"Learn to Fly"
Single by Foo Fighters
from the album There Is Nothing Left to Lose
B-side
ReleasedOctober 18, 1999 (1999-10-18)
RecordedSpring 1999
Studio
Genre
Length3:58
Label
Songwriter(s)Foo Fighters
Producer(s)
Foo Fighters singles chronology
"Walking After You"
(1998)		 "Learn to Fly"
(1999)		 "Stacked Actors"
(2000)
Music video
"Learn to Fly" on YouTube

"Learn to Fly" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters. It was released as the lead single from their third studio album There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999) in October 1999. It was the band's first song to enter the Billboard Hot 100, as well as their second-highest charting song on the Hot 100, peaking at number 19. It also peaked within the top 40 in Australia, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United Kingdom. The song's music video won Best Short Form Video award at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001.

Release and reception

"Learn to Fly" was originally released as a promo-only single.[2] It was officially released as a two-disc CD set in the UK and Australia, as well as in Europe, and promotional singles were also released in other countries such as the US for radio play.

In the US, it was the band's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at number 19,[3] and was the band's first number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.[4]

It is also their highest-charting on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, along with the 1996 hit "Big Me", reaching number 13.[5]

The song set the record for most weeks (13) at number one on the Canadian rock radio charts.[6]

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Jesse Peretz and won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2001.[7]

It takes place on a commercial airliner, parodying the movie Airplane!, and by extension, the films Airport 1975 and its sequel Airport '77, interspersed with a mock concert footage of the band shown as an in-flight movie. The background elevator music is The Moog Cookbook's version of "Everlong".[8]

Two airline cabin cleaners (played by Jack Black and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D) smuggle and hide their narcotics, labelled "World Domination brand 'Erotic' Sleeping Powder",[9] in the coffee-maker. The flight attendants do not notice the narcotics when they use the coffee-maker, and everyone who drinks the resulting coffee becomes incapacitated. The take-off sequence, in addition to the crew members hiding ulterior criminal motives, are a near shot-by-shot homage to the film Airport '77.

The band, having avoided the coffee (choosing liquor instead), mirroring Karen Black's role in Airport 1975, find themselves forced to land the plane. For the video, each band member (Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, and Taylor Hawkins) portrays himself as well as several other roles, including Hawkins as an attractive flight attendant and Grohl as an FBI agent who arrests the two cabin cleaners when they attempt to smuggle more of their narcotics.[10]

2015 tribute video

On July 30, 2015, a video was published on YouTube of 1,000 Italian musicians in Cesena, Italy all playing and singing the song in unison, followed by a plea for the Foo Fighters to come play a concert in Cesena.[11][12][13] By August 16, it had gained more than 33 million views.[14]

On July 31, Dave Grohl responded, in Italian, thanking the makers for "the beautiful video" and adding "Thank you so much. We're coming, I swear. We'll see each other soon."[15][16] On November 3, 2015, in response, Foo Fighters performed a twenty-seven-song concert in Cesena for approximately 3,000 people, starting their set with "Learn to Fly".[17]

The group assembled for the stunt have performed subsequently under the name Rockin' 1000, and have been described as the "biggest band in the world."[18]

In August 2015, nearly 16 years after its initial release, the single entered the Austrian Singles Chart at number 69 and the Swiss Singles Chart at number 41.[19]

Other versions

A live version recorded in Sydney, Australia, on January 24, 2000, was released on the Australian "Generator" single and CD 1 of "Breakout".

Critical reception

Greg Kot of Rolling Stone referred to the song as a "guilt-free power ballad". He noted that "on 'Learn to Fly', the big guitars and arching melody crush all quibbles. Some grunge romantics may even hear it as a touching little hymn to [Nirvana]".[20]

In 2020, Kerrang ranked the song number 11 on their list of the 20 greatest Foo Fighters songs,[21] and in 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Foo Fighters songs.[22]

Track listings and formats

  1. "Learn to Fly"  – 3:58
  2. "Iron and Stone"  – 2:52
  3. "Have a Cigar"  – 3:58
  1. "Learn to Fly"  – 3:58
  2. "Have a Cigar"  – 3:58
  1. "Learn to Fly"  – 3:58
  2. "Make a Bet"  – 3:28
  3. "Have a Cigar"  – 3:58

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from "Learn to Fly" CD single liner notes.[24]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1999–2000) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[30] 36
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[31] 13
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[32] 1
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[33] 32
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[34] 72
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[35] 23
Scotland (OCC)[36] 15
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 52
UK Singles (OCC)[38] 21
US Billboard Hot 100[39] 19
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[40] 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[41] 2
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[42] 4
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[43] 15
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[44] 22
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[45] 69
France (SNEP)[46] 172
Germany (Official German Charts)[47] 97
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[48] 41
UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[49] 2
US Rock Digital Songs (Billboard)[50] 14
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Hungary (Single Top 40)[51] 19

