Best of You // Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are famously known for their comedic music videos, most notably the Airplane! inspired ‘Learn to Fly’ and the Me, Myself and Irene feature song, ‘Breakout’. But the band were also able to hit you where it hurts with powerful songs accompanied by equally expressive music videos.
Their most successful feat of this notion being with their 2005 staple hit, ‘Best of You’. The song draws upon the notion of dealing with pain in life, which sets the tone for the accompanying music video. Directed by Mark Pellington, the video draws upon that notion and also draws from Pellington’s personal experiences at the time of making the video. Pellingston’s wife had recently passed away, drawing Pellington close to the lyrics feelings of realism and pain:
“My memories of that video were that I was in a really fucked up, sad, and dark place, because I had lost my wife about a year and a half before. I was still deeply processing a lot of feelings, then I heard that song, and I think I just wrote this treatment that was extremely personal and emotional, and a little bit crazy. I don’t think Dave or the management of the band knew exactly what I was going to do, but they were trusting enough of the emotional purity of my intentions that they supported it. All they had to do was just play, and Dave had to sing. They just had to be them, they’re amazing performers.”
Even after watching the music video for ‘Best of You’ for what seems like the hundredth time, it never ceases to strike something within me. Pellington really does hit a chord, he focuses so much on the sanity and pain that he feels that Dave is also singing about that it hits home like lightning. The fast paced collage of images portraying pain, depression and anger beating to the music and unfolding on screen overload your senses. It lifts the song up higher than you can imagine it by just listening to it on the record. It becomes such an incredibly epic and fervently powerful ballad. The song itself wouldn’t have that strong of a feeling without its powerful music video counterpart.
The video also features Foo Fighters playing on top of the abandoned Linda Vista Community Hospital in Los Angeles, with interior shots of the band in front of walls adorned with writing; phrases including ‘Help me’ and ‘They all died in a fire I started’.
‘Best of You’ has been the only music video that has ever resonated with me. Pellington’s strong personal connection to the imagery he is portraying roots the video into your conscious. It’s extremely poignant for those going through the same situation he was going through, and also to those who fear that they’ll end up feeling that way some day.
Words by Sophie McEvoy