Dave Grohl can’t be brought down very much. Every single chance he has had to perform while with the Foo Fighters has been greeted with enthusiasm from all quarters, and the majority of his admirers and detractors have dubbed him one of the nicest men in rock and roll.
Money can be a powerful motivator, and some people may never feel like they have enough. Additionally, the music industry can be highly competitive and cutthroat, and some musicians may feel like they need to constantly amass more wealth and power in order to stay relevant. When it comes to avaricious rock stars, Grohl does have a limit, and at the start of the 2000s, one of the greatest metal drummers in the world made his shitlist.
Lars Ulrich sued Napster for what he believed to be a pirate website appropriating his audio for the Metallica song “I Disappear” as the band was going through a difficult time. No one was as cruel as Grohl, even though the majority of fans were outraged at Ulrich. Grohl acknowledged that the Metallica drummer had some good arguments, but he believed he was approaching the issue incorrectly. He said,
“I feel like music should be available for anyone who wants to hear it. I don’t want to have to turn on the radio and put a nickel in it to hear a Metallica song…When it’s someone who’s sold 50 million records, and they got 50 million fucking dollars, and they’re bitching about pennies, f*** you, man.”
Grohl was just one of many who denounced Ulrich’s fight against Napster, including Metallica fans who turned up at the court hearings so they could stomp on their records as Ulrich entered. Although Grohl might be difficult to forgive and forget, over the following few years, his affection for Metallica began to recover. Taylor Hawkins, a fellow member of the Foo Fighters, and Grohl were in attendance for the Metallica record Death Magnetic’s promotional tour and conducted interviews with the band.
Later, Grohl even recalled how Ulrich had shown him what it was like to live the life of a true rock celebrity. Grohl claimed in an interview for Ulrich’s It’s Electric radio program that he almost got persuaded to divert the plane to Vegas while they were traveling to the next city for a gig.
He said, “you said one of the craziest things to me. You said you wanted to direct the plane to Vegas, and I said I can’t do that. Then you said, ‘we can do whatever we want’ and I was like…’YEAH WE CAN MAN’. Then I just went home. I was like ‘I wanna be Lars Ulrich so bad.”
Dave Grohl was complimentary of Metallica during their conversation, and he even noted how James Hetfield influenced his stage presence while he was a frontman for legends like David Bowie. When promoting The Foos’ album Concrete and Gold, Lars Ulrich recalled attending one of their shows and remarking on how dissimilar it was to the dressing area at Metallica performances.
Despite being a member of one of the largest rock bands in the world, Grohl never allows himself to become as famous as Metallica. Even though he makes a lot of money with the Foos, he always puts the enjoyment of his audience first.
