The album that changed Dave Grohl’s life, according to him

Great connoisseur of rock in general, Dave Grohl His life was marked by iconic albums and moments in heavy music. However, there is one album in particular that changed the life of the band’s frontman. Foo Fighters and former drummer of Nirvana —especially when it comes to the prospect of making your own sound.

In a 2015 interview with Q (via FooArchive), Grohl shares memories about the material, which is actually an EP: In God We Trust, Increleased by Dead Kennedys in 1981. With eight tracks, the album is part of the peak of the American punk band.

Dave commented:

There are some records that changed my life. The first was the greatest hits of Beatles – the red and blue albums. I learned to play guitar with those records. But the biggest was In God We Trust, Incfrom Dead Kennedys. I was 13 years old and had just discovered punk. My cousin Tracy had this crazy collection of American and international punk rock – stuff like Discharge and GBH -, but In God We Trust, Inc it was the most exciting.”

Second Grohlthis was the record that led him to notice something that would completely change his perspective. He continued:

It blew my mind because it made me realize: anyone could make music. It was refreshing, uplifting and confronting.”

Foo Fighters and Dead Kennedys

The connection between Foo Fighters and Dead Kennedys is marked in the discography of both bands. In the series of EPs called Foo Fileslaunched in 2019, Grohl included in record 01070725 the cover of “Holiday in Cambodia” performed by his group in MTV Video Music Awards 2007with the participation of vocalist Serj Tankian (system of a Down).

Dave also appears in the commemorative edition of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), released by Dead Kennedys in 2022. He contributed liner text alongside Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) and David Ellefson (ex-Megadeth). On that occasion, Grohl recalled another notable event from his initial musical training, to be described below.

Dave Grohl at Rock Against Reagan

In the 1980s, the DeadKennedys and other punk rock bands opposed the president of the United States at the time, Ronald Reagan. Even a festival, called Rock Against Reagan (Rock Against Reagan) was organized.

A young man Dave Grohl was there and reported what he saw:

A few weeks later (after listening to the EP In God We Trust, Inc) there was a great show, Rock Against Reaganin Washington DC, where I lived, and the Dead Kennedys was the main attraction. There must have been 750 thousand people there. It was a f*cking riot. There were punks fighting with the cops and Jello Biafra (vocalist) looking at the Washington Monument, shouting: ‘the great white Klansman in the sky!’ I get goosebumps just thinking about it!”

In the relaunch of Fresh Fruits for Rotting Vegetables, Grohl also mentioned the show and added some more details. The leader of Foo Fighters said there were helicopters and police riot buses everywhere. From the position of a 13 year old boy, that was, according to Daveits own revolution.

Collaborated: André Luiz Fernandes.