Dave Grohl has quite the political streak in him.
He first began performing back in 2004 for John Kerry’s campaign trail. Most recently, he performed “Times Like These” at Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration last month.
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But the singer’s time in politics hasn’t always been positive. He recently opened up about being “being beaten by police” at an anti-Ronald Reagan event.
This is Dave Grohl.
In case you don’t know who he is, he was the drummer in Nirvana and he founded the Foo Fighters, where he serves as lead vocals.
Yep, he’s basically got rock ‘n roll pumping through his veins. But he’s also got a political flair to him as well.
Last month, he and his band, the Foo Fighters, performed “Times Like These” at Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration.
As a proud supporter of Biden, Grohl told The Independent that it was a “huge honor” to play and that the event was “a beacon of light and hope.”
He went on to say that he believes “so many Americans had become desensitised to a lot of the crisis we’ve been in for the past four years.”
“We grew calloused to the daily disasters. It would have been easy to lose sight of hope and the idea of how good things could be.”
He’s done some other political sets throughout the years, like when he played at John Kerry’s campaign stop in 2004.
“The bus would stop at the little town square, and the people would come out to listen to the candidate explain their position on certain things, and that was really inspiring because it humanized the democratic process,” Grohl told Zane Lowe.
Despite all this, the “nicest man in rock” never meant to get involved in politics.
He told The Independent that he got thrust into it instead when George W. Bush started playing his song, “Times Like These” on his campaign trail.
The democratic voter said that he was “so personally offended” by that.
This is what spurred him to start singing his song live for John Kerry’s campaign.
But by getting involved with politics, the singer has seen some things he wishes he could forget.
This all happened at the “Rock Against Reagan” concert during the ’80s.
It took place “right on the mall, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a quarter of a mile from where I would one day be invited to play at Obama’s first big ‘party’ on the South Lawn,” he told *The Independent*.
“They happened each Fourth of July. Hundreds of thousands of people from the suburbs would come to watch the national firework display.”
There, he would watch punk bands perform, such as Dead Kennedys and the Bad Brains.
But things soon turned physical.
“There were police on horses with [expletive] batons. It was nuts. I’d get beaten by police and rednecks,” he told The Independent .
Even under these terrifying circumstances, Dave managed to see some purpose in this.
“But it was the right place and the right time for that, under Reagan’s suffocating conservative administration.”
There is even a good chance that the experience inspired some of the songs on the Foo Fighters’ upcoming album.
Their 10th album – “Medicine at Midnight” – is being released on Feb. 5.
It was supposed to be released this time last year, but the coronavirus pandemic halted things — like it did so much else.
“The people concerned with the business aspect were telling us this wasn’t a good time to release a record,” Grohl said.
“But we pushed back. I said: ‘Really? Because I imagine people could use a bit of escape right now, don’tcha think? I imagine people want to dance!’”
He’s got that right.
“Medicine at Midnight” will be released this Feb. 5. You can also check out the rest of his interview with The Independent here.
H/T: The Independent
