Dave Grohl has opened up about how, after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994, he came close to walking away from music altogether — until an unexpected moment with a hitchhiker made him reconsider.
Cobain, the frontman of Nirvana, died more than three decades ago at the age of 27.
A coroner ruled his death as suicide.
Grohl was Nirvana’s drummer, and later that year he launched Foo Fighters — where he remains the band’s lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and the only constant member.
But Grohl has said his future in music wasn’t always a given. In a recent TV appearance, he explained that in the aftermath of Cobain’s death, he nearly left the industry behind for good.
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Grohl said: “When Nirvana ended I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I wanted to continue playing music. It made me sad to think of playing in another band. Losing Nirvana, losing Kurt [Cobain], was a really dark, emotional experience.”
He also described how, during that period, he felt like disappearing and chose to travel to Ireland to get some distance and try to clear his mind.
While driving along a rural Irish road, Grohl noticed a hitchhiker — and what stood out was that the stranger was wearing a Cobain t-shirt.
“To me, I thought, ‘Okay this is the universe telling me to continue,'” Grohl added.
“I thought, ‘Okay, I need to keep going. I have so much reverence and respect for the past, but I need to have a future.’ And that’s kind of where it began.”
Grohl also discussed his daughter Violet, who is set to release her debut album this month, and shared that he’s tried to pass on what he’s learned over the years.
On The Late Show, he offered what he sees as the most important advice for anyone hoping to make a mark in the music business.
He said: “The reward has to be the music itself. You work hard and you want to be successful and you want to be the best that you can be. But at the end of the day the most important thing is your love of music and that you love the music that you’re making.
“As I told Violet, I want her to really appreciate these early experience. Don’t wish any of this away and don’t get too ahead of yourself. Be in the moment right now. I really want her to appreciate this now part. Because this now part does become the foundation of everything that comes next.”