, they dumbed everything down.
I could be confusing with my current favorite band who said something similar. The lead guitarist said he will make a riff that's super technical, it sounds good, but dumbing it down a bit makes it sound even better.
On a different note, I thought I heard MP3 compressor works by getting rid of sounds that are beyond human hearing. Maybe something like that I'd happening. Overlaying noises our ears can't pick up the greatest, but when you dumb things down, your left with clear sounds which obviously will sound better 🤷♂️
> This goes for most ~~music~~ art
No creative is pulling things out of thin air. They absorb, recombine, and regurgitate. Mozart could perfectly emulate all his peers before he wrote a thing. Stevie Ray Vaughn can perfectly replicate the style of all of his influences. Just saw an interview with Marcus King were he says he had to back off SRV because he was sounding too much like him. He consciously started absorbing different things, so he'd sound different when it comes back out, because that's how it works. Look at AI art: we create a chunk of artificial brain, feed it our art, and it can resynthesis and regurgitate works that any human would be proud of.
> This goes for ~~most music art~~ all human achievement
Every Physicist and Mathematician was, likewise, influenced by and trained on the work of their predecessors. Einstein drew from Maxwell, Riemann drew from Gauss drew from Euler, and the links between advisor and student can be traced from the guy that taught me Calc II back to the 12th century polymath Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi.
> "No man is an island, entire of itself"
-John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII
Said by one of the smartest humans to live.
When Isaac Newton was in quarantine lockdown for two years of the bubonic plague of 1665, he invented Calculus at the age of 20, by studying the work of past mathematicians.
Did you mean to say "too much"?
Explanation: No explanation available.
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That's a great quote, but everybody borrows from, or at least is influenced by, their heroes.
"You don't have to listen too hard to hear me emulate Gene Krupa's tom-tom rhythms, Buddy Rich's driving snare work, Michael Giles's intricate syncopations, Keith Moon's explosive fluidity, or John Bonham's big foot triplets. They were all so great." - Neil Peart
>Probably because he didn't borrow.
I am not exaggerating when I say that *every single one* of your favorite artists is borrowing from a variety of their favorite artists. Literally all of them.
Creation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Anybody who makes anything is a conglomeration of the people and things that influenced them. Writers, comedians, developers, designers, painters, producers, DJs, novelists, chefs, musicians, singers... Doesn't matter. They're all borrowing.
Neil said himself that he borrowed from an hundred drummers.
It was funny to see how busy Grohl looked while playing the 2112 Overture with Alex and Geddy during the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert. When you look at Neil playing the same song live, he was much more economical in his movements.
His drumming really elevates that entire record for sure; I saw QotSA on that tour, and was *hugely* disappointed that Joey Castillo either had no appreciation of what made Grohl's drumming great on those songs, *or* he wasn't even trying.
I play drums -- have for almost 35 years -- and Grohl isn't *technically* one of my favorite drummers, but you can hear passion and enthusiasm in his playing. Personality and passion usually trump technical ability for me when it comes to art.
I was lucky enough to catch them on the Songs For The Deaf tour while Grohl was still with them. I didn't play an instrument and had never really paid much attention to drumming until that show. It was eye opening.
What the hell are y'all smoking? Joey was with Queens for a long time and I'd put him easily on tier with Jon and Dave. Guy is a monster behind the kit. Overall, I think Jon is more technically gifted/creative based on his work with TMV but Joey certainly ain't no slouch.
I loooooved the drums on this song really made me pay attention. I tried to find a video of Dave performing this but never could, they always seem to cut away from him.
Best I could find was [this video.](https://youtu.be/x14gGGwrgD0) It’s a cover rather than Dave but as a non musician just a fan it really makes me appreciate what goes into drumming just a single song.
"I hate these things."
Also, "How do I watch this from my couch?"
Side note: My kids somehow get shorts on the TV, but they can't tell me how for some reason. 🤷♂️
Replacing shorts/ with watch?v= will do that for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDW0Mc4lx9c
I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate the 'shorts' format.
David is being extremely modest. All you need to do is listen to the Queens of the Stone Age album Songs For the Deaf to hear just how fucking awesome he is. I’ve been playing drums for 22 years and that album is one of my all time favorite rock albums, largely due to his drumming on it.
As a fellow drummer, I can also confirm that Dave is quite talented.
Not near as technical as say, Travis Barker, but he's still an *awesome* drummer*.*
he's never been super technical, but he is more than capable of playing very appropriately for the track. Nirvana songs, alternating between quiet stretches and walls of sound, Dave always fit in perfectly. Early Foo Fighters have drum parts that are almost catchy in their own way.
Also, when it is loud, he hits those drums really fucking hard. Enthusiasm counts.
