Dave Grohl voices his support for Phoebe Bridgers' SNL guitar smash: "Let me tell you, it feels good when you do it"

Dave Grohl and Phoebe Bridgers
(Image credit: Kevin Winter for iHeartMedia / Rich Fury for Visible via Getty Images)

Dave Grohl has voiced his support for Phoebe Bridgers' guitar-smashing antics, after the indie-rock star's SNL performance rattled a number of people on social media.

Following her performance of I Know the End, Bridgers took to Twitter to laugh off the negative feedback she received on the back of smashing her electric guitar on a floor monitor.

Now, Dave Grohl has had his say, voicing his support for the performance and drawing comparisons to his early Nirvana years.

When probed on the Howard Stern Show for a comment, Grohl said: "I saw that performance man, I actually talked to my mom about it. She's got a beautiful voice, she can really sing."

The multi-instrumentalist went on to reflect upon his Nirvana days, saying: "When you watch us jam and freak out and do our thing, I think that's what they did.

"It was every fucking night. My drums had holes in them from Kurt fucking chopping my drums. But let me tell you, it feels fucking good when you do it."

Grohl also mused that the whole debate surrounding Bridgers' performance was linked to the wider conversation surrounding modern rock and roll music.

"For the last 10 years, every interview I do people say, 'Is rock and roll dead?' Well, I don't think so. I stand at the lip of a stage and there's like 50,000 people freaking out. Don't ask me, I don't think so… I think it's fucking great!"

Bridgers was quick to shrug off those who complained about the stunt, with David Crosby labeling it "pathetic". Needless to say, Phoebe wasn't taking the comment to heart.

See more

The acclaimed singer-songwriter has since spoken about the performance, telling CNN that the guitar smash was a "bucket list thing".

"I've always wanted to do it, and when I mentioned it to the show, they were really excited and they built me this whole monitor that would look like it was exploding even if I wasn't hitting it that hard."

"People were saying it was derived or corny and I'm like, well yeah, it was derived and corny after the first time somebody did it. That's the whole point."

Asked if it made her feel good, Bridgers replied, "Oh yeah. It was very fun."

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Matt Owen

Matt is a Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.