"Everlong" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released in August 1997 as the second single from their second studio album, The Colour and the Shape (1997). The song reached number 3 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart and the Canadian RPM Rock/Alternative chart. It is often regarded as the band's signature song.
"Everlong" was the last song performed live by drummer Taylor Hawkins before his death in March 2022. As a result of his death, the song experienced a minor resurgence and entered the Billboard Global 200 at number 123, the band's first appearance on the chart. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song number 409 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Production
In late 1996, Dave Grohl was lodging at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, recording what was to be the second Foo Fighters album. While playing around with his guitar during downtime between takes of the song "Monkey Wrench" (which is in drop D tuning), he stumbled on a "Sonic Youth rip off" riff, which he felt had the same vibe as one of that band's songs, "Schizophrenia". He took a liking to it and decided to develop it into a song, The lyrics were inspired by Grohl's ongoing romance with Louise Post of the band Veruca Salt: "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". Soon, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear joined Grohl and Norton, and the group recorded the song. The solo guitar intro was recorded through an Astatic JT40 microphone, which outputs "dull" recordings with "no clarity". Grohl wanted Post to provide vocals. She was in Chicago at the time, however, so her parts (doo doo doos alongside the lead guitar riff, and harmonizing on the chorus) were recorded using two separate telephone lines in the studio, one for her monitor, and the other for recording. Grohl recorded his chorus harmonies through the JT40, and in 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number two on their list of the 10 greatest Foo Fighters songs.
"Everlong" reached one billion streams on Spotify on December 2, 2023, the 55th birthday of the Foo Fighters' bassist, Nate Mendel.
Music video
The surreal, satirical video for "Everlong" was directed by Michel Gondry. It is, in part, a parody of the film The Evil Dead. The version of the song used in the video is longer than the single and album versions.
The video opens in black and white, with Smear and Mendel, dressed as Teddy Boys, outside of a house in which Grohl and his wife, played by Taylor Hawkins, are asleep. In Grohl's dream (in color), he is Sid Vicious at a party, and Hawkins, as Nancy Spungen, The band has performed it acoustically since then and an acoustic performance concludes their 2006 live CD and DVD Skin and Bones. Additionally, an acoustic version was released on Foo Fighters' 2009 Greatest Hits album.
A live version filmed at Hyde Park on June 17, 2006, was released on the Hyde Park DVD.
A live version appears on the Live at Wembley Stadium DVD which was released in 2008.
Eleven-year-old Ipswich musician Nandi Bushell joined Foo Fighters on stage to perform the song during their concert at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 26, 2021. Bushell had gone viral on YouTube in part due to her drum covers, including "Everlong", and her online drum challenge with Grohl in 2020, which drew millions of views before Grohl "conceded" defeat to Bushell. Grohl had offered her the chance to join Foo Fighters during a performance; it was delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Everlong" gained newfound popularity as a result of this performance and appeared on several Billboard charts that did not exist when the song was first released.
Accolades
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Critical rankings for "Everlong"
! Year
! Publication
! class="unsortable" |Accolade
!Rank
! class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row"| 1999
|Kerrang!
|100 Greatest Rock Tracks Ever
| 45
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2009
|VH1
|100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs
|28
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2009
|Triple J
|Hottest 100 of All Time
|9
|
|-
! scope="row"|2010
|Robert Dimery
|1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die
|align=center|*
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2011
|NME
|150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years
|48
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2013
|Triple J
|Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years
|6
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2013
|Rolling Stone
|Best Foo Fighters Songs readers' poll
|1
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2014
|Triple M
|Modern Rock 500
|1
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2019
|The Guardian
|Dave Grohl's Landmark Songs
|
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2021
|Rolling Stone
|500 Best Songs of All Time
|409
|
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes an unordered list.
Usage in media
"Everlong" was used in "Lane Miserables", the eighth episode of the third season of Daria, an animated series on MTV. In the original broadcast, the song played as Daria Morgendorffer watched Trent and Monique leave to go on a date. The episode originally aired on MTV on July 14, 1999.