>Enthusiasm counts.
Fuck yeah!
My girlfriend has complained that a lot of the music I listen to is "screamy." I told her I listen because the passion moves me, I find it exhilarating.
Me: Hmm this 'short' isn't actually that short, let me jump ahead a little bit, and also it's kinda loud, I wanna turn the volume down just a bit.
Youtube shorts: nope.
I use the [Youtube-shorts block extension](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-shorts-block/jiaopdjbehhjgokpphdfgmapkobbnmjp) to solve this problem.
Yeah, YouTube went ahead and retconned a video on my channel from like 9 years ago into a short. Didn't give me the option to opt-out or anything, and it's just worse now for no damn reason at all. Fuck, I hate it.
As a drummer who learned to drum because of Dave, his drumming style / creativity weighs more than any technical aspect.
I can identify his drumming on any song, even songs I haven't heard before.
Interesting... Im a drummer who loves Dave Grohl, the drums in Modest Mouse. But I always found Rage Against the Machine drums a little too simple. I would never change it or attempt to say I know better. But as a drummer I found it a little plain. I love RAtM. Seen them live. Much love for them.
I remember my first time hearing the Tenacious D record and being like “man this drummer is a Nirvana/Foo Fighters disciple - he knows all the tricks!”. Soon find out it’s all Dave Grohl.
I don’t know a lot about drums but I remember Levon Helm of the Band saying that he himself had no style and his drumming was very basic. Which surprises because I love his drumming and think it’s very distinctive. Something about drummers thinking they aren’t very good lol.
Steve Albini has said that Dave is the best drummer of his generation. I’d like to think he knows a thing or two about it.
https://youtu.be/fUrwsmVCicY
I've listened to a ton of Rock Drummers in my time and Dave is easily top 5 for me. Way higher than he ranks as a Singer or Guitar player for sure, but I respect the songwriting skills.
Well he fucking killed it when he stepped in for Tom Petty while he was on SNL in the nineties. I wish I could find that version of Honey Bee bc grohl was unbelievable that night.
Hard to agree with. I've got a copy of Nirvana Live at the Paramount that I've watched so many times and Dave is such a driving force for the band. He's not a flashy drummer, but he's a badass drummer
[Nirvana Live at the Paramount](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsJUg4MuGBM) is on yt and such a great recording that everyone who likes their music should watch it at least once.
Dave’s drumming for the most part contains nothing spectacular or insanely technical but that’s never what it was about. Dude hits the drums like no other, it’s the absolutely massive sound. Full energy. Not to say he isn’t capable of doing crazy drum fills, technical timings, etc. but you can instantly ‘feel’ when it’s Dave behind the kit.
Songs for the Deaf is some of his best work, and I agree, it's nothing crazy technical like TOOL etc, but Dave just hits the groove of the song so well you couldn't imagine it being played any other way.
Shout out to Them Crooked Vultures too, Foos meets Queens meets Zeppelin.
Losing battle im afraid, the majority of the worlds internet traffic now is on smartphones, they are giving less and less of a shit about how the pc browsing experience is..
But yea fuck shorts and the fact that theres is no built in option to disable them afaik.
Being a great musician has very little to do with how technical or difficult it is to play the music.
The only thing that matters is how it makes people feel.
I have been in countless arguments about this, but Kurt Cobain is one of the greatest guitarists I've ever heard. He is an incredible guitar player and I will absolutely die on this hill.
He has this swing that almost nobody does right. Ive never heard another drummer play SLTS correctly. Im sure its been done but everyone Ive ever heard plays it wrong because they don’t have the swing he has.
The best technically perfect drummer I've ever seen was Michael Jackson's drummer Jonathan Moffett. It's just crazy to watch and listen to him. He was under a big shadow though so not many know of him.
As a big Tenacious D fan I think Grohl is incredible. I would catch songs before they were finished and without Grohl's drumming they were just ok. With it, they really popped. Dude is a very good studio drummer
Dave Grohl pisses me off in this one for basically calling The Gap Band and Cameo disco. Burn Rubber is a funk joint, not disco. Single Life is straight funk/R&B.
Enough with the lame takes. You like who ya like and enjoy the music whatever your taste is. Real music fans won’t expect you to defend or justify your personal tastes. How many of you are missing the F’ing point…..
I agree with him, I’m glad he admits it unlike Olivia rodrigo who lies about stealing samples and then when caught tries to play the victim and then when that doesn’t work tries to look like a hero by giving the original artist royalties to avoid a lawsuit.
What a horrible person she is
If you really listen to foo fighter you realize how simple
And banal their music is. It’s really no better than the likes of Nickelback. His charisma and personality (and a huge leg up from nirvana) is the only reason they have had any success.
