Dave Grohl: His Grammys Speech About Electronic Music Was Bullshit

wow. this article is wrong and just terrible on so many levels.  grohl was making a statement about a current trend in music today, he was not criticizing the tools of the electronic artists as much as he was stating that the human element is and will always be the most important part of music creation, and we should not forget that, as some have, due to reliance on digital perfection.

I like the way the author uses the phrases "white guys with guitars" and "white guys took over " instead of just long haired guys with guitars or Music executives.  The reality is the record industry will stop at nothing to make it's nut, even if that means divide and segregate the entire rock world.  Remember when anyone who listen to anything their parents hated was a rock fan.

Now, your a fan of one of a thousand genres all created to make you feel unique  instead of the   rebellious solidarity of a  rock fan.  Grohl is entitled to his opinion no matter is race or age. Sounds like that is your problem rather than Grohl dissing EDM.  By the way the last time I noticed Moby and many many other EDM artist are white dudes.

This article is mostly on solid ground. However, there is one hiccup in the logic. The writer sort of makes fun of Nirvana for capitalizing on a form of music that was then in its 15th or so year of existence. However, he lavishes praise on today's EDM stars, while also pointing out that EDM is into around its 15th year. 

Perhaps the writer is truly making a point he's not aware of, that really popular music is just on a time delay, and Dave Grohl is old enough to be stuck in a time delay that is now 15 years past. I'm sure Deadmau5 and Skrillex will be doing the same damn thing when they're in their mid-40s and their music is old and tired.

It's sort of just a vicious cycle that most artists don't shake - they make themselves in a mold appropriate for their times and it's hard to break free from. Some artists do truly break free and re-invent themselves. But that is definitely the exception to the rule.

I'm not siding with Dave Grohl here, just making the point that maybe he's not being some horrible bastard - he just is living within the limits of the time he came from, like most of us do.

This guy totally missed the whole point of Dave's speech.  It had nothing to do with comparing Electronic music to rock.  It had everything to do with this crappy pop artists who cant sing or play an instrument for crap getting audio tuned and digitally enhanced to sound better.  Dave was saying their music was raw. Its true if you go to a foo fighters show and watch them live it sounds just as amazing as the CD.  These pop artists on the other hand are to scared to sing live at big shows because they know they suck and resort to lip singing.  How you misconstrued this so badly is beyond me you sir are a complete moron.  

This website is very good. How did you ensure it is !?

Many thanks for writing this, it was unbelieveably informative and helped a lot

sorry for some wrong spellings .

Dave Grohl is probably one of the greatest drummers of the world , and he can play guitar and a whole other instruments . He is also a great singer with passion for music .                                    Rest of Foo Fighters are also very talented. Foo fighters have also very great lyrics about love , politics and things that they really beleives in ..when they say they have recorded their album in their own garage it also deserves credits for that.                                                                             Dave Grohl have played on bands like Nirvana , Foo Fighters , Them croocked valtures and joined queens of the stoneage on tour. My point he has dedicated his whole life to music and is probobly one of the best artist we have ever seen. Congratulation with that Grammy you really deservs it !   And about making electronic music/pop these day , you often dont even have to have really talent to reach the billboard and get awards. Thats what is so sad about the music ttodays music . Dont misunderstand me I like talanted pop artist and elctronica artist , but I can say there are quit few of them  . 

I'm by no means a Foo Fighters fan AT ALL but the sophistry extant in this article is so very, very L.A. and you've completely missed the point

