Posted
on January 14, 2014
I
didn't get to meet him.
Most
of my family was gallivanting about in some Irish shops while I stood
in a line to purchase tickets to see a really cool castle. I was the
one holding everyone's jackets and the backpack AND the camera bag.
They were the ones—gosh, wouldn't you just know?—meeting someone really famous!
Dave
Grohl is a rock musician and (by now) a film director. He plays
several musical instruments, he writes songs, he sings. He's a big
star—he was the drummer for the grunge band Nirvana, and he's the
lead vocalist and main songwriter for the band Foo Fighters. (He's
also involved with the group Queens of the Stone Age and has played
with many other groups.) But there in Ireland, he was just standing
around with his mom and his girlfriend, looking at sweaters and shawls in a woolens shop.
When
my husband and daughters told him they were fans, he was super nice!
He asked where they were from, and he signed his autograph, and he
chatted for a bit—before my husband remembered the castle tour, and
my family had to run back to where I was holding down the fort. And of
course, they told me, “You'll NEVER guess who we just met!!!”
(Rats!)
Dave
Grohl was born in Ohio but spent most of his childhood in Virginia.
He began to learn guitar at age 12, and he fell in love with punk
rock at age 13. He has been in a-lot-a-lot of bands, like most
musicians – the Wikipedia article about him lists 19 bands he has
played with, and there are plenty left off that list! (For example,
the list doesn't include local bands he played with while in high
school, including Freak Baby and Mission Impossible.)
Grohl
is most famous for his vocals, guitar, and drums, but he also plays
piano and bass. You can go pretty far in the world if you're a
hard-working multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter!
Fun
facts for Foo fans
In
2006, two miners in Australia were trapped and waiting for rescue.
One of the miners asked for an iPod with a Foo Fighters album on it
to be sent through the tiny hole. Grohl heard of this and had a note
sent to the miners, telling them that although he was half a world
away, “my heart is with you both.” He offered them, when they
got out of the caved-in mine, two free tickets to a Foo Fighters
concert, anytime, anywhere. One of the miners took him up on his
offer when the band played in Sydney, Australia, several months
later. Grohl hung out with the miner, treated him to drinks, wrote
an instrumental piece for the occasion, and included that piece on a
Foo Fighters album. Nice!
Grohl
was at the top of the coveted Billboard Modern Rock chart for 17 out
of 18 weeks, in 2002 and 2003—but with songs from three different
bands! “You Know You're Right” by Nirvana was replaced by “All
My Life” by Foo Fighters. One week after “All My Life” fell
out of the #1 spot, “No One Knows” hit #1, from Queens of the
Stone Age. It was a personal first for Grohl, of course, but it has
to be rare (or possibly unique) in the annals of rock!
Grohl
has performed several times with former Beatle Paul McCartney. And
of course a ton of other mega-stars.
Grohl's
hometown of Warren, OH, has given him the key to the city, has named
a road “David Grohl Alley, and unveiled gigantic (900-pound or 409
kg) drumsticks in his honor. (The drumsticks are the largest in the
world, according to Guinness World Records.
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead!
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my boards for:
And there are several rock stars who have earned PhDs in science fields but have worked primarily in music all their lives. Queen co-founder and lead guitar player Brian May is also an astrophysicist who has worked with NASA and who started an asteroid awareness campaign. Punk rocker Greg Gaffin of Bad Religion also earned a PhD in zoology and is a university professor.
Dexter Holland (born on this date in 1965) is best known as the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the punk rock band The Offspring. But he, too, has achieved academically. He went to USC, earned a bachelor's in biology and a master's in molecular biology, and - after a break while The Offspring became successful worldwide - completed his doctorate in molecular biology in 2017.
In addition to a huge career in music and his work in molecular biologist, Holland has started a successful hot sauce business and a record label. He also does important philanthropy - doing charity concerts and marathons to benefit AIDS research, the Innocence Project, and other worthy causes.
