Paul Brannigan (2011) – Book Review

Author: Paul Brannigan
Published: 2011
Genre: Rock Biography / Music History / Nirvana / Foo Fighters
Riff Report Rating: 🎸🎸🎸🎸½ – 4.5/5

There are musicians who have been in one important band.

There are musicians lucky enough to have been in two.

And then there’s Dave Grohl, who somehow went from battering the absolute living hell out of a drum kit behind Kurt Cobain in Nirvana, to recording the first Foo Fighters album almost entirely by himself, fronting one of the biggest rock bands on Earth and becoming the sort of bloke who appears capable of befriending everyone from Paul McCartney to the person serving chips outside the venue.

How the bloody hell did that happen?

That’s exactly the journey at the heart of Paul Brannigan’s This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl.

Published in 2011, years before Grohl released his own memoir, The Storyteller, Brannigan’s book benefits from something particularly valuable: the author had interviewed Grohl repeatedly across his career.

The result is a detailed, affectionate but largely clear-eyed examination of a musician whose career connects some of the most important chapters in modern rock history.

This isn’t simply a Foo Fighters book.

It isn’t simply a Nirvana book either.

It’s the story of a kid obsessed with punk rock who kept saying yes to music.

Turn the guitars up, grab the sticks and count us in.

ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! 🥁🔥

🥁 BEFORE THE FOO, THERE WAS THE DRUMMER

Long before stadiums and Grammy Awards, Dave Grohl was simply a music-obsessed kid discovering punk rock.

And that matters.

Because if there’s one thing This Is a Call makes abundantly clear, it’s that Grohl’s entire career is rooted in being a fan.

Not a celebrity.

Not a businessman.

Not someone who decided rock stardom looked like a cracking career choice.

A fan.

The sort of fan who hears a record and immediately wants to make noise himself.

Punk offered the crucial revelation that you didn’t need to wait for permission.

You didn’t necessarily need expensive equipment.

You didn’t need conservatoire training.

You needed enthusiasm.

A few chords.

Some mates.

And preferably neighbours who were either extremely understanding or profoundly deaf.

⚡ SCREAM

Before Nirvana, Grohl was already putting in serious miles.

His tenure with Washington D.C. hardcore band Scream is one of the most important parts of his development.

This wasn’t some teenage rehearsal-room hobby.

Grohl toured.

He learned how bands function.

He experienced the glamorous reality of underground music — which generally means:

No money.

No sleep.

Dodgy food.

Broken vans.

Tiny venues.

And approximately fourteen people watching you on a Tuesday night.

Rock ’n’ roll! 😂

But those experiences mattered enormously.

By the time Nirvana entered his life, Grohl wasn’t some inexperienced kid wandering nervously into a rehearsal room.

He was a serious drummer.

And what a drummer.

💥 ENTER NIRVANA

Then everything changes.

Grohl joins Nirvana in 1990.

And within a year…

Nevermind happens.

Good grief.

Imagine experiencing that.

One minute you’re touring underground clubs.

The next you’re in a band whose album is about to completely rearrange popular music.

Nirvana already possessed something special in Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic.

But Grohl’s arrival completed a crucial version of the band.

His drumming was enormous.

Powerful.

Direct.

Musical.

Grohl didn’t simply keep time behind Nirvana.

He drove the songs forward.

🥁 THAT DRUM SOUND

Listen to the opening of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

You know what’s coming immediately.

Those drums announce themselves.

Then the guitar arrives.

Then everything explodes.

Grohl had the rare ability to play incredibly hard without simply becoming noise.

There’s groove underneath the violence.

Dynamics beneath the power.

His fills become hooks.

That’s something great drummers understand.

You don’t need 400 notes when four enormous ones will knock the wall down.

And across Nevermind, Grohl’s drumming became part of the record’s identity.

“Drain You.”

“In Bloom.”

“Breed.”

“Stay Away.”

Absolute batterings.

Lovely stuff. 🥁🔥

🌎 WHEN NEVERMIND CHANGED EVERYTHING

Nevermind was released in September 1991.

Nobody could have fully predicted what happened next.

The record exploded.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” became unavoidable.

