I'm not sure about genius but he definitely had a lot of brains...

Well he did in the picture I saw anyway.

Dave Grohl-musical genius? how?

scriptgirl said:

Did you even know about Nirvana before Grohl joined the band?
After Kurt died, Grohl formed his own Grammy winning successful band, Foo Fighters. Every record they have made has been nominated or won a Grammy.
He play many instruments and is self taught.
He is also a songwriter.
Plus he was smart enough to kick his addictions and not shoot himself in the head.

I'd put Dave Grohl on a level with Prince.

And oh yeah, speaking of Prince remember when he played "Best of You" at the Super Bowl....high praise. 'nuff sed.

BklynBabe said:

Foo Fighters are boring as shit and although I do like Dave he seems to have become increasingly smug over the years.

And if you wanna talk about people that play many instruments, self-taught and are singers and songwriters in the rock world - Trent Reznor is on an entirely higher level than Grohl (and yes, I'm fully aware that Dave played on many songs on NIN's "With Teeth" - but that's NIN's worst album as far as I'm concerned, although that can't be attributed to Dave's contributions. His contributions to QOTSA's "Songs For The Deaf" take it to another level, to say he's an awesome drummer would be an understatement)

Despite everything Dave has done with Foo Fighters - he is still best known as the drummer in Nirvana and always will be. He can only dream of having the impact that Kurt had when he was alive
, not to mention after his death.

There's something about Dave's pandering to the M.O.R-rock crowd that doesn't seem entirely genuine. You ever hear the Probot album that Dave did, his heavy metal project where he played everything and got guest metal vocalists on every track like Max Cavalera and King Diamond? That to me sounds like Dave put his heart and soul into it and really loved and enjoyed doing it. That's the music he wants to make. I can't really say the same about Foo Fighters with the exception of their first couple of albums.
[Edited 8/25/09 7:44am]

BklynBabe said:

Foo Fighters are boring as shit and although I do like Dave he seems to have become increasingly smug over the years.

And if you wanna talk about people that play many instruments, self-taught and are singers and songwriters in the rock world - Trent Reznor is on an entirely higher level than Grohl (and yes, I'm fully aware that Dave played on many songs on NIN's "With Teeth" - but that's NIN's worst album as far as I'm concerned, although that can't be attributed to Dave's contributions. His contributions to QOTSA's "Songs For The Deaf" take it to another level, to say he's an awesome drummer would be an understatement)

Despite everything Dave has done with Foo Fighters - he is still best known as the drummer in Nirvana and always will be. He can only dream of having the impact that Kurt had when he was alive
, not to mention after his death.

There's something about Dave's pandering to the M.O.R-rock crowd that doesn't seem entirely genuine. You ever hear the Probot album that Dave did, his heavy metal project where he played everything and got guest metal vocalists on every track like Max Cavalera and King Diamond? That to me sounds like Dave put his heart and soul into it and really loved and enjoyed doing it. That's the music he wants to make. I can't really say the same about Foo Fighters with the exception of their first couple of albums.
[Edited 8/25/09 7:44am]

What is M.O.R?

Militant said:

I'm with you on Foo Fighters. Their first two albums were excellent but they've become increasingly more bland with every subsequent release, though 2005's In Your Honor had some great moments. It all depends on where you when you commented on Dave with always be the guy who played drums in Nirvana. In Europe Foo Fighters have sold more records than Nirvana. Grohl plays to absolutely huge audiences and many many of those people don't even own Nevermind.

I didn't like Nirvana and i generally hated all the music that was inspired by Nirvana. I don't think Kurt was particularly talented and couldn't really imagine him with a career outside Nirvana. I really think he needed the others to function.
[Edited 8/25/09 7:54am]

WildheartXXX said:

Of course everyone has the right to their opinion, but as far as Kurt being untalented, I couldn't disagree more and I'm trying to see it from a neutral point of view despite being a massive fan.

I can dig that their hits and most well known songs might not be to everyone's tastes - but if take a listen to the MTV Unplugged album, you can't say he's untalented. In particular check out the version of "All Apologies" from this set - it's breathtaking IMO.

As for Foo Fighters in Europe - well, I live in the UK and here's - Nirvana continue to have a MUCH deeper impact than FF. It's not even comparable. I would put money on the fact that if you went out into any crowded street, picked out 20 people randomly from all different races, backgrounds and walks of life and asked "Who is Dave Grohl?" - the vast majority of them would say "the drummer of Nirvana" before anything else.

Militant said:

I couldn't agree more. When I first watched that "Unplugged Live" on MTV, KC on acoustics was just spellbinding. IMHO, that's when U have a serious artist and not some manufactured cog in the machine. 2 me he was following the tradition of Dylan, Lennon, Morrison, Hendrix, Bowie, REM (KC's personal favorite) (and in some ways even P, since Dave mentioned him as an influence in later years). What they all had in common was that they were considered "outside" the mainstream, renegade artists who broke all the rules and did their own thang!

Smittyrock70 said:

people who are balking and making big proclamations about how untalented KC was are, in my opinion, protesting too much. you don't have to personally LIKE what an artist has done to acknowledge their accomplishments or the impact they made on the world outside your personal tastes. for example, i can't stand listening to 99% of bob dylan's work, but i know i'd be an idiot to say he was untalented. i LOATHE morrissey, but there are tons of fans who say that's more my problem than the rest of the world's. i know these people have made great contributions to music and are, on some level, brilliant - even if *I* don't personally like them.

i'm just sayin' consider that for a moment before you go casting stones and whatnot.

I always wonder where he'd be today musically if he had lived...

Kurt was absolutely a musical genius. He had the vision to meld the raw attitude and underground punk mentality that was overly concerened with credibility, with the pop sensibilities of The Beatles, which nobody else in the post-punk or early grunge scene would have done as they didn't consider it to be very cool - the end result of this is that Kurt wrote some VERY memorable and amazing songs and all his scenefriends remained underground.And he was not afraid to give props to other artists he loved - how many people that only got into Nirvana after Kurt died would have heard of people like The Vaselines, Shonen Knife, The Melvins, The Frogs, if it were not for Kurt?

The MTV Unplugged show alone is proof of his genius, you combine that with two stellar albums (Nevermind and In Utero) and the fact that his music has helped literally millions of people who have felt alone and angry at their situation, and yes - he was a genius.

I love Dave Grohl's character and there's no doubting he's a great musician - but he has yet to write a single song that can move me or stir my emotions as much as Kurt did.