Scour the world of music and you will struggle to find someone as dedicated to the history of rock as the Foo Fighters’ leading man. To put it simply, Dave Grohl is an expert on classic rock.
A lifelong fan of everyone from The Beatles to Rush, there’s a reason why he is regarded as one of the last true rock stars, and that’s because he learnt his tricks from some of the best in the business. Grohl is about as dedicated a disciple of the deity of rock music as one could hope to meet.
Whether it be the fact that John Lennon influenced his songwriting or that his early forays into drumming were inspired by the likes of Ringo Starr and Neil Peart, without the most distinguished classic rock bands, it is certain that Dave Grohl would not have become the world-beater that we all know and love today.
While he has waxed lyrical at many points over the years about outfits such as The Beatles, Rush, Led Zeppelin and more, there is another act from this era that had a transformative effect on his creative vision: the New York legends Kiss. The make-up-loving, theatrical ghols of hard rock have become a pastiche in modern times, often owing to their magnanimous commercialisation, but this also meant that their message was spread quickly.
The band operated differently to other groups. They were on lunchboxes and cereal boxes, they were on TV and the radio, Kiss were everywhere, and they pushed their hard rock-loving agenda whenever they could. It transpires that Kiss’ 1976 record, Destroyer, had a life-changing impact on Grohl, altering the course of his life for the better.
In 2015, Grohl delivered a speech for Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Co. during the ASCAP Pop Awards, recalling the first time he heard their anthemic form of rock. Grohl remembered bringing Destroyer home, stating: “Picture this: Springfield, Virginia, 1976. A skinny young boy with shaggy brown hair on a yellow yard-sale bicycle brings home a copy of the album Destroyer, his first KISS record. Everybody remembers their first KISS record, and this is how I remember mine.”
The former Nirvana drummer continued: “Up until that point, it had been mainly Beatles and Carly Simon, maybe a little Phoebe Snow, f—in’ 10cc.” Clearly a sucker for melody, and perhaps a lovelorn teenager, the group kicked things into a new gear for him. Grohl continued: “But the album cover alone was enough to make me break my old piggy bank into a thousand pieces and scrape up enough lawn-mowing money to give it straight to Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.”
“With nuclear anticipation, I let the needle drop on that legendary intro to ‘Detroit Rock City,’ perhaps the greatest introduction to any rock ‘n’ roll album ever recorded. It filled my speakers and my imagination. Thirty-four minutes and 27 seconds later, KISS had filled my soul. I was now a member of the infamous KISS army.”
After that fateful moment, Grohl’s life changed for the better, and he became the biggest Kiss fan in his locality: “Before long, my room had become a f—ing shrine. Posters of these four musical monsters lined my walls, action figures filled my shelves and Kiss albums overtook my once A.M.-friendly record collection. I was converted…”
Guided by the otherworldly essence of the band, Grohl said: “Every morning, I would wake up in my tiny bedroom and take a good look at my superheroes before walking to school. They got me through those years and ultimately inspired me to follow this unreasonable dream of becoming a professional rock ‘n’ roll musician.”