Dave Grohl's SXSW Keynote Speech: The Complete Text

ave Grohl gives the keynote address during the South By Southwest Music Festival at the Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Dave Grohl delivered his keynote speech on Thursday at SXSW, urging musicians to find "your voice" and recounting how he made his own rock dreams a reality, practicing in his room "until there was literally sweat dripping down the Rush posters on my wall." Below is the full text of his speech, which was livestreamed on NPR.

--

Thank you SXSW very much for allowing me the incredible opportunity of being this year's keynote speaker. Having been raised by a former DC political speechwriter and a former public speaking teacher, it is practically written in my DNA zipper that I should feel the insatiable need to stand in front of a room of total strangers and BULLSHIT them. As a child, MY father's lectures were legendary. And Frequent. Great works of literature, that stay with me to this day and, if anything . . . taught me how to give loooong lectures myself. Not long ago I was lucky enough to sit down at dinner with another one of my favorite public speakers . . . the one, the only Mr. Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, as you would imagine, is a warm, funny, brilliant man, and a wonderful dinner guest! I congratulated him on last year's amazing keynote, quoting his insight and humor. And then I told him that this year's keynote speaker was . . . me. He stared at me for a moment, slowly cracked that famous smile that we all know and love, that smile that could light up an entire stadium, and then . . . he started laughing. AT ME. As if to say "GOOD FUCKING LUCK, BUDDY . . . " But . . . truth be told . . . that's not the first time anyone's ever said that to me, so it is without a doubt my musical life's greatest honor to be asked to share with you what I know about music.

So. What do I know . . .

The Musician comes first.

My mother tells me that I was born to applause. The morning of January 14th, 1969, there was a class of young doctors in a small delivery room in Warren, Ohio, there to witness their first live birth. As I was born, the room burst into applause. My first moments in this world . . . hanging upside down, covered in blood, screaming as I'm being spanked by a complete stranger. Perhaps the most appropriate preparation for becoming a working musician.

Watch Dave Grohl's SXSW Keynote Speech

Now . . . before we go any further, I have to thank someone. I have to thank Edgar Winter. For allowing K-Tel records to include his legendary instrumental "Frankenstein" on their 1975 Blockbuster compilation. It was this record that my sister and I bought at the drugstore down the street and brought home to play on the public-school turntable my mother would borrow from school on the weekends. It was this record that changed my life. A veritable "who's who" of 1975 radio hits. But, it wasn't KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the way, uh huh uh huh I like it" song that made me want to pick up the dusty old guitar in the corner. Nope . . . and  it wasn't Dave Loggins' "Please Come to Boston" or Silver Convention's "Fly Robin Fly" that made me want to jump in a van with my friends and leave the world behind for music. No. It was (sings "Frankenstein"). A riff. I gave it all up for a riff.

Interestingly enough, though, that song is completely instrumental. There's no vocal. It's drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion, each getting a solo in the song . . . no vocals. But what I heard in all of those solos . . . were voices. The voices of each musician. Their personalities. Their technique. Their feel. The sound of people playing music with other people. It made me want to play music with other people, too.

So, it wasn't long until I had my first guitar, an old Sears Silvertone with the amp built into the case. It smelled like an old attic full of mothballs and burning wire, and sounded like that "goats yelling like humans" YouTube clip that's going around right now (look it up, it's fucking hilarious), but it instantly became my obsession. It was this guitar, and a Beatles songbook that ultimately set my life in . . . ahem . .  one direction. Never one for taking lessons or direction, I was left to my own devices and devoted every waking hour to playing music. It became my religion. The record store my church. The rock stars my saints, and their songs my hymns.

Springfield, Virginia, wasn't necessarily known for breeding rock stars. A "career" in music never seemed possible to me. It just seemed too good to be true. Surely the faces on my Kiss posters weren't getting PAID to do this! Gene Simmons? Imagine! But that never mattered to me. Because I had finally found MY VOICE. And that was all I needed to survive from now on. The reward of playing a song from beginning to end without making a mistake . . . well, that could feed me for weeks. The discovery of a new chord, or a new scale could make me forget about that kid at school who wanted to kick my fuckin' ass, or that cute chick with the lip gloss and soft sweater I had a crush on who wouldn't give me the time of day. I liked my new voice. Because, no matter how bad it sounded . . . it was mine. There was nobody there to tell me what was right or what was wrong, so . . . there was no right or wrong.

