"Big Me" is the fourth single by

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) ...

from their self-titled debut album. Released in the spring of 1996, the song became a crossover hit for the band on pop radio, when it reached #13 on the

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States acro ...

Music video

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 Jesse Peretz (born May 19, 1968) is an American film and television director, TV producer and former musician. He first rose to prominence as a bass guitarist and founding member of The Lemonheads, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based band which fo ...

, 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 made its

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

debut on February 14, 1996, and quickly became a

Buzz Bin MTV's Buzz Bin was a select group of music videos by up and coming artists and bands that the network deemed "buzz worthy", "wikt:cutting edge, cutting edge", or "the next big thing". As such, the selected videos received heavy rotation on the cha ...

clip. "Big Me" was nominated for 5

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

at the

1996 MTV Video Music Awards The 1996 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1996, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1995, to June 14, 1996. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The show centered on The Smashin ...

, winning only "

Best Group Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Group (also known as the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video) is given to recording artists at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). The award was introduced at the inaugural ceremony in 1984 by vocalis ...

". The video, which parodies the

Mentos Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint flavored candies sold in stores and vending machines. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide by the Italian-Dutch corporation Perfetti Van Melle. T ...

ad campaign, was filmed on location in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia. The video's success led to many fans throwing Mentos at the band whenever they played the song live.Foo Fighters Dictionary
/ref> 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 Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing ...

started performing "Big Me" during the Foozer tour both bands did together.Q&A With Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

Don't Throw Mentos - Foo Fighters, Big Me Live
/ref> The music video was entirely filmed in

Sydney Central Business District The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often referr ...

& North Sydney,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, in 1996.

2019 Record Store Day re-release

The "Big Me" single was re-released on a 3-inch vinyl for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

on April 13, 2019. The single is one of several 3-inch Record Store Day re-issues that is playable on special miniature record players.

Singles

;CD single #"Big Me" #"Floaty (BBC Evening Session Recording 23 November 1995)" #"Gas Chamber (BBC Evening Session Recording 23 November 1995)" (

Angry Samoans The Angry Samoans is an American punk rock band from the first wave of American punk, formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California, by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders, his sibling lead guitarist Bonze BlaykBad Trip Records ...

cover) #" Alone + Easy Target (BBC Evening Session Recording 23 November 1995)" ;7" White Vinyl #"Big Me" #"Floaty (BBC Evening Sessions Recording 23 November 1995) #"Gas Chamber (BBC Evening Sessions Recording 23 November 1995) (

cover) ;Maxi CD single #"Big Me" #"Winnebago" #"How I Miss You" (features Dave Grohl's sister Lisa on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

and Mike Nelson on drums) #"Podunk" #"Ozone" (

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

cover) #"

For All the Cows "For All the Cows" (1995) is the third major single released by Foo Fighters from their self-titled debut album ''Foo Fighters''. It was only released in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Music Kevin McKeough commented that the song fluc ...

" (live at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

, August 26, 1995) #"Wattershed" (live at the

, August 26, 1995) ;3” Record Store Day 2019 Exclusive Single # “Big Me”

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Walmart Soundcheck - Foo Fighters
{{authority control 1995 songs 1996 singles American power pop songs Jangle pop songs Foo Fighters songs Songs written by Dave Grohl Sahara Hotnights songs Music videos shot in Sydney