Dave Grohl Quotes

Music will never go away, and I will never stop making music; it's just what capacity or what arena you decide to do it.

If it weren't for the Beatles, I would not be a musician.

And later, if I ever felt that I was getting swept away by the craziness of being in a band, well, I'd go back to Virginia.

I hate the solo artist aspect of rock-'n'-roll. I don't have enough personality or charisma to be a solo star.

Actually, I didn't start sweating until I had children.

I think I'm scared a lot. I'm scared of almost everything. And I'm constantly trying to work my way through each obstacle, whether it's a present, past, or future relationship.

Whenever I say I made a record in the garage, people just assume that I have, like, a Lear jet parked in there or something. But really there's old luggage, a couple of bikes. It's big enough to put one minivan in. That's it. No dartboard. I'm so not macho.

I love being a drummer but I love being a musician in general and I love the Foo fighters.

I always loved writing songs - writing for myself and demo-ing songs, really with no intention of ever letting anyone else hear them. Finally the Foo Fighters stuff happened when I just went to the studio down the street from my house and recorded some stuff in about five or six days, and all these people wanted to release it as an album. I wanted to release it on my own, with no photos and no names on it.

I was at a New Year's Eve party, and someone asked me how was my year, and I said, 'I honestly think 2011 was the best year of my entire life,' and I actually meant it.

When you have kids, you see life through different eyes. You feel love more deeply and are maybe a little more compassionate. It's inevitable that that would make its way into your songwriting.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That's what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don't. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He's a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

When you're recording to tape, you usually just settle for what you have. There's not a lot of options to manipulate the performance.

I had long hair since I was 17 years old. It was time for me to let go. I hated being the guy at the wedding in a suit with a ponytail.

The thing that will never go away is that connection you make with a band or a song where you're moved by the fact that it's real people making music. You make that human connection with a song like 'Let It Be' or 'Long and Winding Road' or a song like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' or 'Roxanne,' any of those songs. They sound like people making music.

How come drummers leave their drumsticks on the dashboard of their car? So they can park in the handicapped spaces.

The most important thing for me is my family, and my health and happiness, and making sure everyone's cool.

Nickelback walks into a bar ... there's no punchline because ruining music isn't funny.

My first instrument was actually the trombone, but that didn't last long. Soon I was playing guitar in bands from the time I was 11 or 12.

There's something about pulling out a real tape from a shelf and looking at it and knowing that 'Everlong' is on it, or 'Best of You' is on it, and it's really special.

CBGB represents a lot to New York City and to underground rock and to new wave and post-punk and whatever. But, you know, it's like tearing down the Jefferson Memorial or something.

You know, Nirvana used to start rehearsals with the three of us just jamming. For, like, a half an hour, just noise and freeform crap - and usually it was crap. But sometimes things would come from it, and some songs on Nevermind came from that, and 'Heart Shaped Box' and stuff on 'In Utero' just happened that way.

I know a lot of people who wouldn't be comfortable with everything that comes with being in a band as big as Nirvana. The thing that I don't understand is not appreciating that simple gift of being able to play music.

I think maybe what happened was the convenience of technology overshadowed the experience of holding an album in your hands, and sitting on your bedroom floor, and staring at a picture of John Lennon or Gene Simmons or Johnny Rotten. That tangible experience can sometimes become an even more emotional experience, because it's really happening.

Ramones or AC/DC are two bands that have managed to keep their signature sound and their signature formula for years and years and album after album after album, without it seeming like a dead-end street.

Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It's a black wall. It's a thief.

A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It's an individual-feel thing, you know?

If I ever felt like I was getting lost in the hurricane that was storming around Nirvana, I'd just go back to Virginia.

A lot of the records you buy, there's nothing you can hold in your hand, it's all 1's and 0's, this digital cloud floating in the ether. but with analog albums, you can hold it in your hand.

I'm told that my blood sugar level was twelve times the legal limit - I was sweating honey.