Nirvana went from alternative-rock outsiders to one of the biggest bands in the world.

And suddenly the mainstream music industry wanted:

GRUNGE.

Everywhere.

Labels went searching for the next Nirvana.

Fashion companies discovered flannel.

MTV couldn’t get enough alternative rock.

And countless glam-metal bands presumably looked at their cans of hairspray and quietly whispered:

“Ah, bollocks.”

😂

But Brannigan understands that the story behind Nirvana’s success wasn’t simply one giant celebration.

The bigger the band became, the more complicated everything became.

Especially for Kurt Cobain.

🖤 LIVING IN KURT’S SHADOW

Any biography of Dave Grohl inevitably has to spend significant time discussing Kurt Cobain.

There’s no avoiding it.

Nirvana changed Grohl’s life.

And Cobain’s death changed it again.

But one of the strengths of This Is a Call is that Dave isn’t reduced simply to:

“the drummer from Nirvana.”

That description became both a privilege and a burden.

How do you move forward after being part of something that culturally enormous?

How do you make your own music when everyone will inevitably compare it with Nirvana?

And more importantly…

How do you continue after your friend and bandmate dies?

💔 APRIL 1994

Kurt Cobain died in April 1994.

He was 27.

Nirvana was over.

Just like that.

There was no farewell tour.

No final triumphant album.

No planned goodbye.

One of the most important bands of its generation simply stopped existing.

For Grohl, the loss was both personal and professional.

And this is where his story could easily have gone in a completely different direction.

He could have become permanently known as Nirvana’s former drummer.

He could have joined another established band.

He could have disappeared for years.

Instead…

He started recording songs.

🔥 FOO FIGHTERS

Here’s where the story becomes properly remarkable.

Dave Grohl had been writing songs for years.

But being in a band with Kurt Cobain doesn’t exactly make it easy to stroll into rehearsal and say:

“I’ve written a few tunes if anyone fancies hearing them.”

That’s like being Manchester United’s reserve striker while Pelé is somehow playing up front.

So Grohl’s songs largely remained separate.

After Nirvana ended, he entered a studio and recorded material that would become the first Foo Fighters album.

And the extraordinary part?

Grohl played almost everything himself.

Guitars.

Bass.

Drums.

Vocals.

Suddenly the drummer from Nirvana wasn’t simply the drummer anymore.

He was the songwriter.

The guitarist.

The singer.

The bloke standing at the front.

No pressure then, butt.

📞 THIS IS A CALL

The biography takes its title from “This Is a Call”, the opening track and first major single from Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut.

And it’s a perfect title.

Because Foo Fighters represented Grohl answering something.

A need to continue.

A need to create.

A need to prove — perhaps to himself more than anybody else — that music hadn’t ended with Nirvana.

The first Foo Fighters record contains the raw excitement of someone discovering a new identity.

“This Is a Call.”

“I’ll Stick Around.”

“Big Me.”

Songs that established immediately that this wasn’t simply a grief project.

There was a real band waiting to emerge.

🎸 BUILDING AN ACTUAL BAND

Eventually Foo Fighters became a proper touring unit.

And naturally, things weren’t always smooth.

Musicians came and went.

Relationships became strained.

There were disagreements over recordings.

Grohl had to learn the difference between being a drummer in someone else’s band and being the person ultimately responsible for his own.

That’s a massive shift.

If you’re the drummer, you can concentrate primarily on your performance.

If you’re the leader?

Songs.

Budgets.

Personnel.

Interviews.

Record labels.

Touring.

Creative decisions.

And somehow figuring out how to sing for two hours while running around a stage like you’ve just consumed six litres of energy drink.

Grohl learned.

Fast.

🥁 TAYLOR HAWKINS

No story of Foo Fighters is complete without Taylor Hawkins.

Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997 and quickly became an essential part of the band’s identity.

He wasn’t merely someone hired to play Dave Grohl’s drum parts.

Imagine that job interview:

“So, you’re applying to be drummer in a band led by… Dave Grohl.”

No pressure whatsoever. 😂🥁

But Hawkins possessed the personality and talent to make the role his own.

His chemistry with Grohl became one of Foo Fighters’ great strengths.

