According to Dave Grohl, the song "was originally an instrumental and it went through a few different versions. At first it was really dissonant and noisy. The middle section sounded like "Wipe Out" [by the Surfaris]. It was just nuts! We recorded the instrumental and I had no idea how I was gonna sing it. Again, that was another one that our manager said, "That's the song!" And we said, "Really? You think that's the one people will like?"[6] Grohl has said that the song is about how he enjoys performing oral sex on women. "['All My Life'] is a little dirty. I'm very fond of giving oral sex to women. It's a pleasure-giving experience - giving someone something that they'll remember for the rest of their lives, and if you do it right, they will."[7][8]
It also became the 6th best performing alternative song on the Alternative Songs chart of the decade and the 10th best performing rock song on the Rock Songs chart of the decade. Dave Grohl notes that the band wanted a heavier-sounding song for a single, saying the band was "coming out with "Learn to Fly" and "Next Year" and other songs that had middle-of-the-road melodies."[6] In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Alternative Songs (which by then had been renamed to Alternative Airplay),[9]Billboard published a list of the top 100 most successful songs in the chart's history; "All My Life" was ranked at number 55.[10]
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "All My Life" at number 94 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. It was nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.
"All My Life" is widely regarded as one of the Foo Fighters' best songs. In 2020, Kerrang ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Foo Fighters songs,[11] and in 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number five on their list of the 10 greatest Foo Fighters songs.[12]
Other versions
A version recorded during Episode 8 of Series 20 of Later... with Jools Holland on November 26, 2002, at the BBC Television Centre was released on the DVD "Later... Louder with Jools Holland". An unaired interview with Dave and Taylor recorded on the same day was included as an exclusive bonus feature on the DVD.
A live version filmed at Hyde Park on June 17, 2006, was released on the Live at Hyde Park DVD.
Welsh rock band Feeder, use the opening lines from this song as an interlude during live performances of "Lost and Found". It was also used in the promotional video for the Australian Tennis Open by Eurosport(Din).
In Chile, the song was featured in the children's puppet television show 31 Minutos episode "Ahorrando", while they fighting Calcetín con Rombos Man and the iron.
The video, directed by Grohl, is a performance video because he wanted to "sort of show everybody this is what it's like when we play live" as opposed to the comedic videos the band had done before such as "Big Me" and "Learn to Fly". In the video, the band (with Chris Shiflett making his first appearance in an official Foo Fighters music video) performs the song on stage in front of a video screen at The Forum in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles (the video was actually shot inside Bakersfield's Mechanics Bank Arena, which was called Centennial Garden at the time).[13] At the conclusion, it is revealed that they had been performing in an empty arena.[14] In January 2021, Grohl revealed that he has dreams about still being in Nirvana and that there is an empty arena waiting for them to play.[15][16]
The video was included on a DVD extra that was packaged with the CD version of the album. As of November 2023, the song has 107 million views on YouTube.
^"Note Worthy". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 2002-09-13. p. 12. Sessions Records will release the Foo Fighters' new single, "All My Life," on 7-inch vinyl on Sept. 24
^Thomas, Jeremy (November 15, 2014). "The 8 Ball: Top 8 Post-Grunge Bands". 411MANIA. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2014. Songs like "Everlong," "All My Life" and "I'll Stick Around" are landmark post-grunge tracks
^George, Richard (November 11, 2009). "Foo Fighters Greatest Hits Review". IGN. Retrieved December 18, 2014. Most, like I once did, would try to define Grohl and his Foo companions (Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett) as strictly being hard rock. And with hits like "Pretender", "All My Life" and "Everlong", it's tough to argue that point.