The Pretender (Foo Fighters song)
| "The Pretender" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"The Pretender" is the first single from the Foo Fighters' 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.
Origins and recording
In a 2007 interview with XFM, frontman Dave Grohl stopped short of explaining the meaning behind "The Pretender," but alluded its roots go to current political unrest. Grohl noted,
"That's the thing with lyrics, you never want to give away specifics, because it's nice for people to have their own idea or interpretation of the song. But, you know, everyone's been fucked over before and I think a lot of people feel fucked over right now and they're not getting what they were promised, and so something to do with that."[1]
Grohl also told XFM "The Pretender" wasn't initially planned for the album and happened really quickly.
"That song didn't happen until later on in the session. We didn't go into making the record with that song and it happened after we recorded a lot of stuff. Up until that point, I didn't know if we had a good opening song or not. So after we recorded it, I thought, 'oh this is perfect, we have the song to open the record,' and it just became everybody's favorite song. ... It's the type of song that I look forward to opening shows with and it came together really easily. We put that song together in, I don't know, a day, whereas a lot of the other songs we worked on for weeks."[2]
Reception
This song was #47 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[3]The song was a 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Rock Song and Record of the Year. It won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance the same year. This song was also #94 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.[4] The music video was nominated for a 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video.[5]
This album was the fourth consecutive Foo Fighters album to have a song reach the top of the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks. "The Pretender" is one of Foo Fighters' most successful songs; only "Learn to Fly" and "Best of You" beat its position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "The Pretender" was the most densely played alternative rock song of 2007. It holds the record for longest running #1 in the Modern Rock Tracks' history, with 18 weeks at #1[6]. It also spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. It made the Triple J's Hottest 100 in Australia placing in at number 6.
The Pretender is the song for the 2008-2009 Boston Bruins pre-game video.
Fuse TV ranked the song as the number one alternative rock video of 2008
Music video
The video was directed by Sam Brown. It is presented in letterbox format and heavily employs pans, zooms, and tracking shots. It consists of the band performing the song in an airplane hangar with many strip lights on the ceiling. Behind the band is a large red screen, which is thick and solid. The band is then faced by what appears to be a riot police officer, who stands behind a black line on the floor, around 30 feet or so from the band. He has the number 21 on his bullet-proof vest. As the song progresses, he is joined by more riot police officers, and a panning shot shows us that to his left, the numbers on the officers' vests descend all the way to "01". Assuming that there are the same number of officers on the man's right side, it can be gathered that there are 41 officers overall. As the quieter bridge begins, the video slows down as the officers charge at the band. Just as the band repeats the song's louder chorus, the screen suddenly explodes and a red liquid erupts from the red screen overwhelming the police officers but affecting the band to a lesser extent. At the end of the video, Dave Grohl is shown slamming his guitar on the floor as he falls to his knees. The visual effects in the video were done by Mechnology Visual Effects in Burbank, California.
Track listing
- 2-track CD[7]
- "The Pretender"
- "If Ever"
- Maxi CD[8]
- "The Pretender" - 4:31
- "Come Alive" (Demo) - 5:31
- "If Ever" - 4:15
- "Monkey Wrench" (Live from Hyde Park video) - 5:35
- 7"[9]
- "The Pretender"
- "Bangin"
Chart positions
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[10] | 10 |
| Canadian Hot 100[11] | 15 |
| Dutch Mega Top 50 | 13 |
| German Singles Chart | 72 |
| Irish IRMA Top 50 | 11 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[12] | 9 |
| Swedish Top 60 | 46 |
| UK Singles Chart | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 37 |
| U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Pop 100 | 47 |
Trivia
- This song is a playable track in the music video game Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.
- This song is also on the Soundtrack of the video game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.
Notes
- ^ "Foo Fighters On 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'". xfm.co.uk. 2007.
- ^ "Foo Fighters On 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'". xfm.co.uk. 2007.
- ^ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
- ^ MTV Asia. "Top 100 Hits List". Retrieved 2007-12-27.
- ^ "2008 MTV VMA – Nominees – Best Rock Video". MTV. 2008-08-15. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
- ^ Josh Groban's 'Noel' Is 2007's Top Selling Album ... For Now
- ^ Columbia Records UK - Online Store
- ^ Columbia Records UK - Online Store
- ^ Columbia Records UK - Online Store
- ^ Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved on September 16, 2007.
- ^ Canadian Hot 100. Billboard.. Retrieved December 30.
- ^ New Zealand RIANZ Single Chart
