Not only has Dave Grohl been a member of two iconic bands, Nirvana and Foo Fighters, but he did so playing different instruments: While he was Nirvana’s drummer, he mostly sings and plays guitar for Foo Fighters. He discussed that during his stop by The Tonight Show yesterday and spoke about why he decided to not try to sing and play drums at the same time after Nirvana.
Jimmy Fallon asked Grohl if he ever considered playing drums and singing, like Don Henley did as part of the Eagles. He responded, “First of all, only Don Henley could do Don Henley. The hardest part is the mic stand, I gotta be honest. You either got the one that comes up and around like this [gestures over his head], you got the McDonald’s [headset] mic… it’s practically impossible. There aren’t too many people that can really pull that off.”
He continued by giving his reason for switching over to guitar as his primary focus for Foo Fighters, saying, “So I thought, one of the reasons why I wanted to do this is because I had never done it before, stand with a guitar. At first, I felt like I was in a Chuck E Cheese band, I was just like, ‘Oh God, how do I move, what do I do? How’s my hair?’ Over time, you just get used to it.”
Elsewhere during the chat, he told the story about getting rejected by David Bowie, a tale he has shared before.
Part of the reason Grohl was on the program last night was because Foo Fighters were on the show to perform “Waiting On A War,” so check that performance out below and watch the Grohl interview clips above.