music is opinion.... wait.. WHAT!!??? lol

OK OK here we go!! if it wasnt for the MUSICIAN!! the whole computerized world of LOGIC, Pro Tools, Sonar would have NOOO DATA BASES!! (SAMPLE sound files) for them to start with... (lol that means they have to either pick up a instrument, or just steal other peoples tones and souls) I live in costa mesa orange county C.A.... I work at wall of sound studios, i teach at dexters music, i also teach independently....  I WANT U TO USE indepent research and check me out on my youtube account PAGANINIFIRE JACOB GULLICK ....  NOW!!!!! music is like the universe ok... and regular johnster people have there hubble space probe taking picture of the universe they could get up to A BILLION OR TRILLION pics.. but guess what!? they are only seeing 1 percent of what the UNIVERSE/ MUSIC world is about... and again reading that article to me, was like listening to 1st graders talk about how they had sex and they already have a kid... there are many problems i know how to fix em.. but im just one musician that plays piano , my first instrument, guitar my second, santuer my 3rd, the vocals.. LOL whenever im working or not playing music im fucking singning my ass off!! TECHNIQUE u need to be a musician with TECHNIQUE not some fucking retard thats like ohh i know all bout music and then ur like oh dude here play my new guitar.. and they're like well uhhhh i only know the fundamentals of it... DUDE PEOPLE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE dont be afraid to like what u like... and dont have MEDIOCRITY CONFUSE OR BEFUDDLE u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks GANG!! yayyyyy!!!! the music industries are robots

i work at wall of sound studios... check out my youtube channel on Paganinifire Jacob Gullick.... any ways thank you JT for showing them a couple of picture out of the universe thank u

Music is opinion yes

 holy shit.. this is article is like listening to 1st graders talk about how they have had sex and have a kid of there own.....

I have been composing all genres of music for the entirety of my life. Personally I agree with Dave Grohls speech because it is true. It is much more difficult and impressive to perform live with a band playing instruments unlike just a simple DJ set. Furthermore, the writer of this article obviously has no idea about true music as music comes from the heart and a composition is played from the instrument.. not some prerecorded samples that need to be cued. I think the writer of this article is in fact, that disgracefully one sided that he should be sacked and leave the writing of reviews to real musicians and composers and we'll see the views of people with valid opinions. Performances and live gigs have always and always should be live and played the way they are recorded (even sometimes improvised!) by the musicians themselves. Dance music of this kind should probably be banned from live performances because it is not actually "live" and the DJs should be thrown into clubs to do what they do best. DJing for a crowd of drunken clubbers looking to pull.

I myself enjoy clubbing, but believe there is a time and place for live music... and club music doesn't fit into this.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY A DAFT TWAT. (or should I say daft punk)

What a douchy article. I won't even bother with refuting your uneducated grasping at race that you repeat throughout your article as a tactic to cover that you don't know what you're talking about. Dave Grohl (who got his start with under appreciated hardcore legends Scream, not Nirvana, so your comments about punk rock are bullshit too) is expressing a completely valid sentiment. People who have spent their lives mastering an instrument understandably resent that music now comes from entering a key on a computer. Yes, they have to have a musical understanding to compose listenable music, but obviously so do people who play instruments. I'm not actually including hip hop here, as being a good rapper is difficult and artistic in the verbal and rhythmic sense, and, most importantly, human sounds. I'm not dismissing electronic music entirely. I'm just saying that the human aspect can't be replaced, Dave is right, and, most importantly, you're article sucks.

Looks like Dennis Romero is a fucking hack trying to create controversy that doesn't exist. Nice yellow journalism you fucking retard.

dont get me wrong i think the foo fighters suck and are just reiterating the same cookie-cutter radio rock year after year, but the guy had a point in his speech. as someone whos spent a lot of time in the electronic music scene and playing in bands, there is something to be said about hands-on analog recording. technology "punk-ifies" the music; it makes it so anyone can make it, which inherently is good and bad (not that anyone with a basic knowledge of the guitar cannot play the foo fighters..). its up the individual and the music industry as a whole to seperate the cream from the dregs. 

