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A review by jonscott9
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
4.0
Dave Grohl is the best. This was a fantastic listen, as doled out emphatically by the rocker-author. After The Midnight Library, I settled in for this one as my second audiobook of 2022 – inspired by my pal Andy who's so smitten by the format.
Dave's early days as a Virginia teen in the D.C.-based band Scream are compelling and grimy. Life on the road, and figuring out what's gonna go down your gullet to keep you rocking, continues not to be glamorous. When one gets to the behind-the-veil chapters on the Nirvana/Kurt Cobain daze, Grohl's thoughts are tender and kind and pensive.
Propelled by his knack for weaving a tale (a necessity given the title), and his propensity for humble name-dropping, this is a blitz of a read/listen. It can be dishy but distinguished, as when he notes that friendship with his beloved bandmate Taylor Hawkins came easily and passionately. A true bromance, and even Alanis Morissette saw it early: "How long until you go play with them instead?" she asked Hawkins, noting how he and Grohl interacted backstage while he was her drummer. (At age 23, Hawkins played on Jagged Little Pill.) Decades later, tragically, Morissette would perform at a Hawkins memorial concert put on by Grohl and the Foos. It's that passing, at age 50, that gives Grohl's memoir a different tint as he repeatedly gushes about his best friend and pounds the ground and the drums on tour with him. One both aches and yearns over the expected next installment in the Grohl autobiography.
I continue to soak up all the music-centric books I can since 2020, and always enjoy the range of tidbits in memoirs like this. For one, I didn't know/remember that "Foo Fighter" was a term associated with UFOs, but there ya go. Maybe I'll win some insipid barcade trivia game someday with all this pesky knowledge.
Sections about his love and family lives were less intriguing to me, but holy ish, Grohl is a fantastic dad who, committed to both his spawn and his tour commitments, flies between L.A. and Asia to make a father-daughter date. (One that his daughter amusingly, belatedly mentions it would've been fine for him to skip.)
At the end of this, I took a look at the track list for the Foos' greatest hits and, yeah, OK, became a fan all over again. I'll probably nab it on vinyl in a moment of strength soon, for those days you just need to rock out and bliss out at 17 again.
Dave's early days as a Virginia teen in the D.C.-based band Scream are compelling and grimy. Life on the road, and figuring out what's gonna go down your gullet to keep you rocking, continues not to be glamorous. When one gets to the behind-the-veil chapters on the Nirvana/Kurt Cobain daze, Grohl's thoughts are tender and kind and pensive.
Propelled by his knack for weaving a tale (a necessity given the title), and his propensity for humble name-dropping, this is a blitz of a read/listen. It can be dishy but distinguished, as when he notes that friendship with his beloved bandmate Taylor Hawkins came easily and passionately. A true bromance, and even Alanis Morissette saw it early: "How long until you go play with them instead?" she asked Hawkins, noting how he and Grohl interacted backstage while he was her drummer. (At age 23, Hawkins played on Jagged Little Pill.) Decades later, tragically, Morissette would perform at a Hawkins memorial concert put on by Grohl and the Foos. It's that passing, at age 50, that gives Grohl's memoir a different tint as he repeatedly gushes about his best friend and pounds the ground and the drums on tour with him. One both aches and yearns over the expected next installment in the Grohl autobiography.
I continue to soak up all the music-centric books I can since 2020, and always enjoy the range of tidbits in memoirs like this. For one, I didn't know/remember that "Foo Fighter" was a term associated with UFOs, but there ya go. Maybe I'll win some insipid barcade trivia game someday with all this pesky knowledge.
Sections about his love and family lives were less intriguing to me, but holy ish, Grohl is a fantastic dad who, committed to both his spawn and his tour commitments, flies between L.A. and Asia to make a father-daughter date. (One that his daughter amusingly, belatedly mentions it would've been fine for him to skip.)
At the end of this, I took a look at the track list for the Foos' greatest hits and, yeah, OK, became a fan all over again. I'll probably nab it on vinyl in a moment of strength soon, for those days you just need to rock out and bliss out at 17 again.