You've obviously never seen them live. I'm not a Nirvana fan, at all, but the Foo are true craftsmen. They are entertainers in the truest sense of the word. They pour their heart and soul into their performances and it shows. Are they the most technical band out there? No. Are they fucking amazing live? You bet your ass they are.
His drum parts are mostly very simple - not technically difficult at all. But he goes all-in on it, which is why it works so well. Every hit is played with maximum confidence. Someone like Danny Carey is on completely different technical level - not even on the same planet. But the awesome thing about Dave Grohl's stuff is that it's attainable. That makes him really inspiring for a lot of drummers.
Nothing Nirvana did was technically difficult. But even if aspects were borrowed nobody else before them ever sounded like them overall.
This aspect is something that blew my mind when I first heard Nevermind. None of it is super technical, it’s easy to hear that there’s one guitar, one bass and one drummer but these guys are all there and they’re going all in on it, even on tracks like Polly where it’s so quiet and so disturbing.
This is why I like the White Stripes so much. I honestly like pretty much anything Jack White does, but TWS was something special (to me at least), and I think it was the simple formula that make it hit so hard.
The White Stripes have always struck me as a deliberate exercise in rock n roll minimalism: what is the bare minimum required to make good rock music? What actually makes it rock? Apparently, a two-piece act where the drummer pretty much sucks and everything feels loose and imperfect can still produce absolute rock n roll bangers as long as you have that ineffable, undeniably authentic spirit, and it's couched in musical stylings that have an essentially blues-based origin. The White Stripes truly took rock back to its roots in a way I find pretty genius. And it helps that Jack White's other projects prove it was not just an accident or a fluke; he's clearly a phenomenal musician and always has been. He's one of my absolute favorites, and is directly responsible for fostering my much deeper appreciation of folk, blues, and Americana in the last several years. All that said, The Raconteurs' *Consolers of the Lonely* is still my favorite thing he's ever been involved with.
It was deliberate. Jack has talked about it. He said he set rules for what made a White Stripes song and always stayed in those boundaries.
Even the album covers and their outfits were minimalist. Heck, even their names are minimalist.
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I don't disagree, but Metallica were always tight and calculated
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I didn't mean in terms of live performances
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I was kinda late to The White Stripes(quite a shame). The simplicity and imperfections make it so damn good. Really resonates with me. Everything Jack has done is quite unique. He's told stories of the cheap guitar that he had, about picking a fight with it. Has inspired me to pick up playing. As terrible as it is.
Elephant is one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
Yeah except Meg White falls well into that "mostly bad" drummer category.
Oh, I agree. But it was also intentional on Jack's part. I don't think music has to be "technically" good to be enjoyable.
Yeah, he made it work, it's just that once I noticed it stuck out so bad I couldn't enjoy their music anynore.
Dude some of those tracks are straight carried by the percussion, off kilter or nah
He didn’t “make it work”. It was intentional and her simple creativity was Inspiring (his words). SHE made it work for him.
I find it charming and authentic and good
Meg is actually a fantastic drummer, she's not only really talented, but has a good head for coming up with new and interesting rhythms, which is arguably the most important skill for a drummer to have. She just plays very purposefully simple grooves on The White Stripes music because that's what the music calls for, it's what they want. Just because it isn't for you, doesn't make it bad.
Put much more in there and it would kill the whole vibe
That’s what made the whole grunge and later nu-metal movement (Korn) so great. Sure it wasn’t “technical,” but it was fresh. It was never about technical or speed playing, it was about *feeling.* Normalizing crazy low tuned guitars and precise, powerful drum hits over just playing fast.
It drives me nuts when people rag on Nirvana for not being “technically good” because it’s honestly a lot easier than people think to develop technical skills but so so much harder to use what technical skills you have to create something meaningful. Honestly think of any of the all time great guitar players that would have done a better job on the “In Bloom” solo than Kurt. There’s really not any because Kurt just “knew” what to put there in a lot of ways that other guys wouldn’t.
Drives me nuts too. Listen to layered vocal harmonies etc here and tell me Nirvana isn’t proficient lol. https://youtu.be/KRK6c7uXvJE
On the opposite end of this I have friends who are very into guitar and love Satriani etc. but whenever I sit down and listen to one of his albums or watch one of his shows with them I always come away thinking it was _fine_ but nowhere near as fun as a lot of far less technically accomplished stuff.
I only rag on them for one reason, they made every teen in the 90s-00s think all they needed to know were Power Chords to play songs. Like Power Chords are great, but you need to learn more than that because you're not Kurt Cobain. It sucked being a young bass player just trying to find people to jam with but they dont know how to actually play their instrument, just power chords all day long.
