http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/magazine/20QUESTIONS.html
[clip] QUESTIONS FOR DAVE GROHL Love of His Life Interview by HUGO LINDGREN
Q:Explain to me the nature of your dispute with Courtney Love - was it all about money?
G:We were doing a Nirvana greatest hits album, and we wanted to put on it the song ''You Know You're Right,'' which is the last song we ever recorded. It definitely needed to see the light of day. There has been a lot of emphasis on its commercial and cultural value, which I don't necessarily pay attention to. I just think it's a great song.
Q:Now that the lawsuit is settled, Courtney Love is getting a lot of money and the song is going to be on the album. Are you satisfied with how it turned out?
G:Yeah, in that regard. We just had to get over the hump, so that people could remember that Nirvana was a band that made music.
Q:Did it bother you when she denigrated your contributions to Nirvana?
G:It didn't make me feel good, but it's one of those things -- you know it isn't true, and you know that people who know anything about it know it isn't true. [I can relate to this-pk]
Q:When it was getting really hostile in the press between you two, did you ever run into her?
G:A couple of times. There wasn't a fistfight or anything. Courtney and I aren't strangers, we do know each other, and there's something nice about seeing people you know, even if they're saying nasty things about you when you're not around. I mean, one time we found ourselves in an elevator in a hotel, and we just started laughing.
Q:So you weren't particularly worried about having to face her in court if the dispute had gone to trial?
G:No. Mostly I was worried about having to get my hair cut and wear a suit. That's why people join rock bands -- so they don't have to get haircuts and wear suits.
Q:What did you last wear a suit to?
G:I'd rather not say.
Q:Why? Was it something embarrassing?
G:No, no. O.K., I'll tell you. It was for a court appearance in Australia. I got arrested for doing something stupid on a scooter.
Q:A scooter?
G:I know, it's not very rock 'n' roll.
Q:Since Nirvana, rock has died and then come back -- so now you're like an elder statesman at age 33. How does that feel?
G:Terrible. It's not until recently that I could even imagine myself as an adult. But these kids today, they look at me like I'm Neil Young. Nirvana is a band their parents listen to.
Q:So you don't think the Foo Fighters connect to the kids?
G:Maybe some do. I don't know. Mostly, I think they're into Eminem.
Q:Are you feeling any effects of age? How's the hearing?
G:I feel it in the knees. All that jumping around on stage, it takes a toll.
Q:These young rock bands seem pretty savvy about making it, in a way that would have been ridiculed back in the days of Nirvana.
G:It's just a different environment that these kids grow up in. When I grew up, the guys we idolized, the guys we wanted to be, they never had any illusions about making it. It wasn't a feasible aspiration. We were set on trying to survive on $7 a day on the road, which can be done.
Q:Does it disgust you when guys sell songs to commercials before they're 20?
G:My attitude is, look, if you really believe the new Toyota is the finest vehicle on the road, hallelujah, brother, sell your song to the company.
Q:That does sound like disgust.
G:Not really, no. I mean, one of the things you start to realize the longer you play music for a living is how incredible it is that anyone can write a song and then stand up on a stage and sing it in front of people. It is the most frightening thing in the world. Think how scary it is to do karaoke. So you develop respect for people who perform for a living, you just do.
Q:Apparently you live next door to the conservative TV commentator Tucker Carlson in suburban Virginia. Do you guys hang out?
G:Actually he's down the street, and no, I haven't met him. But he left me a nice note once on his personal stationery asking me to drop by for a beer. I appreciated that. Not sure if I set a good example for the neighborhood kids, though. I mean, when I was 14, I was smoking as much pot as I could get my hands on, and now I've got my own sweet two-acre lot.
Q:Kurt Cobain's journals are about to be published. Have you read them?
G:No, and I'm not going to. The legend, the myth of the band -- I'm not interested in it. You know, people find this hard to believe, but my memories of Nirvana are really good. I think of the people, the road trips.
I think of that white Chevy van that we used to tour in, that stunk of gasoline. I remember us having a really good time. Obviously, it did not end well, but my memories of Nirvana are just so much more powerful than any myth, and I won't let anything destroy that.
Q:After the settlement was reached with Courtney Love, she was quoted as saying she was back in love with you.
G:That could not be true.