(Credits: Far Out / Dave Grohl)
Sun 22 March 2026 14:37, UK
Most rock stars could benefit from seeing the genre through the eyes of Dave Grohl. Even though a lot of artists might claim to be one of the biggest deals in the world when they start out, Grohl has never taken a single second for granted when he works with the group, knowing that it was all a strange miracle that got him there in the first place. Many more miracles have come since then, and Grohl thought that being able to live in the same era as Prince didn’t even seem fair to other musicians.
Then again, anyone who has ever performed with Prince tends to feel a certain lift whenever they are in his presence. Compared to every other musician that came before him, Prince seemed to live and breathe music with every fibre of his body, only being limited by the time of day that he had to play everything that he wanted to play.
When you look at his rap sheet as an artist, Prince is also one of the few people who could have claimed to have done everything he wanted. Every album that he made was 100% his vision, and even if he had to fight with Warner Bros to get there, he still released something incredible every single time.
Even when every other genre was murdered by the alternative generation, Prince could still put the other disaffected kids to shame with his songs. The album Chaos and Disorder may be far from his best album, but his way of interpolating alternative rock into his own warped lens is exactly the reason why he should be so revered today.
When Grohl had the chance to perform with Prince at a jam session, hearing Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ come out of the ‘Purple One’ warped his brain, saying, “It was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life, and there was nobody there. The Forum was completely empty. And he was like, ‘We should do that’, and I said, ‘Okay’”.
While Grohl wouldn’t be able to make up that time when he started getting ready for a meeting at his daughters’ school, there’s usually something magical about just being in the room with your fellow musician. As opposed to playing the greatest music ever to millions of people, playing with your idol jamming for no one but yourselves is the kind of dream that a lot of people only dream of getting once.
But Grohl had already seen Prince beat him at his own game more than a few times. When working the Super Bowl Half Time Show audience into a frenzy, Prince brought the house down with a medley of rock classics and threw a piece of Foo Fighters’ ‘Best of You’ in the middle of everything.
Grohl even had to admit that Prince was leagues above everybody else, telling 60 Minutes, “Prince is a genius, everybody knows it. He’s better than everybody at everything he does. The end”. Then again, if you look at any of Prince’s live footage, can you really blame him? If he had lived any longer, we would probably be listening to him making a bluegrass album if it suited him, and it would still be 90% better than most other musicians.
Is Prince the greatest guitarist of all time?
While he might well be considered one of the greatest all-round musicians ever on record, Prince was particularly brilliant with a guitar in his hand. In fact, there’s a good case for him being perhaps one of the most underrated six-string players of all time.
Of course, it’s not easy to land the title of “greatest guitarist of all time” on one person’s shoulders. After all, as with any art, beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. But if you can show us one artist who played as perfectly, one who intricately weaved the instrument into a whole range of songs and genres as effectively, and one who still manages to encapsulate the burning essence of guitar playing as brilliantly as Prince, then we may have a debate on our hands.
