![\"Dave](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Dave-Grohl-Musician-Foo-Fighters-2019-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Raphael Pour-Hashemi)<\/p>\n
Sat 24 January 2026 19:34, UK <\/p>\n
The magic behind the opening of any record wasn\u2019t lost on Dave Grohl<\/a>. <\/p>\n Although Nirvana was the exact opposite of everything that rock and roll was supposed to be in the glamorous 1980s, Grohl was still learning how to structure a record to make sure everything opened up with a bang. And while it doesn\u2019t get much better than hearing his drum fills come in during \u2018Smells Like Teen Spirit\u2019, there were far more commercial bands that were showing him how the first few seconds of a record should sound.<\/p>\n Because when you look at the first song on any album, you have an opportunity here. This is the first taste that anyone has of listening to your latest musical statement, and everything from Black Sabbath\u2019s debut to the first delayed notes of Guns N\u2019 Roses Appetite for Destruction have taken advantage of the start by having everyone lean in a little closer to hear what they\u2019re going to be in for. Concept albums might be the kings of that style, but Grohl figured it was better to kick the door down first.<\/p>\n His debut with Foo Fighters shouldn\u2019t count since it\u2019s basically a demo tape, but there are always interesting ways Grohl has found to keep things fresh. \u2018The Pretender\u2019 is one of the best openers that any band made during the 2000s, the one-two punch of \u2018Doll\u2019 and \u2018Monkey Wrench\u2019 on The Colour and the Shape is a great ramp up to the rest of the record, and no matter how much Grohl hated working on One By One<\/a>, hearing the opening power chords of \u2018All My Life\u2019 makes you feel like a musical bomb is about to go off.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a certain energy that no one can fake, but there were definitely artists who were more calculated than others when Grohl was growing up. He was a student of bands like Rush from the minute that he heard those warped sound effects at the top of 2112, but on the other side of the musical spectrum, there were bands like Kiss that were turning rock and roll into a circus every time they made an album.<\/p>\n While their first few records seemed like fairly standard rock and roll, Alive was when everyone got to hear them in their natural habitat. This was a band that lived and died on their stage performance, so when they made their next record, they couldn\u2019t go back to the same studio setup. They needed a bit more, and when Bob Ezrin came into the picture, the opening ambience of \u2018Detroit Rock City\u2019 transformed an ordinary rock and roll song into the start of the biggest party in the world.<\/p>\n