As a member of Nirvana, Dave Grohl witnessed bandmate Kurt Cobain being called the voice of a generation. Grohl has seen quite a bit of success in his own right fronting Foo Fighters, but when it comes to being a “generational voice” that sparks the next musical revolution, he feels that’s not something currently left to him to do. But he feels pretty confident that his teenage daughter Violet could be part of the next generation to create their own revolution.
Violet has joined Foo Fighters on tour and sang with her father on a cover of X’s “Nausea” in recent years. While speaking with MSNBC’s Ari Melber (as seen below), he states, “She is the most talented musician this family has ever known” and credits her thirst for investigation and discovery where music in concerned.
He tells Melber, “She looks like a punk rock kid who listens to Joni Mitchell. So it’s kind of like a punk rock Joni Mitchell. And when I see that, what I see is this mutation, this change, this growth and progression that her generation, they’re the rock stars now. It’s not old guys like me. It’s not people like Kanye [West]. It’s that generation. Give it five or 10 years, give it three or four years and you’ll see how this mutation is happening.”
He adds, “When we go out onstage, the thing I love about playing our big shows is that I can join everybody in a giant chorus, whether it’s a song like ‘My Hero’ or ‘Best of You,’ ‘Everlong,’ ‘Learn to Fly,’ whatever it is. When we play those songs, 100,000 people will sing along and there aren’t too many things in life that bring those people together like that. They’re different walks of life, politics, religion, whatever it is, when you play a song that everybody sings along to, it’s a huge energy and it’s great.”
That said, he comments, “So I don’t feel like it’s our job as a band to create any sort of revolution. It’s to bring everyone together in those moments. It’s my daughter’s job to create that next revolution and I think she will.”
Grohl has been a champion of a newer generation of musicians making their impact upon the music scene, comparing rising star Billie Eilish’s ascent to what it was like when Nirvana enjoyed their breakout in the ’90s. He’s also claimed that one time drum battle partner Nandi Bushell is “as inspiring as any Beatles record, any Zeppelin record, any AC/DC record, any Stones record.”