Originally Posted by oscillate

They're apples and oranges, in my opinion. Dave Grohl (other than Marigold) was not a songwriter with Nirvana. People have analogized it to be a Lennon/McCartney situation. It's largely what you prefer. Nirvana is much darker; much more cryptic lyrically and aesthetically. The Foo Fighters are more in the middle and largely have maintained the same sound. It's really hard to compare the two when you take into account Nirvana only released 3 full length albums over the course of 5 years whereas the Foo Fighters have been together for 20.

As far as preference, I tend to gravitate toward darker lyrics and music. I think Cobain had the ability to really dig deep and exorcise demons through his music. His voice had an amazing emotional quality to it. I like the Foo Fighters a lot, but I can't say I've really seen Grohl go to that point. But, again, they're different people with different experiences.