But so does every other genre because this is the digital world. He's simply upholding the merits of musicianship and craft. Electronic musicians are still craftsmen because we're all human in the end but that record was made like back in the day where edits and loops couldn't be perfect so you had to play it right yourself, and the fact that he won a Grammy for it is huge

Ok, you seriously misinterpreted everything grohl was saying. He isn't hating on electronic music, or even hating at all. He's talking about the fact that 95% of recorded music these days is done on a computer and digitally edited, meaning guitar players and drummers don't have to practice the intricacies they require like timing, because you just edit it later on. Electronic music may fall into the category of computer music

jst compare the live performances....reality is maintained by bands like foo fighters n pearl jam but electronics cant provide such voice live...n tats where u get disasters such as fergie,will.i.am,chris brown...they dont even sound same as that in original song....wat a shit they have made of music...

dave grohl and his music are pathetic, if he is not himself a cia agent hes been inflitrated by them thru the music industry,cia mk ultra brainwashing.. theres something creepy about this guy and i wouldnt put it past him that he knows something quite a but deeper about kurts supiscious death.. most hollywood rockers (and thats what dave is) are exposed to certain things and levels of secrecy as there careers progress. his music has surface messages that are the same old bullshit rock and roll thats been hitting the hollywood mainstream since the beginning.. he doesnt question reality or make change thru music, hes simply waving hisflagof ego, im not saying he cant play or deosnt have talent, he does write catchy songs and has a strong drive to pursue his so called dream, but that doesnt much whne your playing for obama and the white house and calling a criminal war mongering puppet his hero..playing at the white house ushers you into the secret society of the underground hollywood political occult and proves to me that he is a sell out and either is a cia agent or has been infiltrated by them. he is one of the gang now.. hes never questioned a system thats been waging war on reality for eons and hes no cobain. why do you think cobain was taken out in the 27 club, its because he questioned reality and didnt agree or comply with the system. like hendrix and the rest of the 27 club they all were speaking out against the governemnet  and war and ready to expose the things they saw as they were revealed to them as there careers into the hollywood underground were simutaniously unfolding.. just watch stanley kubricks eyeswide shut and know that he was killed for exposing to much  in the film and befre he could expose anything more they killed him before he could finish the film the what he sawi t to be finished. he was exposing deep secret levels of the political underground world in that film, and  that underground political world is no different than the music industry world. its the same thing and same poeple running both shows.and as kubrick exposed in eyes wide shut the two worlds of the political and entertainment are one in the same..they meet in secrecy andit really is anything does orgy sacrifice type ritual going on behind closed doors. and if you dont belive me just watch the grammys or superbowl halftime shows to see these rituals taking place..  just look who walks on the red carpet and you will see who is being mind controlled or are clued to whats really going on behind the scenes and now not so behind the scenes  of the suppossed occult elistists of the underground secret  political occult societies of washington d.c(which is a seperate military state outside of the u.s. its dc not the  u.s) and the  secret occults of hollywood and n.y/ yes jay z and beyonce are deeply involved in these occults. and as his career evolves you see this happening to good old d.g and his band mates. its just a theory that i am stalking with an open mind. something is going on  with these rockers and political puppets thats very odd and its not the ragsto riches stories or there egos that prove this, its a feeling you get that something just isnt right when you see these suppossed stars  up at the podium or on the stage. without question i feel dave and most hollywood rockers including the so called elites like zepplin the stones the beatles were groomed and trained weather it be consciously or unconsciously to brainwash the world thru there medium for some unseen agenda beyond there knowing or not knowing what they or there mind controllers are doing. the signs are all there.   all i know is all is not what it seems, grohl played at the white house and obviously has no intention of speaking out against the war.  hes political and willing to play for killers at the white house then hes one of them,MY IDEA IS TO STOP THE VOTE CAUE ASIT REVEALS ITSELF THE POLITICAL WORLD IS AN ILLUSION AND A FABRICATED CONTRUCT TO SEPERATE US THRU THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE IN A CORRUPT(CORPORATE) SYSTEM THAT DOESNT HAVE THE POEPLE BEST INTEREST AT HANDOR HEART, JUST RESEARCH THE RECENT BILLS AND ACTS OBAMA  AND HIS PUPPETS PASSED ON NEW YEARS EVE WHILE EVERYONE WASINA TRANCE LIKE STATE FOCUSED ON THE ILLUSION AND GETTING DRUNK. THE NATIONAL DEFENCE ADMINISTRATION ACT AND THE ENEMY EXPATRIATION(EX-PATRIOT) ACT AND LOOK UP THE PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY FOR OTHER PROOF. BUT I KNOW GROHL AND HIS FOO FIGHTERS WILL SURELY BE ON THE BILL TO ROCK THE VOTE COME 2012 RIDNG OBAMAS WAR MACHINE BAND WAGON IN NOVEMBER. UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT HE AND ANYONE ELSE NOT SPEAKING UP AGAINST THE WAR MACHINE HAVE BEEN CLUED  INTO SOMETHING THAT THE SO CALLED ELITE CALL THERE TRUTH AND HIDE FROM US. AND ANYTHING THAT IS HIDDEN AND KEPT IN SECRECY IS NOT THE TRUTH,.. ROCK ON DAVE GROHL ROCK THE FUCK ON YOU PAWN!!!  

