Dave Grohl has had an amazing career so far, as he’s been playing music professionally for decades now while becoming one of the most beloved and esteemed people in his field. It’s not all perfect, though, as it turns out the Foo Fighters leader, like many long-running rockers before him, is dealing with hearing loss.
Grohl spoke about it on The Howard Stern Show recently, saying the hearing in his left ear is worse than in his right. He then explained how his hearing is worse in some scenarios than in others, saying:
“When we go in to make a record and we’re mixing an album, dude, I can hear the slightest little things. My ears are still tuned in to certain frequencies and if I hear something that’s slightly out of tune or a cymbal that’s not bright enough or something like that… In the mix, I can f*cking hear the minutiae of everything that he had done to that song. I really can.
That being said, if you were sitting next to me right here at dinner, I wouldn’t understand a f*cking word you were saying to me the whole f*ckin’ time. There’s no way. In a crowded restaurant, that’s the worst. That’s the worst thing about this pandemic sh*t, is people wearing masks. I’ve been reading lips for, like, 20 years, so when someone comes up to me and they’re like, ‘[mumbles],’ I’m like, ‘I’m a rock musician, I’m f*cking deaf, I can’t hear a word you’re saying.’”
Check out the interview clip above.