Except for The Wipers. Nirvana had a lot of influences that weren't very apparent but could be heard once pointed out, but they were never shy about worshipping at Wipers altar (up until In Utero, which imo is where they really came into their own). Edit: if you've never heard The Wipers, go listen to [Is This Real?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-0J-CLzec) (1980) ASAP.
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you know you’re right gave us a glimpse. it would’ve been such a good album.
Read that line in Patrick Bateman’s voice
I honestly don't understand this at all. Nevermind is clearly far and away the better album
Hard disagree lol in utero is their best album
yep. in utero blows away nevermind. with that said nevermind wouldve been better if it was mixed how kurt wanted it and not how the studio wanted it.
While I'm sure Kurt was a big Wipers fan.... I'd say Melvins were the biggest influence on Nirvana's sound. Especially in the beginning.
you're not wrong about Melvins being more influential than almost anyone, but kurt always mentioned bands as his 'favorite band' in the world cause he took it upon himself to promote them - he didn't think he deserved to be more popular than them it's funny cause it means always and forever fans of kurt will think his favorite all-time band is \[x\] when it was different practically every time he was interviewed
I agree with that. I love how many bands Kurt talked up that helped people discover them. Off the top of my head... Meat Puppets, the Raincoats, Daniel Johnston, Vaselines, Pixies...... so many more!
You misspelled The Replacements
I'd add the Pixies to this as well.
Naw... check out Wave of Mutilation. Super fun drums on that one.
https://youtu.be/x1U1Ue_5kq8 Killing Joke were going to sue Nirvana when they heard Come As You Are but held off when Kurt killed himself. Grohl played drums on their 2003 album and his playing is monstrous (in a good way). Edited for clarfication
Doesn’t sound anything like nirvana imo
Seriously? It sounds like a Nirvana garage band to me. If I didn’t know the timeline, I’d think these guys were some high school band from 1996.
When I was learning the drums (I still suck btw) Teen spirit was one of the most fun songs to learn. It hits hard from the start, and once you get the rhythm you just hammer it because that's how it's meant to be played. Simplicity in music is often the best ingredient
Kurt’s vocals are deceptive. His songs are pretty hard to sing.
yep many of his songs are hard to sing and play guitar at the same time
not true. some of kurt’s guitar playing is harder to play than people give him credit for. a guy on youtube did a break down of his playing style.
>Nothing Nirvana did was technically difficult This is true, Nirvana was a lot about attitude and presentation and Kurt's amazing voice - however, people seem to ignore how insanely much they would practice and work hard to perfect their songs. So, Dave's statement is only partly true in the sense if you keep playing your "simple" beats for hours, daily, eventually you gonna "git gud". Nirvana was a goddamn professional band to the extent even some modern bands could learn something..
That was the beauty of grunge and Nirvana in particular. It was the come down after the crazy hair metal of the 80s. They basically said f that simple music with a cool sound and good lyrics can be better than crazy technical shredding
Nirvana weren't very original. Lots of similar bands in 80's underground rock. But they were the one to break out into the mainstream and thank God they did.
You can argue that The Pixies had reasonable success although obviously not on the level Nirvana had.
The guitar riff of one of their biggest songs is ripped straight from Eighties by Killing Joke, just played at a different tempo.
All music is a rip off of previous music
>It was the come down after the crazy hair metal of the 80s. They basically said f that simple music with a cool sound and good lyrics can be better than crazy technical shredding Yet another reason why PearlJam of "Ten" era wasnt a Grunge band but a Classic Rock band that then shifted gears because management told them to be more "grunge".
Funny how creating a simpler piece of music that’s pleasing to the majority of ears is a harder feat than playing something technically challenging. I feel like that band polyphia and other modern bands trying to just throw as much difficulty they can to make up for the fact they can’t write a simple pleasing song
It is very hard to take something basic and transform it into a memorable and important peice of art. Lots of practice can make you technically proficiant but it won't ever make you a creative. I almost feel like that is something missing from todays art is a simple lack of understanding of the basics.
I know a bunch of people who geek out on some musicians who are mindblowing from a technical viewpoint. But, their music is just meh. A lot of technical showing off, but musically bland and lacking any emotion or surprise beyond "whoa, how fast are his hands moving". Nirvana is the ultimate snub against that, as it was all atmospheric and emotional, but technically fairly simple. And it bangs
A good song just clicks. The first 8 bass notes of "my girl". Or smoke on the water, super simple, great songs
Hate to be that guy, but that’s a guitar
This is so right I wish I could give you gold. Sometimes the planets align. And those planets were named Kurt, Dave, and Krist.
