Most of us have some memories from our past, especially from our youth, which we regret ever happened. These memories, usually cringe-worthy, may haunt us in our present lives and cause a bit of lingering guilt. Alternatively, they may stay as fond and fun little in the form of pranks.
We know that the world of rock is filled with pranksters. Some of these pranks are harmless little deeds like the ones made by the members of Tool, while others are injury-inducing acts like the ones made by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. Still, most are made to either other names from the industry or close crew mates of these rockers. Well, the story is a little different when it comes to Nirvana’s ex-drummer, Dave Grohl.
Grohl is a commonly liked and appreciated name in the industry by fans and people close to him. He is a philanthropist who never falls behind when help is needed and has been an admired musician since his days with Nirvana as the drummer to his days with Foo Fighters as the lead vocal. In addition to his good deeds and music, his personality is reportedly one of his good qualities, as becomes evident with a memory of a prank from him.
The vocalist was interviewed on the Good For You podcast in 2019 and revealed a past moment that still made him feel guilty. He recalled that on his days with Nirvana when they were still really young, he, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Novoselic’s ex-wife went out to have fun one night. They attended a karaoke night and, with the effect of alcohol and youth, pulled a prank on a random stranger.
Since many record companies chased Nirvana at the time, they happened to have a bunch of business cards on them, which was all they needed for the prank. They approached one of the karaoke singers, pulled out a card, gave it to her, and introduced themselves as A&R guys. They made her believe that they would make her famous, and she most probably believed in them.
The prank, which was funny to them then, came back to plague Dave Grohl’s mind, as he stated. He still regretted giving false hope to that stranger years ago, which shows how mature he became as the years passed. The musician openly expressed his feelings about his past action in his interview with Whitney Cummings.
Recalling the memory, Grohl stated:
“At the time, we were being kind of groomed by all these different record companies. We were getting [bid] on by all these [record labels]… but we had so many A&R guy cards. And we got wasted one night and gave an A&R guy card to a karaoke singer.
That’s bad. I don’t remember which — it was either Kurt or me or Krist — and we gave it to her under the impression that we were an A&R guy and that we were gonna make her famous. I still think about it. I feel like that person still has that card. Damnit.”
It’s impossible to go back and change the past, no matter how much you regret it, but Dave Grohl made up for this minor mischief through his actions and good deeds in the years that passed. It may still fill him with guilt; however, it’s apparent that he’s more mature now.