Reading the 2011 edition today inevitably carries an added sadness following Hawkins’ death in 2022.

Brannigan obviously couldn’t have known what lay ahead.

That makes those sections feel different now.

More precious.

💿 THE COLOUR AND THE SHAPE

If the debut proved Dave Grohl could write songs, The Colour and the Shape proved Foo Fighters could become enormous.

Released in 1997, it contains some of the band’s defining tracks.

“Monkey Wrench.”

“My Hero.”

And, of course…

❤️ “EVERLONG”

There are songs bands write.

And then there are songs that become bigger than the band.

“Everlong” is one of those.

The riff.

The drums.

The atmosphere.

That enormous chorus.

Decades later, it remains arguably Foo Fighters’ defining song.

You can play it acoustically.

You can play it with a full band.

You can play it in a stadium.

You can probably play it on two spoons and a Greggs sausage roll and someone will still start singing.

That’s a tune, mun.

🎤 LEARNING TO BECOME A FRONTMAN

One of the most interesting parts of Grohl’s career is watching him transform.

Early Foo Fighters Dave still looks slightly like a drummer who’s accidentally wandered towards the microphone.

Eventually?

Full-blown rock frontman.

Hair flying.

Guitar hanging low.

Running down enormous stage walkways.

Screaming until medical professionals presumably start sending concerned emails.

And crowds absolutely adore him.

Grohl’s strength as a frontman isn’t mysterious rock-star detachment.

It’s the opposite.

He looks like he’s having the best night of his life.

That enthusiasm becomes infectious.

When Dave Grohl yells:

“ARE YOU READY?!”

the answer is generally:

“YES, DAVE. APPARENTLY WE ARE.”

🤘😂

🎸 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Then, because apparently being successful in two enormous bands wasn’t enough, Grohl went and played drums with Queens of the Stone Age.

His work on Songs for the Deaf remains some of his finest drumming.

That opening to “Song for the Dead”?

Behave.

Absolute filth. 🥁🔥

Grohl could easily have abandoned drums once Foo Fighters became successful.

Instead, he repeatedly returned to the kit.

Because that’s the thing.

Dave Grohl isn’t a frontman who used to play drums.

He’s a drummer who also became a frontman.

There’s a difference.

🤘 THEM CROOKED VULTURES

And because his musical CV clearly wasn’t ridiculous enough…

Them Crooked Vultures.

Dave Grohl.

Josh Homme.

John Paul bloody Jones.

That’s one hell of a rehearsal room.

Their 2009 album gave Grohl another opportunity to return fully to the drums while collaborating with musicians from different generations of heavy rock.

And Brannigan’s book captures something fundamental about Grohl:

He’s still excited by playing music with people he admires.

The bloke can headline stadiums.

Yet put him in a room with John Paul Jones and he can still become the kid who loves Led Zeppelin.

That’s endearing.

And importantly, it feels genuine.

🎶 THE PUNK KID NEVER REALLY LEFT

For all Foo Fighters’ enormous commercial success, Grohl’s underground roots remained important.

This is someone shaped by hardcore and punk.

Someone who played in Scream.

Someone who grew up valuing DIY music culture.

And that’s where his career becomes interesting.

Foo Fighters became one of the biggest mainstream rock bands in the world.

Yet Grohl continued collaborating with musicians from punk, metal, alternative and experimental scenes.

He never appeared embarrassed by where he came from.

Quite the opposite.

He celebrates it.

🧠 THE SURVIVOR QUESTION

There’s an unavoidable theme running underneath Dave Grohl’s story:

survival.

Not survival in the Mötley Crüe sense of somehow waking up after doing something catastrophically stupid.

Something more emotional.

Grohl survived the end of Nirvana.

He survived losing Kurt.

He survived the pressure of starting again.

He survived being compared endlessly to his previous band.

And rather than spending his career running away from Nirvana, he eventually learned how to carry that history alongside everything he created afterwards.

That’s incredibly difficult.

Imagine every interview about your new project eventually becoming:

“So… tell us about your old band.”

For decades.

Grohl handled that burden remarkably well.

