An open letter to Dave Grohl

I dont use this BLOG as a spring board for anything other than to express myself and since I am pretty much 100% certain that Dave Grohl will never see this...I have no explination for what I am about to write here other than to announce my appreciation for Dave Grohl's musical contribution to my ear holes.

Like the phoenix rose from the ashes Dave Grohl pulled himself from the wreckage that was Nirvana.  After Kurt Cobain's untimely death surely was to mean the end of the line for the remaining members of Nirvana Dave Grohl immersed himself in music that was pure Rock & Roll. 

Anyone that knows me knows that I was not a Nirvana fan at all!  In fact...I hated (and still hate) everything about the "grunge" music "scene".  For me, it signaled the end of classic rock and heavy metal two muscial genre's (along with hip hop/rap) that I considered myself quite the authority on.

Picture this:  It was pre-internet Detroit, Michigan in 1991, I just graduated from high school and was begining what I thought would be my career path in the radio industry at Specs Howard.  I met a guy...named Jonah (Jay) Sharkey and he turned me on to Nirvana but it wasn't "Smells like teen spirit"...it was "Bleached" and I hated it.  Teen Spirit was "too commercial" for Jonah.  On a side note, another fellow class mate bummed a ride from me home once and Pearl Jam's Alive was on the radio (89X CIMX)...he told me that Pearl Jam would be "bigger than Zeppelin".  I told him he was "full of shit" and dropped him off some where in Ferndale.  I think his name was Jeff...either way, he was wrong.  My point is this, in those days you had to rely on a series of under ground channels of rumors, stories and at best...a few first hand tales from the DJ's on the radio for your musical trivia and research.  If you wanted to know the lyrics to a song you had better hope the band put them in the liner notes.  The entir record buying and music experience was much more exciting back then.  I am sad that my kids will never experience the thrill of ripping off the clear plastic from a new LP and hear the crackle of staic as you lower the needle to the face of a vinyl record for the first time as I did with Kiss's Dynasty LP in 1978.

Yesterday I heard Rope for the first time.  Holy sh!t...what a great song.  But then again, the Foo Fighters have many great songs.  It was like hearing Monkey Wrench again for the first time only better, more refined and harder.  Dave Grohl has never disapointed me on the radio.  I saw the FF once live...in Detroit...in the same venue I saw my very first concert in 1979 (J Geils).  I dont know if it was the accoustics or just an off night but I left early...disappointed.  I have vowed to see them again.

Now for the real meaning to this reguritation of nothingness from my tiny pea brain...Dave Grohl might just be the last Rock-a-roller.  In the same vein as Jimmy Page before him, he embraces and accepts his role in what could be argued by some as the 3rd largest (or at least relevant) rock band in history (I for one credit the Beatles and Led Zeppelin respectively 1st and 2nd) but he doesn't let Nirvana alone define him.  He is always eager to make great music with great musicians (Queens of the Stoneage are more over looked than they deserve to be) and surround himself with talent and positivity.  No political rants, no drug overdoses, no self loathing...just raw, edgy, real rock and roll.

So to Dave Grohl I say "thank you" and to the rest of you I say "go buy the Foo Fighters new album".  Damn I wish it was on vinyl!

JH