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[52] 4× Platinum 280,000‡
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[53] Platinum 60,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[54] Gold 20,000*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[55] Gold 45,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[56] Gold 25,000‡
Mexico (AMPROFON)[57] Platinum 60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[58] Platinum 600,000‡
United States (RIAA)[59] Platinum 1,000,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Formats(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
Europe October 18, 1999 CD single [60]
United States November 2, 1999 Contemporary hit radio [61]

The song Learn to Fly appears in serial political drama television series The West Wing episode Mr. Willis of Ohio, the 1999 sport-documentary Fift, in the 2002 Animated comedy-drama television filmIs It College Yet?, the 2002 romantic comedy-drama Life or Something Like It

References

  1. ↑ Rolling Stone Staff (December 1, 2023). "The 100 Best Songs of 2023". Rolling Stone. ...the sunny power-pop-adjacent feel of earlier Foo Fighters tracks like "Learn to Fly"...
  2. ↑ "Billboard". October 16, 1999.
  3. ↑ Foo Fighters - Billboard Hot 100 Chart History billboard.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Foo Fighters - Billboard Alternative Songs Chart History billboard.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Foo Fighters - Billboard Radio Songs History billboard.com. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  6. ↑ Cantin, Paul (January 13, 2000). "Foo Fighters set Cdn. record". Archived from the original on August 19, 2000. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  7. ↑ "43rd Annual Grammy Awards". CNN. February 21, 2001. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Foo Fighters' Learn To Fly Video Analysed In Really Minute Detail". Kerrang!.
  9. ↑ Foo Fighters FAQ. Accessed December 27, 2006
  10. ↑ "Foo Fighters' Learn to Fly Video Analysed in Really Minute Detail".
  11. ↑ Rudgard, Olivia. "Video: 1,000 musicians play Foo Fighters song". Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  12. ↑ Nme.Com (July 31, 2015). "NME News Foo Fighters to play Italy gig after video of 1,000 fans covering 'Learn To Fly' goes viral". Nme.Com. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  13. ↑ "1,000 musicians play Foo Fighters song to persuade concert - Videos". CBS News. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  14. ↑ Video on YouTube
  15. ↑ Video on YouTube
  16. ↑ Dave Grohl (July 31, 2015). "We've translated Dave Grohl's Italian message to fans in Cesena - BBC Newsbeat". BBC News. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Foo Fighters, Recruited by Viral Video, Play Unplanned Concert in Italy". NY Times. November 4, 2015.
  18. ↑ "The Biggest Band In The World – Italy's Rockin'1000 Founder Fabio Zaffagnini On Foo Fighters, Viral Success And Their Mad Live Show". NME.COM. August 3, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Ö3 Austria Top40: Single-Charts - Ö3 Charts".
  20. ↑ Kot, Greg (November 11, 1999). "There Is Nothing Left to Lose". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  21. ↑ Law, Sam (July 3, 2020). "The 20 greatest Foo Fighters songs – ranked". Kerrang. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  22. ↑ Uitti, Jacob (November 24, 2021). "The Top 10 Foo Fighters Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  23. ↑ Learn to Fly (UK CD Single liner notes). Foo Fighters. Roswell Records. 1999. 64173-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. 1 2 Learn to Fly (AUS CD Single liner notes). Foo Fighters. Roswell Records. 1999. 74321706622.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  25. ↑ Learn to Fly (EU 7" Vinyl liner notes). Foo Fighters. RCA Records. 1999. FOO1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  26. ↑ Learn to Fly (EU CD Single liner notes). Foo Fighters. BMG. 1999. 74321706512.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  27. ↑ Learn to Fly (UK Cassette liner notes). Foo Fighters. RCA Records. 1999. 74321713084.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  28. ↑ Learn to Fly (EU CD Single liner notes). Foo Fighters. Roswell Records. 1999. 74321713102.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  29. ↑ Foo Fighters, "The Making of There Is Nothing Left to Lose", (RCA, 1999)
  30. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 10026." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 9689." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Foo Fighters" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  36. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". Singles Top 100. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  38. ↑ "Foo Fighters: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  39. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  40. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  41. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  42. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  43. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  44. ↑ "Foo Fighters Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  45. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  46. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  47. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  48. ↑ "Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  49. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  50. ↑ Foo Fighters - Rock Digital Songs Chart history billboard.com. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  51. ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  52. ↑ "ARIA October 2023 Single Accreditations" (PDF). dropbox.com. ARIA. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  53. ↑ "Brazilian single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  54. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". Music Canada. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  55. ↑ "Danish single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  56. ↑ "Italian single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  57. ↑ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved July 21, 2020. Type Foo Fighters in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Learn to Fly in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
  58. ↑ "British single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  59. ↑ "American single certifications – Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  60. ↑ "Foo Fighters singles".
  61. ↑ "Alternative: Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1323. October 29, 1999. p. 51.
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