Alt Rock Autumn; October 20th
This one was fun.
Another busy day yesterday so I’m back to continue Alt Rock Autumn with a band that has not made an appearance yet. It’s a semi chilly day, but the sun is shining so it’s immaculate autumn feels.
Everyone, say hello to the Foo Fighters who make their first appearance on the countdown.
The Foo Fighters hop on the series with my personal favorite and one of their biggest hits, Everlong.
Everlong released in 1997 on the bands second album, The Colour and the Shape. It’s the eleventh track on the project and takes a back seat as the biggest hit because of their seventh song, My Hero. My Hero is a little overrated, I’d have to say Everlong is the best from the album, but that’s just my opinion.
The upbeat jam reached third on the Canadian Alternative Rock chart, second on the UK Rock and Metal chart, was third on the U.S. Alternative Airplay chart, and fourth on the U.S. Mainstream chart in 1997.
Everlong is even charting in the U.S. this year. It has reached number eighteen on the U.S. Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart in 2021.
It even cleaned up when it came to certifications. Everlong was named double platinum in Mexico and the U.S., platinum in the UK and Italy, and gold in Denmark.
The song features heavy guitar accompanied by up tempo drums that make the song a head banger.
What really sets Everlong a part though from other rock songs is the fact that the guitar you hear in the back ground making the light “da da dada da da dada” sound was recorded through a Astatic microphone so the guitar is almost muffled and is substantially quieter. But it works and is an awesome touch.
One of my favorite touches from the song is that at 3:05 to around 3:27, the instruments go silent and you hear whispers. The whispers begin to intensify and as they get louder, the drums and guitar swoop in and drown them out.
David Grohl stumbled upon making Everlong when he was in Washington working on the bands second album.
When he was messing around with the guitar in between takes, he played a sound that was a mix of the bands single Monkey Wrench from early 1997 and the sound that the band Sonic Youth creates. He took a liking to it and wanted to develop it into a song. ‘
Fast forward to a few weeks later, Grohl is back in Virginia. Due to a messy divorce, he is homeless. He’s sleeping on a friends floor with just a sleeping bag. But this didn’t stop Grohls creative juices. He claims to have written Everlong in forty five minutes at this friends home.
Grohl said that they lyrics of the song are about a girl he fell in love with, that girl being Louise Post from the band Veruca Salt.
In an interview, Grohl stated "That song's about a girl that I'd fallen in love with and it was basically about being connected to someone so much, that not only do you love them physically and spiritually, but when you sing along with them you harmonize perfectly".
Here’s where more unique recording tactics come into play.
Grohl really wanted Post to sing backup on the song, but because he was in Los Angeles and she was in Chicago, they recorded her over the phone. Her “doo doo doo” can be heard very faintly alongside the lead guitar in the song.
The two, Grohl and Post are no longer together now, but are still friends.
During a show with Veruca Salt in Melbourne in late 1997, Post had a few too many and told the crowd that Grohl cheated on her with actress Winona Rider.
Not really related to the song, just a fun fact.
Everlong is an unreal song that just gets the people going. It has the right amount of drums and guitar to get the blood flowing.