3. Dave Grohl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWRaAF6_WY Like Phil Collins before him, Dave Grohl first tasted success as the drummer in a revolutionary rock band, before fronting his own band and totally reinventing himself and the sound of his music to something more commercially successful. Unlike Collins, Grohl hasnt seemingly inspired massive fan backlash for his success. Grohl, of course, was the drummer for Nirvana, a pioneering band in the American West Coast rock/grunge movement. Behind the groups frontman, Kurt Cobain, Grohl was a part of a worldwide phenomenon. Nirvana churned out critically and commercially successful albums such as Nevermind and In Utero. But after Cobains suicide in 1994, Nirvana naturally disbanded and Grohl was left without direction. He almost became the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and was also rumoured as a possible replacement for Pearl Jam sticks-man, Dave Abbruzzese. He quietly started his own group - dubbed Foo Fighters - in 1994. In 1996, Grohl and the group achieved worldwide fame with their second album, The Colour and the Shape. This album demonstrates why Grohl was so successful despite the dissolution of Nirvana: it builds on their alternative sound, but in a way thats more universally palatable. And yet, Grohl is rarely accused of selling out. Since 2001, the Foo Fighters have been perennial Grammy Award winners for albums such as There is Nothing Left to Lose, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and Wasting Light. And Grohls burgeoning bro-mance with arguably the most successful musicians of all-time Paul McCartney, makes him one of the biggest stars on the planet by proxy.
Mark Ginocchio
Contributor
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
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