| This Is a Call | |
| Cover: | foo fighters this is a call.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Foo Fighters |
| Album: | Foo Fighters |
| Written: | Mid-1994 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: |
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| Label: | |
| Producer: |
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| Next Title: | I'll Stick Around |
| Next Year: | 1995 |
"This Is a Call" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the lead single from the band's 1995 self-titled debut album. Released in June 1995, it is one of many songs Dave Grohl wrote and performed on the album when Foo Fighters was a one-man band.
"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 mid-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]
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."[4]
"'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]
On June 19, 1995, "This Is a Call" was serviced to US alternative radio and was issued commercially in the United Kingdom as a 7-inch single, 12-inch single, and CD single.[5] [6] The following month, the song debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and rose to a peak of number two the following month.[7] The song also charted at number five on the UK Singles Chart.
No music video was made for the song; however, the band played the song live on the Late Show with David Letterman in mid-1995. It was the band's first national television performance.
UK 7-inch single; French and Japanese CD single
UK 12-inch and CD single
Dutch and Australian CD single; New Zealand cassette single
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia Alternative Singles (ARIA)[8] | 1 |
| European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)[9] | 14 |
| European Hit Radio Top 40 (Music & Media)[10] | 37 |
| Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[11] | 14 |