I think that if you're passionate about something and you're driven and you're focused, then you can pretty much do anything that you want to do in life.

People should never be afraid that Foo Fighters are ever going to break up, it's like your grandparents getting divorced - it's not gonna happen.

That's one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they'll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.

I'm happy that I have my family, and I'm happy that I had Virginia, where I grew up, to retreat to any time I felt overwhelmed. Whenever there were times when I felt like the rug was being pulled out from under me and I was floating in this crazy space, I would stop and go back to that neighborhood and realize nothing's changed, really.

We only do what feels right. If something feels forced or contrived, then we pull back. We remain the Foo Fighters.

Cause when you're sequencing a record, you want the listener to stick with it from beginning to end, and in order to do that, you really have to map out the journey from the first song to the last.

Going out and playing music - that's what I do. I don't do much else.

There's a big difference between falling in love with someone and falling in love with someone and getting married. Usually, after you get married, you fall in love with the person even more.

A long time ago, I made a promise to myself: "Okay, you know what? I'm going to play music, and hopefully I'll make enough money that I can go back to school. Once I make enough money to put myself through school, that's what I'm going to do."

A place like Sound City, which was just a big, beautiful room where you would hit record and capture the sound of the performer - a place like that isn't necessarily in demand anymore.

It's nice when people are happy to hear that you're still alive, rather than feeling like "Oh, finally he's dead?"

I listen to boy band music before I have to fire someone.

Mick Fleetwood was one of my first interviews. And if you've ever talked to that dude, he's the sweetest guy in the world - he's just a trip.

Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument - learning to do your craft - that's the most important thing! It's not about what goes on in a computer!

It's every band's right, you shouldn't have to do f___ing Glee. And then the guy who created Glee is so offended that we're not, like, begging to be on his f___ing show ... f___ that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do Glee.

I'm obsessed with Led Zeppelin and have been since I was a teenager

The late '60s and the '70s, a lot of this really beautiful equipment was being made and installed into studios around the world and the Neve boards were considered like the Cadillacs of recording consoles. They're these really big, behemoth-looking recording desks; they kind of look like they're from the Enterprise in Star Trek or something like that. They're like a grayish color, sort of like an old Army tank with lots of knobs, and to any studio geek or gear enthusiast it's like the coolest toy in the world.

With this record [The Colour and the Shape], I started taking the lyrics more seriously. This is a very personal album.

I owe everything to Nirvana. But I can't let that overshadow the future. For the first few years, I didn't even want to talk about Nirvana. Partly because it was just painful to talk about losing Kurt but also because I wanted the Foo Fighters to mean something.

Sometimes, you can't save someone from themselves.

What's the last thing a drummer says in a band: Hey guys, why don't we try one of my songs?

I'd love it if everyone knew one Foo Fighters song.

I had no idea what I was doing and I faked it and it worked

Once I got into punk rock, I started mail-ordering albums, because a lot of the record stores in my area didn't carry the punk bands from England or Sweden or Chicago or Los Angeles

My whole life, I have listened to people like Neil Young, or Crosby, Stills & Nash, and artists that have made a career out of the mellow, folky, acoustic dynamic.

People are so into digital recording now they forgot how easy analog recording can be.

A lot of people are promoting records that are just throw-it-agains t-the-wall-see- if-it-sticks meaningless bullshit. Everybody has the responsibility to do the right thing and promote artists that mean something.

There's some things in life that you really consider to be priceless.

You can make yourself the greatest singer in the world or the best drummer in the world with the aid of technology.

I once received a cape that was made from the little purple bags that Crown Royal Whisky comes in.

You know why Foo Fighters have been a band for 20 years? Because I've never really told anybody what I think of them. The last thing you ever want to do is go to therapy with your band.

At school where you a dunce or a teacher's pet? All of the above. I was stupid so they thought I was cute.

I had never been in charge of anything. I'd always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I'd never been in charge of an organization.

