Dave Grohl destroyed the music industry

Posted by Vicki on 18.07.03

At a recent job interview the interviewer asked me a very odd question "If I had a magic wand and could grant you any job you wanted what would it be and why?" I can't remember my answer to her but if I had one wish for the music industry it would be to eradicate Dave Grohl and Slipknot and all their influences.

My reasoning for this is very simple - both Dave Grohl and Slipknot have destroyed music and will continue to do so until they are stopped. Dave Grohl is responsible for the worst excesses of Nirvana and the Foofighters. But even worse is his current trend of declaring a band to be his new favourite and thus ensuring they break the mainstream in a very short-lived and worthless way. Dave has done this with Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D and now with Turbonegro.

It is Dave's fleeting allegiance to the latter that I am most annoyed about and has fuelled my hatred to new depths. I like Turbonegro and have done so for a while and while they deserve to make some cash and hit the big time I think it should be because they are good not because some stupid midget announces that all the kiddies should like them because he does.

My reasons for not liking Slipknot are similarly based and stem from a dislike of style over substance. It is great if a band wants to play dress up and whore themselves to the press, all I ask for is some talent or creative flair. Increasingly I am finding the "new must own" bands to be carbon copies if whatever is popular. This criticism does not just apply to new bands, even a number bands that have been around for years appear to have decided they want fame and fortune. I respect their decision to do this but wish they had not sacrificed the things that made them stand out in a world with declining numbers of bands that I genuinely enjoy.

The Murderdoll's cover of 'White Wedding' went on sale this week and is less than inspired. By contrast the years old Sentenced cover of the same song demonstrated depth and character. I bought the Murderdolls' version simply to hear the Frankenstein Dragqueens cover that was the B side. I liked Frankenstein Dragqueens from Outer space long before the Murderdolls existed and was actually disappointed that Wednesday has left to join what appeared to be a Slipknot vanity project.

In all fairness the Murderdolls could be far worse, but I still have the nagging voice at the back of my head that screams out the success of the Murderdolls is almost entirely due to the Slipknot involvement. I have seen too many bands promoted under the banner "played with Slipknot" - i.e. their record label bought them the support slot. Or even more desperate "share Slipknot's record label", such as Down the Sun who I still dislike no matter how many emails you send, another band for Roadrunner to churn out into it's standard formula.

Before Slipknot made Roadrunner famous I don't remember Roadrunner being a contender in the music industry, they had Type O Negative and Coal Chamber on the books but had no real idea how to sell CDs. Slipknot acted as a cash cow for them and in return Roadrunner prompted them to death. The Argos catalogue now sells Slipknot hoodies and trousers for hellfire's sake.

Those of you who read the forum will know the latest news about Twisted Sisters venues, while this is amusing it is possibly a sign of the beginning of the end. I predict that in about 6 months Dave Grohl will randomly announce that his new favourite band is Poison and they will once again become huge and inspire many decorated demin jackets, hopefully more tasteful that this one.