Walk (Foo Fighters song)

Last updated
"Walk"
Foofighterswalk.jpg
Single by Foo Fighters
from the album Wasting Light
ReleasedJune 17, 2011
RecordedSeptember 6–December 21, 2010 in Dave Grohl's garage
Genre
Length4:16
Label RCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Butch Vig
Foo Fighters singles chronology
"White Limo"
(2011)
"Walk"
(2011)
"Arlandria"
(2011)
Music video
Walk on YouTube

"Walk" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the third single from their seventh studio album Wasting Light . It was written by Dave Grohl and co-produced by Butch Vig.

Contents

Release and reception

The song was released on June 6, 2011, to rock radio. No physical CD single was released; it is only a digital downloadable single. The song reached number one on the Billboard Rock Songs chart on July 20, 2011, dethroning the album's previous single "Rope", giving the band their third number one single on the chart - the most on the chart so far. On February 12, 2012, the song won two awards at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. They also performed the song live at the Grammys.

Song information

According to Dave Grohl, he came up with the verse about "having a trial" after the time he was helping his first daughter Violet Maye on "learning to walk", and eventually she was able to walk on her own. The song was supposed to be on the previous studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace , but Dave decided to put the final version as the last track of Wasting Light because it "sort of makes sense to the album's theme of time and second chances" and to "end the record on a positive note". [1] Grohl added that the optimistic tone was a reminiscence on how bad he felt after Kurt Cobain killed himself and wanting others to realize "in life, you get trapped in crisis, where you imagine there’s no way out. When really, if you dare to consider that crisis a blip on the radar, it’s easier to push through. And, yeah, I was just like, ‘I don’t want anyone to have that feeling that I had that morning.’ ” Pat Smear, who played with Grohl and Cobain in Nirvana, considers "Walk" and its lyrics about enjoying life an antithesis to the Nirvana song "I Hate Myself and Want to Die". [2]

Music video

The music video appeared on YouTube on June 2, 2011. [3] The video, directed by Sam Jones, was the second video released from Wasting Light, and is an homage to Joel Schumacher's 1993 movie Falling Down . [4] [5]

In 2011, the video won Best Rock Video at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. [6]

Personnel

Foo Fighters

Additional Personnel

In pop culture

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [30] Platinum70,000
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [31] Platinum60,000
Mexico (AMPROFON) [32] Platinum60,000
New Zealand (RMNZ) [33] Platinum30,000
United Kingdom (BPI) [34] Gold400,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Awards

YearAwardResults
2011 MTV Award for Best Rock Video Won
2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance Won
2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song Won

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