Steve Jobs & Dave Grohl

This might seem like a stretch, but watching the Foo Fighters the other night, while simultaneously see dozens of people listening to their iPods, got me thinking: If you want the biggest forces in both technology and music over the last 15 years or so, these are the two people you're likely to think of: Steve Jobs and Dave Grohl.

Here's why: For technology, you've got the early Apple, and the Macintosh, and 1/2 of the people who brought it to you is, of course, Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak made a great name for himself, but then faded away to a life of philanthropy, out of the spotlight.

For rock fans, you of course remember "Nevermind," a classic album of our time. There were three members of Nirvana back then, and while Kurt Cobain's absence is tragic, think about how the music world changed, first because of Nirvana, then because of how Grohl basically manhandled the music charts on his own.

Act two for both men is, arguably, even bigger than act one. Jobs re-claims Apple on his own, and unleashed the iPod on the public, creating a cultural icon, while making Apple employees & investors rich in the process.

For Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters are all over the radio, all over big album sales, and huge on the road. There are days when a radio station could play Nirvana, followed by the Foo Fighters, and maybe a Queens of the Stone Age song thrown in for good measure. All Grohl, all the time.

It's an easy thesis to disagree with...feel free to let mw know how off-base I am. But if you think about it, the "what if" questions are all over these guys: What if Jobs stayed away from Apple? What if Cobain stayed alive? But, most importantly, what are these two men going to come up with next?