"Shame Shame" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

. The song is from the band's tenth studio album, '' Medicine at Midnight''. It was released as the album's first single on November 7, 2020.

Background

Foo Fighters' singer and guitarist

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

has stated that "Shame Shame" is unlike anything Foo Fighters have ever done before and that the song allowed them to "move into another territory" with their sound on their new album, ''Medicine at Midnight''. According to the band's bassist

Nate Mendel Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician who is 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 Sound and ...

, "Shame Shame" started off as a "just a bunch of clicks from Dave" and originally didn't involve any bass line until he ended up recording extra parts for the song that were ultimately included.

Live performances

Foo Fighters performed "Shame Shame" live for the first time on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' on November 7, 2020. On September 12, 2021 the band performed the song in a medley at

2021 MTV Video Music Awards The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards were held on September 12, 2021, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. This marked the first time in eight years that the venue hosted the show. The show was hosted by hip-hop rapper and singer Doja ...

at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center ( ) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liber ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, when they won the award for Global Icon.

Music video

The

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

was directed by Paola Kudacki and features Sofia Boutella. Grohl has stated that it was inspired by an unsettling dream he had as a teenager that he had remembered all his life and said that the video was darker than anything they had done before.

Reception

With 9.3 million audience impressions for "Shame Shame", Foo Fighters took back the record of most number 1's on the ''Billboard''

Rock Airplay The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart, which also marked the fastest rise to the top of the chart in four years.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. Foo Fighters *

– lead vocals, guitar, producer *

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician who was the drummer and a vocalist of the rock band Foo Fighters, sharing vocals with Dave Grohl. He joined the band in 1997, and remained the band's drummer ...

– drums, producer * Rami Jaffee – keyboards, piano, producer *

– bass guitar, producer * Chris Shiflett – guitar, producer * Pat Smear – guitar, producer Additional musicians * Samantha Sidley – background vocals * Violet Grohl – background vocals * Barbara Gruska – background vocals * Laura Mace – background vocals *

Inara George Inara Maryland George (born July 4, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, one half of The Bird and the Bee, a member of the band Merrick, with Bryony Atkinson, and a member of the trio The Living Sisters, with Eleni Mandell an ...

– background vocals *

Omar Hakim Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American drummer, producer, arranger and composer. His session work covers jazz, jazz fusion, and pop music. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Chic, Sting, Madonna, Dire S ...

– percussion * Jacob Braun - cello * Greg Kurstin - strings * Alma Fernandez - viola * Charlie Bisharat – violin * Songa Lee – violin Technical * Greg Kurstin – producer *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including Blink-182, DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse ...

–

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, ...

–

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

* Darrell Thorp –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Matt Wolach – assistant engineer * Alex Pasco – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shame Shame 2020 singles Foo Fighters songs Songs written by Dave Grohl 2020 songs RCA Records singles