Best of You
2005 single by Foo Fighters
"Best of You"
Standard artwork
Single by Foo Fighters
from the album In Your Honor
ReleasedMay 30, 2005 (2005-05-30)
RecordedJanuary–March 2005
Genre
Length4:16
Label
Songwriters
Producers
Foo Fighters singles chronology
"Have It All"
(2003) 		"Best of You"
(2005) 		"DOA"
(2005)
Music video
"Best of You" on YouTube

"Best of You" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, In Your Honor (2005). Dave Grohl notes that the song was written following appearances at 2004 American presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign trail and is "about breaking away from the things that confine you".[3] The song holds the band's highest chart peak in the U.S. (number 18), the UK (number four), and Australia (number five), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single. It also topped Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks. Following the band's performance at Live Earth, the song again entered the UK charts at number 38.

In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Hot Modern Rock Tracks (which by then had been renamed to Alternative Airplay),[4] Billboard ranked "Best of You" at number 91 on its list of the 100 most successful songs in the chart's history.[5]

Background

"Best of You" was one of the first compositions for In Your Honor, written by Dave Grohl in his garage following his involvement on the campaign trail for John Kerry. Once the Foo Fighters recorded a demo, they shelved it feeling they could do better. It was only brought back for further production by manager John Silva, who felt "Best of You"'s absence while listening to what they had recorded that far.[6] Taylor Hawkins declared that it was the only song from the rock disc of that album that remained from the original sessions along with "No Way Back".[7]

Grohl stated that while many of his songs start with the music and lyrics come last, the words for "Best of You" were fast to write. Given the Kerry rallies inspired him to do "all these songs about breaking away from the things that confine you",[8] thus came "a song of resistance. It’s about the refusal to be taken advantage of by something that’s bigger than you, or someone you’re in love with. It’s the fight in the face of adversity."[9] Grohl added that "Most people think it's a love song but it's meant to be more universal, which I think is one of the reasons so many people sing along when we play it."[8] The composition had no interest in "an interesting melody",[9] instead featuring "a rhythm that we'd never really used on any of the other albums."[8] The focus was on a strong performance, where Grohl could "scream the whole way through". During the first rehearsals, Grohl came close to injuring his throat and felt afraid of being unable to perform live, but eventually considered he could pull it off as "when you go out and sing words from the heart, you scream twice as hard.”[9]

Music video

The music video was directed by Mark Pellington, best known for his work on the video for "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. He was inspired by the death of his wife a few months prior to the shoot, and was drawn to the song's notion of dealing with pain in life.[10]

The video features the band playing on top of the abandoned Linda Vista Community Hospital. Along with the band's scenes are clips that show pain, depression, or anger:

  • Children playing alone or with each other, one scene shows one girl hugging another.
  • A car crash
  • A lion pouncing on its prey, which is a vulture
  • A snake attacking a rodent
  • A newborn baby sleeping
  • A zebra kicking another zebra behind itself
  • A snarling wolf
  • Crash test dummies being crushed by a car crash test
  • Men and women showing affection for each other
  • A nuclear explosion
  • A baby crying
  • A mother and child laying on the bed
  • A wall covered in writing, including the phrases "help me", "pain feels good" and "they all died in the fire I started."

Critical reception

"Best of You" is widely regarded as one of the Foo Fighters' best songs. Kerrang and American Songwriter both ranked the song number four on their lists of the greatest Foo Fighters songs.[11][12]

Accolades

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
2019 The Guardian United Kingdom Dave Grohl's Landmark Songs[13] N/A

Track listing

CD1[14]
No.TitleLength
1."Best of You"4:16
2."I'm in Love with a German Film Star" (The Passions cover)4:21
CD2[15]
No.TitleLength
1."Best of You"4:16
2."FFL"2:31
3."Kiss the Bottle" (Jawbreaker cover)4:04
4."What an Honour (interview video clip)" 
7" vinyl[16]
No.TitleLength
1."Best of You"4:16
2."Spill"3:30

Personnel

Personnel based on band members' de facto primary roles in the group.

