Dave Grohl: TV singing competitions are “not what music’s about”

Speaking at a recent event put on by the TV Critics Association in Los Angeles, California, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, coolest guy ever, shared his thoughts on reality TV singing competitions like American Idol.

Grohl stated: “I don't want my kid to think that the only way you can be a musician is to stand in line at a song contest audition, and then wind up having a bazillionaire tell you you're not a good singer. Don't get me started. To me, that's not what music's about.”

This isn’t the first time Grohl’s ranted against this type of television. He told Sky Magazine in 2013:

“When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or the Voice, then they think, ‘Oh, OK, that’s how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight f****** hours with 800 people at a convention center and then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it’s not f****** good enough.’ Can you imagine?” he implores. “It’s destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy an old f****** drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll f******* start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some s***** old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-a** s***, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a f****** computer or the Internet or the Voice or American Idol.”

Grohl has his own television show, Sonic Highways, coming out later this year on HBO. The show’s release will coincide with a new Foo Fighters album. Below, you can watch Grohl’s recent drumming performance with Kristeen Young on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.