Big Me is the fourth single by Foo Fighters from their self-titled debut album. Released in February 25, 1996, the song was recorded in October 1994 and became a crossover hit for the band on pop radio, when it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay.
The song became well known for its music video, which parodies Mentos advertisements, turning them into commercials for “Footos,” with the “Freshmaker” slogan being rendered as “The Fresh Fighter”.
The concept came from director Jesse Peretz, who had originally pitched the idea to another band, and the Foo Fighters accepted the concept because, according to Dave Grohl:
“We had some difficulty finding a treatment that would suit the song, which is this short, tongue-in-cheek, ridiculously candy-coated pop tune. We didn’t want to make this big, pretentious portrait video. We wanted to make fun of ourselves and the song.”
The video, which was entirely filmed on location in Sydney Central Business District, McMahons Point, Kirribilli, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, debuted on MTV on February 14, 1996, and quickly became a Buzz Bin clip. It was eventually nominated for 5 MTV Video Music Awards at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, winning only “Best Group Video“.
The video’s success led to many fans throwing Mentos at the band whenever they played the song live. For an extended period of time, the band did not play the song live due to this, as Grohl cited:
“We did stop playing that song for a while because, honestly, it’s like being stoned. Those little … things are like pebbles – they hurt.” The band only started to change its mind after Weezer started performing “Big Me” during the Foozer tour both bands did together.
Maxi CD single Tracklist:
- Big Me
- Winnebago
- How I Miss You (features Dave Grohl’s sister Lisa on bass and Mike Nelson on drums)
- Podunk
- Ozone (Ace Frehley cover)
- For All the Cows (live at the Reading Festival, August 26, 1995)
- Wattershed (live at the Reading Festival, August 26, 1995)