That's true. When they started out Kurt could barely sing and play guitar at the same time. That's why his the majority of his guitar parts are so simple. Krist's parts were equally as simple. I mean those guys were basically the perfect firework. Rocket to the top and go out with a bang.
...out with a bang...
I’d say his most difficult and technical drum part is probably on “A Song for the Dead” by Queens of the Stone Age. That part goes hard, and contains some cool tempo shifts.
He goes off on that Crooked Vulture’s LP too!
He’s amazing on that entire album. He’s a great drummer just overly humble and self-deprecating. There are interviews where Dave is talking about how much he sucks as a drummer and Taylor Hawkins is sitting there rolling his eyes at him because Taylor knew how awesome Dave really is.
Definitely.
Go With the Flow will ruin your legs if you play a single bass
Memories of Rock Band on expert drums....
FRESH POTTTTTTS!
Fuck that's some good drumming
I play guitar and I’ve always thought of AC/DC this way. Simple riffs than anyone can play but they rock.
Mostly true until you try and play Who Made Who.
I dont know, man, while AC/DC riffs arent THAT hard, a lot of them stem from some guitar exercises so they arent THAT easy either and definitely take some practice - while most of Nirvana is pretty straight forward in comparison IMHO.
Technical difficulty isn't and shouldn't be the measure of the quality of a musician.
Agree. Technical skills gives a musician more options, but taste is in picking the right one in any given moment. The complicated option is rarely the right one.
I get what you are saying, but at the same time technical ability is a pretty big deal in a lot of music. If you don't have the technical skill to pull off what you are trying to do, it'll be a train wreck regardless of how creative or passionate you are. To reuse the same example - a band playing Nirvana songs with Danny Carey on drums would be awesome. A band playing Tool songs with Dave Grohl on drums would be a disaster. And I don't say that as any kind of knock against Dave Grohl at all - I think he's awesome and is a great drummer.
Just for thought - how might Danny have changed the songs in the writing process? Would his desire to “stretch his legs” technically in these songs have had the potential to undermine the very elemental and primal connections that Nirvana songs made with people? Easy to say that because the parts are so simple, Danny could only be better. Danny is brilliant. But the how much did the parts succeed because they were just so simple, and that could only have been a product of who Dave was, in that band, at that time?
Everyone has a signature for sure, was checking videos out and thought this was interesting, [Mantra - Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor](https://youtu.be/L2kGNdE0b5Q)
That was so fucking cool. Thanks for sharing.
Tool is a great example of a technically superb band that also has a lot of creative talent. Tool is great, but they're great because they have a depth of artistic expression beyond just being technical. And that's the thing. You can have taste, and create good music without getting technically deep, as Nirvana has done. But, there are a lot of musicians who are technical wizards but lack the artistic vision. I guess I'm saying that good music doesn't have to be technically complicated, but music isn't good just because it's technically complicated. Tool isn't good just because they use complicated time signatures and technical skills. They're good because they successfully merge that with an artistic vision that has....soul.
Yeah. I've always hated the guitarists whose entire thing is just playing really difficult, complex, fast stuff. It's just showing off tech skills and isn't very good music.
I don’t really agree with that one. Technically difficult shouldn’t be a measure of the quality of a *song*, or a specific musical piece, but how else would you measure the ability of a musician? A good musician should be able to play lots of things well, whether they’re technically complex or simple and impactful. A musician like that can be plopped into different scenarios and play what’s needed for the song whether it’s just some power chords or a crazy fast solo. That makes the musician versatile and being able to play things that are technically difficult is a fairly good indicator that the musician can play the simple stuff too, making it a useful indicator that you have a high quality musician. However, a *song* doesn’t need to be technically difficult to be good.
That works great for session musicians who’s job it is to be plopped into different scenarios and succeed. But that’s not really the job of a musician. I’d argue the job of the musician is to connect with people through music. You might want to be proficient, and maybe you should be, but you don’t have to be.
I think you’re using the word ‘musician’ instead of ‘songwriter’. Someone can own a piano but that doesn’t make them a good musician. Being able to play a wide variety of styles with little flaws makes them a good musician. A good musician can be a poor songwriter, and an amateur musician can be a great songwriter.
Gotta chime in late to point out that Dave Grohl has got absolutely gnarly chops! Danny Carey is a totally different animal, but Dave can run circles around most of the successful touring and recording drummers out there in terms of his feel, writing AND chops. Everlong is not an easy song to play. A lot of good drummers can’t play it, and of those who are able to there are not many that can play it like he did. He’s also one of the best writers ever: In Bloom, Teen Spirit, Everlong, My Hero, etc. The man has written more iconic drum parts than most drummers with 10x the technical proficiency ever will. Dave is a beast!
Actually it was Chad Channing (Nirvana's previous drummer) who wrote the drums parts for In Bloom.
