The price you pay to be a rock star!

Dave Grohl has spent most of his life rocking out on stage, but it turns out that has severely damaged his hearing! While sitting down for a chat on The Howard Stern Show, the Foo Fighters frontman admitted that he is “f**king deaf.” When asked if he’s gone to a doctor for an official diagnosis, the guitar player explained:

“I haven’t had them tested in a long time — I mean, I know what they’re gonna say. ‘You have hearing damage tinnitus in your left ear, moreso than your right ear.'”

Unfortunately, Dave is one of many who has faced an extra hurdle while managing the pandemic because he can no longer rely on lip-reading as faces are covered in masks.

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Elaborating on this dilemma, he added:

“If you were sitting next to me right here at dinner, I wouldn’t understand a f**king word you were saying to me, the whole f**king time. There’s no way. In a crowded restaurant, that’s worse. That’s the worst thing about this pandemic s**t, it’s like, people wearing masks. I’ve been reading lips for like, 20 years, so when someone comes up to me and they’re like [garbled noise], I’m like, ‘I’m a rock musician. I’m f**king deaf, I can’t hear what you’re saying.’”

Whoa… What a bummer!

For those that don’t know, Tinnitus, which Grohl supposedly has in his left ear, is a ringing that can develop over time with ongoing exposure to loud noise. This results in damages to tiny sensory hair cells in the inner ear, which help transmit sound to the brain, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Normally, we’d think hearing loss would be devastating for a musician, but the 53-year-old appears to have unique, almost spider-like senses when it comes to creating new music. He insisted that he can still hear “the slightest little things,” noting:

“My ears are still tuned in to certain frequencies, and if I hear something that’s slightly out of tune, or a cymbal that’s not bright enough or something like that, in the mix, I can f**king hear the minutiae of everything that we have done to that song, I really can.”

The fact that Grohl seems so nonchalant about his hearing loss might be because of some of his choices that have led to this issue. Howard brought up the fact that for years the performer has refused to wear “ear pieces” — which many artists wear to get a direct source of sound on stage and protect their ears from loud noises. This layer of protection is what the Nirvana drummer doesn’t like because it “removes [him] from the natural atmosphere sound.” The Grammy winner mused:

“I wanna hear the audience like, in front of me and I want to turn around be able to hear Taylor [Hawkins] right there and go over here and hear Pat [Smear], and go over here and hear Chris [Shiflett] and stuff like that. It just messes with your spatial understanding of where you are on stage.”

Despite not wearing in-ear monitors, Dave gushed about how “f**king perfect” the sound on stage for him is, thanks to his sound guy who he has worked with for over 31 years. Perfect and worth the cost, we suppose!

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Interestingly, Dave’s not alone in this unfortunate struggle. The Who‘s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton have all struggled with similar problems after performing for large groups over the years. Back in 2018, Roger even urged concertgoers to protect themselves when attending events, telling a Las Vegas crowd, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune:

“I am very, very deaf. And I advise you all — all you rock-and-roll fans — take your f**king ear plugs to the gigs. If only we had known when we were young… we are lip-reading.”

Yikes. Really makes us second guess our concert experiences! To hear more on this reveal, watch Dave’s full explanation (below).

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[Image via The Howard Stern Show/Foo Fighters/YouTube]

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