Is Dave Grohl a better songwriter than Kurt Cobain?

Waiting for Dave Grohl to recover after the tragic loss of Taylor Hawkins (I still can't believe it!) to see if he still has the energy to progress with Foo Fighters, I read somewhere about the topic: "Is Dave Grohl a better songwriter than Kurt Cobain?", so I want to give you here my point of view. 

The answer is not easy at all and it depends on the perspectives, so all the answers are somewhat correct. I will tell you in my opinion why Dave could be considered a better songwriter than Kurt, why he is not and why maybe he is.


No, he's not: Kurt wrote timeless anthems with Nirvana. 
Songs like Heart-Shaped Box, Smells like teen Spirit, Lithium and lots of Nirvana's hits are just another level in terms of innovation and generational impact. Without those, Foo Fighters just would not exist. 

Maybe: well, unfortunately we had just a few albums written by Kurt Cobain (who died at 27) and the quality we had in his part of his career is of course super high. On the other hand, who can tell us if after his peak he would have maintained a similar quality? There are many artists who can't keep up with the inspiration of their first material. Maybe he would have been considered differently after a few "normal" Nirvana albums?

Yes: Dave wrote several albums and he proved to be extremely versatile. From something similar to Nirvana (first Foo Fighters productions) to Heavy Metal (Probot and the recent Dream widow), Classic rock (Sonic Highways) and Pop-Rock albums like the last Medicine at midnight. He also wrote material for (and with) other artists like in Sound City (I love that album). Would Kurt be able to do that? Unfortunately we will never know the answers.

What's your opinion about this? Is Dave Grohl a better songwriter than Kurt Cobain?
Giovanni Gagliano

Passionate about music I wrote my first article for "Given To Rock" in 2012, reaching now 30K global followers. I am also a musician, gigging around London.

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