Taking careers advice from Dave Grohl

Photo by Lindsay from Pittsburgh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Yep, I’m talking about Dave Grohl, him from Foo Fighters.

Undeniably successful, he is a talented musician who excelled at his chosen skill, worked very hard, got some lucky breaks and went on to be about as successful as a rock musician could possibly hope for.

Just in case you don’t know, he founded Foo Fighters nearly thirty years ago, as their frontman, guitarist and principal songwriter. With them he has won 15 Grammy Awards and sold countless millions of records.

Before that he was one third of Nirvana, alongside Curt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Nirvana transformed music in the early 90s, and their Album Nevermind and single Smells Like Teen Spirit remain some of the most popular and enduring records of all time.

All the while he is pretty much universally acknowledged as being one of the most generous, kindest and nicest people in the music industry.

Perhaps one of the reasons Dave Grohl is known as such a down-to-earth, genuine guy is because he never aimed to have the type of success that he currently enjoys. Not only did he not aspire to it, he didn’t even want it, and he certainly didn’t need it. This is because he had a different definition of success.

In a recent interview, he encouraged those who want success in music to “just play” because: 

“If... just playing those great songs in your great live band is enough reward for you, then you're ****ing set. But you've got to be badass. You just have to be really good.

“As a drummer, I never felt like, ‘I'm going to be on the cover of Modern Drummer magazine because I'm the best ****ing drummer in the world.’

“I just knew that if you put me onstage... in a small club, that I would beat the ****ing **** out of my drums so much that people would go ‘God damn, did you see that ****ing drummer? Whoa!’

So at the end of the show, I was a successful musician because I had achieved what I wanted to achieve”.

Taken from ‘Off Camera with Sam Jones’, www.offcamera.com

Success to Dave Grohl wasn’t defined by sales, downloads or streams, it wasn’t about fame, and it wasn’t even about ticket sales. It was simply about being an amazing drummer and about people experiencing that.

So, as you set out on your adult journey, perhaps it’s not a bad idea to have a think about what Dave Grohl’s advice might be for your chosen study or career.

You: “I want to work in public relations, what do you advise Dave?” 

Dave: “I don’t give a monkey wrench about PR, but if you want to do it, just go organise some events. Promo the **** out of them and make sure that you’ve done everything possible to make it work. If you launch one event, one new product, and somebody likes it and gets value out of it, you’ll have succeeded!”

You: “I want to be a nurse. What’s your advice Dave?”.

Dave: “Just get out there and care for people. Work ****ing hard, and learn what it is they need to keep them in good health. And then deliver it. But you’ve got to be really good, so practice, and be the best nurse you can be. And if you improve just one patient's life in a day you’ve succeeded!”

I even asked Dave for his advice myself recently. 

Me: “I think I want to be a writer. What I should do?”

Dave: “Well just write then! Write some really ****ing great articles about stuff you really know about. But it’s got to be badass. Do your research and make sure it’s really useful. If just one person reads it and makes better decisions in their life because of it, you’ve succeeded!”

I could go on, but try it for yourself. You might find that Dave Grohl is an unexpected source of inspiration and advice on what really matters!

What next?

If you are a little bit inspired by Dave Grohl, and want to find out ways that you can do something to learn more about the subject you are thinking of studying, check out my article all about super-curricular activities.

If you want to hear more from Dave and have a spare 30 minutes, check out You have to be badass to succeed, Dave Grohl Top 10 Rules, a Youtube video put together by Evan Carmichael. Note that I wouldn’t subscribe to everything Evan has put together, but there are one or two gems in his library, and this is one of them!