It’s from their song Learn to Fly. It sounds like Dave Grohl sings, “I’m looking to the sky to save me, looking for a satellite”, but “satellite” is really “sign of life”.

Really, this post is just an excuse to post the video for the song. We’ve talked about Foo Fighters’ hilarious videos before (most notably for Big Me), but this one takes the proverbial cake. The bands plays multiple characters throughout the video, and the only thing I remember about seeing it for the first time was Matt showing it to me on the computer and giggling the most squealish giggle I’ve ever heard come out of him when fat lady Dave Grohl pictures the guy’s head as a hamburger and licks his teeth.

jamie wrote this on 05/15/09 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: 00s music, big me, foo fighters, learn to fly, satellite, sign of life

John McCain’s campaign has been using the Foo Fighters song, “My Hero” at rallies without the band’s permission.

“It’s frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that ‘My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song–and start asking artists’ permission in general!”

- Statement from Foo Fighter’s public relations firm, Nasty Little Man

This is not the first time this has happened, apparently.

The band Heart noticed that its song “Barracuda” was used for Sarah Palin events without permission.

John Mellencamp’s songs, “Our Country” and “Little Pink Houses” were used without permission.

Jackson Browne’s song “Running on Empty” was also used by the Republican party without consent. Jackson Browne has even filed suit against the party as well as the campaign, concerned that playing the song at an Ohio event implies his endorsement of McCain.

John Hall, a member of the 1970s group Orleans and now congressman, was unhappy with the campaign’s use of the Orleans song “Still The One” without his consent.
(...)
Read the rest of Foo Fighters’ hero: NOT John McCain at SONGSPEAK (101 words)

songspeak wrote this on 10/09/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: barracuda, campaign, can't take my eyes off of you, congressman, consent, copyright, foo fighters, heart, infringement, intellectual property, jackson browne, john cougar mellencamp, john hall, john mccain, little pink houses, my hero, nasty little man, orleans, our country, rally, republican party, rocky theme song, running on empty, sarah palin, saturday night live, snl, still the one, to love honor and stalk, without permission

Foo-syical Graffiti

Foo Fighters is probably one of Matt’s and my favorite current rock bands.  It’s hard to believe they’ve been around more than 10 years, and are the product of Dave Grohl wanting to make music after Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994.  One must wonder whether Nirvana would have had the success that Foo Fighters is enjoying now if Kurt had decided to stay with us.  But that’s neither here nor there.

Due to their large body of work, and the fact that we both like them so much, Foo Fighters have been involved in many a songspeak, so I’m sure this will be the first post of many to feature them.

One of the great things about Foo Fighters is their music videos. They’ve always had a knack for making unique, memorable, and funny videos. One of their first (and still one of my favorites) was their video for Big Me off of their self-titled debut album. The video was basically a parody of the Mentos Mints commercials that enjoyed popularity in the early 90’s. The main spots being parodied are the parallel-parking-dilemma ad and the crossing-the-street-conundrum ad. The best part about the Foo Fighters video are the exaggerated facial expressions and reactions (which really aren’t that far off from the real commercials now that I’ve rewatched them).

jamie wrote this on 10/02/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | 3 comments | TAGS: 00s music, 90s commercials, 90s music, big me, committed suicide, crossing the street commercial, dave grohl, exaggerated facial expressions, foo fighters, foo fighters music videos, foo fighters videos, footos, funny music videos, knack, kurt cobain, kurt cobain suicide, mentos, mentos commercials, mentos mints, nirvana, parallel parking commercial, the fresh fighter, the freshmaker, the knack