Photo: Roger Woolman, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
If your one of the few who missed Dave Grohl’s brilliant television show From Cradle To Stage when it first debuted in May, you can catch up on past shows now on the new Paramount+ streaming service. The six part series that stars the Foo Fighters legendary frontman and former Nirvana drummer debuted with its first episode on May 6th. The series entitled From Cradle To Stage stars Dave Grohl and his mother Virginia Hanlon Grohl. The idea behind the brilliant TV series was based on the book written by Dave Grohl’s mother Virginia Hanlon Grohl entitled From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Star. If you had a chance to read the book you would have read fascinating stories told by the mothers of rock stars Amy Winehouse, Dr.Dre and R.E.M’s Michael Sipe. The book filled a hole that has been missing in classic rock history. The early lives and teen years of so many rock and roll stars can shine the light ON how many of these brilliant artists were raised and whether their upbringing served as a detriment or a catalyst for their future stardom.
Dave Grohl and Virginia Hanlon Grohl’s From Cradle To Stage series was produced by Live Nation Productions and Endeavor Content. The series consists of six episodes. The debut show on May 06 featured Dan Reynolds of the great modern rock band Imagine Dragons and his mother Christene Reynolds. The May 13th episode featured r&b sensation and producer Pharrell and his mother Dr. Carolyn Williams. The show’s third episode that premiered on May 20th featured modern day country music legend Miranda Lambert and her mother Bev Lambert. Continuing with the duel female appearances, the May 27th show presented the stories of Brandi Carlile and Teresa Carlile. The great Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and sometime Bruce Springsteen guitarist appeared on the June 3rd episode with his mom Mary Morello. The shows final episode which will premiere on June 10th will feature the biggest rockstar of the series in Geddy Lee of Rush appearing with his mom Mary Weinrib.
This is a fascinating series that digs deep down into the issues that appear in a family when parents discover that their son or daughter wish to become a rock and roll star. For many parents, it’s the worst news they could hear when their child tells them that they want to become a rock and roll star. Most parents want the best for their children and live in a reality that basically defines the chances of becoming a rock and roll star as one in a million. Yet no one wants to take away the dreams of their child, discourage them in anyway. So how does one go about dealing with the issues of raising what might well possibly be a future rock and roll star.
Most of these parents will obviously push a young rocker or to have something to fall back on. However, it’s the ones that were in the business that truly understand that when someone has something to fall back on, inevitably that’s what they do in life. It’s those that are laser focused, that will do nothing but work on their music and their art while refusing to let anyone tell them they can’t do it that make it. So this is an interesting series to see how that played out among the ones who did make it and refused to hear anything else about it. It also looks into the turning points in one’s life and how their mothers inspired them, saved them, and got them through some rough periods.
Reality TV is so infused with what shows based on betrayal, divorce, weddings gone bad, women in their forties and fifties dressed like teenagers arguing with each other outside of mansions about the most ridiculous and pathetic issues. So it’s nice to get a great reality TV series that is more of a documentary that is way more genuine than some of the other stuff people are forced to watch.
For those of you who may be a little unfamiliar with who Dave Grohl is, the legendary rock star started his career as the drummer in the band Nirvana. That band arrived on the scene in the early 90s and turned the music world upside down igniting what would become the grunge music period. Sadly, Nirvana came to an end with Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain’s suicide. However, Dave Grohl resurrected his career in putting together a new band called The Foo Fighters. That band would become on of the most successful and dearly loved rock bands of the past twenty years.
Paramount TV is a new streaming service that is basically a revamp of CBS all access. Subscription rates start at 9.99 a month. The service shows a wide range of current and classic CBS television shows as well as original productions and many Paramount Motion Pictures. Can anyone say Star Trek? Like many other new streaming services it was designed to compete against the domination of the Netflix Machine.
