Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl was the subject of a "CBS Sunday Morning" profile yesterday (July 8th), where the rocker chatted with interviewer Anthony Mason about his musical upbringing, recounted his Nirvana days, visited his childhood home in northern Virginia, and much more. The segment also tackled a query that's undoubtedly been on fans' minds for quite some time — given Grohl's proven prowess as a vocalist and songwriter with the Foos, why'd he abstain from writing songs or laying down vocals for Nirvana beforehand?
His response can be summed up in three words: low self-esteem.
"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," Grohl admitted to Mason. "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."
Following Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Grohl doubled down on his solo endeavor, penning songs for Foo Fighters' eponymous debut, released the following year. At the time, he says, the project didn't even feel like a proper record. "I just wanted to get up and go out and play something, even if nobody ever heard it," he said. "Long before then, I had been recording songs of my own, and never letting anybody hear them, because I didn't really think they were that good."
Two decades later, Grohl's a star in his own right — and more impressively, he said he's avoided falling into the narcotic traps faced by most rock stars. "When I tell people that I've never done cocaine in my life, they think I'm lying," revealed Grohl. "But I love music, and I love life: and to me, survival is the game."
Foo Fighters are on tour now behind their latest album Concrete and Gold, which came out last year. Check out a full itinerary for the trek here.
