Paul Brannigan (2011) β Book Review
Author: Paul Brannigan
Published: 2011
Genre: Rock Biography / Music History / Nirvana / Foo Fighters
Riff Report Rating: πΈπΈπΈπΈΒ½ β 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 thereβs 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?
Thatβs exactly the journey at the heart of Paul Branniganβs This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl.
Published in 2011, years before Grohl released his own memoir, The Storyteller, Branniganβs 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 isnβt simply a Foo Fighters book.
It isnβt simply a Nirvana book either.
Itβs 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! π₯π₯
π₯ 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 thereβs one thing This Is a Call makes abundantly clear, itβs that Grohlβs 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 didnβt need to wait for permission.
You didnβt necessarily need expensive equipment.
You didnβt need conservatoire training.
You needed enthusiasm.
A few chords.
Some mates.
And preferably neighbours who were either extremely understanding or profoundly deaf.
β‘ 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 wasnβt some teenage rehearsal-room hobby.
Grohl toured.
He learned how bands function.
He experienced the glamorous reality of underground music β which generally means:
No money.
No sleep.
Dodgy food.
Broken vans.
Tiny venues.
And approximately fourteen people watching you on a Tuesday night.
Rock βnβ roll! π
But those experiences mattered enormously.
By the time Nirvana entered his life, Grohl wasnβt some inexperienced kid wandering nervously into a rehearsal room.
He was a serious drummer.
And what a drummer.
π₯ ENTER NIRVANA
Then everything changes.
Grohl joins Nirvana in 1990.
And within a yearβ¦
Nevermind happens.
Good grief.
Imagine experiencing that.
One minute youβre touring underground clubs.
The next youβre in a band whose album is about to completely rearrange popular music.
Nirvana already possessed something special in Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic.
But Grohlβs arrival completed a crucial version of the band.
His drumming was enormous.
Powerful.
Direct.
Musical.
Grohl didnβt simply keep time behind Nirvana.
He drove the songs forward.
π₯ THAT DRUM SOUND
Listen to the opening of βSmells Like Teen Spirit.β
You know whatβs 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.
Thereβs groove underneath the violence.
Dynamics beneath the power.
His fills become hooks.
Thatβs something great drummers understand.
You donβt need 400 notes when four enormous ones will knock the wall down.
And across Nevermind, Grohlβs drumming became part of the recordβs identity.
βDrain You.β
βIn Bloom.β
βBreed.β
βStay Away.β
Absolute batterings.
Lovely stuff. π₯π₯
π WHEN NEVERMIND CHANGED EVERYTHING
Nevermind was released in September 1991.
Nobody could have fully predicted what happened next.
The record exploded.
βSmells Like Teen Spiritβ 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 couldnβt get enough alternative rock.
And countless glam-metal bands presumably looked at their cans of hairspray and quietly whispered:
βAh, bollocks.β
π
But Brannigan understands that the story behind Nirvanaβs success wasnβt simply one giant celebration.
The bigger the band became, the more complicated everything became.
Especially for Kurt Cobain.
π€ LIVING IN KURTβS SHADOW
Any biography of Dave Grohl inevitably has to spend significant time discussing Kurt Cobain.
Thereβs no avoiding it.
Nirvana changed Grohlβs life.
And Cobainβs death changed it again.
But one of the strengths of This Is a Call is that Dave isnβt reduced simply to:
βthe drummer from Nirvana.β
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 importantlyβ¦
How do you continue after your friend and bandmate dies?
π 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 Nirvanaβs former drummer.
He could have joined another established band.
He could have disappeared for years.
Insteadβ¦
He started recording songs.
π₯ FOO FIGHTERS
Hereβs where the story becomes properly remarkable.
Dave Grohl had been writing songs for years.
But being in a band with Kurt Cobain doesnβt exactly make it easy to stroll into rehearsal and say:
βIβve written a few tunes if anyone fancies hearing them.β
Thatβs like being Manchester Unitedβs reserve striker while PelΓ© is somehow playing up front.
So Grohlβs 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 wasnβt simply the drummer anymore.
He was the songwriter.
The guitarist.
The singer.
The bloke standing at the front.
No pressure then, butt.
π THIS IS A CALL
The biography takes its title from βThis Is a Callβ, the opening track and first major single from Foo Fightersβ 1995 debut.
And itβs a perfect title.
Because Foo Fighters represented Grohl answering something.
A need to continue.
A need to create.
A need to prove β perhaps to himself more than anybody else β that music hadnβt ended with Nirvana.
The first Foo Fighters record contains the raw excitement of someone discovering a new identity.
βThis Is a Call.β
βIβll Stick Around.β
βBig Me.β
Songs that established immediately that this wasnβt simply a grief project.
There was a real band waiting to emerge.
πΈ BUILDING AN ACTUAL BAND
Eventually Foo Fighters became a proper touring unit.
And naturally, things werenβt 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 elseβs band and being the person ultimately responsible for his own.
Thatβs a massive shift.
If youβre the drummer, you can concentrate primarily on your performance.
If youβre 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 youβve just consumed six litres of energy drink.
Grohl learned.
Fast.
π₯ 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 bandβs identity.
He wasnβt merely someone hired to play Dave Grohlβs drum parts.