As much as I wanted to be in a band, I was there, alone in my bedroom, day in day out with my records and my guitar, playing with myself for hours. I would set up pillows in the formation of a drumset on my bed and play along to records until there was literally sweat dripping down the Rush posters on my  walls. Eventually I figured out how to be a one-man band. I took my crappy old handheld tape recorder, hit record and laid down a guitar track. I would then take that cassette, place it in the home stereo, take another cassette, place THAT into the handheld recorder, hit play on the stereo, record on the handheld, and play drums along to the sound of my guitar. Voila! Multi-tracking! At 12 years old! To my chagrin, though, what I got was not "Sgt. Peppers" . . . rather a collection of songs about my dog, my bike, and my dad. Nevertheless, I had done this all myself. Therefore making the reward even sweeter.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Product reviews and advice for best reference

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Dave Grohl's SXSW Keynote Speech: The Complete Text

ave Grohl gives the keynote address during the South By Southwest Music Festival at the Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Dave Grohl delivered his keynote speech on Thursday at SXSW, urging musicians to find "your voice" and recounting how he made his own rock dreams a reality, practicing in his room "until there was literally sweat dripping down the Rush posters on my wall." Below is the full text of his speech, which was livestreamed on NPR.

--

Thank you SXSW very much for allowing me the incredible opportunity of being this year's keynote speaker. Having been raised by a former DC political speechwriter and a former public speaking teacher, it is practically written in my DNA zipper that I should feel the insatiable need to stand in front of a room of total strangers and BULLSHIT them. As a child, MY father's lectures were legendary. And Frequent. Great works of literature, that stay with me to this day and, if anything . . . taught me how to give loooong lectures myself. Not long ago I was lucky enough to sit down at dinner with another one of my favorite public speakers . . . the one, the only Mr. Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, as you would imagine, is a warm, funny, brilliant man, and a wonderful dinner guest! I congratulated him on last year's amazing keynote, quoting his insight and humor. And then I told him that this year's keynote speaker was . . . me. He stared at me for a moment, slowly cracked that famous smile that we all know and love, that smile that could light up an entire stadium, and then . . . he started laughing. AT ME. As if to say "GOOD FUCKING LUCK, BUDDY . . . " But . . . truth be told . . . that's not the first time anyone's ever said that to me, so it is without a doubt my musical life's greatest honor to be asked to share with you what I know about music.

So. What do I know . . .

The Musician comes first.

My mother tells me that I was born to applause. The morning of January 14th, 1969, there was a class of young doctors in a small delivery room in Warren, Ohio, there to witness their first live birth. As I was born, the room burst into applause. My first moments in this world . . . hanging upside down, covered in blood, screaming as I'm being spanked by a complete stranger. Perhaps the most appropriate preparation for becoming a working musician.

Watch Dave Grohl's SXSW Keynote Speech

Now . . . before we go any further, I have to thank someone. I have to thank Edgar Winter. For allowing K-Tel records to include his legendary instrumental "Frankenstein" on their 1975 Blockbuster compilation. It was this record that my sister and I bought at the drugstore down the street and brought home to play on the public-school turntable my mother would borrow from school on the weekends. It was this record that changed my life. A veritable "who's who" of 1975 radio hits. But, it wasn't KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the way, uh huh uh huh I like it" song that made me want to pick up the dusty old guitar in the corner. Nope . . . and  it wasn't Dave Loggins' "Please Come to Boston" or Silver Convention's "Fly Robin Fly" that made me want to jump in a van with my friends and leave the world behind for music. No. It was (sings "Frankenstein"). A riff. I gave it all up for a riff.

Interestingly enough, though, that song is completely instrumental. There's no vocal. It's drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion, each getting a solo in the song . . . no vocals. But what I heard in all of those solos . . . were voices. The voices of each musician. Their personalities. Their technique. Their feel. The sound of people playing music with other people. It made me want to play music with other people, too.

So, it wasn't long until I had my first guitar, an old Sears Silvertone with the amp built into the case. It smelled like an old attic full of mothballs and burning wire, and sounded like that "goats yelling like humans" YouTube clip that's going around right now (look it up, it's fucking hilarious), but it instantly became my obsession. It was this guitar, and a Beatles songbook that ultimately set my life in . . . ahem . .  one direction. Never one for taking lessons or direction, I was left to my own devices and devoted every waking hour to playing music. It became my religion. The record store my church. The rock stars my saints, and their songs my hymns.