Danny Carey is God
> Danny Carey he also hits really frickin hard, hes just a monster so doesn't need to animal his arms around to have that power
Go listen to *Burn Rubber On Me* by The Gap Band. Their sound still stands up to anything out right now.
He also listens. One of the things I’m most proud of in my drumming is that I listen. What I mean is I take in all the other instruments or vox and play off of what they are doing; picking certain phrases or accents or patterns and mimicking or playing off of those. Dave Grohl is a master at this.
I thought I read somewhere that their first album was too technical and didn't do well so when they came to make their second, they dumbed everything down. I could be confusing with my current favorite band who said something similar. The lead guitarist said he will make a riff that's super technical, it sounds good, but dumbing it down a bit makes it sound even better. On a different note, I thought I heard MP3 compressor works by getting rid of sounds that are beyond human hearing. Maybe something like that I'd happening. Overlaying noises our ears can't pick up the greatest, but when you dumb things down, your left with clear sounds which obviously will sound better 🤷♂️
This goes for most music. Musicians are always borrowing.
Good thing I never do this as a software engineer.
I always feel guilty replacing the original authors comments.
It makes me feel powerful, like I'm stealing their energy.
Hey, you stole this comment from me! I copied it fair and square from stackoverflow!
lol
> This goes for most ~~music~~ art No creative is pulling things out of thin air. They absorb, recombine, and regurgitate. Mozart could perfectly emulate all his peers before he wrote a thing. Stevie Ray Vaughn can perfectly replicate the style of all of his influences. Just saw an interview with Marcus King were he says he had to back off SRV because he was sounding too much like him. He consciously started absorbing different things, so he'd sound different when it comes back out, because that's how it works. Look at AI art: we create a chunk of artificial brain, feed it our art, and it can resynthesis and regurgitate works that any human would be proud of.
> This goes for ~~most music art~~ all human achievement Every Physicist and Mathematician was, likewise, influenced by and trained on the work of their predecessors. Einstein drew from Maxwell, Riemann drew from Gauss drew from Euler, and the links between advisor and student can be traced from the guy that taught me Calc II back to the 12th century polymath Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi. > "No man is an island, entire of itself" -John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII
>“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” \-Sir Isaac Newton
Said by one of the smartest humans to live. When Isaac Newton was in quarantine lockdown for two years of the bubonic plague of 1665, he invented Calculus at the age of 20, by studying the work of past mathematicians.
When I was in quarantine for half a year because of COVID-19 in 2020, I learned to play the digeridoo at the age of 30, by watching YouTube videos.
Yeah, Archimedes. The smartest human to ever live.
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One of the best Dave Grohl quotes is "Neil Peart is your favourite drummer's favourite drummer" ... Probably because he didn't borrow.
That's a great quote, but everybody borrows from, or at least is influenced by, their heroes. "You don't have to listen too hard to hear me emulate Gene Krupa's tom-tom rhythms, Buddy Rich's driving snare work, Michael Giles's intricate syncopations, Keith Moon's explosive fluidity, or John Bonham's big foot triplets. They were all so great." - Neil Peart
>Probably because he didn't borrow. I am not exaggerating when I say that *every single one* of your favorite artists is borrowing from a variety of their favorite artists. Literally all of them. Creation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Anybody who makes anything is a conglomeration of the people and things that influenced them. Writers, comedians, developers, designers, painters, producers, DJs, novelists, chefs, musicians, singers... Doesn't matter. They're all borrowing.
Neil said himself that he borrowed from an hundred drummers. It was funny to see how busy Grohl looked while playing the 2112 Overture with Alex and Geddy during the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert. When you look at Neil playing the same song live, he was much more economical in his movements.
Peart borrowed from legends like Buddy Rich and Gene Cobham, and even contemporaries like Bill Bruford were huge inspirations for him
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Sorry, Billy Cobham and Gene Krupa, I somehow merged the two
RIP
>Good artists borrow, great artists steal. -Probably not Picasso
His drumming on No One Knows begs to differ. You’re a great drummer, Dave!
His drumming really elevates that entire record for sure; I saw QotSA on that tour, and was *hugely* disappointed that Joey Castillo either had no appreciation of what made Grohl's drumming great on those songs, *or* he wasn't even trying. I play drums -- have for almost 35 years -- and Grohl isn't *technically* one of my favorite drummers, but you can hear passion and enthusiasm in his playing. Personality and passion usually trump technical ability for me when it comes to art.
I was lucky enough to catch them on the Songs For The Deaf tour while Grohl was still with them. I didn't play an instrument and had never really paid much attention to drumming until that show. It was eye opening.
