How Dimebag Darrell Taught Dave Grohl How to Be The Coolest Guy Ever

I’ve seen a lot of Foo Fighters backlash around the Internet of late, a knee-jerk reaction to the surge in press surrounding their new album. Common comments include the assertions that 1) he raped and pillaged Nirvana’s legacy for his own gain, 2) Grohl’s “bad-ass rock n’ roll guy” shtick is insincere, that he’s basically a try-hard, and 3) similarly, Grohl’s “cool guy” shtick is insincere, that he’s basically a try-hard there too.

I hereby shut down those Negative Nancies as follows: 1) It’d be hard to argue that Grohl didn’t benefit from being in Nirvana, because duh, but from the very first Foo Fighters album Grohl proved himself a very deft musician (he played every instrument on that recording himself!) whose music really didn’t sound much like his old band at all, 2) Go see the band live. It’s not a put-on. 3) This interview with Rolling Stone [via Metal Insider], in which Grohl reveals how Dimebag Darrell taught him to be awesome.

Tells Grohl of his life-changing encounter with Dimebag:

There was an Ozzfest in England in 1998, and Korn canceled. So we got the call. It was Slayer, Pantera and Black Sabbath. We had to go on after Pantera. I was so terrified: ‘There’s gonna be a riot. I’m gonna get drawn and quartered. No one’s going to like our band.’

But we played, and I looked to the side. The guys from Pantera are watching us and singing the lyrics to our songs. Afterwards we made friends with Pantera. I was nervous and scared; I didn’t think I fit in. But they were so open to us. That backstage hospitality we try to have – it all came from Pantera. [Guitarist] Dimebag Darrell was the nicest fucking guy in the world. He could walk in and do a shot of Crown Royal with Justin Bieber, with Rick Nielsen, with James Brown – he was everybody’s best friend. And you could feel that energy when he was playing.

After that day, I was like, ‘From now on, everybody’s allowed in this room. I don’t care if it’s Britney Spears.’ I became the backstage best friend. Whenever I showed up at a festival, the first thing I’d do is grab a bottle of whiskey and go knocking on doors to see who the funniest people are. You’d be surprised who the real fucking nutcases are.

That story is consistent with basically everything else we’ve ever heard about Dime — the best, nicest, most inclusive dude. He unknowingly passed it on to Dave Grohl, and now Grohl passes it on to you… so be grateful and stop complaining, ya fuck!