Some people like things, while other people like other things.

The only response I find worthy: what the hell is wrong with you Dennis? Could you have possibly taken Daves Grammy speech any further out of context? You are using the straw man fallacy in order to sound like you actually know what your talking about. Quiet amusing if I don't say so myself. It is sad that you have to misrepresent what Dave said in order to create a little havoc about a speech that will go down in the books. It's a shame that LA Weekly would actually allow you to write such BULLSHIT as you say. But clearly you have no idea what bullshit really is. 

Wow, what a fucking idiot. I don't even really care for Foo Fighters, and I do appreciate electronic music to a degree, but what exactly is this "writer" talking about? Here's the problem with people's selfish, dimwitted, facebook-driven view of reality these days: if someone speaks appreciatively about something (like, for instance, live rock and roll music), some twat assumes that because what he likes was left out of the argument then it has been disparaged. Where the fuck does this douche read anything about "racist" or "homophobe"? Maybe what he is saying is that it's a good thing when people still take the time and put in the effort to learn how to perform and compose music on an actual instrument, just like it's also a good thing when morons who want to pass themselves off as journalists actually have a story and actually know how to write.

Did you really just turn this into a race issue you lame dumb ass? 

He wasn't ragging on electronic music, as evident by his performance later in the evening. He was ragging on the need for autotune, pitch corrections, and other tools musicians use to make themselves sound flawless.

You just wanted am excuse to write this, electro-hippy. Next time, pay attention to what a person is saying before you pop Molly and go on the defensive.

This is probably the most ill-informed "article" I've ever read. You're the worst, Dennis.

Dave Grohl's grammy speech was bs? I think not. If anything this article is bullshit!

i'm confused, where did racism or homophobia come into play?

"Lets not turn this into another racist, homophobic, "disco sucks" moment. Not this time, Dave. "

Wait, this is why he wrote the response...To clarify that he's NOT talking about EDM but when "Rock" bands use Auto-tune, and other effects that "line up" the drums up perfectly with the tempo of the song. Linkin Park, all pop rock bands. He's said in many interviews that he loves Dance music. Current dance music... Hell, him and Taylor are always putting on Disco songs in interviews or before they go on stage. Uhhh, did you notice they let Deadmau5 do a remix of their song, "Rope" and even performed a bit of the remix version live @ the grammys too?? ......And yes, they do just have a real heavy classic-rock influence that may not be ground-breaking, but they are still a good band. This whole thing has been blown out of proportion thanks to people like you.

Dance music/computer music sucks!! Kraftwerk are innovators, they are amazing!!! Its not the same as what's out now!!!!! Dave Grohl rules!!

The DJ's doth protest too much methinks.

This article sux! He never bashed electronic music. Just crap like auto tune! The album was recorded on tape. Which very much limits the amount of processing you can do. U actually have to play the entire part for each song. With protools you can simply record and loop parts to make a song. Don't read into everything someone says and asse what u got out of it was the intended message.

Yes, EDM has finally made it to the mainstream and to the Grammys (pfft) after 20 years, but, sadly, its the crap EDM that panders to the lowest common denominator, hence its Grammy attention.

Crap EDM such as the usual corporate-fellating suspects of Skrillex, Deadmaufive (Kevin's comment is spot on, anyone with a stage name requiring a number to be pronounced as a letter, is being quite damn pretentious), Aviicii, Rusko, and other laptop operators.  Not good and true and soulful EDM such as Carl Craig, Ralph Myerz, Lone, Eliot Lipp, Krystal Klear, Floating Points, and others who know how to make music to make butts move while avoiding the wubby plodding sluggish mess that dubstep, as purveyed by the former artists, has made itself out to be.