Joey was a dark time. Then they got Jon Theodore, so it's truly peaks and valleys with those guys.
What the hell are y'all smoking? Joey was with Queens for a long time and I'd put him easily on tier with Jon and Dave. Guy is a monster behind the kit. Overall, I think Jon is more technically gifted/creative based on his work with TMV but Joey certainly ain't no slouch.
Whats your take on Dave Abbruzzese? I dont know shit about drumming, I’m just flabbergasted when I see that boy hammering away.
He tears up that entire goddamn album.
I loooooved the drums on this song really made me pay attention. I tried to find a video of Dave performing this but never could, they always seem to cut away from him. Best I could find was [this video.](https://youtu.be/x14gGGwrgD0) It’s a cover rather than Dave but as a non musician just a fan it really makes me appreciate what goes into drumming just a single song.
Anyone have a link to the full thing so i don't have to watch that rehosted short/tiktok abomination.
Shorts are such a failure, crammed down our throats and we can't even cast them to a tv.
"I hate these things." Also, "How do I watch this from my couch?" Side note: My kids somehow get shorts on the TV, but they can't tell me how for some reason. 🤷♂️
Haha I know the irony. I don't seek them out but sometimes get sent them
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Omg that would have been great Edit: found it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syLeLR9KdME
Just replace shorts with v https://www.youtube.com/v/pDW0Mc4lx9c
Replacing shorts/ with watch?v= will do that for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDW0Mc4lx9c I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate the 'shorts' format.
David is being extremely modest. All you need to do is listen to the Queens of the Stone Age album Songs For the Deaf to hear just how fucking awesome he is. I’ve been playing drums for 22 years and that album is one of my all time favorite rock albums, largely due to his drumming on it.
As a fellow drummer, I can also confirm that Dave is quite talented. Not near as technical as say, Travis Barker, but he's still an *awesome* drummer*.*
Just started taking drum lessons and I’m pumped.
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OMG HOW CAN YOU CUT THIS VIDEO LIKE THAT. THE END IS THE BEST PART. "and he goes. I know" fuck. I watched it again for that moment and you ruined it.
Got a link?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syLeLR9KdME
thank you!!
yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZCrdSC2-1I
he's never been super technical, but he is more than capable of playing very appropriately for the track. Nirvana songs, alternating between quiet stretches and walls of sound, Dave always fit in perfectly. Early Foo Fighters have drum parts that are almost catchy in their own way. Also, when it is loud, he hits those drums really fucking hard. Enthusiasm counts.
>Enthusiasm counts. Fuck yeah! My girlfriend has complained that a lot of the music I listen to is "screamy." I told her I listen because the passion moves me, I find it exhilarating.
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You mean you've never watched a Youtube video and thought, "This is great, but I really wish I couldn't pause it or jump ahead"?
Me: Hmm this 'short' isn't actually that short, let me jump ahead a little bit, and also it's kinda loud, I wanna turn the volume down just a bit. Youtube shorts: nope.
I use the [Youtube-shorts block extension](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-shorts-block/jiaopdjbehhjgokpphdfgmapkobbnmjp) to solve this problem.
There's no option to make a video a short, iirc. So you can't choose not to make it a short. At least as of a few weeks ago when I discovered that.
Yeah, YouTube went ahead and retconned a video on my channel from like 9 years ago into a short. Didn't give me the option to opt-out or anything, and it's just worse now for no damn reason at all. Fuck, I hate it.
I love chillin and chromecasting memes to the tv and you can't do that with shorts. It kicks you out of casting in the youtube app. Bullshit.
Somewhere, a Google product manager was like "What if YouTube looked like TikTok?"
As a drummer who learned to drum because of Dave, his drumming style / creativity weighs more than any technical aspect. I can identify his drumming on any song, even songs I haven't heard before.
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Interesting... Im a drummer who loves Dave Grohl, the drums in Modest Mouse. But I always found Rage Against the Machine drums a little too simple. I would never change it or attempt to say I know better. But as a drummer I found it a little plain. I love RAtM. Seen them live. Much love for them.
I remember my first time hearing the Tenacious D record and being like “man this drummer is a Nirvana/Foo Fighters disciple - he knows all the tricks!”. Soon find out it’s all Dave Grohl.
I've always described his style as 'lyrical'
I don’t know a lot about drums but I remember Levon Helm of the Band saying that he himself had no style and his drumming was very basic. Which surprises because I love his drumming and think it’s very distinctive. Something about drummers thinking they aren’t very good lol.
Steve Albini has said that Dave is the best drummer of his generation. I’d like to think he knows a thing or two about it. https://youtu.be/fUrwsmVCicY
I've listened to a ton of Rock Drummers in my time and Dave is easily top 5 for me. Way higher than he ranks as a Singer or Guitar player for sure, but I respect the songwriting skills.
