Dave Grohl debuts with Nirvana 32 years ago today
No one could've predicted that a skinny punk rock drummer from the Washington D.C. hardcore scene (by way of Ohio) would have wound up in Seattle in 1990 to eventually play in two of the biggest bands in music history.
When Dave Grohl's band Scream broke up in 1990 he called his friend Buzz Osborne of the Melvins from Washington State for advice. That was a very fortuitous phone call.
Buzz had befriended Dave while he was still in Scream. He even took a couple of his friends from the Pacific Northwest, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic of the band Nirvana, to see Scream when they toured the West Coast.
Can you guess what happened next? You'd be correct if you said that Buzz's advice to Dave during that infamous phone call was to try out for Nirvana's recent vacancy behind the kit.
Well...the rest, as they say, is history.
On this date, October 11, 1990, Buzz Osborne's sage advice became a reality as Dave Grohl played his first show with Nirvana. The gig was held at the North Shore Surf Club in Olympia, Washington, and the firestorm that was Nirvana was officially set ablaze.
We all know the fate of both Kurt and the band less than four years later, but not even death and a breakup would stop the movement that Nirvana, with Dave on drums, helped start.
Dave Grohl would begin his second career as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Foo Fighters. Most musicians will never play in the biggest band in the world and somehow, Grohl wound up in two of them.
His career has been fraught with highs and lows most of us could never imagine. As if that's not difficult enough, they've happened all while existing under the hottest spotlight one can be under.
From Nirvana to the Foo Fighters to whatever's next, this insanely unique journey began 32 years ago today and we're still listening...still watching.
Here's a clip of Dave's first show with Nirvana.