"Everlong" has been featured in the music video games Rock Band 2, Rock Band Unplugged, Guitar Hero World Tour (which is exportable to other games) and Rocksmith 2014. It is also included in Rock Band for iOS and as a purchasable track in Fortnite Festival.
An arrangement of the song for string quartet was used in the Friends episode "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding", during the titular event. It was also used in a 1998 episode of the US daytime soap opera All My Children. The original version of the song was used in Martin Scorsese's 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. The song was also used briefly in the movie Little Nicky while Nicky is ascending his girlfriend's apartment building.
The song was used in early workprint versions of David Fincher's 1999 film Fight Club, playing over an unfinished version of the film's title sequence in place of The Dust Brothers' track "Stealing Fat" from the film's original soundtrack, which was used in the final theatrical film. Footage of the unfinished workprint intro sequence featuring "Everlong" has surfaced online.
Comedian and late night talk show host David Letterman has called "Everlong" his favorite song, citing it as having helped him through his recovery from heart surgery in 2000. Foo Fighters were invited to serve as the musical act on the February 21, 2000, episode of Late Show with David Letterman, the first since his surgery, to perform "Everlong." Grohl stated that he was "blown away" after learning that Letterman was a fan of their music. The band went as far as cancelling a stop on a tour in South America so they could perform, explaining that "We just felt like we had to be there. Not only was it an honor to be asked, but it felt like something we had to do – because he had always meant so much to us. And that started this connection that we've had for years. It's fucking cool, you know?" On May 20, 2015, the band returned to perform "Everlong" again, the night of Letterman's final episode. The six-minute-long performance was set to a montage of footage spanning Letterman's career.
Track listings
;UK CD1 (blue cover)
- "Everlong"
- "Drive Me Wild" (Vanity 6 cover)
- "See You" (Live Manchester Apollo May 25, 1997)
;UK CD2 (grey cover)
- "Everlong"
- "Requiem" (Killing Joke cover)
- "I'll Stick Around" (Live Manchester Apollo May 25, 1997)
;Australian CD single, Australian limited edition maxi-single digipack with bonus poster and Netherlands slimbox CD single
- "Everlong"
- "Down in the Park" (Gary Numan cover)
- "See You" (acoustic)
;Netherlands card sleeve CD single
- "Everlong"
- "Down in the Park" (Gary Numan cover)
;Promo (black cover)
- "Everlong"
;UK Limited Blue Vinyl Edition (blue cover)
- "Everlong"
- "Drive Me Wild" (Vanity 6 cover)
Personnel
;Foo Fighters
- Dave Grohl – vocals, guitar, drums
- Pat Smear – guitar
- Nate Mendel – bass
;Additional personnel:
- Louise Post – backing vocals
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ 1997 weekly chart performance for "Everlong"
!Chart (1997)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Australia Alternative Singles (ARIA)
| style="text-align:center;"| 13
|-
|-
! scope="row"| European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)
| style="text-align:center;"| 36
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ 2015 weekly chart performance for "Everlong"
!Chart (2015)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|-
! scope="row"|US Rock Digital Songs (Billboard)
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ 2021 weekly chart performance for "Everlong"
! scope="col"| Chart (2021)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 2022 weekly chart performance for "Everlong"
! scope="col"| Chart (2022)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Australia (ARIA)
| 28
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Ireland (IRMA)
| 70
|-
! scope="row"| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)
| 31
|-
|-
! scope="row"| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)
| 1
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1997 year-end chart performance for "Everlong"
! scope="col"| Chart (1997)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)
|30
|-
! scope="row"| US Modern Rock (Billboard)
|13
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2022 year-end chart performance for "Everlong"
! scope="col"| Chart (2022)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)
| 91
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2023 year-end chart performance for "Everlong"
! scope="col"| Chart (2023)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Australia (ARIA)
| 70
|}