The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by David Grohl
I love reading because I love stories. That may seem like an obvious statement, but so many non-fiction books are recaps of isolated events or summaries of studies. I enjoy non-fiction (probably more than the average person), but my issue with memoirs is that, too often, they highlight the glamorous bits of the subject’s life, which doesn’t make for a great story. It’s the book version of social media. You want the ups and downs. You want to root for your main character, even if your main character is real and you know the ending already.
Books, whether fiction or non-fiction, are meant to be stories.
Enter Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.
For the aforementioned reasons, I don’t actively seek out memoirs. But Dave Grohl has always seemed like a genuinely awesome guy, and his music makes its way onto every playlist I’ve ever made. A good bit of Dave Grohl’s music makes up the soundtrack to my life – so naturally, I wanted to learn about his.
Grohl takes his memoir and lays it out in five parts. He covers everything from:
his childhood and foray into music
the singular event that directed the course of his whole life
his time in a little-known band called Nirvana (sarcasm!)
the winding path of the Foo Fighters
and what it means to be a dad – and one of the biggest names in the world
As expected, Grohl is incredibly relatable. His sunny attitude radiates throughout his words, even when talking about (spoiler alert!) the death of Nirvana’s frontman, Kurt Cobain. Grohl truly tells stories. He doesn’t take you from point to point in a straight line – he takes you on a journey through his life. He may begin a chapter about his daughter, and suddenly you’re in a French psychic’s apartment discussing other dimensions and auras. You’re not left hanging or wondering, “what’s the point of this anecdote?” It all makes sense.
Unquestionably, Dave Grohl, whether as the drummer for Nirvana or the frontman of the Foo Fighters, has had some genuinely astounding experiences. However, Grohl tells these stories like a lucky dude who happened to be in the right place at the right time. He nerds out over his heroes just like the rest of us and continually cannot believe his fortune as he marvels at his life. That said, Grohl pulls no punches as he shares the choices he made to get to where he is: living on one dollar per day, sleeping on floors, and running down alleys from drug dealers in Europe. Despite what I consider hardships, his wisdom at a young age allowed him to see the big picture and what was possible. He didn’t need a guarantee – he needed a chance.
The Storyteller is a beautiful story of achieving success on your terms and because of your choices. I hope you find it as inspiring and uplifting as I did.
5/5 Highly Recommend!!