Dave Grohl says today’s musical climate is just like 1991, when Nirvana broke into the mainstream.

The Foo Fighters frontman acknowledges guitar bands are now “overlooked,” but isn’t worried rock ‘n’ roll has had its day, as he sees parallels between 2012 and the time just before his former band hailed in grunge and revolutionised US rock music.

He told Billboard.com: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with rock at all. It’s overlooked. And right now, the current musical climate is not unlike it was back in 1991, right before Nirvana got popular.

“The late ’80s was full of over-produced pop that kids had nothing to grab hold of – they had no way of connecting to this hair metal band singing about f***ing strippers in a limousine on Sunset Boulevard.”

He also describes Foo Fighters – one of the biggest rock bands in the world – as “five dorks” who think they “suck” as musicians.

He added: “You have to understand, we’re a really simple band. We think we suck and we try really hard to make good records and we practice. We don’t feel like the biggest, best band in the world. We just feel like the same five dorks that were touring in a van 17 years ago, that hasn’t changed.”