Dave Grohl, Greg Kurstin cover "Sabotage" as the first of 8 musical Hanukkah presents
Aux Features Music
Dave Grohl’s had a tough year. But, despite grappling with a debilitating coffee problem and facing the humiliation of losing a months-long drum battle to a 10-year old, he’s not only refusing to let his personal troubles get the best (the best, the best) of him, but has sought to bring joy into the world with eight days of Hannukah presents. The first of these sees Grohl and Foo Fighters’ producer Greg Kurstin collaborate on a hell of an opener to their holiday set: A two-person cover of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”
The video’s caption says that Grohl and Kurstin “thought it would be a shanda to not kick off this party with New York’s (and Abraham’s) finest … known by some as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego, known by others as Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA … known by their Imas and Abbas as Adam Horovitz, Mike Diamond, and Adam Yauch.” The track sounds pretty different performed on just drums and keyboard, but it works well and, most importantly, is as energetic as any good “Sabotage” cover needs to be. It also sees Grohl paying homage to Ad-Rock’s ferocious whine by singing in a register we didn’t know he could hit, which makes us really curious to hear how he’d do covering other Beasties songs. (He’d probably be an annoyingly talented rapper because Grohl is annoyingly talented at lots of things.)
The Hanukkah Sessions will continue to see Grohl and Kurstin covering songs from Jewish musicians throughout the rest of the holiday. Even if the project is basically promotional work for the Foo Fighters’ upcoming album, it’s still a very nice bunch of gifts to receive as a reward for making it through a year of struggles, coffee- and kid drummer-related or otherwise.
[via Consequence Of Sound]
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23 Comments
fun and charming. especially the synth sounds.
I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get any Neil Diamond.
I feel like The Diamond Cutter is a must! Perhaps something by KISS too since I would imagine Dave is a fan.
The only other Jewish rock star that comes to mind is David Lee Roth, so maybe some Van Halen? I could also see them go with other genres, not just rock, which would also be interesting.
Peter GreenJoey Ramone (aka Jeffery Hyman)Lou ReedRobbie Krieger from the DoorsBob DylanAt least 3/4 of 10ccLeslie West from Mountain (I’m not a Grohl super fan but he would crush Mississippi Queen)
Well now that’s a fine list to choose from! Mississippi Queen would be pretty epic…I agree it would be right in Dave’s wheelhouse). The Doors would be a really good fit here too assuming it’s once again drums+keys.
I’m struggling to think of a good VU or Lou song that would fit drums+keys. Maybe just go full on Sister Ray?
Sister Ray never crossed my mind. That could be great or a train wreck but either way it could be spectacularly entertaining. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Grohl do a mellow song/ballad but it would be pretty easy to work up a cool arrangement of I’ll Be Your Mirror.
I’ll Be Your Mirror would fit well. I like your thinking that a ballad/mellow song might work better here. Sunday Morning? Pale Blue Eyes. Something without too many guitars.
Now I’m thinking Head Held High could be good too!
Head Held High? Spectacular. See, this is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking Dave needs to hear.Always good to meet a fellow traveler.
Likewise, good sir (or madam). I think the rougher/alternate mix from the Loaded reissues would suit Dave better.
If you haven’t done so already, you should consider checking out Rock Town Hall. Its heyday was a few years ago but it’s having a bit of a pandemic related resurgence. Basically, it’s just a bunch of us strongly opinionated old guys arguing about the inane minutia of rock and roll.
Thanks for the tip! I’d never heard of Rock Town Hall, so this should be right up my alley. I’d say half the txts with my older brother are discussing minutia of rock 🙂 Most of the other half is Simpsons references.
Sounds like me and my friends/brothers. Again, RTH lost a lot of steam in the past few years, especially when Facebook (the Walmart of websites) became so ubiquitous, but it’s been percolating a bit lately. The folks on there are smart, opinionated about things I care about, and usually pretty good writers. If you can, check out some of the archives. You might need to sign up to do so but the Moderator is a really nice guy. There’s also been some pretty funny stuff that would only make sense to rock nerds. Two examples are below, one of which actually led to an interview with prog legend John Wetton after he won RTH’s “Who is the sexiest man in Prog?” contest.https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/and-tonight-thank-god-it-s-their-hair-in/https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/making-the-case-for-the-sexiest-man-in-prog-rock/
It’s not a bad approximation of Ad Rock’s voice, but it did make him sound a bit like Brian Johnson.
Now I can’t un-hear that.
I’m so sorry.
Thank god they included the receipt so we can return it.
So Dave Grohl is in the tribe?
His wife and daughters (Halachically speaking) are. I don’t know if he converted, but I’ll trade Stephen Miller for him any day of the week.
Pumas. Choice.
The first DJ Hero game had a mashup of Sabotage and Monkeywrench that fucking ripped, so it doesn’t surprise me that this manages to work.
He certainly didn’t nail the vocals, but it was still pretty awesome. They synth arrangements worked nicely as well.
I used to play a ton of Rock Band and to this day I still can’t figure out how to match Grohl’s style of singing.
It’s an alright cover. The Joe Pesci singing voice took me out of it a bit. But Little Joe Sure Can Sing.Get it?