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Most People Don't Take Some Things Into Consideration. When They Hear An Album, They Hear The Artist Or They Hear The Lyric Or They Hear The Melody. But They Don't Really Think About The Environment In Which It Was Recorded, Which Is So Important. It's That Thing That Determines What The Album Sounds Like.

-Dave Grohl

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Most People Don't Take

Dave Grohl

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Most People Don't Take Some Things Into Consideration. When They Hear An Album, They Hear The Artist Or They Hear The Lyric Or They Hear The Melody. But They Don't Really Think About The Environment In Which It Was Recorded, Which Is So Important. It's That Thing That Determines What The Album Sounds Like.

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If You Were To Sit Me Down In A Classroom, With Fluorescent Lights Humming And Some Woman Trying To Teach Me Italian, There's No Way. But Scream Goes To Italy, We Stay In A Squat, And The Only Way You Can Ask Someone Where To Take A Piss Is To Do It In Italian. So I Learned Italian.

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It’s Every Band’s Right, You Shouldn’t Have To Do F___ing Glee. And Then The Guy Who Created Glee Is So Offended That We’re Not, Like, Begging To Be On His F___ing Show… F___ That Guy For Thinking Anybody And Everybody Should Want To Do Glee.

I Think Maybe What Happened Was The Convenience Of Technology Overshadowed The Experience Of Holding An Album In Your Hands, And Sitting On Your Bedroom Floor, And Staring At A Picture Of John Lennon Or Gene Simmons Or Johnny Rotten. That Tangible Experience Can Sometimes Become An Even More Emotional Experience, Because It's Really Happening.

When Digital Technology Started Becoming The Norm, You've Got 50, 60, 70 Years Of Recordings On Tapes That Are Just Deteriorating. Like, A Two-inch Reel Of Recording Tape Won't Last Forever. It Dissolves. It Will Disappear.

You Look Up To Your Heroes And You Shouldn't Be Intimidated By Them; You Should Be Inspired By Them.

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Most People Don't Take Some Things Into Consideration. When They Hear An Album, They Hear The Artist Or They Hear The Lyric Or They Hear The Melody. But They Don't Really Think About The Environment In Which It Was Recorded, Which Is So Important. It's That Thing That Determines What The Album Sounds Like.

A Lot Of People Are Promoting Records That Are Just Throw-it-agains T-the-wall-see- If-it-sticks Meaningless Bullshit. Everybody Has The Responsibility To Do The Right Thing And Promote Artists That Mean Something.

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When I Was A Teenager, Working Towards Dropping Out Of High School To Starting To Tour With Bands, I'd Drive Around In My Vw Bug Every Morning Before School, Very Stoned Listening Over And Over To Zeppelin. This Song Got To Me Because It Just Seemed Mystical. There Is Something About Those Celtic Tunings That Almost Sounds Eastern. Somehow It Would Sweep Me Up Into My Own Little Trance-like State, Like Sting With Those Shamans In The Amazon. But All I Had Was A Bong And A Led Zeppelin Cassette.

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The Whole Slacker Generation Totally Didn't Apply To Us Musically.

I Listen To Boy Band Music Before I Have To Fire Someone.

I Dropped Out Of High School And I Couldn't Go To College 'cause I Wasn't Smart Enough, So I'd Resigned Myself To Loading Trucks And Playing Punk Rock On The Weekends.

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Usually, When You Go In To Make A Record, You Have 30 Songs, And You Record 30 Of Them, And 12 Of Them Make It To The Record.

I Mean, I Never Liked Being Told What To Do. It's One Of The Reasons I Dropped Out Of School. Give Me Something To Assemble, I Won't Look At The Directions, I'll Try To Figure It Out By Myself. It's Why I Love Ikea Furniture.

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When There's So Much Left To Do, Why Spend Your Time Focusing On Things You've Already Done, Counting Trophies Or Telling Stories About The Good Old Days?

