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In a new Visit Seattle: Dear Seattle video, Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl discusses Seattle and Kurt Cobain. Alternative Nation transcribed Grohl’s comments.
“I’m happy that I got to experience those few years in Seattle where the city just exploded. The experiences that I had at that age, which is a really impressionable age, shaped so much about the person that I am now. I was living with my buddy Barrett in this room in the back of a house, knowing that I could have bought every house on the street, but I didn’t want to change.
I was in a band with the greatest songwriter of our generation, and all I had to do was play the drums like it was the last day of my life, so I did, every time. I had this coming of age incredible experience while I was there, and then probably the most devastating time of my life.
After Kurt died, I couldn’t even listen to music for months. No radio, no TV, nothing. I couldn’t stand the sound of music, I was scared of music, then I realized it was the one thing that was going to help me out of that place. Seattle’s lost a lot of great talent, but in some ways that loss has only strengthened our bond. When I go back to Seattle, I always rent a car and drive around to these places that I spent time. I find myself driving slower when I get to the places that broke my heart, because I want that to stay with me.
All of those lessons that were learned at that time, and all of the things that I gained, and all of the things that I lost, I still feel it. It’s still in my veins. It became this part of my DNA that serves as this divining rod wherever I go. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Seattle. It was the perfect place for a person like me. I wish Seattle would just take me back.”