| "The Pretender" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byFoo Fighters | ||||
| from the albumEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | ||||
| Released | August 21, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | March–June 2007 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:30 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Gil Norton | |||
| Foo Fighters singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "The Pretender" onYouTube | ||||
"The Pretender" is a song by Americanrock bandFoo Fighters. It was the first single from the group's 2007 albumEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. It is one of Foo Fighters' most successful songs; peaking at number 37 on the USBillboard Hot 100 (making it their third top-40 single), only "Learn to Fly" and "Best of You" beat its position on theBillboard Hot 100.
Dave Grohl first showcased the song, which had the working title "Silver Heart", during pre-production ofEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, but the song did not see much development. According to producerGil Norton, "The chorus was there, but the verse and the middle hadn't been written. Not to mention the song was much slower." During a 10-day break from recordings in April 2007, Grohl listened to the monitor mixes and thought that the record needed another uptempo song, so he spent his time developing "Silver Heart". The band then recorded a demo for "The Pretender", which Norton approved, leading to the song getting a proper recording the following day.[2]
Grohl described "The Pretender" as "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song, with a little bit ofChuck Berry in it."[3]The song is written in the key ofA minor and showcases the shifting dynamics which Grohl wanted to employ onEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, starting with a very stripped-down introduction, featuring soft guitar and vocals along with a smallstring section. Then comes an escalating hard rock sound, interrupted by breakdowns and escalations in thebridge, including a repeat of the intro. Mixing engineerRich Costey stated that making all these dynamics work, as well as balancing the instruments, was challenging, as Grohl and drummerTaylor Hawkins always want more focus on their instruments. The amount of guitaroverdubs also worried Costey – "The guitars on 'The Pretender' are quite full on, with countermelodies and so forth, and they all tend to be in the same range, so it gets quite dense. The challenge of this type of mix is to retain the power of the track, yet define a space for everything. Handling the guitar balance was a slight chore, and in comparison the drums and vocals were quite easy."[4][5]
Grohl has said that theSesame Street song "One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)" may have subconsciously influenced his writing of the song.[6]
In a 2007 interview withXFM, frontman Dave Grohl stopped short of explaining the meaning behind "The Pretender", but alluded its roots go to political unrest of the time it was written. 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."[7]
Grohl also told XFM "The Pretender" was not 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.[7]
Personnel adapted fromEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace liner notes[8]
This song was number 47 onRolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.[9] The song was a 2008Grammy Award nominee forBest Rock Song andRecord of the Year. It won the Grammy forBest Hard Rock Performance the same year. This song was also number 94 onMTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007.[10] The music video was nominated for a2008MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video, but lost toLinkin Park's "Shadow of the Day".[11]
This album was the fourth consecutive Foo Fighters album to have a song reach the top of the U.S.Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. "The Pretender" was the most densely played alternative rock song of 2007. It held the record for longest running number-one in the Modern Rock Tracks' history, beating a then-record of 16 weeks byRed Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue",Staind's "It's Been Awhile", andGreen Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", with 18 weeks at number one, untilMuse's "Madness" reigned for 19 weeks in 2012–13,[12] but that later got eclipsed byPortugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" in 2017 which spent 20 weeks at the number-one spot.[13] In late 2023, for the chart's 35th anniversary,[14]Billboard placed "The Pretender" at number seven on its ranking of the top 100 alternative hits in the chart's history.[15] It also spent six weeks at number one on theHot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It made theTriple J's Hottest 100 in Australia, placing in at number five.
The music video was directed bySam Brown. It is presented inletterbox format and heavily employspans, zooms, andtracking shots. It consists of the band performing the song in anairplane 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 ariot police officer, who stands behind a black line in front of the band. As the song progresses, he is joined by more riot police officers who line up at the same black line. Panning left-to-right across this lineup, each police officer is seen to have a number on his chest, which are in order counting down, hinting at a buildup toward the approaching climax. As the quieter bridge begins, the video slows down and the officers charge the band. Just as the band begins the song's louderchorus, the screen suddenly explodes and a red liquid erupts from it, 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.
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[50] | 6× Platinum | 420,000‡ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[51] | Platinum | 40,000* |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[52] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[53] | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
| Mexico (AMPROFON)[54] | 2× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[55] | 3× Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[56] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[57] | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[58] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Most, like I once did, would try to define Grohl and his Foo companions (Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett) as strictly being hard rock. And with hits like "Pretender", "All My Life" and "Everlong", it's tough to argue that point.
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