Dave Grohl is Killing Rock ‘n’ Roll, Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll: Prologue to a Manifesto

I would have a lot more respect for your opinions if you wrote & played them in a song. there is no bad art, only bad critics. david grohl is just overplayed by the media. he needs to back off a bit as do a lot of the other “super stars”,

The tone of the article (okay… “manifesto”) is a little overwrought. But he’s got a point. Just by way of example, my 13-year-old son discovered DEAD KENNEDYS a few weeks ago. The day he started listening to them, he came to me with all sorts of questions about “Holiday in Cambodia”: what’s “you’ll work hard with a gun in your back for a bowl of rice a day” supposed to mean? What’s a “Pol Pot”? Then it was “MTV Get Off the Air”: dad, what is “wigged out on quaaludes”? What does he mean by “beloved corporate gods”? I got sick of answering them, so he spent a good part of an afternoon looking stuff up on his own. Since then, he’s gotten into stuff like King Missile, The Descendents, Dead Milkmen — all those funny/subversive bands from long ago. And he’s got all sorts of questions about what they’re singing about.

Now he also happens to be a big FOO FIGHTERS fan, and he still is (and so am I). But he’s never once had a question about any one of their songs. Not one. The point isn’t really that Dave Grohl sucks. It’s just that maybe we should be a little amazed that someone whose music goes down so smooth and easy should be called “punk rock” in any form — but people do it. So maybe that’s something a person should get overwrought about.

Here’s some art, kicked to you old-school style back when punk was punk:

Imposter by Oingo Boingo

You never lived in the streets though you wish you had
Not enough talent to play a guitar
You failed as an artist ’cause you lacked in the confidence
Now you’re a critic and you’re at the top
(The top of what)
You don’t believe what you write
You’re and imposter you don’t, don’t, don’t believe what you write
You can’t get used to the fact that you ain’t a kid
You like to think that you speak for them all
You’d cut off your nose if you thought it would make you hip
It drives you crazy you can’t be a star (Oh ain’t that tough)
You don’t believe what you write
(You’re an imposter) you don’t believe what you write
(You’re an imposter) you don’t believe what you write
(You’re an imposter) you don’t, don’t, don’t believe what you write
You take the credit while others do all the work
You like to think you discovered them first
But we all know you moved in after it was safe
That way you know you could never get hurt
(You like to play god!!)
(Repeat chorus)
You’re just a critic, we know why you drink so much
Jealousy slowly consuming your gut
The streets that you never knew are just where they’ve always been
Your head is firmly lodged way up your butt (where it belongs)
(Repeat chorus)

Who else needs an Excedrin after reading that rant? It was hard to get your point because you rambled on and on and lost us somewhere in the “Dave is not Punk Rock” gibberish. It reminded me of the time I was called a “poser” at a Agnostic Front show when I was 20, because I didn’t look like a punk. I’m so sick of music snobs telling us who we should and shouldn’t listen to and who is rock and who is not. Find something better to write about, because I am here to tell you, music is what it is to the individual who is connecting to it and more importantly, the ones who are creating it. It may suck to you, but the lyrics or whatever it is that they drew from it, may have inspired something for someone else.

I love how he condemns Grohl for adding cuss words to be cool but whenever he wants to emphasize a point in the article, he uses an expletive. He’s so tough….as tough as a middle-schooler.

This article is not a bitter pill but a huge bitter fart. who’s being pretentious here ? i mean the whole “I’m so real ” thing is stupid too. I’m into the documentary side of what dave’s doing. Does it come off that everything has to be dave grohl approved ? sometimes yes, and thats annoying. but you know just let him do his thing. i mean at least he’s doing shit, I’m sure its work too. whatever who cares. do your thing.

“We, we Americans, need our Crass, our Mekons, our Billy Childish, our Billy Bragg, our Chumbawumba.”

Sometimes I need Crass. When I am in a mood, I might need the Mekons, Billys Childish or Bragg. But there is no need for Chumbawumba. No thanks. Your references in the column and comments suggest that the last things relevant things that happened to you occurred sometime in the late nineties. It’s fine. Your taste stops there. It’s boring, but it’s fine. So now, Dave Grohl grinds your gears, because he has traction. And you, a guy who’s apparently done some things that people liked at one time, you have no traction. You only have this moment, to wield your huffy rant about how Dave Grohl isn’t punk. But really, nobody is punk. Not anymore. It’s not a thing. So what’s the big deal? The only other motivation for this pathetic screed seems to be, your desire to gain traction. But nobody cares about what you’ve done. So what do you do? You pick the biggest target you can, and you try to take it down. It didn’t work. You’re boring, and your writing is boring. And I say this as someone who doesn’t even care for Dave Grohl. Just stop.

I am waiting for the author of this article to give me all of the music he creates for free so I can write a manifesto about how critics need to shut the fuck up. Not holding my breath.

With your experience working in mainstream media, what more can you tell us about your penchant for punk rock?