One of the best moments during this past Sunday’s Grammys came from the Foo Fighters. Not only was it awesome seeing Grohl wearing a Slayer t-shirt, but his acceptance speech for the Best Rock Performance award was well-said and honest. However, there are a few who were up in arms about his “human element” comment, and even we felt that it was kind of awkward for him to follow up his speech by performing with Deadmau5.
That’s why Grohl released a statement today clarifying his Grammy acceptance speech. You can read the lengthy and humorous statement in its entirety here, but here’s a key part from it:
“I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5…..I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn’t matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician’s personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and…..human.
That’s exactly what I was referring to. The ‘human element.’ That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became ‘bad’ things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily ‘fixed.’ The end result? In my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.
And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell…I’m not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really fucking hard so that I don’t have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that’s what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.
I don’t know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that’s badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the ‘craft’ is equally as important, I’m sure. I mean…..if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?) So, don’t give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape. Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn.
Stay frosty.
Davemau5”
Well said, Mr. Grohl. Not only do we love that he actually spell-checked Kyuss and Yngwie Malmsteen, but we also love his honesty. We may not be the biggest fans of electronic music, but Grohl’s statement reminds us that there’s no harm in liking or respecting different genres of music. In case you haven’t yet, you can read Grohl’s original Grammy acceptance speech after the jump. Then, we’d recommend you watch the Foo Fighters’ “Top Ten Interesting Facts about the Grammy,” which they did last week prior to the awards on The Late Show with David Letterman after the jump as well.
Grohl’s original acceptance speech:
“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesaJ6qwxDY[/youtube]
