Dave Grohl

To some rock is all about the moody stare, the cool pose and the diva theatrics. To those I give you... Foo Fighters main man Dave Grohl. You just know that if you approach Dave in a airport, tell him he's great and ask for a photo that you're not going to be on the receiving end of a cocaine-fuelled rant- you're simply going to get the lovely Dave toothy smile, and there's a realistic chance of a friendly arm round your shoulder. In various musical collaborations Dave has worked with 70% of the world's musicians. Why do so many want to work with him? Is it his formidable drumming? His ability to write enjoyable, sometimes throwaway rock-pop? Nope. It's just cos they want to hang out with the Grohlster. They don't call "The Nicest Man in Rock" for no reason. They call him that because he is (a) a man (b) in rock (c) the nicest in the combined categories of (a) and (b). The core of his loveliness comes from his lack of arrogance or ego. Before I wrote this I looked on the web for any decent quotes from the man- essentially they all say the same thing "I'm a just a regular guy". Unfortunately this makes them desperately uninteresting to actually repeat here, but you get the idea.

The best Grohl story was from May 2006 one of two trapped miners in Tasmania had requested that an iPod containing a Foo Fighters album be lowered down a hole to them. Dave using his lovely super-powers sensed a fan in mortal danger and sent this message to the miners "Though I'm halfway around the world right now, my heart is with you both, and I want you to know that when you come home, there's two tickets to any Foos show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for yous. Deal?". One of the miners did indeed take up the offer and had a few brewskis with Dave (who had, naturally, written a song for them).

When the only person in the world with a bad word to say about you is Courtney Love, you know you've earned your place in the pantheon of loveliness. Right I'm off to get my myself trapped in a well and wait for Dave.