Imagine that job interview:
βSo, youβre applying to be drummer in a band led byβ¦ Dave Grohl.β
No pressure whatsoever. ππ₯
But Hawkins possessed the personality and talent to make the role his own.
His chemistry with Grohl became one of Foo Fightersβ great strengths.
Reading the 2011 edition today inevitably carries an added sadness following Hawkinsβ death in 2022.
Brannigan obviously couldnβt have known what lay ahead.
That makes those sections feel different now.
More precious.
πΏ 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 bandβs defining tracks.
βMonkey Wrench.β
βMy Hero.β
And, of courseβ¦
β€οΈ βEVERLONGβ
There are songs bands write.
And then there are songs that become bigger than the band.
βEverlongβ is one of those.
The riff.
The drums.
The atmosphere.
That enormous chorus.
Decades later, it remains arguably Foo Fightersβ 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.
Thatβs a tune, mun.
π€ LEARNING TO BECOME A FRONTMAN
One of the most interesting parts of Grohlβs career is watching him transform.
Early Foo Fighters Dave still looks slightly like a drummer whoβs 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.
Grohlβs strength as a frontman isnβt mysterious rock-star detachment.
Itβs the opposite.
He looks like heβs having the best night of his life.
That enthusiasm becomes infectious.
When Dave Grohl yells:
βARE YOU READY?!β
the answer is generally:
βYES, DAVE. APPARENTLY WE ARE.β
π€π
πΈ QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Then, because apparently being successful in two enormous bands wasnβt 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 βSong for the Deadβ?
Behave.
Absolute filth. π₯π₯
Grohl could easily have abandoned drums once Foo Fighters became successful.
Instead, he repeatedly returned to the kit.
Because thatβs the thing.
Dave Grohl isnβt a frontman who used to play drums.
Heβs a drummer who also became a frontman.
Thereβs a difference.
π€ THEM CROOKED VULTURES
And because his musical CV clearly wasnβt ridiculous enoughβ¦
Them Crooked Vultures.
Dave Grohl.
Josh Homme.
John Paul bloody Jones.
Thatβs 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 Branniganβs book captures something fundamental about Grohl:
Heβs 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.
Thatβs endearing.
And importantly, it feels genuine.
πΆ THE PUNK KID NEVER REALLY LEFT
For all Foo Fightersβ enormous commercial success, Grohlβs 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 thatβs 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.
π§ THE SURVIVOR QUESTION
Thereβs an unavoidable theme running underneath Dave Grohlβs story:
survival.
Not survival in the MΓΆtley CrΓΌe 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.
Thatβs incredibly difficult.
Imagine every interview about your new project eventually becoming:
βSoβ¦ tell us about your old band.β
For decades.
Grohl handled that burden remarkably well.
π BRANNIGAN KNOWS HIS SUBJECT
Paul Brannigan isnβt 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.
Thatβs crucial.
A biography can give us every hotel, girlfriend, argument and recording date imaginable.
But if the writer doesnβt understand why someone cared about the records in the first place, something is missing.
Brannigan gets it.
β οΈ BUT REMEMBER β THIS ISNβT DAVEβS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
This is worth emphasising.
This Is a Call is a biography.
It isnβt 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.
Grohlβs own memoir gives you his selected memories in his voice.
Brannigan provides an outside perspective, placing Grohlβs career within the broader histories of punk, grunge and alternative rock.
If youβre a serious Grohl fan?
Read both.
Simple as that.
β³ THE STRANGE THING ABOUT READING IT NOW
Hereβs the biggest limitation.
The book was published in 2011.
Dave Grohlβs story didnβt 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 Grohlβs public story continued evolving.
None of that is a criticism of Brannigan.
You canβt write history that hasnβt happened yet.
But modern readers need to understand that theyβre reading a snapshot.
A very detailed snapshot.
But a snapshot nonetheless.
π₯ 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.
Thatβs already enough material for several careers.
Dave apparently decided one would do.
πΈ THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl is a cracking rock biography.
Itβs detailed without becoming a textbook.
Enthusiastic without becoming worshipful.
And it understands that Dave Grohlβs importance isnβt simply that he happened to play drums in Nirvana and later started Foo Fighters.
Itβs that his career connects multiple generations of alternative music.
Hardcore punk.
Grunge.
Alternative rock.
Stadium rock.
Stoner rock.
Classic rock.
Metal.
Heβs 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 Grohlβs 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.
β RIFF REPORT RATING: πΈπΈπΈπΈΒ½ β 4.5/5
A passionate, detailed and immensely readable biography of one of modern rockβs 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, youβll probably want to stick a record on yourself.
Preferably loudly.
The neighbours will understand.
Probably.
This is a call, Riffers. π€π₯π₯
π¬ OVER TO YOU, RIFFERS!
Have you read This Is a Call?
How does it compare with Dave Grohlβs own The Storyteller?
And hereβs the dangerous questionβ¦
Dave Grohl the drummer π₯ or Dave Grohl the Foo Fighters frontman π€?
Choose wisely. Friendships could end over this.
Get stuck into the comments, butt! ππ€
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. ππ€
The Riff Report Blog
Louder. Weirder. Always backstage.
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene specialβfrom legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether heβs battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, heβs always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When heβs not writing or interviewing artists, youβll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than musicβtheyβre about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. Thatβs exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. π€