Erstwhile Washingtonian Dave Grohl will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the second time. Grohl’s band, Foo Fighters, will be part of the 2021 class of inductees, and his former band Nirvana was inducted in 2014.
Grohl grew up in Springfield, and he attended a combo of Thomas Jefferson High School, Bishop Ireton High School, and Annandale High School. He’d take the Metro in to see bands play at the 9:30 Club, and he eventually played with local groups Dain Bramage, Mission Impossible, and Freak Baby before joining up with the band Scream. (He later moved to Seattle when he joined Nirvana.) The Foo Fighters also recorded at Grohl’s house in Alexandria.
Which other musicians and groups with ties to the DC area (no matter how tenuous) are in the rock hall? We rounded up some of the Washington-adjacent honorees here.
• Marvin Gaye (1987): Legitimately from DC.
• Nesuhi Ertegun (1991): The Atlantic Records legend grew up in DC alongside his brother Ahmet; both frequented local jazz clubs and the Howard Theatre.
• The Doors (1993): Singer Jim Morrison attended high school in Alexandria.
• Parliament-Funkadelic (1997): The P-Funk “Mothership” stage prop was rumored to have found its final resting place in Prince George’s County. The Smithsonian acquired a replica of the Unidentified Funky Object in 2011.
• Fleetwood Mac (1998): Mick Fleetwood lived in Old Town in the 1990s when he operated a short-lived nightclub. He was sometimes seen at local record stores.
• The Police (2003): Drummer Stewart Copeland was born in Alexandria.
• R.E.M. (2007): The Georgia band battled a DC group at the old 9:30 Club in the early ’80s for the right to keep the sleep-inspired name they both shared. The losers became Egloslavia.
• Nirvana (2014): Drummer Dave Grohl grew up in Springfield.
• The Cars (2018): One of the authors of this post owns a wah-wah pedal that the guy he bought it from swears was used on the Cars’ Heartbeat City album.
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
