(Credits: Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Tue 27 January 2026 20:29, UK
From the day he joined Nirvana, Dave Grohl seemed to be living out every young rock fan’s dream.
No one imagines that they are going to be one of the biggest names in music, but through the power of great tunes, pure passion, and absolute charm, Grohl managed to put together the kind of career that anyone else would have given their left arm to have had. But even with everything working out in his favour, there were always going to be a few artists that weren’t nearly as big as Grohl wanted them to be.
Granted, the punk community didn’t necessarily want to be the biggest thing in the world. The whole credence of punk was about being on the fringes of society, so when a band like Nirvana became one of the biggest names in music, there’s a reason why Kurt Cobain was so conflicted about becoming the flavour of the month. But for Grohl, there was no point in him getting the spotlight if he wasn’t going to use it.
And to his credit, Grohl has made sure to use his star power to platform the kind of bands that he loves. There are plenty of casual rock and roll fans who wouldn’t have given two shits about the hardcore scene going on in DC if it wasn’t for Grohl, but to him, bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat deserved to go down in history with The Beatles and The Stones as some of the greatest bands to ever play rock and roll.
But if there was one thing that most punks couldn’t stand, it was posers. Being onstage only for the glory wasn’t doing anyone any favours, and when the pin-up stars started coming out of the woodwork, it didn’t take most purists long to turn their backs on them completely. Then again, Rick Springfield was one of the few people who got the poster-boy facade put on him for no good reason.
Sure, the guy was on General Hospital around the same time that first hits were roaring up the charts, but Grohl was already interested in what he could do with a guitar in his hand. Springfield was already partway between being a new wave star and a power pop master, and songs like ‘I’ve Done Everything For You’ was all that Grohl needed to be convinced that he was a legitimate rock and roll star.
He might still get the reputation as a teenybopper artist, but the reason Grohl wanted to work with Springfield for the documentary Sound City was because of the musician that he was behind it all, saying, “Rick’s story is different than everyone else’s. Had that General Hospital thing not happened, I think people would have thought of him in a different way. Deep down, this guy’s a rocker. When we jammed with him, he has the energy of a 16-year-old kid, and he rips guitar just like any other rocker you’ve met in your life. [He] had a different haircut, but it’s the same fucking music.”
Most people might not have been expecting Slayer or anything from their collaboration, but ‘The Man That Never Was’ is one of the best songs that Grohl made for the entire project. It’s almost surreal to have someone that high-profile on the same record as Lee Ving of Fear, but that piss and vinegar that every kid has growing up never quite faded in Springfield’s voice over the years.
Everyone might like to look at the pretty face and make a judgement call, but Grohl knew better than to look at the surface level. No matter what kind of music they play, any musician has the potential to impress their audience, and when the girls stopped screaming, Springfield had the kind of power pop chops to stand next to bands like Cheap Trick if he wanted to.
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