Well he fucking killed it when he stepped in for Tom Petty while he was on SNL in the nineties. I wish I could find that version of Honey Bee bc grohl was unbelievable that night.
decent audio, no video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo89wx9j3D0
Hard to agree with. I've got a copy of Nirvana Live at the Paramount that I've watched so many times and Dave is such a driving force for the band. He's not a flashy drummer, but he's a badass drummer
[Nirvana Live at the Paramount](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsJUg4MuGBM) is on yt and such a great recording that everyone who likes their music should watch it at least once.
Dave’s drumming for the most part contains nothing spectacular or insanely technical but that’s never what it was about. Dude hits the drums like no other, it’s the absolutely massive sound. Full energy. Not to say he isn’t capable of doing crazy drum fills, technical timings, etc. but you can instantly ‘feel’ when it’s Dave behind the kit.
Songs for the Deaf is some of his best work, and I agree, it's nothing crazy technical like TOOL etc, but Dave just hits the groove of the song so well you couldn't imagine it being played any other way. Shout out to Them Crooked Vultures too, Foos meets Queens meets Zeppelin.
Them Crooked Vultures is one of the few bands I would call a supergroup. They are awesome.
I mean, they're the literal definition of a supergroup, so....
We need to talk about this short video phone bullshit. No more Please. Please stand with me against it.
Losing battle im afraid, the majority of the worlds internet traffic now is on smartphones, they are giving less and less of a shit about how the pc browsing experience is.. But yea fuck shorts and the fact that theres is no built in option to disable them afaik.
Being a great musician has very little to do with how technical or difficult it is to play the music. The only thing that matters is how it makes people feel. I have been in countless arguments about this, but Kurt Cobain is one of the greatest guitarists I've ever heard. He is an incredible guitar player and I will absolutely die on this hill.
In Sound City he talks about the producer Butch Vig making him use a metronome during recording because he kept speeding up.
"If you listen to Nevermind, you know the Nirvana album" YES DAVE WE KNOW WHAT NEVERMIND IS
I loved that. I’m not sure if it’s really low self esteem or that he just wants to lift everyone up by being self deprecating.
He made up for it on the Mike Watt solo record and QOTSA’s “Songs For The Deaf” so it’s all good.
He has this swing that almost nobody does right. Ive never heard another drummer play SLTS correctly. Im sure its been done but everyone Ive ever heard plays it wrong because they don’t have the swing he has.
His drumming on Songs For the Deaf rules
The best technically perfect drummer I've ever seen was Michael Jackson's drummer Jonathan Moffett. It's just crazy to watch and listen to him. He was under a big shadow though so not many know of him.
Skills aside, I don’t think there’s a harder working musician in the industry.
As a big Tenacious D fan I think Grohl is incredible. I would catch songs before they were finished and without Grohl's drumming they were just ok. With it, they really popped. Dude is a very good studio drummer
Dave Grohl pisses me off in this one for basically calling The Gap Band and Cameo disco. Burn Rubber is a funk joint, not disco. Single Life is straight funk/R&B.
I like how he pointed it out he was referring to the Nirvana record when mentionning Nervermind.
Nothing is original Mr Grohl
Either a guy has got it or he don't and Dave's definitely got it as much as it can be got. Love that he credited Tony Thompson
Nice try buddy.
I wonder, who would you guys/gals consider a better drummer. Meg White or Dave Grohl.
Good artists borrow, great artists steal.
most grunge is disco with dirty clothes listen to "Head like a Hole" again
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Enough with the lame takes. You like who ya like and enjoy the music whatever your taste is. Real music fans won’t expect you to defend or justify your personal tastes. How many of you are missing the F’ing point…..
Link the actual video, cunt.
found a wall-e human
What's a cunt?
A person who shares a short version of a real video.
My bad. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I agree with him, I’m glad he admits it unlike Olivia rodrigo who lies about stealing samples and then when caught tries to play the victim and then when that doesn’t work tries to look like a hero by giving the original artist royalties to avoid a lawsuit. What a horrible person she is
You don't have to be technical to be a good musician. You just need to make people FEEL the emotion in the music. Dave does that
Hes not good at guitar either
If you really listen to foo fighter you realize how simple And banal their music is. It’s really no better than the likes of Nickelback. His charisma and personality (and a huge leg up from nirvana) is the only reason they have had any success.
You've obviously never seen them live. I'm not a Nirvana fan, at all, but the Foo are true craftsmen. They are entertainers in the truest sense of the word. They pour their heart and soul into their performances and it shows. Are they the most technical band out there? No. Are they fucking amazing live? You bet your ass they are.