"Monkey Wrench" is the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

by American rock band

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

from their second album, ''

The Colour and the Shape ''The Colour and the Shape'' is the second studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on May 20, 1997, through Roswell and Capitol Records. It marked the official debut of the Foo Fighters as a band, as their eponymous 1995 deb ...

''. The lyrics chronicle the 1997 disintegration of singer/songwriter

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

's four-year marriage to Jennifer Youngblood. The song peaked at number 9 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart,Foo Fighters - Mainstream Rock Chart History
billboard.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014. and at number 12 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

.Foo Fighters - UK Singles Chart
officialcharts.com. Retrieved on Jan 20, 2013.

Composition

"Monkey Wrench" is an up-tempo rock song, written in the key of

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its ...

in 4/4 time signature with a tempo of 174 bpm. It is performed with distorted guitars in Drop-D tuning. The song opens with a four bar phrase of a descending guitar line over a chordal riff of B5/F#5/E5 repeated twice. After a single bar of 3/4 time, the main verse enters with vocals and a choppier, palm-muted version of the intro riff. A pre-chorus using an E5

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on am ...

then gives way to a chord-based chorus of B5/G#5/F#5/E5/F#5/E5/C5/B5. Lyrically, Grohl has said that the song is "about realising that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself."

Critical reception

"Monkey Wrench" is widely regarded as one of the Foo Fighters' best songs. In 2020, ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-of ...

'' ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Foo Fighters songs, and in 2021, ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' ranked the song number seven on their list of the 10 greatest Foo Fighters songs.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by the band's lead singer/songwriter,

. In the video, Grohl arrives at his apartment with groceries in hand, but finds the door secured from inside by the chain latch when he tries to open it. Looking through the peephole, he finds black-clad duplicates of the band members playing the song. The rest of the band soon joins him at the door, peeking in through its mail slot, and eventually start trying to force their way in as the duplicate Grohl taunts them and spits on the peephole. He holds the door shut against the band's efforts for a while, but they eventually break in only to find the apartment suddenly empty. They look out the window and see the duplicates fleeing on foot through a courtyard, then close the door and finish the song using the abandoned instruments. As the video ends, a third set of bandmates is listening at the door outside, creating a

recursive Recursion (adjective: ''recursive'') occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics ...

situation. When Grohl is in the elevator heading up to his apartment, a

muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934, and has been owned by a division or subsidiary of one or another company ever since. In 1981, Westingho ...

version of the Foo Fighters song " Big Me," performed by

The Moog Cookbook The Moog Cookbook was an American electronic duo consisting of Meco Eno (Roger Manning) and Uli Nomi (Brian Kehew). The project was a parody of and tribute to the novelty Moog records of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which featured cover vers ...

, can be heard. The music video for the song was the first to feature

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he recorded eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021. Before joining the band in 1997, he ...

on drums, although the actual drum track is performed by Grohl.

Personnel on record

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guita ...

– guitar *

Nate Mendel Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, as well as a former member of Sunny Day Real Estate. He has also worked with musical acts The Jealous So ...

– bass

Track listings and formats

* US 7" Vinyl / NT CD Single # "Monkey Wrench" – 3:54 # "The Colour and the Shape" – 3:26 * AUS / EU / JP / UK CD Single # "Monkey Wrench" – 3:54 # "Up in Arms" (Slow Version) – 3:11 # "The Colour and the Shape" – 3:22 * UK CD 2 # "Monkey Wrench" – 3:54 # "

Down in the Park "Down in the Park" is a 1979 song by the English band Tubeway Army, featuring lead vocals by Gary Numan. It was released as the first single from the band's second album ''Replicas'', though was not a hit. The song was written and produced by t ...

" – 4:07 # "See You" (Acoustic) – 2:27

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

Accolades

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monkey Wrench (Song) 1997 singles Foo Fighters songs Songs written by Dave Grohl Songs written by Pat Smear Song recordings produced by Gil Norton RCA Records singles 1997 songs Songs written by Nate Mendel American pop punk songs