Dave Grohl is a man of many, many hats. He was the drummer for the most iconic grunge band on the planet, Nirvana, and then went on to start one of the world’s next biggest rock bands: Foo Fighters.
But on top of that, he’s also taken on and been part of a plethora of side projects over the years. I mean, a few years ago, he and his Foo Fighters bandmates did a disco album as the Dee Gees and called it Hail Satin.
Then, the band made their own horror film, Studio 666, and Grohl crafted an album by the film’s fictional band, Dream Widow. And that right there is a great place to start when discussing some of the best music Grohl has made outside of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters.
‘March of the Insane’ by Dream Widow
The entire Dream Widow album is very blatantly inspired by 80s blackened-thrash metal. It’s some fast riffs, punky drums, deep bass, and a whole lot of occult imagery.
You should listen to the entire album, but if I can only convince you to jam one song, I’m picking “March of the Insane”. Everything about this track feels like it was pulled from the cutting floor of Slayer’s Hell Awaits album. I really love it when Dave lets his metal-freak flag fly.
‘Scumbag Blues’ by Them Crooked Vultures
Back in 2009, Grohl formed a rock supergroup with his Queens of the Stone Age bandmate Josh Homme and legendary Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Together, they were Them Crooked Vultures, playing a very bluesy form of alt-rock.
While holding down the drums, the song “Scumbag Blues” is maybe Dave’s most impressive performance on the band’s entire self-titled album. He’s just hammering the kit with this funk-esque cadence, and you can feel that he’s having so much fun.
‘Red War’ by Probot, featuring Max Cavalera of Sepultura and Soulfly
Between the Foo Fighters’ fourth and fifth albums, Dave Grohl spent some time on a passion project: Probot. This was a band/album that featured Dave writing and recording songs inspired by the metal band he grew up listening to, which had inspired him to be a musician.
Again, if you haven’t listened to the entire record, you should, but one of the standout songs is “Red War.” The track features Soulfly founder Max Cavalera as an homage to his former band Sepultura. Specifically, this track is very coded for the “Roots Bloody Roots” era. It’s got a thunderously thrashy tribal dynamic that showcases just how magnificently specific Dave can be when he wants to.
‘Gods Look Down’ by Scream
Back in his pre-Nirvana days, Dave Grohl played with a handful of other bands. One of these bands was the iconic Washington D.C. hardcore punk band Scream.
Dave was the drummer in the band, but he actually did lead vocals for one song: “God’s Looks Down”. The track is from Scream’s fifth album, Fumble, which was recorded in the late 80s but not released until 1993.
It’s a fascinating track to listen to now. You can really hear a lot of melodic elements that feel very Foo Fighters, but there’s some heavy grunge stuff that, in retrospect, would have probably made this song a bigger hit had it been released around the time bands like Alice in Chains were first on the rise.
‘Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)’ by Tenacious D
It’s fairly common knowledge now, but some folks might not know: Dave Grohl was The Devil. In Tenacious D’s movie The Pick of Destiny, that is.
An old friend of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Grohl played drums on the The Pick of Destiny album/soundtrack. However, he also threw on some big ‘ol demon horns and red paint to play Satan in the film. This gave us one of the greatest rock film moments ever: “Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)”.
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