On January 19th, 1998, Foo Fighters released “My Hero,” the third single from their beloved sophomore album, The Colour and the Shape.

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The song is widely seen as one of the Foo Fighters’ best songs. Upon its release, “My Hero” quickly reached number 6 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart. While the track was originally released in 1997 as a part of The Colour and the Shape, the band had played it live as early as 1995.

Grohl says the song is dedicated to everyday heroes, and in an appearance on VH1 Storytellers in 2009, he says that it was written while watching movies from the ’80s like Valley Girl.

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The accompanying video for “My Hero” also made waves upon its release. Directed by Dave Grohl, the video features a man running into a burning building to rescue everything from someone’s baby to another person’s dog to a framed picture of someone.

The track featured two different drum tracks played back simultaneously during the intro and verse. Because of the double tracked album version, the live performance used a more simplified beat, but the late Taylor Hawkins was known for ripping through the drum line with ease.

Recently, Taylor Hawkins’ son Shane paid tribute to his father by playing an emotional rendition of the 1997 hit. Shane took to the stage at a Laguna Beach block party for the moving tribute. In a video posted to TikTok, Shane sits atop a neighbourhood roof alongside local Laguna band The Alive. Revisit that “My Hero” performance here.

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