Dave Grohl discussed being sued for $40,000 when joining Nirvana in a new GQ interview.
Grohl takes a beat. “You know the very first thing that happened to me when I joined Nirvana?” he asks, his enthusiasm just beginning to edge into anger. “The very first time I stepped properly into the music industry and handed over my trust to someone else, outside of my punk-rock friends and family in DC? I got sued. Some piece of paper I signed in a van outside a Denny’s diner when I was in a band called Scream, starving, nothing to lose, not thinking any of this would go anywhere. Then I signed with Nirvana and I got sued for $40,000 straight out of the gate because some guy said I was still under contract with him. And that sucked.
“No one thought Nirvana would be a big deal,” Grohl continues. “No one. And anyone who says they did are full of shit. No one had a clue. So when everything went crazy, when the world started coming to us, when that whole wild ride started happening, it gave me a licence to never have to listen to anyone ever again. From that moment on, no one has ever told me what to do. No one. In 25 years, I have never had anyone ever say to me, ‘Oh, Dave you have to do this.’ Fuck you, motherfucker. I’m the president of my record company [Roswell Records]. I own my entire back catalogue. I get to say when we do this, when we do that. So if something needs doing, I’ll just do it myself. If I want to write a 25-minute instrumental, write all the music, play all the instruments, film it and then, guess what, maybe never even release it? I’ll do it. Just because I can. That’s why.”