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We Only Do What Feels Right. If Something Feels Forced Or Contrived, Then We Pull Back. We Remain The Foo Fighters.

Always Have The Highest Bar For Yourself.

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Ladies And Gentlemen, God Bless America - Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave.

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Actually, I Didn't Start Sweating Until I Had Children.

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I Taught Myself How To Play The Guitar, I Taught Myself How To Play The Drums, And I Kind Of Fake Doing Both Of Them. But Drumming Comes More Natural To Me, And It Just Feels Better.

There's Something About Pulling Out A Real Tape From A Shelf And Looking At It And Knowing That 'everlong' Is On It, Or 'best Of You' Is On It, And It's Really Special.

Different Boards Do Different Things To The Sound That's Coming Through Them. An Old Neve Desk Does Embellish It In A Way That Makes It Sound Sort Of Bigger Or Warmer. It Doesn't Change The Performance But It Does Enhance The Way That It Sounds.

A Long Time Ago, I Made A Promise To Myself: "okay, You Know What? I'm Going To Play Music, And Hopefully I'll Make Enough Money That I Can Go Back To School. Once I Make Enough Money To Put Myself Through School, That's What I'm Going To Do."

Cbgb Represents A Lot To New York City And To Underground Rock And To New Wave And Post-punk And Whatever. But, You Know, It's Like Tearing Down The Jefferson Memorial Or Something.

Be Someone's Light When They Are Hopeless.

Neil Young Is My Hero. You Know What That Guy Has Been Doing For The Past 40 Years? Making Music. That's What That Guy Does.

I Once Received A Cape That Was Made From The Little Purple Bags That Crown Royal Whisky Comes In.

The Thing That Will Never Go Away Is That Connection You Make With A Band Or A Song Where You're Moved By The Fact That It's Real People Making Music. You Make That Human Connection With A Song Like 'let It Be' Or 'long And Winding Road' Or A Song Like 'bohemian Rhapsody' Or 'roxanne,' Any Of Those Songs. They Sound Like People Making Music.

I Believe The History Of American Music Is Just As Important As Anything Political Because It's Changed Generations Of People.

I Hate The Solo Artist Aspect Of Rock-'n'-roll. I Don't Have Enough Personality Or Charisma To Be A Solo Star.

Mom, Thanks For Letting Me Drop Out Of High School. Haha!

I Never Went To Rock Concerts When I Was A Kid. I Didn't See Any Rock & Roll Bands.

I Think Actually Singing The Words Is More Therapeutic Than Just Sitting Down To Write Them, Because Then You Are Letting It Out, And It's Coming From Your Gut.

There's Nothing I'd Rather Do Than Make Music. It's The Love Of My Life.

Love Of My Life

Wow, I Get To Wake Up Again? Ok. You Have To Make Good With What You've Got.

What's The Last Thing A Drummer Says In A Band? 'hey Guys, Why Don't We Try One Of My Songs?'

When I Listen To Music These Days, And I Hear Pro Tools And Drums That Sound Like A Machine - It Kinda Sucks The Life Out Of Music.

Develop That Individuality By Working As Hard As You Can At What You Love.

I Don't Think Of Kurt As 'kurt Cobain From Nirvana'. I Think Of Him As 'kurt'. It's Something That Comes Back All The Time. Almost Every Day.

I'm Kind Of Claustrophobic... It's Not Even Like Enclosed Spaces. It's Like I Hate Being Stuck In One Band, You Know? Just Being Stuck Is The Biggest Drag, For Fear That, You Know, Just That You Can't Get Out.

I've Experienced Great Things, I've Experienced Great Tragedies. I've Done Almost Everything I Could Possibly Ever Imagine Doing, But I Just Know That There's More.

Usually, When Nirvana Made Music, There Wasn't A Lot Of Conversation. We Wanted Everything To Be Surreal. We Didn't Want To Have Some Contrived Composition.

