Before Nevermind detonated and rewired rock history, Dave Grohl was just a teenager glued to MTV, clocking a drum kit that would quietly shape one of the most important albums ever recorded.
In a resurfaced clip shared by The Hooters drummer David Uosikkinen, Grohl revealed that his iconic Nirvana drum kit was directly inspired by an ‘80s music video (per Loudwire).
A teenage obsession that stuck
The story came out after Grohl linked up with Uosikkinen at a recent Foo Fighters show, only realising the connection after drummer Ilan Rubin pointed it out.
“Hey David, I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to have this conversation,” Grohl says in the video (above). “But Ilan just informed me that you played drums in The Hooters. You have to know when that video with you playing that yellow drum kit that was on MTV, I was maybe like 15 or 16 years old and I bought a yellow drumset because you looked so cool.”
It wasn’t just a passing phase either.
“I had that drum set forever,” Grohl continues. “That’s the drum set I used to make Nirvana’s Nevermind. So I’m thinking that if it weren’t for you and your awesome video, then Nevermind would’ve sounded like shit.”
The kit behind the explosion
That kit wasn’t some studio curated masterpiece, it was a Tama Granstar with a bright yellow finish, carried with Grohl from early gigs straight into the Nevermind sessions.
It’s almost ridiculous to think that a record that shifted the entire direction of rock in the ‘90s can be traced back to a teenager chasing the look of a drum kit he saw on TV, but that’s how this stuff works. Influence doesn’t always arrive dressed as something serious, sometimes it’s just a colour, a moment, or a clip that refuses to leave your head.
From MTV to cultural reset
The Hooters’ videos, including ‘And We Danced’ and ‘Day By Day’, were heavy rotation staples in the mid ‘80s, for Grohl that exposure stuck long enough to bleed into his own path.
And that path led straight into Nirvana, there’s something fitting about it, one era’s polished MTV moment feeding into the raw, distorted swing of Nevermind. No grand plan. just a chain reaction.
Follow me for more on the Australian and US Metal Scene:
MORE IN Music
