9 Of The Most Explosive Foo Fighters Riffs

At their peak, Foo Fighters can rock harder than almost anyone. But on which tracks have Dave Grohl and co delivered their most scorching riffs? Read on and see if you agree…

1
Times Like These

Times Like These

Times Like These

In recent years, Foo Fighters have taken their foot off the gas slightly and begun to experiment with more mature sounds. This 2002 single is the perfect midway point between the furious Foos of old and their newer sound. Yet again though, it works using a catchy riff with guitarist Chris Shiflett working his way up the fret and straight into your ears.

2
Monkey Wrench

Monkey Wrench

Monkey Wrench

This frantic riff heralds the introduction of one of Foo Fighters most well loved songs. The 1997 single is driven by Grohl’ furious fret work and the chugging rhythm of fellow guitarist Pat Smear. That is still remains a staple of Foos live sets some 19 years after its release is testament to its greatness.

3
Learn To Fly

Learn To Fly

Learn To Fly

Many Foo Fighters songs can be angry, righteous blasts of frantic energy but ‘Learn To Fly’ is a soaring, heart-swelling radio anthem – thanks in no small part to its fist pumping riff. Don’t forget about the hilarious music video for this 1999 single either, featuring both comic actor Jack Black and Dave Grohl dressed as a nine-year old girl.

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4
All My Life

All My Life

It starts with a simple, repetitive chug and builds from there. “Nothing satisfies but I’m getting close, Closer to the prize at the end of the rope” and then it explodes into the sort off riff that puts fire in your belly and spings in your heels. This Foo Fighters song could be instrumental and remain just as powerful.

5
Everlong

Everlong

Everlong

Taking Kurt Cobain’s quiet-LOUD dynamic and using it for his own glorious ends, ‘Everlong’ is a brilliant mixture of intimate guitar parts and huge walls of sound as frontman Grohl sings about his relationship with Jennifer Youngblood. “I wonder, When I sing along with you, If everything could ever feel this real forever” he sings as an orchestra explodes around him.

6
This Is A Call

This Is A Call

Picture the scene: you’re the drummer in one of the most influential bands of all time only to have it all taken away in the most tragic of circumstances. All eyes are on your next step and you have a generation’s finest song-writer’s boots to fill. It would be enough to break us all, but not Grohl. He simply picked up his guitar and wrote this amazing debut single.

7
Breakout

Breakout

Breakout

Breakout is a song that is situated at the end of the world’s collective tether. It’s the sound of the final straw, the one that broke that camels back. It’s what you hear before you snap, basically. The riff isn’t big or intricate, it’s a wild angry thrash that accompanies slamming doors, smashed windows and general all round carnage.

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8
The Pretender

The Pretender

‘The Pretender’ starts its life as a tender, almost ballad-like song. However, almost as soon as you can reach for the tissues in anticipation of a weepie Dave Grohl stabs at his guitar – almost emphasising how wrong you were to doubt him and his axe-wielding skills.

9
My Hero

My Hero

Nobody does sentimental quite like Dave Grohl and ‘My Hero’ is as schmaltzy as they come. However, he hides the cheese under massive layers of distortion and one of the band’s most memorable riffs. Taken from the 1998 album ‘The Colour and The Shape’, this early single would launch Foo Fighters from being a post-Nirvana fad and into a memorable band in their own right.

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