Dave Grohl, man, that is all.

 Dave Grohl is someone who stays cool with the times (or stays cool with dads of all times). Even if you don’t know his name, you do know him, whether it’s from his kickass drum solos in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Team Spirit”, or in the soulful vocals in Foo Fighters’ “Everlong.” He makes music that moves you.
In doing research for this post, I realized how much I didn’t know about this legend. He owns his own record label, meaning that none of his money is being taken by another company. He also appeared in an episode of X-files and expressed that his dream job was once to investigate alien activity.

More recently, Grohl decided to make a television series with HBO that documented the making of the Foo Fighter’s album Sonic Highways. This album is revolutionary. The series follows the band as they travel from iconic city to iconic city in the United States and talk to famous creatives and take part in the culture. From their experiences, they piece together a song that has elements from the people they interacted with and the cultural sites they visited. One of the most obvious example of this is in the song "Something From Nothing." This is the song they wrote about the great city of Chicago (and therefore, it is my favorite song on the album). In the HBO series, they speak to Muddy Waters, the father of Chicago blues, who inspires the tone of the entire song. In the lyrics of the song, they reference him by singing, "washed them in the muddy water", followed by a quote by Muddy Waters himself: "looking for a dime I found a quarter."

This is the most obvious form of creative collecting I have seen. No, I believe that it takes collecting a step further. It is a type of anthropological work, perhaps, trying to capture the soul of a city’s past creativity in music. They are assembling a collage: of ideas, words and phrases, social tensions, and overall mood. Despite this intensity, Dave Grohl and his music often still remain lighthearted. He has a fascination with the world that leads him to asking intense questions about the societal structures and histories of the cities he encounters. This, naturally, reminds me of Einstein's child-like questioning about the universe expressed in Gardner's text. Both of these creatives delve into questions that other people don't think to ask because they are already a part of daily life. You don't just ask someone "How did you get here? What social boundaries were keeping you out of this space?" While Dave Grohl asked these questions in the series, Einstein asked the universe questions no one had thought to ask. Curiosity is absolutely fundamental in someone's ability to be creative and transcend normal bounds of thought.

In Csikszentmihalyi’s article, “The Creative Personality”, creatives are said to be “both humble and proud” simultaneous. Dave Grohl adheres to this description. Although he stays humble as he puts great effort into raising his daughters to be openminded and kind, he still is proud of his accomplishments in two successful bands and a record label owner.

If you're at all intrigued by this amazing man and his amazing music, give Sonic Highways a listen. You might just find yourself asking the broader questions.