Dave Grohl’s tale covers so many bases after 30 or so years in the business that it takes a biographer of consummate skill to get it all down on paper without missing anything out. Fortunately, ex-Kerrang! editor Paul Brannigan has what it takes, thanks in part to the fact that he actually knows the guy.
Right from the start, Brannigan is at pains to deconstruct the lazy “nicest guy in rock” tag that’s been applied to Grohl since he started to dominate the airwaves with Nirvana. It’s a task that requires most of the book’s 388 pages to achieve, because the subject is a deep chappie who’s been through more drama than any six other people you care to name. The story has its obvious highs and lows – Grohl’s recruitment into the hardcore band Scream; the sudden death of Kurt Cobain (handled with admirable restraint and tact); the rise of Foo Fighters – but what lingers most is the expert way in which so many disparate slices of history are interlaced.
After reading This Is A Call, you’ll know much more than you did before about the way that US hardcore merged into Seattle grunge, and how rock shed its skin in the 90s. Along the way there are veritable mountains of gems to take away, such as Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins’ revelation – which you read here first – that he deeply resented Grohl’s early 00s sessions with Queens Of The Stone Age. It’s info such as that which makes this book essential.
