Dave Grohl has shared his unintentionally awkward encounter with David Bowie, admitting he once managed to insult the music legend within seconds of meeting him.
Speaking on Dish from Waitrose with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett OBE, the Foo Fighters rocker explained he first saw Bowie perform at a festival and was completely overwhelmed by the experience.
He recalled: “I had just seen him perform at a, like a V Festival – or something like that.
“It was like Prodigy, David Bowie and we happened to be on the bill. I was standing in the photo pit and he was right there, he was right above me singing. It was otherworldly. I mean, it was like a religious experience. I was just like, ‘He’s an angel, this is amazing’.”
But when Grohl met Bowie in the studio shortly afterwards, his attempt to express that awe went disastrously wrong.
He continued: “I told him when I met him in the studio, I said, ‘I just saw you, like, it was such a trip to see you in human form right there, right in front of me.’ And he says, ‘What did you think? What did you feel?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh f***.’”
Caught off guard, Grohl blurted out the worst possible response.
He recounted: “So, the first thing to come out of my mouth, like an idiot, I said, ‘Well, the first thing I noticed was all of your imperfections’. I backpedalled so fast. I don’t know how I got out of that one. But I was like, what did I just … I would never say that to anybody. Isn’t that horrible?”
Despite the mishap, Grohl said Bowie’s talent in the studio was nothing short of breathtaking.
He enthused: “I swear to God, he’s one take — his voice, it’s the voice, there’s no effect. It’s just exactly like this. You get chills. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the most reassuring, beautiful thing, this is real’.”
Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.