Dave Grohl is back this holiday season with The Hanukkah Sessions, a YouTube series the Foo Fighters frontman started along with producer Greg Kurstin in 2020. The video series celebrates the music of Jewish artists which last year included Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground and Mountain, among others.
The first episode of 2021 featured a creative metal-inspired cover of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” and in episode two the duo deliver a straight-ahead cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones.
You can watch and listen now in the player below.
“Once upon a time, two nice Jewish boys from Queens named Jeffery Hyman and Thomas Erdelyi changed the world forever with their music….. as Joey and Tommy Ramone!” reads the caption accompanying the video. “GABBAI GABBAI HEY! Ladies and gentlemen….It’s the Ramones!”
“Blitzkrieg Bop” was the Ramones’ debut single in the U.S. in 1976. Interestingly, when the band performed it live they often played it much faster than it was originally recorded. The version heard on their 1976 self-titled record was roughly 177 BPM (beats per minute) but live versions were played as fast as 200 BPM. Grohl and Kurstin’s version sits slightly slower at approximately 174 BPM.
Watch Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover Bob Dylan in ‘The Hanukkah Sessions’
