The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
This book gets me every single time. I listened to the audiobook a day after it was released and it just so happened I was in Seattle just a week before this. I loved it so much that I bought the book and and this is my third read. I love it because in The Storyteller, Grohl refrains from ventilating gossip or attacking people who wronged him. He generously shares scenes stories of rock’n’roll adventure, heartbreak and mischief, and this is a phenomenal, inspiring book, that had me snivelling several times. Some may say that the writing is scattered and shallow, but I loved it and the story telling was supreme. I loved it because whether corny, cliched or both, he is to me, the voice of my generation personified.
Grohl writes:
“The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I’ve recorded and can’t wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.
“This certainly doesn’t mean that I’m quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it’s like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.”
This is not a book about his success in a decades long career – there is no braggadocio here. You will however, read about how much Dave Grohl loves his mother, how he is bonkers about being a dad, how he celebrates music by playing onstage with friends and famous rockers, and just generally experiencing days and telling the stories that are borne of living a good life. Read it and weep. It’s worth it. I promise.
