The Pretender (song)

Infobox Single
Name = The Pretender


Artist = Foo Fighters
from Album = Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Released = September 17, 2007
Format = CD
Recorded = March - June 2007
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 4:28
Label = Roswell/RCA
Producer = Gil Norton
Last single = "Cold Day in the Sun"
(2006)
This single = "The Pretender"
(2007)
Next single = "Long Road to Ruin"
(2007)

"The Pretender" is the first single from the Foo Fighters' 2007 album "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace".

Origins and recording

In a 2007 interview with XFM, frontman Dave Grohl stopped short of explaining the meaning behind "The Pretender," but alluded its roots go to current political unrest. 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." [ [http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?b=reviews&id=483011 "Foo Fighters On 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'"] . xfm.co.uk. 2007.]

Grohl also told XFM "The Pretender" wasn't 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." [ [http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?b=reviews&id=483011 "Foo Fighters On 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'"] . xfm.co.uk. 2007.]

Music video

The video was directed by Sam Brown. It is presented in letterbox format and heavily employs pans, zooms, and tracking shots. It consists of the band performing the song in an airplane 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 a riot police officer, who stands behind a black line on the floor, around 30 feet or so from the band. He has the number 21 on his bullet-proof vest. As the song progresses, he is joined by more riot police officers, and a panning shot shows us that to his left, the numbers on the officers' vests descend all the way to "01". Assuming that there are the same number of officers on the man's right side, it can be gathered that there are 41 officers overall. As the quieter bridge begins, the video slows down as the officers charge at the band. Just as the band repeats the song's louder chorus, the screen suddenly explodes and a red liquid erupts from the red screen 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.

Reception

This song was #47 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. [No byline (December 11, 2007). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007/12 "The 100 Best Songs of 2007"] "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 2007-12-21] The song was a 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Rock Song and Record of the Year. It won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance the same year. This song was also #94 on "MTV Asia"'s list of Top 100 Hits of 2007. [MTV Asia. [http://www.mtvasia.com/Funstuff/Contests/MTVTop100Hits2007/top100.html "Top 100 Hits List"] . Retrieved 2007-12-27.] The music video was nominated for a 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video. [cite web|title=2008 MTV VMA – Nominees – Best Rock Video|url=http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2008/best-rock-video/|date=2008-08-15|accessdate=2008-08-15|publisher=MTV]

This album was the fourth consecutive Foo Fighters album to have a song reach the top of the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks. "The Pretender" is one of Foo Fighters' most successful songs; only "Learn to Fly" and "Best of You" beat its position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "The Pretender" was the most densely played alternative rock song of 2007. It holds the record for longest running #1 in the Modern Rock Tracks' history, with 18 weeks at #1 [ [http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3i5d843c633b3a4760dbf7c770130ae116 Josh Groban's 'Noel' Is 2007's Top Selling Album ... For Now ] ] . It also spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. It made the Triple J's Hottest 100 in Australia placing in at number 6.

Track listing

*2-track CD [ [http://columbia.trinitystreetdirect.com/store/page4.asp?suptype=1&t=15&sub_type=15&prod_id=818&col=30 Columbia Records UK - Online Store ] ]
#"The Pretender"
#"If Ever"

*Maxi CD [ [http://columbia.trinitystreetdirect.com/store/page4.asp?suptype=1&t=15&sub_type=15&prod_id=817&col=30 Columbia Records UK - Online Store ] ]
#"The Pretender" - 4:31
#"Come Alive" (Demo) - 5:31
#"If Ever" - 4:15
#"Monkey Wrench" (Live from Hyde Park video) - 5:35

*7" [ [http://columbia.trinitystreetdirect.com/store/page4.asp?suptype=1&t=15&sub_type=15&prod_id=819&col=30 Columbia Records UK - Online Store ] ]
#"The Pretender"
#"Bangin"

In pop culture

* The song was used for the opening of TBS's broadcast of the 2007 NLCS and possibly the 2007 ALCS.
* The song is used by the Los Angeles Kings in their opening video before home games at Staples Center.
* The song was used in the ending sequences of "Filthy Lucre", the 9th episode of the Showtime show "Californication" and for the sixth season premiere of "".
* The song was featured in "Tony Hawk's Proving Ground".
* The song was used in a Sky One advert for "Prison Break".
* The song was included as downloadable content in "Guitar Hero III" [http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Store#id=30043] , and has been confirmed as a playable song in .
* A short clip of the video was used in a commercial for the iPod Touch.
* Foo Fighters performed the song live, along with "Learn to Fly", at the Spike Video Game Awards 2007.
* The song was used frequently by Channel Nine during the 07-08 ODI Cricket season.
* The song was used for the advert of the new series of "Primeval" on ITV1.
* The beginning of the song is featured in the TV series "Medium".
* The song was used in the FIA Gala video to sum up the Formula 1 World Championship of 2007
* The song was played at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.
* At the 2008 Grammy Awards a version of the song was played with the My Grammy Moment orchestra (conducted & arranged by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones). The winner of the My Grammy Moment competition was Ann Marie Calhoun, who played a violin solo.
* The song was played at the beginning of Washington Capitals NHL games during the 2007-2008 season as part of their introduction video. [ [http://youtube.com/watch?v=WL9gRO3dmtk "Washington Capitals Intro Video'"] . youtube.com .]
* The song was also played as an intro at New York Rangers NHL games during the 2007-2008 season.
* The song was featured in the eighth episode of "Doctor Who Confidential", "Shadow Play".
*The video for the song was the first full video broadcasted on the UK digital channel 4Music on August 15th 2008.
*In Australia, this song is played frequently at Cronulla Sharks home matches.

Chart positions

Notes