What Dave Grohl really meant when he compared Billie Eilish to Nirvana
18 February 2020, 22:09 | Updated: 8 March 2021, 11:11
The Foo Fighters frontman compared the young singer to his former band, but some people got the wrong end of the stick.
In 2021, Billie Eilish is one of the world's biggest stars. She won five Grammy Awards for her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and she already has a Bond theme under her belt, despite only being 19, and the new documentary about the artist, The World's A Little Blurry, has been attracting a lot of attention.
But Eilish has been on the music scene for quite a while now. In February 2019, Dave Grohl compared the popularity of Billie Eilish to that on Nirvana in 1991. His comments prompted some controversy as people claimed that the work of Eilish didn't come close to that of Kurt Cobain and co.
Billie Eilish on Dave Grohl's praise
However, the Foo Fighters star later clarified his comments calling the story "lazy paraphrasing" and set the story straight.
Taking to Twitter, Grohl wrote: "For a VARIETY of reasons, and out of respect for Billie Eilish, I'd like to share the transcript of what I actually said at the Pollstar convention the other day, rather than some lazy paraphrasing that completely misses the point... ahem...
".... I went to see Billie Eilish not too long ago. Oh my god man. Unbelievable. My daughters are obsessed with Billy Eilish. And what I'm seeing happening with my daughters is the same revolution that happened to me at their age. My daughters are listening to Billie Eilish and they're becoming themselves through her music.
"She totally connects to them. So we went to go see her play at the Wiltern, and the connection that she has with her audience is the same thing that was happening with Nirvana in 1991. The people in the audience knew every word. And it was like our little secret.
"So I don't know...and her music is hard to define! I don't know what you call it! I try to describe her to people and I don't know... I don't even know what to call it. But it's authentic. And I would call that rock n roll.
"So.... I don't care what sort of instruments you use to do it. When I look at someone like Billie Eilish, I'm like...shit man....rock n roll is not even close to being dead..."
See his full tweet below:
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) February 14, 2019
Grohl's daughters aren't the only rock star kids who have a big thing for the LA singer.
Back in November 2018, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers' enjoyed a gig night with his daughter Sunny, where they watched Billie Eilish play The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Posting a selfie with his youngest child, he wrote: "Me and Sun whoopin it up at the Billie Eilish concert. There comes a time when a youngster stops buying into the pop bullshit the corporate demographic people are dishing out, and starts to connect with music that is being expressed from someone’s unique and mysterious heart."
The Can't Stop rocker added: "Billie Eilish is that mysterious heart for Sunny. I’m totally down for Billie Eilish, the girl is for real. And @finneasoconnell too! Viva Los Angeles!"
It's not the first time Flea - whose real name is Michael Balzary - shared his daughter's love of music with the world.
The Dark Necessities rocker shared an Instagram story of himself messing around with her while she sang in the car.Unfortunately their duet was cut short due to their phone falling off the dashboard, but the 14-second clip was enough to prove the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to music.
Watch them below:
Flea sings with talented 13-year-old daughter in the car
Dave Grohl's daughter Violet also has a talent for singing, and has been accompanied by her rock star father on more than one occasion on her cover of Adele's When We Were Young.
See them in action here:
Dave Grohl and Violet Grohl perform together and it's beautiful
READ MORE: What does Dave Grohl whisper at the start of Everlong?
READ MORE: Watch Dave Grohl cover Metallica with a country band