My Whole Life, I Have Listened To People Like Neil Young, Or Crosby, Stills & Nash, And Artists That Have Made A Career Out Of The Mellow, Folky, Acoustic Dynamic.

How Do I Stay Humble? Because I'm The Best At Being Humble.

You Can Make Yourself The Greatest Singer In The World Or The Best Drummer In The World With The Aid Of Technology.

We're In This Band, The Foo Fighters, Making Music For The Love Of Music. We All Came From Bands That Had Disbanded, And We Were Drawn To Each Other Because We Missed Playing.

Through Kurt I Saw The Beauty Of Minimalism And The Importance Of Music That's Stripped Down.

A Lot Of People From My Generation Of Music Are So Focused On Playing Things Correctly Or To Perfection That They're Stuck In That Safe Place.

When Something Good Comes Your Way, You Better Feel Fortunate, Because It Doesn't Last Forever.

If It Weren't For The Beatles, I Would Not Be A Musician.

It's Tough To Go To Sleep At Night, And I Wake Up After Five Hours Because I Feel Like I'm Wasting Time. I Just Sit Up At Night And Think About What I Can Do Next.

Mick Fleetwood Was One Of My First Interviews. And If You've Ever Talked To That Dude, He's The Sweetest Guy In The World - He's Just A Trip.

Singing Into A Microphone And Learning To Play An Instrument And Learning To Do Your Craft, That's The Most Important Thing For People To Do. It's Not About Being Perfect, It's Not About Sounding Absolutely Correct, It's Not About What Goes On In A Computer. It's About What Goes On In Here [your Heart] And What Goes On In Here [your Head].

There's A Reason Why The Foo Fighters Don't Blast Out Nirvana Songs Every Night: Because We Have A Lot Of Respect For Them. You Know, That's Hallowed Ground. We Have To Be Careful. We Have To Tread Lightly. We Have Talked About It Before, But The Opportunity Hasn't Really Come Up, Or It Just Hasn't Felt Right.

People Are So Into Digital Recording Now They Forgot How Easy Analog Recording Can Be.

When Nirvana Became Popular, You Could Very Easily Slip And Get Lost During That Storm. I Fortunately Had Really Heavy Anchors - Old Friends, Family.

Always Have The Highest Bar For Yourself. Wake Up Everyday And No Matter How Crappy You Feel, Want To Change Something For The Better. Do Something That Makes Someone Happy. Create Something That Inspires Someone. Be Someone's Light When They Are Hopeless.

Make Someone Happy

Sharing Music Is Not A Crime. It Shouldn't Be. There Should Be A Deeper Meaning To Making Music Than Just Selling Downloads.

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Falling In Love

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I Always Loved Writing Songs - Writing For Myself And Demo-ing Songs, Really With No Intention Of Ever Letting Anyone Else Hear Them. Finally The Foo Fighters Stuff Happened When I Just Went To The Studio Down The Street From My House And Recorded Some Stuff In About Five Or Six Days, And All These People Wanted To Release It As An Album. I Wanted To Release It On My Own, With No Photos And No Names On It.

I Had Never Been In Charge Of Anything. I'd Always Worked For Someone. I Worked For A Furniture Warehouse. I Did Masonry. I Always Had A Boss Yelling At Me. So I'd Never Been In Charge Of An Organization.

I Love Black Sabbath. They Made An Amazing Contribution To Music Today. Almost Every Band That Made It Big In The Nineties Owed A Debt To Them.

The Word ‘grunge’ Became A Household Term, And Fashion Runways Were Filled With Flannel Shirts And Long Underwear. Oh, How We Laughed… Every Now And Then When I’m Feeling A Little Nostalgic, I Put On My ‘grunge Tuxedo’ - Flannel Shirt, Long Shorts With Long Underwear Underneath Them, And A Pair Of Doc Martens - And Dance Around The House To Tad Records.

When I Joined Nirvana, I Was The Fifth Or Sixth Drummer - I Don't Know If They'd Ever Had A Drummer They Were Totally Happy With. And They Were Strangers. There Was Never Much Of A Deeper Connection Outside Of The Music.

