This Is a Call

"This Is a Call" is the first major single released by the Foo Fighters from their self-titled debut album. It was released in 1995.[2]

"This Is a Call"
Single by Foo Fighters
from the album Foo Fighters
ReleasedJune 19, 1995
RecordedOctober 1994 at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle
June 7, 1997 at Downing Stadium in New York City (live at Downing)
GenrePunk rock, grunge, power pop[1]
Length3:52
3:45 (live at Downing)
LabelRoswell/Capitol
Capitol (live at Downing)
Songwriter(s)Dave Grohl
Producer(s)Foo Fighters, Barrett Jones
Pat McCarthy, Sylvia Massy (live at Downing)
Foo Fighters singles chronology
"Exhausted"
(1995)		 "This Is a Call"
(1995)		 "I'll Stick Around"
(1995)

Origins

"This Is a Call" is one of the few songs on the Foo Fighters' debut album that does not date from Dave Grohl's days with Nirvana. It was a new song written in the summer of 1994, months after Kurt Cobain's death. Grohl married his long-time girlfriend Jennifer Youngblood and wrote the song while on honeymoon in Ireland, "In that summer of 1994 I'd travelled a lot; I think I wrote 'This Is A Call' in Ireland. When I got back I booked five days in a recording studio, which seemed like an eternity, and I did the whole first Foo Fighters album in five days".[3]

Release and reception

The song debuted at number 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and quickly rose to a peak of number 2,[4] held off the top by Alanis Morissette's hit "You Oughta Know". The song also charted at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart.[5]

No music video was made for the song: however, the band played the song live on the Late Show with David Letterman toward the end of the summer in 1995. It was the band's first national television performance. Since this performance David Letterman has become an avid fan of the band and Foo Fighters have played on the show 11 times.

In other media

"This Is a Call" was released as a downloadable content for the Rock Band series of video games on December 23, 2008.

Lyrics

Dave Grohl said about the song: "The chorus says 'This is a call to all my past resignation'. It's just sort of like a little wave to all the people I ever played music with, people I've been friends with, all my relationships, my family. It's a hello, and in a way a thank you."[6]

"'This Is A Call' just seemed like a nice way to open the album, y'know, 'This is a call to all my past resignations...' I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I didn't necessarily want to be the drummer of Nirvana for the rest of my life without Nirvana. I thought I should try something I'd never done before and I'd never stood up in front of a band and been the lead singer, which was fucking horrifying and still is!"[3]

Other versions

Personnel

Singles
7" Vinyl single Stamped Label / French CD single / Japan CD single / 7" single
  1. "This Is a Call"
  2. "Winnebago" (Grohl, Turner)
7" One-sided vinyl single / Promo CD
  1. "This Is a Call"
12" luminous vinyl single / 12" UK vinyl Promo single / UK CD single / Radio promo CD
  1. "This Is a Call"
  2. "Winnebago"
  3. "Podunk"
Cassette tape single / Australian CD single / Dutch CD single
  1. "This Is a Call"
  2. "Winnebago"
  3. "Podunk (Cement Mix)"
  • "Podunk (Cement Mix)" is seemingly exactly the same mix and version as the standard version of "Podunk". The reason for this is unknown.

Chart positions
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[7] 9
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[8] 29
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[9] 1
European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)[10] 14
European Hit Radio Top 40 (Music & Media)[11] 37
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[12] 14
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 38
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[14] 32
Ireland (IRMA)[15] 16
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[16] 11
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[17] 5
US Radio Songs (Billboard)[18] 35
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[19] 2
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[20] 6
gollark: Median might not actually be the right term either, but it's probably close enough.
gollark: There are two *medians*. There are not two *means*. This is why I said "mean" and not "average" a lot.
gollark: Sure. What is that modelling?
gollark: But in most cases they are motivated by real world examples of some kind.
gollark: Probability distributions are just functions, and you can define functions with all kinds of fun properties even if they aren't actually things you would likely encounter in real life.

References
  1. "REVIEW: Foo Fighters at Cubby Bear a back-to-roots moment for Dave Grohl". Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  2. Foo Fighters - This Is a Call discogs.com. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  3. "Foo Fighters: Kerrang! June '06". www.fooarchive.com.
  4. Foo Fighters - Billboard Alternative Songs Chart History billboard.com. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  5. Foo Fighters - UK Chart Archive officialcharts.com. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  6. "Foo Fighters : Dave Grohl's Guide To Every Song". www.fooarchive.com.
  7. "Australian-charts.com – Foo Fighters – This Is a Call". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  8. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2768." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  9. "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 8516." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  10. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. July 8, 1995. p. 12. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  11. "M & M Charts Airplay EHR Top 40" (PDF). Music & Media. Music & Media. July 22, 1995. p. 21. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  12. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (23.9 '95 – 29.9 '95)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). September 23, 1995. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  13. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Foo Fighters" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Foo Fighters – This Is a Call" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  15. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – This Is a Call". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  16. "Charts.nz – Foo Fighters – This Is a Call". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  17. "Foo Fighters: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  18. "Foo Fighters Chart History (Radio Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  19. "Foo Fighters Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  20. "Foo Fighters Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
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