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[45] 5× Platinum 350,000‡
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[46] Platinum 60,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[47] Gold 10,000*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[48] Gold 45,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[49] Gold 150,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[50] Gold 25,000‡
Mexico (AMPROFON)[51] Platinum 60,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[52] 3× Platinum 90,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[53] Gold 30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[54] 2× Platinum 1,200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[55] 2× Platinum 2,000,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States April 25, 2005 (2005-04-25)
[56]
Australia May 30, 2005 (2005-05-30) CD [57]
United Kingdom
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
 [58]
United States June 20, 2005 (2005-06-20) Contemporary hit radio [59]
July 18, 2005 (2005-07-18) Hot adult contemporary radio [60]

Covers

  • Prince covered the song during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida, on February 4, 2007. Drummer Taylor Hawkins expressed surprise at the performance, due to Prince's prior criticism of the band's desire to release a cover version of his song "Darling Nikki" in 2003.[61]
  • During the Australian X Factor's fifth season in 2013, eventual series winner, Dami Im opened the rock-themed fifth live show with a rousing cover of the song and received an unprecedented fifth consecutive standing ovation.[62] Im's performance of "Best of You" debuted at number 78 on the Australian Singles Chart.[63] Having won the series, Im recorded a version for her self-titled album which debuted at number one in the charts and was certified Platinum eventually.[64]
  • Russian singer Lena Katina covered the song during her 2013 concert in Cologne, Germany, and it was later included in her first live album European Fan Weekend 2013 Live.[65]

Anastacia version

"Best of You"
Single by Anastacia
from the album It's a Man's World
Released2 November 2012
Recorded2011–12
GenreRock
Length4:20
Label
Songwriters
ProducerGlen Ballard
Anastacia singles chronology
"Dream On"
(2012) 		"Best of You"
(2012) 		"Stupid Little Things"
(2014)
Music video
"Best of You" on YouTube

Anastacia covered the song for her fifth studio album It's a Man's World. The song was released as the album's second single, only in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The music video was filmed in Barcelona, Spain, in October 2012.

Release history

Region Date Format
Austria 2 November 2012 Digital download
Germany
Switzerland
Russia[66] 14 December 2012 Contemporary hit radio

References

  1. ^ O'Brien, Jon (September 18, 2017). "The 10 Best Foo Fighters Songs". Paste. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  2. ^ Loudwire Staff (October 2, 2020). "The 66 Best Hard Rock Songs of the 21st Century". Loudwire. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  3. ^ Kerrang! Legends: Foo Fighters pg. 114
  4. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (September 7, 2023). "Alternative Airplay Chart's 35th Anniversary: Foo Fighters Remain No. 1 Act, 'Monsters' New Top Song". Billboard. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  5. ^ "Greatest of All Time Alternative Songs". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 6, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  6. ^ Foo Fighters On How They Wrote 'Best Of You'
  7. ^ Seven Questions with Taylor Hawkins
  8. ^ a b c How To Write A Rock Anthem
  9. ^ a b c Tireless Dave Grohl Screams Twice As Hard On Double LP
  10. ^ James Montgomery (2005). "Foo Fighters Get Serious With Director Of Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy'" MTV News (May 12, 2005)
  11. ^ Law, Sam (July 3, 2020). "The 20 greatest Foo Fighters songs – ranked". Kerrang. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  12. ^ Uitti, Jacob (November 24, 2021). "The Top 10 Foo Fighters Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  13. ^ Barlow, Eve (August 16, 2019). "Dave Grohl: 'I never imagined myself to be Freddie Mercury'". The Guardian. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  14. ^ Foo Fighters - Best Of You (CD) at Discogs
  15. ^ Foo Fighters - Best Of You (CD) at Discogs
  16. ^ Foo Fighters - Best Of You (Vinyl) at Discogs
  17. ^ "Foo Fighters – Best of You". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
  18. ^ "Foo Fighters – Best of You" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  19. ^ "Foo Fighters – Best of You" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  20. ^ "R&R Canada Rock Top 30" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1614. July 8, 2005. p. 57. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  21. ^ "Hits of the World – Eurocharts" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 25. June 18, 2005. p. 88 (84 of PDF). Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  22. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
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  48. ^ "Danish single certifications – Foo Fighters – Best of You". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
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  51. ^ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved July 22, 2020. Type Foo Fighters in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Best Of You in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
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  60. ^ "Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No. 1615. July 15, 2005. p. 19.
  61. ^ Montgomery, James (February 8, 2007). "Foo Fighters 'Have No Idea' Why Prince Covered Their Song At Super Bowl". MTV. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
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  63. ^ Ryan, Gavin (September 28, 2013). "ARIA Singles: Katy Perry Roar Spends 5th Week at No. 1". Noise11. Noise Network. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
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  66. ^ "Anastacia - Best Of You". TopHit. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
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