Home News Classic Rock News Dave Grohl on the anatomy of a hit and the “Rubik’s Cube”...

Dave Grohl on the anatomy of a hit and the “Rubik’s Cube” of songwriting

958

ABC/Fred WatkinsTo say that Foo Fighters have been successful is quite the understatement: What started out as a Dave Grohl solo project has turned into multi-million selling, world-conquering rock behemoth.

Billboard just named the band the all-time top performing artist on its Alternative Songs chart — which launched 30 years ago — and now, Grohl tells the publication the secret to writing a hit single.

“You have to write great songs. That’s it,” Grohl says. “To me, the challenge was always trying to craft a song that was simple in a way that people would connect to it emotionally.”

For him, the melody of the song often has more of an emotional impact than its lyrics.

“A lyric is one thing, but there’s something that a melody can do,” Grohl says. “Just the sound of a minor scale, or a major scale rising in a chorus. The notes will twist your heart.”

He continues, “That’s the Rubik’s Cube, trying to find a melody and lyric will braid together and create four minutes of memory that you’ll have for the rest of your life.”

Grohl and Foo Fighters are currently touring the U.S. in support of their latest collection of four-minute memories, Concrete and Gold.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.