Foo Fighters: My Hero Meaning

Song Released: 1998

My Hero Lyrics

Too alarming now to talk about
Take your pictures down and shake it out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Don’t the best of...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   ray28

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 15th 2005 !⃝

   Dave Grohl has said that while he was growing up, he didn't have any "rock star heroes". This is a song dedicated to the ordinary heroes he had while growing up. It's also said that this song is dedicated to Jim Craig (goalie of the US Miracle on Ice team).

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 17th 2007 !⃝

   Dumbasses and your obsession with Cobain. Grohl clearly writes about ordinary heroes. The every day folks that make a difference and others look up to.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 22nd 2007 !⃝

   This song is not about celebrities, but people like firemen or policemen who save lives, not just sit around being rich and famous.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 12th 2021 !⃝

   I feel like you can interpret this to be about someone in your life you feel is your hero. Like your Dad or Mom or someone who helped you out during hard times.
5. tjmgip

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 23rd 2017 !⃝

   Dave has said on mulitiple interviews the song in NOT about Kurt Cobain. He goes on to state he did not have any musical'heroes' growing up. He said the song is about ordinary people that do extrodinary things, hence this son is about my mom!!!!
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 6th 2016 !⃝

   Okay! Another Foo Fighter song meaning from a 13 year old! So, this song to me is about Dave's 'Rock Heroes' But in my heart, I'd sing this to America's soldiers. Just think for a moment. I hear this: "There goes my hero, watchin' as he goes. There goes my hero, he's ordinary!" and this is what I picture in my head: Soldiers in a Chinook that is close to the tree line. You look up and see soldiers in the back of the Chinook. You smile, knowing that these people are America's heroes and their doing anything for their country! I hope this helped! When they played this song at my first concert, I never sang so loud before. I was the happiest girl EVER! :D
   Keep on Rockin', Foo fans!
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

   This song is about George Carlin.
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

   its funny how the guy who wrote the song can publicly state that the song is NOT about kurt kobain... but yet people refuse to believe it. ignorance is bliss i guess
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 6th 2011 !⃝

   I always thought it was the complete opposite of what everyone else here is saying - 'heros' or public figures behaving disgracefully. Too alarming, the unexpected poor behaviour. Take your hero's pictures down and move on (shake it out). Using truth as a weapon to secure one's way. The big shot egotists battling it out, bleeding a situation for all its worth, while the pawns fall by the wayside. He's ordinary, not so great after all. Watch him go, falling from grace, leaving his position of positive role model, true colours now exposed. Its not Kurt bloody Kobain, either! Maybe its Peter Garrett (now I'm just stirring).
10. Jennifer Stelmach

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Aug 17th 2011 !⃝

    Dave has said a few times over the years this song is about his friend Pete Stahl...they were in Scream together and he staid in his house while he was going through his divorce from his first wife.
11. sunnybrook

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    May 30th 2011 !⃝

    My hero is about the everyday people. I love this song back when i was 12 i took a picture in front of the twin towers and i was wearing a foo fighters shirt. The shirt had plains on it. those people that died on 9-11 are my heros!!!!!
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Apr 13th 2011 !⃝

    I honestly dont think its about kurt cobain....when it first came out everyone kept saying it was,but I saw dave grohl say during vh1 story tellers that it wasnt. Then again I guess if you want it to be about kurt then go ahead and think of him when you listen to it......thats what great music/lyrics do they make you think with your mind and isnt spoon fed to you.....and isnt about just making big bucks....
13. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Apr 11th 2011 !⃝

    Dave Grohl said on the Stern show the song is about Pete Stahl a childhood friend he was in a band with. when asked if it was about Kurt Cobain Dave said "no not really"
14. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jun 27th 2010 !⃝

    Many people have said it's not about Kurt Cobain and many have said it is. But this song is about everyday people who save lives and the one's who've changed them. I'm pretty sure Kurt Cobainis one of those heros even though many people disagree.
15. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Nov 30th 2009 !⃝

    Even as recently as this week Dave has said my hero is about ordinary everyday hero's, saying 'you dont have to be in kiss to be a hero'
    
    But it has always been about jurt for me. Especially as the first thing I did upon finding out he was gone was to run away from the friend who told me and to tear the posters off my walls.
    "Too alarming now to talk about
    Take your pictures down and shake it out "
    
    &
    "Don’t the best of them bleed it out
    While the rest of them peter out "
    Sounds so like the "better to burn out than fade away" lyric kurt quoted. . .
    
    But I just think that's circumstatial. It was one of those 'new songs' that the foo fighters created during warm ups on tour, at the time the words meant not much, but in hindsight say so very much.
    
    Maybe on a subliminal level it is about Kurt, but dont think it was conciously written for him
16. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    May 26th 2009 !⃝

    The song wasn't directly about Kurt but Dave had said many years later that every song is about his experiences so of course there would be apart of Kurt in some songs.
17. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Dec 14th 2008 !⃝

    its funny to see that any song about death of someone close or any sad or more suttle song by the foo fighters is immediatly interpreted as a song for kurt, im sure there could be a refrence about him in atleast one song but not every single one, point being this song is just about the everyday average working man and respecting them to show that it doesnt take superpowers to be a hero, actualy foo fighters were pissed at John Mcain for using this song in one of their ad campains without artist approval, it was explained on the news and dave grohl explained what the song was about.
18. CHAD

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Oct 2nd 2008 !⃝

    I often wondered about the inspiration for this one.Im pretty sure it wasn't Cobain, judging by the video, it would seem to be about all of the "unsung" heroes out there, keeping society moving forth from behind the curtains.

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)