Springfield, Virginia, wasn't necessarily known for breeding rock stars. A "career" in music never seemed possible to me. It just seemed too good to be true. Surely the faces on my Kiss posters weren't getting PAID to do this! Gene Simmons? Imagine! But that never mattered to me. Because I had finally found MY VOICE. And that was all I needed to survive from now on. The reward of playing a song from beginning to end without making a mistake . . . well, that could feed me for weeks. The discovery of a new chord, or a new scale could make me forget about that kid at school who wanted to kick my fuckin' ass, or that cute chick with the lip gloss and soft sweater I had a crush on who wouldn't give me the time of day. I liked my new voice. Because, no matter how bad it sounded . . . it was mine. There was nobody there to tell me what was right or what was wrong, so . . . there was no right or wrong.

As much as I wanted to be in a band, I was there, alone in my bedroom, day in day out with my records and my guitar, playing with myself for hours. I would set up pillows in the formation of a drumset on my bed and play along to records until there was literally sweat dripping down the Rush posters on my  walls. Eventually I figured out how to be a one-man band. I took my crappy old handheld tape recorder, hit record and laid down a guitar track. I would then take that cassette, place it in the home stereo, take another cassette, place THAT into the handheld recorder, hit play on the stereo, record on the handheld, and play drums along to the sound of my guitar. Voila! Multi-tracking! At 12 years old! To my chagrin, though, what I got was not "Sgt. Peppers" . . . rather a collection of songs about my dog, my bike, and my dad. Nevertheless, I had done this all myself. Therefore making the reward even sweeter.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics product reviews and advice for best reference

Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Book Sole New York Show

Alain Johannes, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Sound City Players in Park City, Utah.

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players took over Sundance last month with a three-plus hour performance celebrating his directorial debut on the Sound City documentary in style. The show boasted an all-star lineup of musicians featured in the film, with Grohl bringing out friends including Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Rick Springfield for the extended set. Now, after performing last night in Los Angeles, Grohl and the Sound City Players have booked a sole New York show set for February 13th at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Q&A: Dave Grohl on His 'Sound City' Doc and Taking Risks in Music

The lineup includes Nicks, Fogerty, Springfield, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Grohl's Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear. Tickets will go on sale February 5th at 4 p.m. EST on Ticketmaster.

Sound City, a cinematic love note to the Van Nuys, California, recording studio, is available on the film's website, and its soundtrack, Sound City – Real to Reel, will be released March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Throw Three-Hour Bash in L.A.

Dave Grohl is an evangelist for the soul of rock & roll, and he's gotten into the habit of making his adolescent rock dreams come true. It happened again last night at the Hollywood Palladium, where he was joined by Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, members of Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, Fear and a small army of heroes and contemporaries in celebration of the late, legendary L.A. recording studio Sound City.

For more than three hours, Grohl and his Foo Fighters ripped through a chunk of rock & roll history, from pop to punk to classic rock, immediately following the premiere of his inspired new documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, at the old Cinerama Dome blocks away.

"They made a movie about it, but they missed one little part," Fogerty shouted early in his set with the Foos, dressed in jeans and flannel shirt, looking over at Grohl. "What we got in common is we all love that guy right there."

Fogerty rocked through five Creedence Clearwater Revival standards and his 1985 solo hit "Centerfield," the last one played on a baseball bat-shaped guitar. Grohl shouted along to "Born on the Bayou" and traded verses on "Fortunate Son." At the close of "Bad Moon Rising," Grohl looked up with hands in praying position, one more dream fulfilled.

The night's closing set had the Foos led by Nicks, beginning with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," her 1981 hit with Tom Petty. Grohl was her singing partner this time, and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett plucked dreamy bits of electric guitar.

Video: Dave Grohl's 'Sound City' Doc Gets Trailer          
Nicks arrived in black dress and tinted glasses, blonde hair past her shoulders, banging a tambourine. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" unfolded amid undulating, spacey waves of sound and feeling. For "Landslide," Grohl backed up Nicks alone on 12-string acoustic, as the crowd sang and lifted up their glowing cell phones. One guy deep in the crowd kept it analog, holding up a single cigarette lighter.

Before beginning the soundtrack's dramatic "You Can't Fix This," Nicks explained that the song was based on a poem inspired by the recent death of her teenage godson at a fraternity party, a somber but moving note in an otherwise celebratory evening. And her set-closing "Gold Dust Woman" was dark and smoldering, rising from a noisy swirl, closing amid fading waves of feedback and a single, crashing beat from Taylor Hawkins. This summer's Fleetwood Mac tour will have something to live up to.

Between sets, a movie screen descended for excerpts and outtakes from the documentary, including a comment from Fogerty at the core of the film: "It's not the gear, it's not the technology. It's the people."