I Think I'm Scared A Lot. I'm Scared Of Almost Everything. And I'm Constantly Trying To Work My Way Through Each Obstacle, Whether It's A Present, Past, Or Future Relationship.

When You're Recording To Tape, You Usually Just Settle For What You Have. There's Not A Lot Of Options To Manipulate The Performance.

The Most Important Thing Is That You Honor That Musical Integrity, Whether You Make Music That Sounds Like Abba Or You Make Music That Sounds Like Void.

Guilt Is Cancer. Guilt Will Confine You, Torture You, Destroy You As An Artist. It's A Black Wall. It's A Thief.

When I Sit Down To Interview People, I Don't Hold Questions And I Don't Know The Answers. They're More Like Conversations That Become Lessons.

Never Lose Faith In Real Rock And Roll Music. Never Lose Faith In That. You Might Have To Look A Little Harder, But It's Always Going To Be There.

Being In Nirvana Was Amazing An Experience That Will Never Happen Again For Me. And I Look On Them As Some Of The Best And Worst Times Of My Life. But We're In This Band, The Foo Fighters, Making Music For The Love Of Music. We All Came From Bands That Had Disbanded, And We Were Drawn To Each Other Because We Missed Playing - We Missed Getting In The Van, Loading Our Equipment, And Watching It Break Down In The Middle Of A Show. And That Feeling Hasn't Gone Away. There's Nothing I'd Rather Do Than Make Music. It's The Love Of My Life.

Love Of My Life

I'm So Not Macho. It's Crazy. My Man Cave Is So Not A Man Cave.

When You Have Kids, You See Life Through Different Eyes. You Feel Love More Deeply And Are Maybe A Little More Compassionate. It's Inevitable That That Would Make Its Way Into Your Songwriting.

Singing Into A Microphone And Learning To Play An Instrument And Learning To Do Your Craft, That's The Most Important Thing For People To Do.

Being In Nirvana Was Amazing An Experience That Will Never Happen Again For Me. And I Look On Them As Some Of The Best And Worst Times Of My Life.

Time Of My Life

I Think My Biggest Musical Hero Growing Up Was Probably Ian Mackaye He Set A Great Example For All Of Us Local Musicians. Still To This Day I See Him As The Best Example Of A Right-on Musician.

When You're Young, You're Not Afraid Of What Comes Next. You're Excited By It.

Your Personal History Is A Part Of What Happens With Your Hands And Your Head As You Play Music.

Personal History

With This Record [the Colour And The Shape], I Started Taking The Lyrics More Seriously. This Is A Very Personal Album.

At School Where You A Dunce Or A Teacher's Pet? All Of The Above. I Was Stupid So They Thought I Was Cute.

From One Generation To The Next, The Beatles Will Remain The Most Important Rock Band Of All Time.

Neil Young Is My Hero, And Such A Great Example. You Know What That Guy Has Been Doing For The Past 40 Years? Making Music. That's What That Guy Does. Sometimes You Pay Attention, Sometimes You Don't. Sometimes He Hands It To You, Sometimes He Keeps It To Himself. He's A Good Man With A Beautiful Family And Wonderful Life.

There Are Times When I Feel Like I'm A Traveling Minister. I'm Trying To Go Out And Get Kids To Pick-up Yard Sale Instruments And Change The World.

Going Out And Playing Music - That's What I Do. I Don't Do Much Else.

I've Always Been A Fan Of Melody And Emotional Melancholy, Whether It Was Rites Of Spring Or Tears For Fears Or Neil Young. If I Hear A Song That Has A Sweet Melody, I'm A Sucker For It, Whether It's Linkin Park Or Little Richard.

I Had Long Hair Since I Was 17 Years Old. It Was Time For Me To Let Go. I Hated Being The Guy At The Wedding In A Suit With A Ponytail.

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Michael Douglas

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