Dave Grohl gave the keynote address at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas on Thursday, affably working his way through a 50-minute speech that including jokes at his own expense and some pop music confessions.
"Finding a good band name is still the hardest f--king part," he said. "Foo Fighters is the stupidest f--king name."
Grohl also admitted to having a special affinity for Korean rapper Psy: "I can truthfully say out loud that 'Gangnam Style' is one of my favorite songs of the past decade."
He also took a jab at Pitchfork (a news and review website known for its general scorn of popular music) and "The Voice":
"Is ['Gangnam Style'] any better or worse than the latest Atoms For Peace album? Hmmm, if only we had a panel of celebrity judges to determine that for us. What would J-Lo do? Paging Pitchfork! Come in, come in we need you to help us determine the value of a song! Who f--king cares? Who is to say what’s a good voice? The Voice? Imagine Bob Dylan standing there singing 'Blowin’ In The Wind' in front of Christina Aguilera."
Grohl and Nirvana member Krist Novoselic performed with Paul McCartney at the 12-12-12 benefit concert. The Beatle first teamed up with the surviving members of the grunge band at Sound City Studios, where Nirvana recorded "Nevermind." The studio is the subject of "Sound City," Grohl's all-star documentary.
The studio -- and the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain -- also made it into Thursday's speech. Grohl described the Sound City recordings as "the sound of three people playing like their life depended on it" and said Cobain's death left him shaken to the core.
"When Kurt died I was lost, I was numb," he said. "The music I had devoted my life to had now betrayed me. I turned off the radio, I put away my drums."
In October, Grohl confirmed that the Foo Fighters are taking a hiatus. "Sometimes it's good to just put it back in the garage for a while," the rocker said in a statement.
For more on Grohl's SXSW speech, head over to NME.
