"Run" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters. It was released as a single on June 1, 2017, and is off their ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold. The song performed well commercially and critically, topping the Billboard US Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song and was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 2018 Grammys.
Background The song had first been played live in February 2017.Foo Fighters Crank Up the Heavy on New Song 'Run' billboard.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. The studio version of the song was released as a single on June 1, 2017,Foo Fighters Prove You're Never Too Old to Rock With 'Run' Video Loudwire.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.Watch Foo Fighters Perform as Retirees in Crazy New "Run" Video pitchfork.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. making it the band's first single since "Saint Cecilia" in 2015.Foo Fighters surprise fans with rowdy new song, 'Run' ew.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. Many music journalists noted the song was expected, but not confirmed, to be off of the band's then-upcoming ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold. The single was a surprise release, without any prior indication being made of its existence, other than the band's vague allusions to working on music over the course of 2017.Foo Fighters Return with "Run" Video exclaim.ca. Retrieved June 1, 2017.Foo Fighters' New 'Run' Single and Video Stages a Nursing Home Riot diffuser.fm. Retrieved June 1, 2017. Seven weeks after its initial release, the song topped the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart, the seventh song from the band to do so.
Music video A music video for the song was released on the same day.Foo Fighters' New Song, 'Run,' Sparks A Nursing-Home Uprising npr.org. Retrieved June 1, 2017. The video features the band performing the song in a nursing home (abandoned St Luke's Hospital in Pasadena, CA), in make-up making them appear as elderly versions of themselves, and end up inciting a riot amongst other patients and orderlies. The nurse in the video is played by Missi Pyle. Multiple outlets, including Billboard and People magazines, felt the music video was an homage to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,Foo Fighters Are Back! Elderly Dave Grohl Leads a Nursing Home Revolt in Video for New Song, 'Run' people.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. while Team Rock noted its additional similarity to the film Cocoon.Watch the Foo Fighters mind-warping new video, Run teamrock.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. The video ends with a brief choreographed dance routine,Watch Foo Fighters Rage With Retirees in Surprise 'Run' Video rollingstone.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. noted by Variety and ABC News as being similar to the routine done in Michael Jackson's video for the song "Thriller".Foo Fighters Return With the Bruising 'Run' Single and Video (Watch) variety.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.Watch now: Foo Fighters stage a literal "Oldchella" in new "Run" video abcnewsradioonline.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. The video was directed by band frontman Dave Grohl.Foo Fighters – "Run" spin.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. The old age makeups were designed by Tony Gardner, and created by Alterian, Inc. The video was inspired by drummer Taylor Hawkins lamenting having to do promotional work for the song and album cycle while the band was beginning to look older; when Grohl told him that "it doesn't really matter", Hawkins proposed taking it in the opposite direction, and purposefully making themselves look older, inspiring Grohl to write up a treatment for the video.
Composition and themes The song is approximately five-and-a-half minutes long, and features a 40-second intro with just soft guitar notes and mellow vocals by Grohl.Foo Fighters return with glorious new single "Run" and video — watch consequence.net. Retrieved June 1, 2017. After the intro, the song erupts into a hard rock sound, featuring heavy, distorted guitar riffs, thunderous drums, and alternating melodically sung and screamed vocals by Grohl. The song features breakdowns similar to that found in heavy metal and noise rock music. A number of outlets described the song as one of the heaviest rock songs the band has ever released.Foo Fighters Release New Song and Video, "Run" metalsucks.net. Retrieved June 1, 2017. Lyrically, the line "Wake up/run for your life with me" is urgently repeated through the song by Grohl.
Reception The song was generally well-received upon release, with many journalists praising the band for maintaining their high-energy rock sound with the song, while being over twenty years into their career.Listen to "Run," the first new Foo Fighters single since 2015 avclub.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017. People praised the song for being "a return to full-speed-ahead rock. Like the best of Foo Fighters, it's hard and occasionally hilarious." Similarly, NPR praised the song for being "an enjoyably ludicrous bit of viral silliness" and concluded "'Run' itself is no joke: Eight (and perhaps soon to be nine) albums into his Foo Fighters career, Grohl still wails with the infectiously unhinged force of a kid a third his age." Loudwire named the song the eighth best hard rock song of 2017. The single had the highest first day sales of any prior singles for the band.Foo Fighters Lay Out 'Concrete and Gold': Listen billboard.com. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
SPIN Magazine proclaimed "Run" a "thunderous lead single" and a "a galloping game of heavy-metal Red Light, Green Light".
The song received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance.
Personnel Credits taken from Concrete and Gold liner notes. Foo Fighters Dave Grohl – lead vocal, guitar, percussion Taylor Hawkins – drums, percussion Nate Mendel – bass, percussion Chris Shiflett – guitar, percussion Pat Smear – guitar, percussion Rami Jaffee – Mellotron, Casio SK-1, organ, percussion
Other musicians Greg Kurstin – piano
Charts Weekly charts
Chart (2017) Peak position Australia (ARIA) 53 Czech Republic Modern Rock (IFPI) 3 Mexico Ingles Airplay (Billboard) 28Netherlands Single Tip (MegaCharts) 23 New Zealand Heatseekers (RMNZ) 2 Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan) 19
Year-end charts Chart (2017) Position US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) 29 US Rock Airplay (Billboard) 15
Certifications
Awards YearAwardResults2018Grammy Award for Best Rock Song2018Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance
References