From winding up the Westboro Baptist Church to rampages at care homes, these are Foo Fighters' best on-screen moments.
Foo Fighters are not afraid to muck about, especially when it comes to making promo videos.
We thought we’d delve into the band's extensive videography and take a look at their funniest videos. It took us a while, as they’ve made a lot. Not all of them were side-splitters, to be fair; the performance clips which made up the Sonic Highways album were relatively laugh-free, while the Best Of You promo gives us all the feels.
If it’s a chuckle, a giggle, a belly laugh or simply a wry smile you’re after today, here’s a good percentage of the Foos' video output…
The narrative arc for this 2011 single closely echoes Joel Schumacher’s 1993 film Falling Down almost to the letter – albeit omitting the scene with the rocket launcher. Dave Grohl is trapped in a rubbish commute to work and finds himself stuck in a traffic jam. He’s surrounded by motorists who reside in the seventh circle of Hell: republicans, Coldplay fans and nose-pickers. He quickly loses his rag and abandons his car and walks across town with his guitar case. His rotten start to the morning quickly escalates as he assaults Pat Smear with a Pepperami in a shop, orders a disappointing burger and after treading in a dog turd, fights off two thugs – Chris Shiflett and Taylor Hawkins – in a local park. After trespassing on a golf course, he’s hit with golf balls and steals a cart and drives into a lake. He escapes and finally makes it to band practice and manages to crank out a verse from Walk, shortly before being incapacitated by a cop’s Taser and led away. This appears to be a typical Monday morning for the Foo Fighters frontman. It’s a wonder that he manages to be so cheerful.
Made to look like an ’80s home video, this track – taken from the album Wasting Light – features the late, great Lemmy as a limo driver who’d get either a complaint or a full five-star rating on Uber, depending on your view of drink-drivers. On his route, he knocks down a rollerblading Nate Mendel and gives him a lift. What follows is a reckless drive through Los Angeles and collects the rest of the band and a backseat jam before plunging off a cliff. We think they used stock footage for the climax, due to the fact that it’s a completely different car. Sloppy work by the continuity staff there.
For this One By One single, Tenacious D’s Jack Black joins Dave Grohl for a classic night at a flea-bitten motel. Classic, if you consider excessive drinking, kung fu kicks, vomiting and dressing up in cheerleader’s outfits as classic. They both pass out and emerge bleary-eyed and part ways with a fist-bump. Lads.
This was the second single to be released from 2007’s Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Set in a classic ’70s TV soap, it features Davy Grolton as Dr. Hansom Davidoff (Dave Grohl), Ty Hawkstone as ladies man Les Groper (Taylor Hawkins), Christopher Mishomotohama as Little Jimmy (Chris Shiflett), and Ned Bender as Saul Goode (Nate Mendel). A fight breaks out on the set, suggesting that life as a dreamy daytime TV star is not without its struggles as fame seems to comes between his co-star Racinda Jules (a neat cameo by The Office/Parks & Rec star Rashida Jones). It all ends rather abruptly as a tearful drive ends when Davy Grolton’s red car plunges off a cliff. Hang on, haven’t we seen this vehicle before?
Set on an aeroplane, Tenacious D appear in the opening scene as they hide a stash of drugs in the food prep station. The band appear in various guises: camp flight crew, larger lady, squealing teenage fan and a baby. No idea who plays the sexy air steward, though. Probably someone selected from a modelling agency. It turns out the drugs have found their way into the flight’s coffee supply and everyone – including the pilots – trip out. Luckily for the passengers, the band opted for bottled water and literally learn to fly (say what you see, lads) and guide the plane to safety. Tenacious D are met at the runway by the FBI and no doubt will serve some hard time in what we like to call ‘prison’. The video picked up a GRAMMY for Best Short Form Video.
The lead single from Concrete And Gold is set in an old folks’ home run by abusive staff. The evening’s entertainment is provided by a geriatric Foo Fighters. As soon as that riff kicks it, the residents cut the shit and start a pit and a sedate evening escalates into sheer chaos. Maybe close your eyes for the scene at 3 minutes 38, unless breasts like spaniel’s ears appeal to you. No judgment here.
On August 30, 2011, the Westboro Baptist Church picketed a Foo Fighters show in Kansas City. The band’s response was to perform a country song called Keep It Clean in front of the Phelps family (sample lyric: ‘Got a hankering for something, think I'm in the mood for some hot-man muffins’) and ends with some images from their post-performance scrub. In a tasty companion video for their viral hit, the band released Hot Buns, a steamy truck stop shower video soundtracked by Queen’s seductive Body Language, from their 1982 Hot Space album. Not a Foo Fighters track, but a video worth mentioning here. There’s an uncensored version available, but we were too spent to watch it…
Directed by French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), Everlong was nominated for for Best Rock Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. The prize went to Aerosmith for Pink, but we’ll ignore that. It remains one of their most surreal videos to date, beginning with a husband and wife (Dave and Taylor) asleep in bed. Dave dreams that he’s a punk at a packed house party, while Taylor is caught in an Evil Dead-esque nightmare. Meanwhile, Dave gets into a fight with some Teddy Boys (Nate Mendel and Pat Smear) and slaps them around with a massive hand. They crawl over a huge telephone, a kidnap scene, another slapping and the band end by play out the song in their bedroom. Lovely stuff.
Filmed on location in Sydney, Big Me is an elaborate parody of the Mentos adverts with the band flogging a brand of candy called Footos. The clip, directed by Jesse Peretz (founding member of The Lemonheads) won five MTV Video Music Awards at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. Don’t look for the sweets in the shops, though, because they don’t exist. We asked.
Breakout features an appearance by Traylor Howard from the U.S. show Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place (which introduced Ryan Reynolds to the world), and Dave, who appears to be a complete loser. The couple drive to an outdoor screening of Me, Myself and Irene – see Dave’s mother Virginia give him the finger from a passing car – and have a generally rotten time. Taking a quick toilet break to take some tablets prescribed for stress, he returns to find actor Tony Cox making advances on his date. Dave loses the plot, starts shouting and wins his date’s affections. Standard.