Racist, homophobic... damn, nowadays everything, even rant about disco music, is racist and homophobic...

wow, racist and homophobic? dumbest thing i've heard in a while.

Holy crap!  LA Weekly sucks so bad.  The writers are so bitter they wouldn't find real journalism jobs.

call me crazy, but was electronic music even mentioned?

This article certainly took his speech in a very peculiar direction and twisted it back upon itself. It didn't read that he hated electronic music in the slightest but rather that he didn't like the process and wanted to make a recording in a more "real"??? way. Granted that while he made it in his "garage", he also had an expensive 24 track Studer and Butch Vig sitting at the controls. These are things 99.9% of musicians would NOT have access to. His "garage" recording had more professional facilities and gear than most "professional" recording studios so that's a bit of a blind. The article however is pants, his speech wasn't "racist, homophobic" in the least so stop flinging those incredibly tired, overused bumper sticker accusations around as it diminishes the actual thing. As far as Foo Fighters being predictable, big deal. So are dozens upon dozens of bands that put out good melodic power pop rock n' roll. He knows his limitations within the confines of FF and Grohl stretches out in other projects but you didn't care to mention those. This article totally grasps at tenuous straws.

I think perhaps you're taking his comments too far. I'm a musician and in no way interpreted Grohl's comments to be about electronic music...more just about what music really means - and electronic music is a part of that.

The writer totally misses the much simpler point grohl was making.It had nothing to do with electronic music as a genre. He just meant they made the record with a lot less computer based studio gear than most big records that are out today. After seeing photos of said studio, methinks he may have been coming off a bit overly humble - it looks like a nice studio - but yeah - this had nothing to do with electronic music vs electric music at all.I think grohl would agree that that is such a dead and kicked argument, from either side.

You totally missed the point he was making. He wasn't saying "guitar good, computers bad." Just that whatever type of music you're making, it's more important that it is made with passion than purely computer precision. Relax, Sally Sensitive!

this article is wrong on so many levels.

Whoever wrote this article was desperate. I don'treally care for foo but have some common sense mate.

You've got it all wrong, and he has even clarified this. He even likes some electronic genres and respects the hard work and creativity put into them. What he is talking about it the fine tuning of pop artists' voices and everything. That's why he said they take the human element out of music. Heck, he's collaborated with Deadmau5 and whatnot. I knew there would be overblown and falsified articles like this.

Dave Grohl is right and he should not have clarified anything. All that pro tools and its ilk have done is made it possible for the people that CANT play together and CANT speed up and slow down to get on a grid and sound like they can. Recording budgets that soar because of record labels and producers having to employ an army of pro tools "engineers" ( really just glorified editors) have been part of what the shill merchants have been pushing because the tradition of learning the craft for musicians has gone. Its also part of what has killed the industry because people have figured it out and stopped buying crap from people who cant either write a melody or play as a unit. And people wonder why then a band gets on stage and they cant pull it off? 

What he was trying to say was: If you are in a "rock band" learn your instrument, learn how to sing, learn how to keep tempo, learn how to LISTEN to each other and play as a band!! You do this by playing as many shit gigs as you can and rehearsing, not by buying software and a macbook. In other words, by WORKING at it, ( yes there is some kind of effort involved in this) If you cant sing a whole chorus in a song, you dont get to call yourself a singer. If you cant play an entire drum track from start to finish without it being pulled together from one measure of a beat, you dont get to call yourself a drummer. If you dont KNOW what a measure is,then you dont know the language. LEARN IT!! If you have "it" you wont need the grid to be moved and the beat detective to be called in to nudge it. It will be there and everyone from the producer to the label boss will hear it and say " leave it alone". And the chances of that happening are about as good as you being able to afford 2 inch tape and a machine to to run it , as well a "garage" as big as Grohls to record in. 

Pretty sure he was ripping on auto-tune, not on EDM.