Dave Grohl once named the band who were his 'biggest songwriting influence'

Dave Grohl headshot
(Image credit: Lester Cohen/Getty Images)

Dave Grohl wasn't really a songwriter until he forced himself to become one. As drummer in Nirvana he'd taken the back seat in more ways than one, bringing a fierce metronomic dynamism to songs crafted by his frontman Kurt Cobain.  "I was in a band with one of the greatest songwriters of our generation," he told CBS Sunday Morning, "so I didn’t really want to rock the boat."

That's not to say he didn't contribute. He co-wrote Endless, Nameless, the terrifying hidden track that found its way onto Nevermind. He did the same on Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip, the similarly discreet piece that closed non-US pressings of In Utero. He dreamed up the crushing riff that powers Scentless Apprentice, that album's second track. And he co-wrote Marigold, the b-side of Heart Shaped Box, which he also sang.   

In April 1994, Dave Grohl had to start again. And he turned to a bunch of songs he’d been writing during his time in Nirvana. 

You may like

"I grew up with The Beatles, I loved Led Zeppelin, I fucking loved the Bad Brains and punk rock," Grohl told Classic Rock in 2011. "But when it comes to guitar playing and song structure, I think that Hüsker Dü might be my biggest songwriting influence. 

"I was a huge Hüsker Dü fan, and obviously Bob Mould’s music has influenced the way I write music and the way I play guitar. A lot of what I do comes from Bob. I’ve name-checked Hüsker Dü songs lyrically. Like in Times Like These it says: ‘I’m a new day rising’, which is one of my favourite Hüsker Dü records. 

"I had this song [Dear Rosemary, from 2011's Wasting Light] that I thought might sound cool if he sang with me on it, call and response, so I texted him and said: 'Hey, do you want to come down?' And he did. We weren’t really sure what we were going to do. 

"I watched him play guitar, and as I watched him do it I realised that I owe more to Bob Mould than to maybe any other musician. There’s specific things that he does that I learned from him, not from anyone else."

Seven years later, Grohl revealed more to Classic Rock's Dave Everley.

"Bob Mould should be placed in the highest ranks of America’s greatest songwriters and lyricists,” he said. “You can argue that he’s just as influential in his own right as Tom Petty – he's a classic American songwriter, only writing from a different place to most."

"Hüsker Dü, which was Bob Mould’s original band, had this sense of classic melody - it was almost like a punk rock band playing Byrds songs, which they actually did when they covered Eight Miles High. But there was an entire sense of emotion, with beautiful melody, which could sometimes be countered with this anger and distortion that was really unusual at the time.”

“I'd seen him play in in 1984 or ’85, but I was just a stage-diving, slam-dancing kid singing along to the songs. I finally got to meet him maybe 10 years ago. I said, ‘I just have to thank you, because I've really taken a lot from your music.’ 

"And he said, ‘I know’.”

Classic Rock Magazine

Classic Rock is the online home of the world's best rock'n'roll magazine. We bring you breaking news, exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes features, as well as unrivalled access to the biggest names in rock music; from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple, Guns N’ Roses to the Rolling Stones, AC/DC to the Sex Pistols, and everything in between. Our expert writers bring you the very best on established and emerging bands plus everything you need to know about the mightiest new music releases.

Read more
Bob Mould on the cover of Louder
"Life is short and we need to try to enjoy it, and protect the people and the things that we love. The time to protest will come again.” Punk rock icon Bob Mould is back with an album to get you through another American Crisis
Dave Grohl
"I remember it like some people remember the Kennedy assassination. It made me want to be weird." How watching one episode of iconic US TV show Saturday Night Live in 1980 changed future Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl's life forever
Detail from the album cover of Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back home
“If you don’t like Bringing It All Back Home, you don’t like music. You should hand your ears back.” Bob Dylan’s game-changing album is 60 today and still astonishing
Tears For Fears, and a handful of the artists they have influenced.
Ten reasons why Tears For Fears made two of the most influential albums ever
Gryphon
“A lot of bands were bigger than us, but few can claim to have such a diverse catalogue of music… I know it’s all been worthwhile”: Gryphon’s Dave Oberlé looks back
Them Crooked Vultures posing for a photograph in 2009
“I’ve always embraced my musical schizophrenia, and this is just another room in that mansion of personality”: How Them Crooked Vultures became modern rock’s greatest one-and-done supergroup
Latest in
Rick Astley and Rick Wakeman
“Rick Wakeman’s solo albums were just brilliant… when I heard he was doing Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace, I bought 12 tickets”: Prog is the reason Rick Astley became a singer
Marillion in 1984
From debauched prog revivalists to pioneers of the internet age: The Marillion albums you should definitely listen to
Queen posing for a photograph in 1978
"Freddie’s ideas were off the wall and cheeky and different, and we tended to encourage them, but sometimes they were not brilliant.” Queen's Brian May reveals one of Freddie Mercury's grand ideas that got vetoed by the rest of the band
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
Adrian Smith performing with Iron Maiden in 2024
Adrian Smith names his favourite Iron Maiden song, even though it’s “awkward” to play
Robert Smith, Lauren Mayberry, Bono
How your purchase of albums by The Cure, U2, Chvrches and more on Record Store Day can help benefit children living in war zones worldwide
Latest in Features
Rick Astley and Rick Wakeman
“Rick Wakeman’s solo albums were just brilliant… when I heard he was doing Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace, I bought 12 tickets”: Prog is the reason Rick Astley became a singer
Marillion in 1984
From debauched prog revivalists to pioneers of the internet age: The Marillion albums you should definitely listen to
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
Alice Cooper headshot
What Alice Cooper has in common with Hannibal Lecter: Shock rock's foremost practising Christian on snakes, guns, alcohol and Bible study
Ginger Wildheart headshot
"What happens next, you give everyone a hard-on and then go around the room with a bat like Al Capone?!” Ginger Wildheart's wild tales of Lemmy, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Cheap Trick and more