Songoftheday 4/12/20 - When I talk about it It carries on, reasons only knew...
from the album Foo Fighters (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #13 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 13
Today's song of the day comes from the rock band Foo Fighters, led by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, who rose from the ashes of his old band after the death of Kurt Cobain to land a top-40 pop/top ten rock airplay hit in the summer of 1995 with "This Is A Call". That single was recorded solely by Grohl, who upon its success put a band together with Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear along with Nate Mandel and William Goldsmith from the band Sunny Day Real Estate. The self-titled debut Foo Fighters album came out in July, along with the second song promoted to radio, the feverish yet pop-induced "I'll Stick Around", which rose to #51 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Airplay chart (it wasn't released as a single, so it was unable to make the Hot 100 itself). That song also made both rock radio charts at Mainstream (#12) and Alternative (#8), and was a top-40 hit in the UK (where it was put out commercially) at #18. Another cut from the debut record, "For All The Cows", was released in the fall just in the UK, where it scored another top-40 hit at #28. The third release from the record in America, and the fourth in Britain, was "Big Me", a glorious slice of power-pop that preview the first of their iconic music videos that MTV latched onto for its comic take on the Mentos Italian mint commerials...
While "Big Me" wasn't able to place on Billboard's official Hot 100 pop chart since it wasn't released as a physical single, it rose all the way to #13 on the airplay component of the list in May of 1996, their highest rank on the chart. The song spent five weeks at #3 on the Alternative Rock radio list, and got to #18 on the Mainstream Rock tally. It even crossed over to their Adult Top-40 format chart at #23. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Canada (#15), Iceland (#18), the UK (#19), and Ireland (#27). The Foo Fighters album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Rock Album, which went to Grohl's former band Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York.
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Here's the Fighters performing "Big Me" on Letterman...
Next up on French TV in 1995...
Now it's live at the Big Day Out in Sydney, Australia in 2000...
And finally, live in Hollywood in 2006 transformed into a soft ballad...
Up tomorrow: Cleveland rap group honor their passed mentor and land a huge hit and a Grammy in the process.
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