The Radiohead album Dave Grohl calls “a pivotal moment in the history of music”

The former Nirvana drummer turned Foo Fighters frontman, Dave Grohl, has never shied away from discussing the profound impact of his musical influences. While heavy rock legends like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin undoubtedly played a significant role in shaping his musical trajectory, Grohl’s earliest musical love affair dates back to his 1960s youth and the decade’s salient heroes, The Beatles. As a child, he immersed himself in Beatles records and tried to emulate Ringo Starr’s drumming.

Grohl has also expressed his love for 1980s pop icon Prince. When the Purple Rain singer covered Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ at the 2007 Super Bowl, Grohl explained that he had been shocked. “As my tears hit the keyboard like the Miami rain that night, I realised that this was without a doubt my proudest musical achievement,” he wrote in Dave’s True Stories. “All of those years spent in my bedroom practising alone to Beatles records, sleeping in cold, infested squats on winter fan tours across Europe, battering my drums until my hands literally bled… it all paid off in this moment.”

Following Kurt Cobain’s tragic suicide in April 1994, Grohl and his Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic were understandably heartbroken. It took both a short while to return to the studio and stage as they learned to welcome music back into their hearts.

“For a while after Kurt died, I couldn’t even listen to music,” Grohl once told the NME of this difficult period. “I hated turning on the radio for fear that I’d hear a Nirvana song or any sort of sad music. Anything melancholy just made me so depressed. I would listen to shit like Ace Of Base. I got really into that! I was listening to some really ridiculous shit.”

“That was a funny time with me musically because I just didn’t really want to hear any music,” Grohl reflected. “Then I realised, ‘Oh wait, it’s music that’s going to heal me. What am I doing? I should be listening to music. I should be making music that will make me feel better.’ And it did.”

Indeed, Grohl found satisfaction in some extraordinary music at this point, and while some records may have been “ridiculous”, others would help inspire his next moves. Among Grohl’s influential peers in the mid-1990s was the British alt-rock group Radiohead. The Thom Yorke-fronted group launched to stardom in 1993 with their debut album, Pablo Honey and its lead single, ‘Creep’.

Although Radiohead made a dent in US consciousness with ‘Creep’, the snowball didn’t gather momentum until 1995’s more consummate album, The Bends. Like Radiohead’s earlier releases, the album countered the concurrent Britpop movement with an idiosyncratic, grunge-inspired sound. Naturally, this record grabbed Grohl’s attention and notably became a favourite of Dinosaur Jr frontman J. Mascis.

The Bends undoubtedly won Grohl’s affections, but the 1997 follow-up, OK Computer, truly blew him away. “This was a pivotal moment in not only Radiohead’s career but, I think, in the history of music,” the Foo Fighters frontman once said. “You know, when they made the OK Computer record, I honestly felt like that was the beginning of some kind of revolution, musically.”

Grohl then noted Radiohead’s breathtaking live presence. “Of course, as a live band – one of the greatest live bands of all time,” he added. “Performing a song that was challenging the audience to join them on this crazy revolution and the ‘Paranoid Android’ live, it’s not exactly like the record; it’s better because it’s happening! And I really do feel like that record changed the landscape of popular music for years to come.”

Watch Radiohead perform ‘Paranoid Android’ live on Later… with Jools Holland in 1997 below.