The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music

Grohl recalls meeting a psychic with his girlfriend in Australia in 2000. The psychic was renowned by many musicians, and Grohl only went because of his girlfriend’s interest. When he picked her up after her reading, the psychic told Grohl that he had a powerful, blue aura and a great deal of psychic energy. Then she asked him if he ever saw ghosts, to which Grohl struggled to form a reply. His answer was an ambiguous one, as he remembered being violently startled by some sort of force while living in a house in Seattle. Similarly, Grohl often felt as if he was being followed while living there and heard from others who visited that they experienced the same thing. At night, Grohl often felt as if he was being stared at as he lay with his eyes closed, unable to sleep. He had dreams of a woman “dressed in an old, tattered gray sweater with a dark blue wool skirt” (263) staring at him sorrowfully.

The psychic asked Grohl if he had ever seen UFOs. Grohl noted that he had never seen one but dreamed about them often. The psychic told him that those weren’t dreams, and he looked back on all of the dreams he had as a child in which he was visited, taken into a spacecraft, or stared up at a UFO from the ground. In one particularly vivid dream, Grohl witnessed UFOs all over the sky, along with signs that aliens had helped the human species along in their evolution. Although Grohl never took these dreams too seriously, it shocked him to hear the psychic ask him about this significant part of his life. The psychic also told Grohl intimate and personal details of his past, and Grohl pronounced himself a believer. He jokingly laments not having realized his psychic abilities the week prior, when he was arrested on a scooter for being over the blood-alcohol limit. Grohl was taken to jail as fans passed by and cheered him on. After Grohl was bailed out, he attended court, dressed in a new suit in an attempt to appear less like “a complete dirtbag” (272). Grohl was given a fine and permanent status as a criminal in Australia.

This chapter opens in 2009, with Grohl in the hospital talking to a doctor about his chest pains and stress. He is 40 years old, getting three hours of sleep a night, and surviving off his coffee addiction. The same year, Grohl celebrated his 40th birthday with 150 of his friends at the Medieval Times restaurant in Anaheim. Whilst there, Grohl formed a new band, Them Crooked Vultures, with his previous temporary bandmate from Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. This becomes Grohl’s new side project, and he began meeting with the other two men to jam. Grohl calls the type of music they make together “psych-rock boogie” (282).

As Grohl started attempting to balance this new project with Foo Fighters and his family life, he knew that his life is speeding up. His sleep dwindled, coffee intake increased, and a clip was put on YouTube called “Fresh Pots”—a montage of moments where Grohl was “acting like a complete maniac” (286) while surviving off caffeine. The first time Grohl had chest pains he kept it a secret, but he soon found himself experiencing the pains again. The doctor told Grohl to “play drums only three times a week, have a glass of wine before bed, and lay off the coffee” (290). Grohl joked that he could fulfill two out of three of those prescriptions, but he could not bring himself to give up coffee.

Grohl is a huge fan of AC/DC. He grew up listening to their “fist-pumping, headbanging, foot-stomping” (292) music. In 1980, AC/DC was a well-established band and released their film, Let There Be Rock, which Grohl finds extremely inspiring. The film is the opposite of the common glamor of music media, showcasing the entire process of a live show from start to finish. AC/DC’s performance was raw, passionate, and unlike anything Grohl had ever witnessed before. He describes AC/DC’s style of performance as attacking their instruments “like it was their last day on earth” (295). AC/DC became Grohl’s inspiration for the passion that he put into all of his live performances.

At the 57th annual Grammy Awards in 2015, AC/DC was set to perform their new song. After the ceremony, Grohl hosted a dinner with Paul McCartney, the other Foo Fighters, and the band members’ wives. When AC/DC ran into Paul, he told them about the dinner and Grohl found himself having dinner with AC/DC, Paul McCartney, and another musician he invited: Ben Jaffe of the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Ben wanted to bring the entire band, but since the restaurant was not big enough he instead suggested performing for Grohl and the others. In traditional New Orleans fashion, the band marched in as a second-line parade, surprising everyone in attendance except Grohl and Paul McCartney. Grohl wanted to give his idols back the inspiration they had given him, in any small way that he could. As the band entered, the room erupted into a dancefloor and people swung their partners around with pure glee. It ended up being one of the most magical experiences of Grohl’s life, and he felt as if his “soul had just run a triathlon of emotion, nostalgia, and undying love of music” (304).

Grohl recounts a time when he was standing outside the Los Angeles airport and got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Little Richard, who was pleasant and enthusiastic. He signed a photo for Grohl and went on his way. Grohl knew that rock music wouldn’t exist without Little Richard and was beyond honored to meet him. Grohl believes there is a gravity to seeing one’s heroes in the flesh, and that it is this in-person interaction that truly inspires people.

He recalls the day he met Neil Peart of Rush, one of the musicians who inspired him to become a drummer, and how meeting him brought back all the feelings he had as a child when he first heard Rush. Grohl also recounts meetings with other, less personally significant artists. After his friend Jimmy died, Grohl wanted to offer his mother something to lift her spirits and invited her to a party with Neil Diamond, whom she loved, and other musicians. Paul McCartney made a toast to her late son, a memory that still causes Grohl to tear up today. When it came time for Jimmy’s mother to meet Neil Diamond, she cried and he gave her a special gift: “the shirt off his back” (314). Grohl also talks about the privilege he had to develop a friendship with Lemmy of Motörhead, with whom he remained friends until he passed at age 70. Grohl is “forever grateful for the inspiration” (317) that Lemmy and countless other musicians have given him throughout his life.