He might be the front man of one of the biggest bands in the world, and sitting astride the top of the charts world wide with Foo Fighters’ new album Wasted Light, but Dave Grohl has a point to make. The industry that now has made him a squillionaire fucked up! Now most of us have all made numerous mistakes in life through our teens and twenties, but Grohl admits this one was particularly spectacular.
Indeed, in his previous little known band named Nirvana, he admits that the music business appropriated the underground networks they had going on and they’re trying to ruin it for the young bands of today who have built up scenes through file sharing and running underground warehouse gigs. He says “20 years ago, everything was ruled by these major labels, but there was this really cool underground scene flourishing in its independence. We didn’t need the big labels, radio and MTV to tell us it was cool. There is something about the independence that the Internet has given musicians that makes me feel hopeful for the future.”
Indeed, he’s warning musicians that they must not let the ‘industry’ take control of their destinies. In spite of record companies and promoters wishing for a new movement to happen which will see a whole series of bands get packaged and marketed à la grunge was 20 years ago, he says “Leave it be. We fucked up an awesome underground scene 20 years ago, maybe we shouldn’t fuck up the next one.” Wise words Dave.
