Starred review from December 12, 2011
A music lover from an early age, Dave Grohl is known for his boundless energy, positive attitude, and enthusiasm. Whether drumming for Nirvana or fronting the Foo Fighters, he has endured as one of rock's living legends. Brannigan, former editor of UK metal magazine Kerrang!, painstakingly details Grohl's rise to prominence in this engaging and insightful bio. Interviewing childhood friends, current and former band mates, musical peers, and "The Nicest Man in Rock" himself, Brannigan puts Grohl's influences, inspirations, and early musical career into context. Digressions on the history of punk, particularly the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene in which Grohl cut his teeth, may distract some readers from the primary tale of Grohl's life, but fans of the Foo Fighters who are unfamiliar with the importance of bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat in Grohl's musical education will likely find plenty of new music to explore. Those looking for dirt and confessions won't find either here; Grohl is an affable, occasionally opinionated subject, but in Brannigan's hands the drummer/guitarist is more interested in moving forward than dwelling on past slights. Casual readers may find the focus on Grohl's early years to be a bit myopic, but those who want to get a better understanding of the musician will find this an entertaining and perhaps educational read.
November 15, 2011
Former Kerrang! editor Brannigan's scattershot attempt at presenting a definitive biographical portrait of reluctant rock star Dave Grohl. The author's unauthorized bio of Nirvana drummer turned Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl is his first book, and in some ways it reflects the author's lack of experience. Brannigan allows his subject's personal history to be swallowed up by the larger cultural history that his bands helped to shape. For example, when broaching the subject of Grohl's early interest in punk, the author provides a mediocre textbook history of punk rock, followed by a surface-skimming overview of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene that would eventually lure Grohl into its clutches. Grohl was a high-school dropout touring with hardcore bands by the time he was 17; yet he was rarely the dominant personality in any of his bands, from his younger days in hardcore outfits Dain Bramage and Scream, to his drumming duties in world-conquering grunge band Nirvana. Brannigan begins to deal with Grohl's tenure in Nirvana during the peak of that band's success around 1992. Even in his own post-Nirvana project Foo Fighters, it wasn't until almost a decade into this second career that he finally embraced his public role as bandleader. Brannigan, obviously stretching his limited access to Grohl, takes a bio-by-the-numbers approach to the Foo Fighters legacy. We're privy to a few mild controversies and personality clashes during the making of each album, as well as the predictable listing of critical notices from the rock press and Grohl's always-brief side of things. If this book is a reliable measure, Grohl is a simple, uncontroversial, not-particularly-quotable guy who saves his self-expression for his music. If nothing else, Brannigan salutes a musician who's surfaced, prosperous and sane, from the perils of an extended punk-rock adolescence that not all of his friends survived. Reverent and informative, but too distanced from its subject.
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November 1, 2011
Dave Grohl has played with some of the most popular rock bands of the last few decades, including, most famously, Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. In this first major biography, journalist Brannigan delves into Grohl's upbringing in Ohio, as the son of a journalist father who was also a classically trained flautist and a teacher mother, and in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and identifies moments that changed the young musician's life: watching in January 1980 the B-52s play their improbable hit Rock Lobster on Saturday Night Live and seeing the Dead Kennedys at the Rock against Reagan concert. Of course, the most intriguing aspect of the bookand the part that fans are most eager to read aboutis Grohl's role as drummer for Nirvana and his complicated relationship with its charismatic and troubled front man, Kurt Cobain, as well Grohl's post-Nirvana years as the lead singer of the equally successful Foo Fighters. Brannigan not only offers a penetrating portrait of Grohl the man but also presents an indelible portrait of the American underground-rock scene.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)