Foo Fighters have shared another new single, ‘Of All People’. Listen below.
The track is the fourth preview of Dave Grohl and co’s 12th studio album, ‘Your Favorite Toy’, which is out on April 24 via Roswell Records/Columbia. It follows last year’s ‘Asking For A Friend’, the record’s title track and ‘Caught In The Echo’.
‘Of All People’ was showcased live during the Foos’ recent run of intimate UK and Ireland shows in Dublin, London and Manchester, as well as at their tiny ‘Live At St James’ Church’ gig.
“Of all people, you survived /When no one else could stay alive/ You know you should be dead/ But you’re alive instead/ Of all people, you survived,” Grohl sings in the thrashing, uptempo first verse, as he questions the unpredictable and unfair rules of life and mortality.
“No matter how fuckin hard you tried/ You know you should be dead/ But you’re alive instead.”
Later, Grohl recalls how he thought he’d “seen a ghost” in the punk-influenced cut, adding: “A memory that I had prayed I’d finally lost/ And you live happily ever after?/ How can you live happily ever after?/ Oh no.” Another line hears him remember an emotional moment: “I heard your voice today/ And then I stopped to cry.”
During an in interview with The Guardian in March, Grohl revealed that he wrote ‘Of All People’ “after bumping into a drug dealer from the 90s that was getting everyone fucked up on heroin”.
“I hadn’t seen them in 30 years, and they’re alive, healthy and sober,” he went on. “I was so happy that this person survived, while at the same time, I was devastated, because of all of the people I know that we’ve lost to exactly that drug.”
Grohl continued: “I was so fucking angry, but at the same time so grateful to see them alive and well. Again, a conversation within myself, feeling so conflicted and divided. When I read the lyrics back, I mentioned them to my therapist: is this survivor’s guilt?”
Foo Fighters are set to head out on their European ‘Take Cover’ tour this summer, including two shows at Anfield stadium in Liverpool (find any remaining tickets here). Their European festival dates feature stops at Mad Cool, Nos Alive, Pinkpop and more.
They’ll play some North American dates over the summer and autumn, too, and have announced an Australia and New Zealand leg for 2026 and 2027.
Earlier this year, Grohl revealed that Foos’ forthcoming album was filled with “uptempo” and “noisy, loud bangers” that feel like they’re from “the old days”.
Speaking later, Grohl was reminded that The Beatles came to an end after their 12th LP, ‘Let It Be’, and went on to explain that he wasn’t sure about when the Foos would release their final record.
“Every record has been our last record,” he said. “So, I kind of feel like at this point you just kind of – you make a record and you go, ‘OK, well, let’s do it again and let’s see what happens’.”
NME gave the ‘Your Favorite Toy’ title track a four-star review, hailing it as a “futureproof rock beast” that is “snarlingly unapologetic”. The new album follows 2023’s ‘But Here We Are’, and is the band’s first with new drummer Ilan Rubin, who replaced Josh Freese.
Meanwhile, Grohl has said the death of former drummer Taylor Hawkins “made me question everything about life”, admitting: “I still have a hard time making sense of it.”
He’d previously opened up about the “complicated” journey to find a new drummer following Hawkins’ passing. More recently, Rubin has addressed the ‘drummer swap’ between Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails, saying it was “an obvious great fit”. The Foos have also said the line-up change was a “decision that was best for all parties”.
Dave Grohl last month opened up about the aftermath of publicly admitting to cheating on his wife, revealing that he’d “been in therapy six days a week for 70 weeks”.
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