by Dave Grohl ★★★★★
Dave Grohl — former drummer for Nirvana, and founding member and lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters — pulls back the curtain on his life in The Storyteller, an autobiographical account of his journey into the world of rock and a number of memorable experiences along that journey. While I’m not an ardent Foo Fighters or Nirvana fan, I decided to give it a listen (when an author reads an autobiography, I always choose the audiobook!), and I’m glad that I did.
Grohl grew up in Virgina, just outside of Washington, D.C., the product of a single-parent household that proudly made him a mama’s boy. That home situation also left him with an abundance of unsupervised time as a kid, with his mother working multiple jobs to support Dave and his brother. With that time, Dave found himself eventually immersing himself in music. Like many drummers — Tommy Lee comes to mind — Grohl was drawn to the instrument at a very young age. Where Tommy Lee would bang on pots and pans as a toddler, Grohl, without money for drums or drum lessons, developed an initial aptitude by banging on a makeshift drum kit made of pillows in his bedroom. Night after night, he’d attempt to duplicate the rhythms he heard from every classic rock or punk record he could get his hands on. A series of serendipitous events — a recurring theme in the book — eventually landed him his first gig with the band Scream, and his career progressed from there.
While he’s generally chronological in sharing stories from his first twenty-five years on the planet — childhood, followed by Scream and Nirvana — the linearity of the memoir is less evident in stories involving the Foo Fighters, which jump around quite a bit across his thirty years with that band. For a musician who never graduated high school, Grohl is a surprisingly accomplished writer. At times his language can be overly flowery — perhaps as compensation for a lifetime of people underestimating his intelligence — but not to the point of distraction, and never in a way that negatively impacts his gift for storytelling. And Grohl is indeed a gifted storyteller; the memoir is very well-titled.
Grohl also has what seems to be tremendous recall of details, even from events that happened decades ago. At one point early in the book, he makes this statement:
“Miraculously, my memory has remained mostly intact. Since I was a child, I have always measured my life in musical increments rather than months or years. My mind faithfully relies on songs, albums and bands to remember a particular time and place. From seventies AM radio to every microphone I’ve stood before, I can tell you who, what, where and when from the first few notes of any song that has crept from a speaker to my soul. Or from my soul to your speakers. Some people’s reminiscence is triggered by taste, some people’s by sight or smell. Mine is triggered by sound, playing like an unfinished mixtape waiting to be sent.”
While it’s an autobiography/memoir, it’s less focused on covering every detail of Grohl's life and instead acts as a collection of the most memorable moments from Grohl’s career, both those well-publicized — like the time he broke his leg in Sweden mid-performance and returned a few songs later to finish the Foo Fighters' show — and some that I suspect have never been published before. The stories feel unrelentingly honest — Grohl is never one to shy away from recounting a time when he did something foolish (in fact, I think he may enjoy sharing those the most) — and personal, and you get to understand the man behind almost forty years of continued contributions to the world of rock as not just a musician but also as a father, a husband, a son, and a friend. Grohl’s willingness to recount vulnerable moments brings the reader (or listener) fully into his stories, and the joy or pain with which he recounts some of his most poignant moments elevates the memoir.
As I mentioned previously, there are more than a few serendipitous moments, including several that made me gasp, laugh, and exclaim "no fucking way!" You don't have to be a fan of Grohl's music to enjoy The Storyteller, but it will make you go back and listen to some of the songs he talks about -- his, and others -- with a new appreciation. Overall, it's honest and entertaining, humorous and heartbreaking. A quality effort and recommended, especially in audiobook form.
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