Dave Grohl. Is there anything that man doesn’t do? Whether it’s playing drums for the likes of Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, and Ghost, or popping up in every rock and roll documentary you’ve ever seen, the man sure keeps himself busy. Of course, his main gig for the past few decades has been fronting the multi-platinum rock band Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters are as well known for their sense of humour as for their pounding hard rock. Most of their music videos have tongues planted firmly in cheek. Wigs, dress ups, Mentos parodies… we’ve compiled of the 10 best Foo Fighters music videos.
Best Foo Fighters Music Videos – The Countdown
10. White Limo
Shot on VHS, likely to capitalise on the Foos’ audience’s nostalgia for yesteryear. This track from Wasting Light looks more like an 80s home video than anything you’d see on MTV. This video is boosted by a cameo from the sorely-missed Lemmy. Yes, that Lemmy. The Motorhead frontman drives around, breaking most drink-driving laws in the process, smoking cigarettes and collecting various members of the Foo Fighters. He eventually drives them all off a cliff. A late entry in the Foo Fighters canon, but far from the silliest.
9. Long Road to Ruin
A massive single from 2007’s massive Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. This video reprises Dave Grohl’s schmaltzy 70s alter ego, Davy Grolton. With a smattering of bad wigs and worse moustaches, the video lovingly apes the saccharine soaps of the 1970s. A fight erupts on set between Grolton and Parks and Recreation star (and Quincy Jones’ daughter) Rashida Jones. Like “White Limo”, this one ends with a car driving off a cliff. Somehow both sillier, and more believable than the plots of many actual soap operas.
8. Learn to Fly
If you can’t drive off a cliff, you might as well hop in a plane. That may well have been the logic behind the video for “Learn to Fly”, in which Dave Grohl exhibits some serious silent acting chops. Grohl appears as several very different characters (including a child and an air hostess). Nate Mendel appears as a screeching baby. Even Tenacious D appear in the video, accidentally spiking the aircraft’s coffee with some Class A substances. Luckily, the Foo Fighters only drink water, and are able to safely land the aircraft.
7. Everlong
OK, so the video for “Everlong” isn’t so much ha-ha funny as it is off-its-tits-bizarre funny. Directed by Michael Gondry, and crashing through several surreal set pieces, this video crams more than you’d think possible into its four minutes. There’s an old-fashioned punk brawl, a creepy log cabin, a giant telephone, and Dave Grohl slapping the heck out of Nate Mendel and Pat Smear with his enormous Popeye hand. Ludacris may have borrowed the idea for “Get Back”, but nothing competes with “Everlong” for sheer balls-to-the-wall weirdness.
6. Big Me
“Big Me” was filmed down under in Sydney, Australia. It spoofed a then-popular Mentos ad, with the band spruiking “Footos”, which we’re reassured is pronounced Foo-tos, not foot-oz. This was one of the Foo Fighters’ earliest videos, and set the tone for silliness in years to come. It was even nominated for five MTV Video Awards in 1996.
5. Run
The leading single from Concrete and Gold winks at the slow onward march of the Foo Fighters’ age by placing them in an old folks’ home. An artificially aged version of the band – complete with Dumbledore beards and white wigs – performs at the retirement home. This leads, of course, to chaos, as the song kicks into the heaviest riff in the Foo Fighters canon. The octogenarian moshpit causes enough mayhem for the residents to break out, escaping into the night and attack some hipsters hotboxing their hatchback. It even finishes with the most terrifying synchronised dance piece in a music video since Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
4. Walk
Alternative title: “Dave Grohl Has a Really, Really Bad Day”. In 2011’s “Walk”, Dave steps out of his car in gridlocked traffic occupied by nose-pickers, conservatives and, worst of all, Coldplay fans. He attacks Pat Smear with Pepperami, steps in dog poo, trespasses on a golf course and, eventually, makes it to band practice. He squeezes out a single verse before being duly tazed by an officer of the law.
3. Breakout
Dave Grohl further develops his skills as a character actor here by playing a loser who eventually lashes out in violence. The hapless Grohl takes actress Traylor Howard (from Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place) to see a Jim Carrey movie. At some point, Dave Grohl’s mother flips him the bird. Taylor Hawkins covers Grohl’s pristine sweater-vest in mustard and gets thrown into a table for his trouble. Dave catches Tony Cox trying it on with his date, drags him from the vehicle, and throws his freshly purchased snacks all over the car. Standard fare for the Foo Fighters.
2. The Pretender
What begins as a stock-standard performance video gradually descends into chaos. Initially, Dave and the Foo Fighters stand in an empty white room, delicately picking out the opening arpeggios. Before too long, Taylor Hawkins’ machine-gun snare drum kicks in, and it seems the riot police are none too happy about this breach of noise restrictions. Over the course of the video, the cops become more agitated, or so we assume. It’s hard to tell with the masks on. The riot police eventually charge the band, when a tsunami of red gunk that could make Nickelodeon blush intervenes. There’s probably some grand message of anti-authoritarianism in there, but really “The Pretender” rocks sufficiently hard to win over even the most dedicated bootlicker.
1. Low
Who else but Jack Black could top this list? Black and Grohl play a couple of hillbilly besties whose flavour of bromance involves a none-more-90s fisheye lens, getting wasted, wearing women’s undies, and absolutely destroying a dingy motel room. Because this video so heavily featured the sort of antics that put even the most depraved student shenanigans to shame, MTV refused to broadcast the video. Dave and Jack’s crossdressing rednecks have the time of their lives overnight, parting ways with one another with a fist bump in the morning.
Enjoyed our look at the best Foo Fighters music videos? Why not check our list of the top 10 Biffy Clyro songs!