It's funny; recently I've started to notice people's impersonations of me, and it's basically like a hyperactive child.

I'm so not macho. It's crazy. My man cave is so not a man cave.

We just do what we always do. We play shows and go home and rest and then play more shows.

I love to play. And fortunately, I don't know a lot of musicians that suck. I know a bunch of really good ones, and they're always up for playing.

'In Utero' was the first time I'd made an album that reached into the dark side. I remember the conflict and the uncertainty. I remember all those things when I hear 'Pennyroyal Tea.'

What I really miss these days in music - is the music. I prefer to listen to melodies and songs, not just sounds.

The human element of making music is what's most important.

I'm kind of claustrophobic ... It's not even like enclosed spaces. It's like I hate being stuck in one band, you know? Just being stuck is the biggest drag, for fear that, you know, just that you can't get out.

Most of our songs were written on acoustic guitar before they made it to the practice stage.

I think musicians like me are drawn to those older desks, not just because they're legend and lore but also because they do something really specific that is hard to emulate or re-create digitally.

It was that famous joke: What's the last thing the drummer said before he got kicked out of the band? 'Hey, I wrote a song.'

Dude, maybe not everyone loves 'Glee.' Me included. I watched 10 minutes and it wasn't my thing.

I think my biggest musical hero growing up was probably Ian MacKaye. He set a great example for all of us local musicians. Still, to this day, I see him as the best example of a right-on musician.

There's poetry in being the band that can sell out Wembley but also makes a record in a garage. I don't like doing what people expect me to do.

When it comes to making an album I take that very seriously. I am meticulous, overworked. That's my time to put everything under the microscope.

I never went to rock concerts when I was a kid. I didn't see any rock & roll bands. I had posters on my wall. I had Beatles records.

I've always been a fan of melody and emotional melancholy, whether it was Rites of Spring or Tears for Fears or Neil Young. If I hear a song that has a sweet melody, I'm a sucker for it, whether it's Linkin Park or Little Richard.

Usually, when you go in to make a record, you have 30 songs, and you record 30 of them, and 12 of them make it to the record.

When something good comes your way, you better feel fortunate, because it doesn't last forever.

Always have the highest bar for yourself. Wake up everyday and no matter how crappy you feel, want to change something for the better. Do something that makes someone happy. Create something that inspires someone. Be someone's light when they are hopeless.

I'd like to imagine I won't end up in Hell, but I think I've done too much acid and listened to too much death metal to sit on a cloud next to God with angels floating above my head.

One of the great things about Taylor Hawkins is his ... shirtless body, really.

I'm not allergic to fashion. I'm just one of those people who when they put on a suit look like they're going to a funeral or to court.

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's gathering people together to do something fun.

I never needed much, and I never thought I'd get more than what I had. A trip to Burger King was the biggest thing in the world to me. Heaven.

As I get older ... I start to realize that life ain't half bad. Each year, I'm amazed that I'm still alive. I don't take any of this for granted, I'm a lucky dude.

No one is you, and that is your power.

When you're young, you're not afraid of what comes next. You're excited by it.

From one generation to the next, The Beatles will remain the most important rock band of all time.

I mean, I never liked being told what to do. It's one of the reasons I dropped out of school.

In a way, as much as we love to be a big, loud rock band, the acoustic album was a lot easier to make than the rock records. I think because it was brand new territory for the band.

The best time for gum is just before getting onstage. I need a minty-fresh microphone.

It's good to wander into the studio and walk out with something that's better than you'd imagined it to be. If everything was as you imagined it to be, it just wouldn't be as much fun.

No one is you and that is your biggest power.

When you're thirteen and listening to punk, the aggressive nature of music can sway you to the dark side.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn't even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

At 13 years old, I realized I could start my own band. I could write my own song, I could record my own record. I could start my own label. I could release my own record. I could book my own shows. I could write and publish my own fanzine. I could silk-screen my own T-shirt. I could do this all myself.