Best of You

For "Best of You", the song by Kenny Thomas, see Kenny Thomas (singer).
"Best of You"
Single by Foo Fighters
from the album In Your Honor
Released May 30, 2005
Format CD
Recorded January–March 2005
Genre Post-grunge
Length 4:16
Label RCA
Producer Nick Raskulinecz, Foo Fighters
Certification Platinum (RIAA)
Foo Fighters singles chronology
"Have It All"
(2003)		 "Best of You"
(2005)		 "DOA"
(2005)
Alternative cover
(CD2)

"Best of You" is a song by American alternative rock band Foo Fighters, and the first single released from the band's fifth studio album, In Your Honor. 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."[1] To date, it is the band's only single to reach Platinum status in the US.[2] The song holds the band's highest chart peaks in the US (#18), the UK (#4), and Australia (#5), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The song won the Best Single award at the 2005 Kerrang! Awards. 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 #38.

Contents

Background

In an interview discussing the band's successful singles, Dave Grohl notes that: "Best of You is funny because we demoted so many songs for In Your Honor, I'd kind of forgotten about it. Our manager came in and said, "What happened to that Best of You song?" So we pulled it out and worked on it a little more."

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.[3]

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

Track listing

CD1
No. Title Length
1. "Best of You"   4:16
2. "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" (The Passions cover) 4:21
CD2
No. Title Length
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
No. Title Length
1. "Best of You"   4:16
2. "Spill"   3:30

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[4] 5
Dutch Singles Chart[4] 94
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles[5] 14
Irish Singles Chart[6] 20
Italian Singles Chart 36
New Zealand Singles Chart[4] 38
Swedish Singles Chart[4] 41
UK Singles Chart[7] 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] 18
U.S. Pop 100[8] 20
U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks[8] 1
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
U.S. Adult Top 40[9] 38
Chart re-entry (2005) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[10] 40
Chart re-entry (2007) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[11] 38
Chart re-entry (2008) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[12] 59

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 by 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.[13]

References

  1. ^ Kerrang! Legends: Foo Fighters pg. 114
  2. ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Foo Fighters singles. RIAA.com.
  3. ^ James Montgomery (2005). "Foo Fighters Get Serious With Director Of Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy'" MTV News (May 12, 2005)
  4. ^ a b c d australian-charts.com. "Australian Chart Archive". http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Foo+Fighters&titel=Best+Of+You&cat=s. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
  5. ^ "Foo Fighters Music News & Info". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/artist/foo-fighters/121501#/artist/foo-fighters/chart-history/121501?f=343&g=Singles. Retrieved 2011-11-08. 
  6. ^ irishcharts.ie. "Irish Chart Archive". http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
  7. ^ http://www.everyhit.co.uk/searchsec.php
  8. ^ a b c billboard.com. "Billboard Chart Archive". http://www.billboard.com/artist/foo-fighters/121501#/song/foo-fighters/best-of-you/6383705. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
  9. ^ "Foo Fighters Music News & Info". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/artist/foo-fighters/121501#/artist/foo-fighters/chart-history/121501?f=343&g=Singles. Retrieved 2011-11-08. 
  10. ^ http://www.everyhit.co.uk/searchsec.php
  11. ^ http://www.everyhit.co.uk/searchsec.php
  12. ^ http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/foo%20fighters/
  13. ^ "Foo Fighters 'Have No Idea' Why Prince Covered Their Song At Super Bowl". MTV. 2007-02-08. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1551990/20070208/prince.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 

External links

Foo Fighters
Studio albums
Live albums
Skin and Bones • iTunes Festival: London 2011
Compilations
Videos
Singles
Tours
There Is Nothing Left to Lose Tour • One by One Tour • In Your Honor Tour • Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace Tour • Wasting Light World Tour
Related
Articles
Bands
Book:Foo Fighters · Category:Foo Fighters
Kerrang! Award for Best Single

Terrorvision - "Tequilla" (1999) · Slipknot - "Wait and Bleed" (2000) · OPM - "Heaven Is a Halfpipe" (2001) · Puddle of Mudd - "Blurry" (2002) · Good Charlotte - "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (2003) · Lostprophets - "Last Train Home" (2004) · Foo Fighters - "Best of You" (2005) · Bullet for My Valentine - "Tears Don't Fall" (2006) · 30 Seconds to Mars - "The Kill" (2007) · 30 Seconds to Mars - "From Yesterday" (2008) · The Prodigy - "Omen" (2009) You Me at Six - "Liquid Confidence" (2010) · 30 Seconds to Mars - "Hurricane" (2011)