Dave Grohl’s 15 Best Collaborations

Dave Grohl may have chalked up two of the world’s biggest rock bands on his CV (Nirvana and Foo Fighters, of course), but the busy fella ain’t content with that. Here are 15 of The Nicest Man In Rock’s greatest collaborations. Does he ever sleep?!

15 Scream

Before Nirvana, there was Scream: a pioneering Washington DC hardcore band who released a string of LPs on Dischord records across the 1980’s. In 1986, a young drum prodigy by the name of Dave Grohl played on their fourth album ‘No More Censorship’. The band disbanded in late 1990, although Scream guitarist Franz Stahl later joined a fledgling Foo Fighters in 1997.

14 The Zac Brown Band

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Grohl proved his musical dexterity by going country in 2013 with the Zac Brown Band. The Foos frontman both produced and played drums on their ‘The Grohl Sessions Vol. 1’ of 2013, also appearing with the group at the Country Music Awards.

13 RDGLDGRN

Rock trio RDGLDGRN were recording their debut EP at Sound City Studios while Grohl was filming his rock doc on the famous studio. Taking a wild stab in the dark, they approached Dave for a helping hand, and he obliged by playing drums on their track ‘I Love Lamp’.

12 The Birds of Satan

Foos bandmate Taylor Hawkins helms this side project, who recently released their debut, self-titled LP in April 2014. Ol’ Grohly boy was on hand to lend some help on a couple of the tracks, while Foo Fighters’ guitarist Pat Smear also appeared on the record.

11 Puff Daddy

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Thought hip-hop was the only genre eluding the Foos man? Think again. Grohl played drums on two separate rock remixes of Puff Daddy’s 1997 smash, ‘It’s All About the Benjamins’. Weirdly, the track also featured The Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson and Rob Zombie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ7r3ii40ns

10 Cat Power

Dave contributed a multi-instrumental turn when he worked on Cat Power’s 2003 LP ‘You Are Free’, playing drums on lead single ‘He War’ and both bass and drums on ‘Speak For Me’.

9 Tenacious D

One of Dave’s most enduring extra-curricular commitments has been with comedy rock duo Tenacious D. Most famously, he played a guitar-wielding devil in the video for their track ‘Tribute’, but he also drummed on all the songs from their 2001 self-titled album and also featured on every track bar one on 2012’s ‘Rize Of The Fenix’.

8 Garbage

‘Nevermind’ producer Butch Vig asked Grohl to drum on the track ‘Bad Boyfriend’ from Garbage’s 2005 album ‘Bleed Like Me’. According to Vig, he had been frustrated at his own drumming on the track when, luckily, he ran into Grohl at a party. Butch said: “He [Grohl] started playing these Keith Moon fills. Ironically, I then had to figure out his part – which was a bitch!”

7 Killing Joke

A long-time fan of post-punk legends Killing Joke, Grohl joined his idols in 2003 to work on their 12th studio album. Originally intended to be one of three drummers on the record, he demanded to play on all the tracks and allegedly declined payment to work with the band.

6 Paul McCartney

Beatles legend Paul McCartney found himself at the centre of a long awaited ‘Nirvana reunion’ in December 2012, when he joined Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic to perform the track ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ for a Hurricane Sandy fundraiser. The song was released alongside Grohl’s ownSound Citydocumentary and won Best Rock Song at the 2014 Grammys.

5 David Bowie

The Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie, called on Dave to play guitar on his 2002 album ‘Heathen’. The pair had previously collaborated with Grohl when he threw a 50th Birthday Concert for himself in 1997, Grohl playing guitar on Bowie’s ‘Seven Years in Tibet’.

4 Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones

Dave Grohl doesn’t do by-the-numbers guest stars at his gigs: during the Foo Fighters’ mega-show at Wembley Stadium in 2008, he initiated a mini Led Zeppelin reunion (of sorts) when he was joined by rock titans Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones for versions of ‘Rock n’ Roll’ and ‘Ramble On’.

3 Queens of the Stone Age

Grohl’s drumming chops made Queens Of The Stone Age’s 2002 album ‘Songs For The Deaf’ a snarling, seminal masterpiece. Josh Homme and co came calling again in 2013 for their ‘…Like Clockwork’ LP, recruiting a host of star-name collaborators including Grohl, Jake Shears and Elton John.

2 Sound City Players

The ultimate supergroup, anyone? After making his 2012 doc Sound City, Grohl rounded up the musicians who’d starred in the film. Members included (deep breath…): Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, as well as members of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Rage Against The Machine. Not bad.

1 Them Crooked Vultures

Members of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and the Queens of The Stone Age together combined for the baddest cross-generational super group of all time, as Josh Homme, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl formed Them Crooked Vultures in 2009 immediately releasing an album. They released their self-titled debut the same year, and are supposedly plotting a follow-up…

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