Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These” Lyrics Meaning

Dave Grohl composed “Times Like These” while he and the Foo Fighters were on an unofficial hiatus. More to the point, even though they didn’t part ways under the best of circumstances he started to miss his bandmates. And as can be seen by the lyrics, he had reached a point where he also started to appreciate them and subsequently, by being true to his heart, had experienced his own newfound appreciation for life and interpersonal relationships. Going a bit further, Grohl described this tune as being about “hope and love and compassion”. And it was ‘times like those’, i.e. being away from his homeys, which made him personally re-manifest those emotions to a higher degree.

Release Date of “Times Like These”

RCA Records, in conjunction with Roswell Records, released this track on 14 January 2003 as the second single from the Foo Fighters’ album One by One.

Chart Performance

“Times Like These” topped the UK Rock and Metal Chart, in addition to performing pretty well on the UK Singles Chart. It broke the top five of two Billboard listings (Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock) and has been certified platinum in the US and Australia.

Covers of “Times Like These”

In 2020 a supergroup, charity version of this song was released via the BBC. It featured Dave Grohl as well as a slew of other artists such as Chris Martin, Dua Lipa, Sean Paul, etc., who each recorded their parts from their own homes. And it proved to be quite successful, most notably topping the UK Singles Charts.

Other artists who have covered it on their own accord include Glen Campbell (2008), JoJo and Florence + the Machine (2015).

President Bush uses “Times Like These”

In 2004, US President George W. Bush decided to use this track as part of his re-election campaign. He did so without getting prior authorization from the Foo Fighters. This totally disgusted Dave Grohl, he felt Bush hypocritically used the tune out of context. In fact he was so disturbed that he went on to support his political rival, John Kerry.

Notable Live Performances

One especially notable live performance of this Foo Fighters hit was when the band performed the tune on an episode Saturday Night Live dated 22 February 2003. It featured comedian Jim Carrey running on stage to show his support in his own unique way.

Perhaps the most-notable of all live performance of this hit though came in January 2021. The song entered the political realm once again, this time with the Foo Fighters being fully involved. That was when they decided to perform it at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. And they did so as a special tribute to America’s teachers.

Writing Credits

Times Like These was written by the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Dave Grohl. And it is Dave, the band’s founder and primary member (as well as the song’s vocalist), who is recognized as the primary author of the tune.

The entire band produced this track in conjunction with Nick Raskulinecz.

Music Videos

There are three official music videos to this song. The “UK version”, as it is sometimes called, was the first to come out as put forth by director Liam Lynch. The second was helmed by another director, Marc Klasfeld, and was filmed at a location in California called the Mojave River Bridge. That is the most-widely accept clip related to “Times Like These”. And the third video is actually for the acoustic version. Gohl directed that particular visual alongside Bill Yukich.