📚 BRANNIGAN KNOWS HIS SUBJECT

Paul Brannigan isn’t simply assembling newspaper clippings here.

As a music journalist, he interviewed Grohl multiple times and had extensive knowledge of the scenes surrounding his career.

That gives This Is a Call authority and familiarity.

Brannigan understands hardcore.

He understands Nirvana.

He understands Foo Fighters.

Most importantly, he understands why the music matters.

That’s crucial.

A biography can give us every hotel, girlfriend, argument and recording date imaginable.

But if the writer doesn’t understand why someone cared about the records in the first place, something is missing.

Brannigan gets it.

⚠️ BUT REMEMBER — THIS ISN’T DAVE’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

This is worth emphasising.

This Is a Call is a biography.

It isn’t Dave Grohl telling his own story directly from beginning to end.

That distinction became even more important after Grohl published The Storyteller in 2021.

The two books therefore serve different purposes.

Grohl’s own memoir gives you his selected memories in his voice.

Brannigan provides an outside perspective, placing Grohl’s career within the broader histories of punk, grunge and alternative rock.

If you’re a serious Grohl fan?

Read both.

Simple as that.

⏳ THE STRANGE THING ABOUT READING IT NOW

Here’s the biggest limitation.

The book was published in 2011.

Dave Grohl’s story didn’t stop there.

Not remotely.

That means This Is a Call captures a particular point in his career rather than providing the complete story we know today.

The Foo Fighters catalogue continued expanding.

Grohl pursued further projects.

There were enormous triumphs.

There were painful losses.

Taylor Hawkins died in 2022.

Foo Fighters entered another new chapter.

And Grohl’s public story continued evolving.

None of that is a criticism of Brannigan.

You can’t write history that hasn’t happened yet.

But modern readers need to understand that they’re reading a snapshot.

A very detailed snapshot.

But a snapshot nonetheless.

🔥 DOES IT STILL HOLD UP?

Definitely.

In some ways, reading it now makes the earlier story even more fascinating.

You see Grohl before everything that followed.

Before he became the almost universally recognised elder statesman of modern rock.

Before subsequent chapters complicated and expanded his story.

The book captures a musician still relatively close to the extraordinary events that transformed his life.

Scream.

Nirvana.

Cobain.

Foo Fighters.

Queens of the Stone Age.

Them Crooked Vultures.

That’s already enough material for several careers.

Dave apparently decided one would do.

🎸 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT

This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl is a cracking rock biography.

It’s detailed without becoming a textbook.

Enthusiastic without becoming worshipful.

And it understands that Dave Grohl’s importance isn’t simply that he happened to play drums in Nirvana and later started Foo Fighters.

It’s that his career connects multiple generations of alternative music.

Hardcore punk.

Grunge.

Alternative rock.

Stadium rock.

Stoner rock.

Classic rock.

Metal.

He’s somehow wandered through all of it carrying drumsticks and looking delighted to have been invited.

The only thing stopping us awarding the full five guitars is time.

Published in 2011, the book inevitably ends while Grohl’s story still has an enormous amount of road ahead.

But as an examination of the journey from punk-obsessed kid to Nirvana drummer to Foo Fighters frontman?

Absolutely essential stuff.

⭐ RIFF REPORT RATING: 🎸🎸🎸🎸½ – 4.5/5

A passionate, detailed and immensely readable biography of one of modern rock’s most important musicians.

Read it for Nirvana.

Read it for Foo Fighters.

Read it for the punk history.

Read it for the ridiculous musical CV.

But most of all, read it because underneath the stadiums, awards and legendary collaborations is something wonderfully simple:

Dave Grohl bloody loves music.

And by the final page, you’ll probably want to stick a record on yourself.

Preferably loudly.

The neighbours will understand.

Probably.

This is a call, Riffers. 🤘🔥🥁

💬 OVER TO YOU, RIFFERS!

Have you read This Is a Call?

How does it compare with Dave Grohl’s own The Storyteller?

And here’s the dangerous question…

Dave Grohl the drummer 🥁 or Dave Grohl the Foo Fighters frontman 🎤?

Choose wisely. Friendships could end over this.

Get stuck into the comments, butt! 👇🤘

Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. 🐉🤘

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