Sound City, proudly analog and tape-based, was where Nirvana recorded its career-making Nevermind. Grohl's comments at last year's Grammys were widely (mis)interpreted as being anti-EDM, when his sermon was really a warning against perfectionism and polish over the human element. It's the same reason punk rock was invented in the indulgent, glossed-up Seventies.

The night's juxtapositions might have seemed perverse to a musical ideologue, but it hung together as a simple celebration of all that once inspired the concert's generations of rockers. No one was more euphoric than Rick Springfield, who repeatedly tossed his guitar high into the air between songs, including his collaboration with the Foos on the movie soundtrack "The Man That Never Was." His "Jessie's Girl" was one of the night's biggest crowd-pleasers, and like other tunes from his pop-rock catalog, it was toughened up in the hands of the Foos.

Another implausible lineup featured Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, with Grohl on drums, ecstatically running through a set heavy with Cheap Trick hits. "I was in Kansas City 12 hours ago," Taylor told the crowd. "There was no fucking way I was missing this."

Cheap Trick's "Hello There" had Taylor wailing, "Are you ready to rock?" beside Nielsen in traditional bowtie and cap. The Slipknot growler sang "Surrender" as if he was always meant to. "From Can to Can't" (from the soundtrack) was built from a Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"-like guitar pattern. During Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame," Novoselic kicked high into the air, swinging his bass across the stage, an expression of real joy on his bearded face.

Earlier, Grohl first slipped behind the drums with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, pounding through the brain-scorched psychedelia of "Heaven & All," which opens the documentary's soundtrack, and a stormy "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll" (from BRMC's 2001 debut).

"Dave Grohl rhymes with rock & roll," declared singer-guitarist-producer Chris Goss during his set with the night's ringmaster. Grohl and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) followed him into the overlapping guitar grind of "She Got Me" by Goss's Masters of Reality.

The night began with the Foos backing up Alain Johannes on the soundtrack's "A Trick With No Sleeve," a growling folk tune with an electric guitar shimmer, and Grohl banged his head to the misty-mountain-hop riffs. Johannes is a highly respected L.A. bandleader (Eleven, What Is This? etc.), producer, songwriter and sideman. He's been a member of Queens of the Stone Age and touring guitarist with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures; last night he led the Foos through QOTSA's "Hangin' Tree," a brooding, driving, shape-shifting song he co-authored with Josh Homme.

Grohl sang harmony and was effussive with praise for the multi-instrumentalist. "I love you, Al," Grohl said to Johannes. "Thank you for playing music with me. You're a fucking genius."

The night turned to first-wave L.A. punk rock with Fear's Lee Ving, opening his set with a blazing harmonica wheeze before growling his signature "One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!" at hyper-speed. With the Foos (and Johannes on bass), Ving ripped into the soundtrack's taunting "Your Wife is Calling." Soon the band was pounding through Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City," with Hawkins on jackhammer beat.

Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, whose snarling early punk band the Germs came from the same underground L.A. scene, raised a fist as Ving snarled, as only he can, "This is an old-fashioned sing-along."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Book Sole New York Show

Alain Johannes, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Sound City Players in Park City, Utah.

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players took over Sundance last month with a three-plus hour performance celebrating his directorial debut on the Sound City documentary in style. The show boasted an all-star lineup of musicians featured in the film, with Grohl bringing out friends including Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Rick Springfield for the extended set. Now, after performing last night in Los Angeles, Grohl and the Sound City Players have booked a sole New York show set for February 13th at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Q&A: Dave Grohl on His 'Sound City' Doc and Taking Risks in Music

The lineup includes Nicks, Fogerty, Springfield, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Grohl's Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear. Tickets will go on sale February 5th at 4 p.m. EST on Ticketmaster.

Sound City, a cinematic love note to the Van Nuys, California, recording studio, is available on the film's website, and its soundtrack, Sound City – Real to Reel, will be released March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Throw Three-Hour Bash in L.A.

Dave Grohl is an evangelist for the soul of rock & roll, and he's gotten into the habit of making his adolescent rock dreams come true. It happened again last night at the Hollywood Palladium, where he was joined by Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, members of Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, Fear and a small army of heroes and contemporaries in celebration of the late, legendary L.A. recording studio Sound City.

For more than three hours, Grohl and his Foo Fighters ripped through a chunk of rock & roll history, from pop to punk to classic rock, immediately following the premiere of his inspired new documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, at the old Cinerama Dome blocks away.

"They made a movie about it, but they missed one little part," Fogerty shouted early in his set with the Foos, dressed in jeans and flannel shirt, looking over at Grohl. "What we got in common is we all love that guy right there."

