At long last, Foo Fighters have unveiled their official recording of “You Should Be Dancing” under their disco alter-egos The Dee Gees. What’s more, the cover song comes with a flashy performance music video, too. Stream their faithful take on the Bee Gees’ classic below.
Don’t Let Foo Fighters’ impressive rock resume taint their latest single. The band meant it when they said their Dee Gees moniker would pay homage to the disco icons that came before them, and their studio version of “You Should Be Dancing” proves they’ve got the talent to go toe-to-toe with those legends. Dave Grohl lets out numerous shrill falsettos that impress, Taylor Hawkins is tapping away on his drum kit with the biggest grin possible, and Pat Smear’s rhythm guitar is perfectly breezy to tie it all together. Watching them hit those high notes alongside groovy backup singers in the video cements the fact that, yes, The Dee Gees really are going for it.
This is the first official track to be released from Hail Satin, the band’s collection of disco covers and live versions of Medicine at Midnight songs that’s due out July 17th for Record Store Day. Technically, Foo Fighters first covered “You Should Be Dancing” back in February on BBC Radio 2 and then marked its live debut in June at their epic comeback concert at Madison Square Garden. The latter felt like a more formal affair because, barely a week prior, Grohl and co. had announced their new disco moniker.
During their appearance on BBC Radio 2, Grohl explained why he and the rest of his Foo Fighters bandmates felt inclined to cover “You Should Be Dancing” in particular. “Somebody said, ’Hey, have you seen that Bee Gees documentary?’ And I was like the last person on earth — the only person that hadn’t seen it! So I was like, ‘Why don’t we just do a Bee Gees song?’ And someone was just like, ‘OK… how do you wanna do it?!’ And I said: ‘Well, let’s do it like the Bee Gees,’” he said. “We started recording the instrumental track, and then I thought, ‘OK, well I’m gonna go out and sing it…’ and let me tell you: I have never, ever in my life sung like that, but it was the easiest song I have ever sung in my entire life!”
Earlier this month, Grohl revealed that his love of disco spans back all the way to his teenage years. In a clip from his Paramount+ series From Cradle to Stage, Grohl talked with Pharrell Williams about his drum beats in Nirvana, namely citing “old disco” and R&B/funk drumming as the primary influence on his performance style. “If you listen to Nevermind, the Nirvana record, I pulled so much stuff from The Gap Band and Cameo and [Chic’s] Tony Thompson on every one of those songs,” he said. “All that? That’s old disco!” Rewatch the video here.
The soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will hit the road for their highly anticipated 26th anniversary tour later this summer. It consists of six concerts scheduled around their headlining spot at Lollapalooza and will preview their September appearances at Bonnaroo and Bottlerock. Grab tickets to those Foo Fighters shows via Ticketmaster or here.
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