Dave Grohl’s Punk-Rock Cred Was Critical to Nirvana’s Success

When Nirvana signed to a major label in 1990, they had already established a strong fan base in their hometown of Seattle thanks to the underground success of Bleach, their debut album. But even though the band was just a trio, the consistency of its lineup was tested by a Spinal Tap-esque rotating cast of drummers (the last of which was Dave Grohl). When Nirvana inked a deal with the David Geffen-owned DGC Records, they also faced skepticism from a fan base suspect of artists tied to corporate entities.

Whether deliberate or not, Kurt Cobain successfully diffused those concerns while simultaneously strengthening his three-piece by tapping Grohl, a drummer who had already established his punk-rock bona fides by the time he joined the band in his early 20s.

Dave Grohl Was in the Right Place at the Right Time

Born in 1969, Grohl grew up in Virginia as the son of a teacher who eventually wrote an autobiography about their mother-son relationship. During his teen years, Grohl was in the right place at the right time: Washington D.C., which in the 1990s spurred a hardcore scene that bucked the mainstream and epitomized America’s punk “underground.” He briefly played in bands Freak Baby (later renamed Mission Impossible) and Dain Bramage at Thomas Jefferson High School in the Virginia suburbs.

In joining one of the most prominent bands in that scene, Scream, in 1986, Grohl developed a reputation as an unmatchable, hard-hitting drummer. Rather infamously, he told his band mates he was older than he actually was in order to maintain membership with the seminal hardcore punk group.

Grohl reflected on his early years as a music fan of underground, so-called “DIY” (do-it-yourself) music and his developing abilities in his 2021 autobiography, The Storyteller, writing: “I noticed one glaring difference from all the typical classic-rock albums that I owned at home: None of these albums were from any record companies I had heard ever of. On the contrary, most of them practically looked homemade. They featured xeroxed covers with dark, pixelated photos; handwritten lyrics and credits; silkscreened logos; and graphics, all clumsily stuffed into plastic sleeves that sold for a mere three or four dollars.

"This underground network somehow existed entirely outside the conventional corporate structure and defied the ordinary manner of manufacturing and distributing music. These people were doing it THEMSELVES … I was entranced, awakened and inspired. I no longer considered music an unattainable act of wizardry, only possible for those who were blessed with the godlike ability of Jimi Hendrix or Paul McCartney. I now realized that all you needed was three chords, an open mind, and a microphone. And the passion and drive to make it happen yourself.”

Dave Grohl Leaves Hardcore-Punk Scene in D.C., Joins Nirvana in Seattle

Grohl spent the rest of his teenage years playing with Scream, which broke up in 1990. Scream became regarded as a critical band in what became known as the first wave of hardcore in the U.S. Iconic underground rocker Buzz Osborne of Melvins — a Seattle-area band Cobain idolized — told the Nirvana front man about Grohl. At that point, Nirvana had burned through four drummers in five years, including Melvins member Dale Crover. He performed with the group on its first set of demo recordings that led up to the 1989 release of their debut album, Bleach, on Sub Pop Records, an indie label based in Nirvana’s home city of Seattle.

Nirvana, their first full-length, and Sub Pop all quickly caught attention around that time as alternative rock began to gain footing in the U.S. thanks to the rising popularity of bands popular among the college-student set, like R.E.M., the Replacements, and Sonic Youth. The broad movement incorporated sounds including punk rock, noise rock, and hardcore. Nirvana — alongside Seattle peers Soundgarden, Tad, and Meat Puppets — helped gel the trendy sound’s grunge offshoot, which became synonymous with the Seattle area (as immortalized by Cameron Crowe’s 1992 movie, Singles).

In the early ‘90s and into the rest of the decade, fans of alternative music — which eventually morphed into what became known as “indie rock” — developed a reverence for underground record labels and skepticism, or even disdain, for major corporate labels. That included DGC, the Interscope Geffen A&M Records-affiliated label that signed Nirvana and put out its second album, Nevermind, in September 1991. The record spawned many of the best-known grunge songs, including “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come as You Are,” “Lithium,” and “In Bloom.”

Dave Grohl Helps Preserve Nirvana's Indie Cred

Cobain wisely decided to hire Grohl, as the band — due in part to its small lineup — needed an outstanding and reliable drummer with a solid reputation in the underground to deflect criticism of the band’s signing to DGC. Cobain’s move paid off as Nevermind exploded in popularity and became the most popular grunge album ever released.

