Foo Fighters – “Of All People”: Dave Grohl Screams Out His Will to Survive

At Woodbrass, we may have listened to thousands of rock songs, but some riffs still make you look up from the counter. “Of All People” is one of them. The Foo Fighters have just dropped a furious new single, the fourth preview of Your Favorite Toy, and Dave Grohl clearly did not hold back. Punk fury, mortality, and arena-sized energy: let’s break it down.

A song born from an unlikely encounter

The story behind “Of All People” is as powerful as the song itself. In an interview with the Guardian, Dave Grohl explained that he wrote the track after running into a former dealer from the ’90s—someone who used to supply heroin to people around him. Thirty years later, that person was still alive, sober, and healthy.

It was an emotional shock for Grohl, torn between relief and smoldering anger when thinking of those whom the drug had taken. That mix of gratitude and rage became the fuel for one of the most visceral songs in the Foos’ recent catalog.

A punk scorcher in two and a half minutes

Musically, “Of All People” does not pull any punches. The song kicks off with a tense, razor-sharp guitar riff, driven by a tempo that never lets up for 2 minutes 34. Several critics have compared the track’s energy to the early records by Hüsker Dü, the Minneapolis hardcore punk trio.

Whereas But Here We Are moved between introspection and power, this single signals an uptempo shift. Dave Grohl delivers an impassioned, almost shouted vocal, with a short but cutting guitar solo in the second half. Straight-ahead rock built to hit hard live.

Your Favorite Toy: an album made for arenas

“Of All People” is the fourth track unveiled from Your Favorite Toy, following “Asking For A Friend” (late 2025), the title track, and “Caught In The Echo.” The album, due out on April 24, 2026, has 10 tracks and is shaping up to be the band’s most energetic in a long time.

Here are the key details on this twelfth album:

• Recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, the band’s longtime headquarters
• Co-produced by the Foo Fighters and Oliver Roman, mixed by Mark “Spike” Stent
• First album with drummer Ilan Rubin (formerly of Nine Inch Nails)
• Rhythm tracks recorded live, without a click track—for a raw, organic sound
• Total running time: 36 minutes 26, the shortest album in their discography

Ilan Rubin: the new force behind the kit

The arrival of Ilan Rubin on drums is one of the major changes of this new era. The musician, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Nine Inch Nails in 2020, joined the Foos in the summer of 2025 after Josh Freese’s departure—Freese returned to NIN in an unprecedented “swap.” Rubin called the collaboration “a natural fit”, and the rhythmic drive of “Of All People” proves him right.

Take Cover World Tour: the Foos are coming to France

To support the new album, the Foo Fighters are launching the Take Cover World Tour. French fans should mark down June 19, 2026, at Paris La Défense Arena. The North American tour will follow from August, with Queens of the Stone Age and Mannequin Pussy as support.

A single that promises something huge

With “Of All People,” the Foo Fighters prove they have not lost any of their bite. By tackling mortality and survivor’s guilt in a punk scorcher under three minutes long, Dave Grohl reminds us why he remains one of the pillars of global rock. Your Favorite Toy is shaping up to be uncompromising. See you on April 24.

Sources

• Rolling Stone – Foo Fighters Reflect on Mortality on Thrashing Single “Of All People”
• NME – Foo Fighters tackle “survivor’s guilt” on punky new single “Of All People”
• Consequence of Sound – Foo Fighters Release New Song “Of All People”
• Wikipedia – Your Favorite Toy (Foo Fighters)