Dave Grohl was scared. That is the part people usually forget when they talk about the legacy of Foo Fighters Times Like These. It was 2002. The band was basically falling apart at the seams. They had spent over a million dollars recording a version of their fourth album, One by One, and honestly? It sounded like garbage. It was clinical, lifeless, and lacked the raw, jagged energy that made the Foos special. Tensions were so high that Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins were barely speaking, and at one point, a backstage blowout at the Coachella festival nearly ended the band for good.
In the middle of that mess, this song happened. It wasn't just another radio hit. It was a lifeline.
When you listen to those opening jagged guitar chords in 7/4 time—which is a weirdly complex time signature for a "mainstream" rock song—you’re hearing a band trying to find its pulse again. It’s a song about crossroads. It’s about that terrifying moment where you have to decide if you’re going to stay in the wreckage or start over. Grohl wrote it while the band was on hiatus, and he was touring as a drummer for Queens of the Stone Age, wondering if his own group was even worth saving.
The weird math behind the melody
Most pop-rock songs live in 4/4 time. It’s safe. It’s predictable. You can tap your foot to it without thinking. But Foo Fighters Times Like These starts with this lopsided, stumbling riff. It’s 7/4. It feels like a heartbeat that skips a beat every now and then.
It’s nervous energy.
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Then, when the chorus hits, the song shifts into a soaring, straight-ahead 4/4. It’s a relief. It’s the musical equivalent of a deep breath. Musically, the song mirrors the lyrics: the "times like these" are the messy, asymmetrical parts of life, and the "learning to live again" is the steady, driving rhythm of moving forward.
There are two main versions of this track that most fans know. You’ve got the high-octane album version, which is all fuzz pedals and Taylor Hawkins’ legendary, heavy-hitting drumming. Then you have the acoustic version. The acoustic take stripped away the wall of sound and revealed that underneath the distortion, this was actually a folk song. It’s a testament to Grohl’s songwriting that a track can work as both a stadium anthem and a quiet, vulnerable confession.
That 2020 resurgence and why it mattered
For a long time, the song was just a classic rock staple. A "beer in the air" moment at festivals. But something shifted in 2020. When the pandemic hit and the world literally stopped, Foo Fighters Times Like These became the unofficial anthem for a global crisis.
The BBC organized a "Radio 1 Stay Home Live Lounge" cover featuring everyone from Dua Lipa and Chris Martin to Celeste and Dave Grohl himself. Seeing all these artists record their parts in isolation, stitched together by technology, gave the lyrics a brand-new weight.
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I'm a new day rising. I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight.
Suddenly, it wasn't just about a band almost breaking up in 2002. It was about collective survival. It was about the fact that we were all, quite literally, "learning to live again" in a world that felt unrecognizable. The song reached Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart nearly 18 years after its original release. That almost never happens. It proved that great songs are elastic; they stretch to fit the shape of whatever pain or hope we are feeling at the time.
Breaking down the "Million Dollar Demos"
To understand why this song sounds so urgent, you have to look at the failure that preceded it. The Foo Fighters had recorded nearly the entire One by One album in a high-end studio in Virginia. They hated it. Grohl famously said it sounded like "a bunch of guys who didn't know each other."
They scrapped almost everything.
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They went back to Grohl's home studio in Alexandria. They re-recorded the whole thing in about ten days. They stopped overthinking. They stopped trying to make it "perfect" for the radio and just played. Foo Fighters Times Like These was part of that second wave of recording. You can hear the difference. There’s a scratchy, desperate quality to the vocals. It’s the sound of a band realizing they actually love being a band.
- The Intro: That 7/4 riff is played on a Vox AC30 amp, giving it that chimey but biting tone.
- The Lyrics: Grohl has admitted the lyrics were a direct reaction to his uncertainty about the band's future.
- The Video: There are actually three videos. The most famous one involves the band playing under a bridge while people throw stuff off it. It’s weird, low-budget, and perfectly captures the early 2000s alt-rock vibe.
The Taylor Hawkins factor
We can’t talk about this song without talking about Taylor. While Grohl is the architect, Taylor Hawkins was the engine. In Foo Fighters Times Like These, his drumming provides the bridge between the complex intro and the anthemic chorus. He had this way of hitting the drums that felt like he was trying to break them, but with a swing that felt like jazz.
Since Taylor’s passing in 2022, the song has taken on yet another layer of meaning. When the band plays it live now, it’s a eulogy. It’s a tribute. It’s a moment of silence and a wall of noise all at once. The line "it's times like these you give and give again" feels like a mission statement for how the band has chosen to carry on.
What you should do next to really "get" this song
If you really want to appreciate the depth of this track, stop listening to it on your phone speakers.
- Listen to the "Million Dollar Demos" version: Search for the unreleased, original versions of the One by One tracks. You’ll hear why the band almost quit. It’s a fascinating lesson in how "perfection" can kill art.
- Watch the Glastonbury 2023 performance: This was their first big festival appearance after Taylor died, playing as "The Churnups." The way the crowd carries the lyrics for Dave when he gets choked up is one of the most powerful moments in modern rock history.
- Check the gear: If you're a guitar nerd, look into the use of the Gibson DG-335 (Dave's signature model based on the Trini Lopez). The semi-hollow body is what gives the song that specific resonance that isn't quite a Les Paul and isn't quite a Strat.
There is a reason this song stays on the setlist while other hits from the same era have faded away. It isn't cynical. It isn't trying to sell you a lifestyle. It’s just a guy admitting he’s a bit lost and hoping that, eventually, things will be okay. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need to hear.
Actionable Insight: The next time you feel stuck or like a project you've spent months on is failing, remember the "Million Dollar Demos." Sometimes the best thing you can do is scrap the expensive, polished version and go back to your "garage" roots. Resilience isn't about never failing; it's about being willing to re-record the whole album in ten days because the first version didn't have a soul.