Dave Grohl discussed how cassettes were initially perceived
as hurting the record industry, and how Foo Fighters are now dealing with selling less albums than they used to in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“The funny thing about cassettes is that they were such a threat to the music industry back then. When cassettes became popular there were these bumper stickers everywhere that said ‘Home taping is killing the record industry,’” he says. “When digital downloading became the industry’s next biggest threat, it just totally echoed what happened when cassettes became popular. Like, ‘Wait a minute, the listener is in control? No!’ And to me, I was like, ‘F— yeah, man!’ When I was a punk-rock kid growing up outside of Washington, D.C., we were swapping cassettes of band’s demos. Whenever someone got the Fugazi demos, we’d all dub it for each other. But then we’d go see Fugazi play, and we’d sing every f—ing word to every one of those songs. We might not have bought the record, but we went to every one of those shows.
“I think that’s what’s happening with the Foo Fighters now,” he continues. “With the Foo Fighters, we’re not selling as many records as we used to, but we’re selling out stadiums, because the people are getting the music somehow and they’re coming to the shows, and they’re singing every word. For me, that live interaction is what made me fall in love with music.”
