It seems Dave Grohl’s Grammy acceptence speech stirred up controversy. While I can'[t really imagine why, I thought his clarification was worth posting:
“DAVE GROHL CLARIFIES HIS GRAMMY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
Oh, what a night we had last Sunday at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The
glitz! The Glamour! SEACREST! Where do I begin?? Chillin’ with Lil’
Wayne…meeting Cyndi Lauper’s adorable mother…the complimentary blinking
Coldplay bracelet…..much too much to recap. It’s really is still a bit of
a blur. But, if there’s one thing that I remember VERY clearly, it was
accepting the Grammy for Best Rock Performance…and then saying this:
“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].”
Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey……I’m a drummer, remember?
Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant
evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil’ ode to analog recording has.
OK….maybe Kanye has me on this one, but….Imma let you finish….just
wanted to clarify something…
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? I 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″
