Don’t pretend it doesn’t put a lump in your throat, a tremble in your lip. Eighteen years after it first blared on college radios, accompanied by a whip-smart and witty music video courtesy of then-rising director Michel Gondry on heavy rotation on MTV, ‘Everlong’ remains one of Foo Fighters’ best songs – an emotional punk-pop pile-driver like very few others. It wasn’t an immediate hit – as drummer Taylor Hawkins will tell you, it took an acoustic version of the track, stripping the song down to its intensely personal core, for fans to notice its charm. When it did eventually start to chime with the public, however, it further confirmed Dave Grohl as a songwriting force to be reckoned with in his own right. Nirvana who?
Grohl has never really spoken about its meaning – nor did he when we caught up with him earlier this year to chat about the track, among other things. “No one is getting who or what that song is about outta Dave,” guitarist Pat Smear grinned at me the moment I mentioned the song – prompting Dave to shout mock-dramatically: “BETTER AND MORE HANDSOME JOURNALISTS THAN YOU HAVE TRIED, PAL!” The meaning of ‘Everlong’, it seems, will remain a mystery. The story of how it came to be, however, and particularly the Foos’ tale of shooting its video, are totally intriguing. Give it a watch below.