walking upstream…
Foo Fighters
sourcesLoudwire — Dave Grohl on the classic songwriter who still influences Foo Fighters · Wikipedia — 'Times Like These' (Foo Fighters song), on the Hüsker Dü 'New Day Rising' lyric reference · Louder — 'Under the influence · Songfacts — 'In Your Honor' (Foo Fighters), on the album's rock-disc/acoustic-disc split and White Album comparison · Far Out Magazine — the two icons that convinced Dave Grohl to be a drummer (John Bonham, Neil Peart) · Wikipedia — Dave Grohl, biography and influences · Wikipedia — Foo Fighters (1995 debut album), recording history
Dave Grohl started Foo Fighters as a solo studio project in 1994, months after Nirvana ended with Kurt Cobain's death, recording nearly every instrument on the 1995 debut himself under a fake band name so no one would prejudge it. He built a full band around that record and kept writing the same way ever since: melodic, big-chorused rock that trades grunge's despair for cathartic release, held together by a punk-schooled work ethic and his own thunderous drumming. Three decades and eleven studio albums later, they're one of the last arena-scale rock bands, still selling out stadiums on songs built to be screamed back at the stage.
the sound in question
1997
EverlongFoo Fighters
walk the tributaries ↓
Hüsker Dü1980s · Punk rock / Alternative rock
Grohl has called Hüsker Dü his single biggest songwriting influence, saying Bob Mould's guitar playing and song structure shaped the way he himself writes and plays — he's put Mould in the same rank as Tom Petty as an American songwriter. The nod is explicit on record: the 'Times Like These' lyric "it's times like these you learn to live again... I'm a new day rising" directly quotes the title of Hüsker Dü's 1985 double album, one of Grohl's favorites.
listen: upstream & heresource: Far Out Magazine — Dave Grohl reveals his 'biggest songwriting influence' (Hüsker Dü / Bob Mould) ↗
1985
New Day RisingHüsker Dü
2002
Times Like TheseFoo Fighters
listen forPlay Hüsker Dü's 'New Day Rising' next to Foo Fighters' 'Times Like These' — past the obvious lyrical quote, listen for the same trick of turning a simple, repeated declarative phrase into the entire emotional hook, riding a wall of guitar rather than a clever bridge.
Led Zeppelin1970s · Hard rock / Blues rock
Grohl taught himself drums largely by playing along to Led Zeppelin records, and has named John Bonham as his greatest influence behind the kit — he even had Bonham's three-circle logo tattooed on his wrist. Since Grohl recorded the entire Foo Fighters debut alone, including 'This Is a Call' cut in a single 45-minute take, Bonham's heavy, behind-the-beat swagger is the drumming DNA underneath the whole record, not just a guest influence.
listen: upstream & here
1971
When the Levee BreaksLed Zeppelin
1995
This Is a CallFoo Fighters
listen forCompare Bonham's titanic, slightly-behind-the-beat pocket on 'When the Levee Breaks' to Grohl's drumming on 'This Is a Call' — both favor huge, deliberate fills and a push-pull swing over clean, metronomic timekeeping, giving the song a lurching physical weight.
The Beatles1960s · Rock / Pop rock
Grohl grew up drumming along to Beatles records "until my hands literally bled," and he's cited the White Album's whiplash swing between heavy rockers and hushed acoustic ballads as a direct model. He said as much announcing 'In Your Honor' in 2005 — aiming, in his words, to make Foo Fighters' "version of the White Album" — and split the record into one disc of full-throttle rock and one of stripped-down acoustic songs rather than alternating within songs the way earlier records like 'Everlong' had.
listen: upstream & here
1968
Helter SkelterThe Beatles
2005
In Your HonorFoo Fighters
listen forSet the White Album's harder, more chaotic side against the 'In Your Honor' title track: both bands treat volume and restraint as separate rooms in the same house, letting a record breathe by fully committing to loud, then fully committing to quiet, instead of blending the two.