Dave Grohl had nothing but praise for Billie Eilish when asked about the singer/songwriter by Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino at Tuesday’s Pollstar Live Conference.
The Foo Fighters frontman — who has covered Eilish’s “idontwannabeyouanymore” with his daughter, Violet, before — said the excitement surrounding the 17-year-old’s music reminded him of Nirvana in 1991.
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“My daughters are obsessed with Billie Eilish,” he said during the conference. “The same thing is happening with her that happened with Nirvana in 1991. People say, ‘Is rock dead?’ When I look at someone like Billie Eilish, rock and roll is not close to dead!”
Before mentioning Eilish, the father of three also reminisced about first meeting the other Nirvana guys, before he had joined the band. “I saw them at a show and I thought, ‘That’s Nirvana. Oh my god,’” he said. “It was like Children of the Corn. … With [Grohl’s original band] Scream, we never had anything successful. Nirvana had great songs. ‘About a Girl’ was like a Beatles song. It was clear that dude [Kurt Cobain] could write songs.”
Although he “didn’t want to play music again” after Cobain died, he ultimately couldn’t stay away for long and began the Foo Fighters, who are still going strong after 25 years. “The first 20 years of our band, I thought, ‘Let’s make another record and call it a day. Get one more in there,’” he told Rapino. “Now we can’t break up. Imagine grandparents getting a divorce. I’m sure it happens, but you’d be like, ‘Why?’”