The Foo Fighters song that means the most to Dave Grohl: “I still get choked up”
The go-to answer to any difficult question is, “That’s like picking your favourite child”.
Even those who don’t have children lean on their imaginary ones to avoid attaching themselves to one definitive answer to a question like, “What’s your favourite song?” So when Dave Grohl is asked to pick his for the Foo Fighters, he probably felt like the mother of the Von Trapp family.
And that’s only narrowing his options down to the discography of one band. Let’s not forget Dave Grohl sat at the drums for some of rock’s most iconic songs with Nirvana, and the Tenacious D soundtrack, if you’re inclined that way.
But when he finally stepped forward as frontman, under the fresh blanket of the Foos, he was given a chance to write songs with his heart. The raucous musical energy he had crafted as a youngster in the punk community and then as a drummer in the subsequent grunge scene was still present, just repackaged into a more anthemic brand of stadium rock.
This was who Grohl was, unashamedly. The sort of rock star he spent most of his childhood idolising, the sort that wasn’t afraid to write a song for the commercial masses. Hits soon came pouring out of the Foos machine, and the crowds quickly grew. And it’s in that journey that songs take on new meaning.
The deeply personal nature of whatever may have inspired it is rendered helpless to public perception as fans project their own feelings and experiences onto the lyrics. This point is made abundantly clear in songs like ‘Everlong’ and ‘My Hero’, which, no matter how personal to Grohl, have become individual anthems to every member of a Foo Fighters crowd.
So naturally, when it comes to Grohl, his own favourite inevitably veers away from that of the crowd. While they take his lyrics and sing them back to them with their own meaning, there is one song he reserves for the sanctity of his own personal experience.
“Oh, God—that’s a lot of fucking songs,” he neatly said, avoiding any child clichés in his answer. He continued, “We have our staples, the ones that make the place go bananas. For me, there was a song off [2011’s Wasting Light] called ‘These Days’ that’s one of the most meaningful songs I’ve ever written. Every night I sing it I still get choked up.”
Perhaps the reason this song stands out for Grohl is its lyrics. Yes, they are clearly personal to him, musing on personal regrets and grappling with their impacts. Moreover, they are delivered in a way that is universal. So when the inevitable sea of dedicated Foo fans line up at the gig and sing the lyrics back to Grohl, they can get on board without entirely derailing the song’s meaning. Together, they bathe in the bliss of abstract universality.
But the killer blow of the song is undoubtedly how it evolves. Grohl has endured his fair share of drama both personally and as a musician, and so the lyrics can continue to resonate with him through every chapter of his life, remaining a deeply personal anthem no matter the context.
