Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters singer, is pumping out covers of songs by Jewish artists for Chanukah

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — Dave Grohl, who is best known as the leader of the 12-time Grammy winning band Foo Fighters, isn’t Jewish. But he’s having a lot of musical fun this Chanukah.

Dave Grohl from 2008. (Photo by Lindsay from Pittsburgh via Wikimedia Commons)

Grohl teamed up with the Grammy-winning Jewish producer Greg Kurstin, who has worked with the Foo Fighters, to record eight covers of songs by famous Jewish artists, one for each night of the holiday.
“Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… we’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims,” reads the caption accompanying the first video promoting the series, dubbed the Hanukkah Sessions.

The pair, with Grohl on vocals and drums (he was also the drummer in Nirvana) and Kurstin on keyboards, have so far covered the rap rock group Beastie Boys; the superstar rapper Drake; the 70s rockers Mountain, led by Leslie West (neé Weinstein); and Peaches, stage name of the provocateur Merrill Nisker.

Stay tuned to the Foo Fighters’ social media pages to see what comes next in the series, but in the meantime, enjoy the videos of the already released covers below.

Beastie Boys — “Sabotage”

As the only Rock and Roll Hall Of Famers with a lyric about kugel, we thought it would be a shanda to not kick off this party with New York’s (and Abraham’s) finest…known by some as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego known by their Imas & Abbas as @beastieboys!#HanukkahSessions pic.twitter.com/QbDSWNhXaO

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) December 11, 2020

Drake — “Hotline Bling”

You might be surprised to learn that this superstar is… Canadian. He’s never hidden the fact that he was M.O.T. so a generation of Jewish parents could tell their kids “if @Drake took the time to study for HIS Bar Mitzvah, you can too.” Twitterverse, challah at your boy! pic.twitter.com/eyMyuNs5WP

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) December 12, 2020

Mountain — “Mississippi Queen”

Talk about making a mountain out of a mohel … named Leslie Weinstein at his bris, the singer of our next band built a wailing wall of guitar as Leslie West. Check out our take on a track from Leslie’s monolithic band, MOUNTAIN.#HappyHanukkah #HanukkahSessions pic.twitter.com/NlimF6QBgz

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) December 13, 2020

Peaches — “F*** the Pain Away”

Drake’s not the only musical Jew from Canada…tonight we feature a Canadian rock G-Dess…who coincidentally grew up around the corner from a Canadian Jewish rock G-D (G-ddy Lee). Straight out the mikvah, here’s @peaches! #hanukkahsessions #happyhanukkah pic.twitter.com/wV0vTGwOlR

— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) December 14, 2020