Fogerty rocked through five Creedence Clearwater Revival standards and his 1985 solo hit "Centerfield," the last one played on a baseball bat-shaped guitar. Grohl shouted along to "Born on the Bayou" and traded verses on "Fortunate Son." At the close of "Bad Moon Rising," Grohl looked up with hands in praying position, one more dream fulfilled.

The night's closing set had the Foos led by Nicks, beginning with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," her 1981 hit with Tom Petty. Grohl was her singing partner this time, and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett plucked dreamy bits of electric guitar.

Video: Dave Grohl's 'Sound City' Doc Gets Trailer          
Nicks arrived in black dress and tinted glasses, blonde hair past her shoulders, banging a tambourine. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" unfolded amid undulating, spacey waves of sound and feeling. For "Landslide," Grohl backed up Nicks alone on 12-string acoustic, as the crowd sang and lifted up their glowing cell phones. One guy deep in the crowd kept it analog, holding up a single cigarette lighter.

Before beginning the soundtrack's dramatic "You Can't Fix This," Nicks explained that the song was based on a poem inspired by the recent death of her teenage godson at a fraternity party, a somber but moving note in an otherwise celebratory evening. And her set-closing "Gold Dust Woman" was dark and smoldering, rising from a noisy swirl, closing amid fading waves of feedback and a single, crashing beat from Taylor Hawkins. This summer's Fleetwood Mac tour will have something to live up to.

Between sets, a movie screen descended for excerpts and outtakes from the documentary, including a comment from Fogerty at the core of the film: "It's not the gear, it's not the technology. It's the people."

Sound City, proudly analog and tape-based, was where Nirvana recorded its career-making Nevermind. Grohl's comments at last year's Grammys were widely (mis)interpreted as being anti-EDM, when his sermon was really a warning against perfectionism and polish over the human element. It's the same reason punk rock was invented in the indulgent, glossed-up Seventies.

The night's juxtapositions might have seemed perverse to a musical ideologue, but it hung together as a simple celebration of all that once inspired the concert's generations of rockers. No one was more euphoric than Rick Springfield, who repeatedly tossed his guitar high into the air between songs, including his collaboration with the Foos on the movie soundtrack "The Man That Never Was." His "Jessie's Girl" was one of the night's biggest crowd-pleasers, and like other tunes from his pop-rock catalog, it was toughened up in the hands of the Foos.

Another implausible lineup featured Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, with Grohl on drums, ecstatically running through a set heavy with Cheap Trick hits. "I was in Kansas City 12 hours ago," Taylor told the crowd. "There was no fucking way I was missing this."

Cheap Trick's "Hello There" had Taylor wailing, "Are you ready to rock?" beside Nielsen in traditional bowtie and cap. The Slipknot growler sang "Surrender" as if he was always meant to. "From Can to Can't" (from the soundtrack) was built from a Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"-like guitar pattern. During Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame," Novoselic kicked high into the air, swinging his bass across the stage, an expression of real joy on his bearded face.

Earlier, Grohl first slipped behind the drums with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, pounding through the brain-scorched psychedelia of "Heaven & All," which opens the documentary's soundtrack, and a stormy "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll" (from BRMC's 2001 debut).

"Dave Grohl rhymes with rock & roll," declared singer-guitarist-producer Chris Goss during his set with the night's ringmaster. Grohl and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) followed him into the overlapping guitar grind of "She Got Me" by Goss's Masters of Reality.

The night began with the Foos backing up Alain Johannes on the soundtrack's "A Trick With No Sleeve," a growling folk tune with an electric guitar shimmer, and Grohl banged his head to the misty-mountain-hop riffs. Johannes is a highly respected L.A. bandleader (Eleven, What Is This? etc.), producer, songwriter and sideman. He's been a member of Queens of the Stone Age and touring guitarist with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures; last night he led the Foos through QOTSA's "Hangin' Tree," a brooding, driving, shape-shifting song he co-authored with Josh Homme.

Grohl sang harmony and was effussive with praise for the multi-instrumentalist. "I love you, Al," Grohl said to Johannes. "Thank you for playing music with me. You're a fucking genius."

The night turned to first-wave L.A. punk rock with Fear's Lee Ving, opening his set with a blazing harmonica wheeze before growling his signature "One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!" at hyper-speed. With the Foos (and Johannes on bass), Ving ripped into the soundtrack's taunting "Your Wife is Calling." Soon the band was pounding through Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City," with Hawkins on jackhammer beat.

Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, whose snarling early punk band the Germs came from the same underground L.A. scene, raised a fist as Ving snarled, as only he can, "This is an old-fashioned sing-along."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »