Robbed hit of the week 1/25/21 - Foo Fighters' "Everlong"...

"Everlong" - Foo Fighters

from the album The Colour and the Shape (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #42

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the rock band Foo Fighters, formed by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl after the death of Kurt Cobain. The act's debut album, a one-man affair under the Foo Fighters moniker, spun off two top-40 pop airplay hits with "This Is A Call" and "Big Me". Grohl brought on guitarist Pat Smear (who had toured with him in Nirvana), bass player Nate Mendel, and drummer William Goldsmith to tour, and then started recording their second album as a true band. However, when Grohl ended up re-recording Goldsmith's parts, he left acrimoniously, leaving them as a trio as they released The Colour and the Shape in May of 1997. The lead track promoted to radio, "Monkey Wrench", was a decent rock radio hit, going to #9 on both the Mainstream and Alternative Rock format charts in Billboard magazine, while making it to #58 on the airplay portion of the pop Hot 100 in the late spring. (It was their fifth consecutive top-40 hit in the UK at #12.) That frenetic rocker was great for getting rock radio on board, but was definitely too loud for timid mainstream radio in that late 90s time. The second track put to stations was a bit more nuanced but still as driving. "Everlong", written by Grohl and produced by Gil Norton, had the pulsing guitar power chords, but featured a more melodic verse and chorus as Grohl laments a relationship with a passing nod to early 60s beach music phrasing. The music video is a riveting tale of dreams and murder, as the band even further develop their knack for the visual medium, especially new drummer Taylor Hawkins, who drags it up for the clip...

While "Everlong" was a huge rock radio hit, spending nine weeks at #3 on Billboard's Alternative Rock chart, and peaking at #4 on their Mainstream Rock list, the song stopped just short of the top-40 on the airplay component of the official Hot 100 pop chart in November of 1997. I'm sure if a single was released, it would have cleared that mark, but the idea was to get people to buy the whole album, which became their first top ten effort at #10, going on to sell over two million copies in America. Internationally, the single went to #18 in the UK and peaked at #34 in New Zealand, almost making the mark in Australia at #45. At the 1998 Grammy Awards, the Colour and the Shape album was nominated for Best Rock Album, which went to former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty for Blue Moon Swamp (the weakest of the nominees that year I feel), while "Monkey Wrench" was up for Best Hard Rock Performance, which the Smashing Pumpkins took home for "The End Is The Beginning Is The End".

The next song from Colour and the Shape that went to radio was "My Hero", which again made the top ten on both the Mainstream (#8) and Alternative (#6) Rock format charts, but stalled at #59 on the Hot 100 Airplay list. That was followed by "Walking After You", which got to #12 at Alternative Rock radio and put them back on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format at #35.

(8/10)

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Here's the band performing on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1997, one of three times they appeared to do that song, a favorite of the late night host...