Dave Grohl has opened up on his time in Nirvana, admitting that his confidence at the time prevented him from taking an integral role as a songwriter.
Despite anchoring the band with his powerhouse drumming, Grohl only truly ventured into songwriting after the band ended – with the first Foo Fighters album being recorded as a solo effort.
“When I recorded what became the first Foo Fighters record [in 1995], I didn’t think it was a record. I just wanted to get up and go out and play something, even if nobody ever heard it”, he told CBS in a new interview.
“Long before then, I had been recording songs on my own, and never letting anybody hear them, because I didn’t really think they were that good.
“I didn’t like my voice, I didn’t think I was a songwriter, and I was in a band with one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. I didn’t really want to rock the boat.
“That’s the famous joke: What’s the last thing the drummer said before he got kicked out of the band? ‘Hey guys, I’ve got some songs I think we should play.’ So I just kind of kept it to myself.
“But there was someone who we knew from Seattle. After Kurt died he wrote me this card: ‘I know you don’t feel it now, but someday the music is going to come back, and it’s going to heal you.'”
Grohl also spoke of his continued success with Foo Fighters, and how he heeded some pretty good advice from his dad.
“Ages ago, when I was a kid, my dad said, ‘You know, this isn’t going to last, right? Savor every check like it’s the last one you’re ever gonna make,'” Grohl told Mason.
“And every time we make a Foo Fighters record, I think, ‘Well, if this were the last one…'”