Grohl reminisced in his autobiography: “On a phone call with the guys from Nirvana in the tiny town of Aberdeen, Washington, I was informed that they were in between drummers at the time and had seen Scream perform just weeks before on our ill-fated tour. Apparently, they were impressed with my playing, and I was given their phone numbers to call. Of course, I had heard Nirvana. Their debut album, Bleach, was a landmark record in the underground music scene, blending metal, punk and Beatles-esque melody into an 11-song masterpiece that would go on to change the landscape of ‘alternative’ music (while coincidentally costing $606 to make).

"It had quickly become one of my favorites and stood apart from all the other noisy, heavy punk records in my collection because it had SONGS. And that voice … no one had a voice like that … After a few more days of frustration and starvation, I decided to roll the dice and call the bass player of Nirvana, Krist [Novoselic], to inquire about the drummer gig.”

As Nirvana’s fifth drummer, Grohl became perceived as a quintessential member of the band, thanks to his appearances not only on the band’s hit songs but in its music videos; appearances in the indie movie 1991: The Year Punk Broke alongside Sonic Youth; and on Nirvana’s Grammy-winning special MTV Unplugged in New York in 1994.

Nirvana, With Dave Grohl in Tow, Soars to Success

Sonic Youth and others took Nirvana under its wing and — along with Grohl — helped it ultimately become arguably the most popular band in all of alternative rock. Also helping the band retain its underground cred was Steve Albini, an underground engineer who helped craft Nirvana’s final studio release, 1993’s In Utero. Grohl and Nirvana’s third essential member, Novoselic, parted ways the following year following the suicide of Cobain at his Seattle home on April 5 at age 27.

Before that happened, Grohl had begun writing and recording songs primarily on his own, such as the In Utero B-side “Marigold” (originally titled “Color Pictures of a Marigold”). Additional songs he tracked were heavily circulated on the bootleg circuit and laid the foundation for his subsequent project, Foo Fighters. Cobain allegedly kissed Grohl in admiration after hearing a demo of early Foo Fighters song “Alone + Easy Target.”

Somewhat similar to how Nirvana catered to fans of underground music by tapping Grohl, he brought in guitarist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith of influential Sub Pop band Sunny Day Real Estate among his Foo Fighters band mates. That said, Grohl played all the instruments on the group’s initial recordings, such as their self-titled debut (1995) and The Colour and the Shape (1997).

Dave Grohl Maintains Mainstream Popularity Post-Nirvana

In its own right, Foo Fighters became one of the most commercially successful American rock bands of the ensuing decades, tallying more than 30 million records sold — even though Nirvana’s grand total hovered around the 75 million mark. Foo Fighters — which released their 12th studio record, Your Favorite Toy, on Friday — have primarily spent their career on major labels Capitol and RCA Records. Despite playing huge stadiums, massive tours and highly prominent benefit concerts, Grohl nonetheless preserved his cred among devoted alternative rock fans by playing intermittently with bands ranging from Queens of the Stone Age to Killing Joke. He also joined Scream for reunion concerts starting in 2009 as well as their 2011 release, the Complete Control Sessions EP, recorded at Grohl’s Studio 606.

Grohl continues to be one of the best-known pop musicians in the U.S. and beyond, with many considering him to be one of the most important rock performers since the early 1990s. Now 57 years old, he continues to occasionally play drums onstage during Foo Fighters concerts. The band recently toured with QOTSA and continues to be known for playing marathon concerts sometimes topping three hours. Meanwhile, Grohl and Novoselic intermittently team up to perform so-called Nirvana “reunion” concerts with various musicians —including his daughter, Violet Grohl; Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon; St. Vincent; and legends Joan Jett and McCartney — on vocals.

While initially at odds with one another, Grohl and Novoselic have helped issue subsequent Nirvana releases — including From the Banks of the Wishkah, the box set With the Lights Out, and reissues of Nevermind and In Utero — in tandem with fellow Nirvana estate owner and notoriously mercurial singer/guitarist Courtney Love, ex-wife of Cobain.

Those live performances and subsequent releases, and Nirvana’s enduring popularity and influence on indie-rock bands in particular, continue to remind fans of Grohl how much the multimillionaire musician owes to his membership in that band — and how Nirvana likely wouldn’t have succeeded as massively without his essential participation. The band is also regarded as one of today’s most successful cross-generational bands, thanks to Nirvana’s steady popularity among Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z.