Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has opened up about his influences, noting how the late Ronnie James Dio was instrumental in inspiring him to pursue music as a career.
While most people know Dave Grohl as the iconic frontman of the Foo Fighters, these same folks are aware of his tenure as the final drummer for Nirvana from 1990 onwards.
Before he joined the legendary grunge outfit though, Grohl had risen to fame as a member of Washington, D.C. punk band Scream, having listened to hardcore punk and classic rock throughout his formative years.
Now, in a recent interview with The Blaring Out With Eric Blair Show at the fifth annual Bowl for Ronnie, Grohl has discussed just how influential the late, great Ronnie James Dio was on his own musical evolution.
Professing his love for the late rock icon, Grohl noted how Dio not only influenced his lyric style, but that the 1983 album Holy Diver was in fact one of the things that urged him to pursue music as a career.
Check out Dave Grohl speaking to The Blaring Out With Eric Blair Show:
“Well, Holy Diver is one of the best fucking albums of all time,” Grohl began. “When I listen to records, I don’t just listen to the vocals; I don’t just listen to the drums — I listen to it as a whole.
“But an album like that, that’s kind of the perfect record. Vinny Appice’s playing on that fucking album is insane.
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“As a drummer, I listen to that record and it’s, like, I don’t know if it’s composition or if that shit was just coming off the top of his head, but as a drummer, that album is incredibly inspiring and influential.
“The simplicity of something like that. That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Dio’s music — it’s not overly complicated or orchestrated; it’s a sum of a few very simple parts, and it’s powerful. And I fucking grew up with that shit.”
“I remember being 13 or 14 years old and seeing ‘Stand Up And Shout’ live on ‘Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert’ on Friday night,” he continued. “And it makes you want to become a musician.
“You see something like that and it’s so moving and inspiring that you’re, like, ‘Oh my God! That’s what I wanna do for the rest of my life.’ It did that to me.”
Of course, the influence of Dio on the Foo Fighters isn’t exactly something fans were unaware of, with the band’s 2014 single ‘Something From Nothing’ famously featuring a riff that sounds a lot like ‘Holy Diver’.
Unconscious influence or fitting tribute to the late rocker? Either way, we’re sure both Ronnie James Dio and Dave Grohl would be happy with the track.
Check out ‘Something From Nothing’ by the Foo Fighters:
