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"Learn to Fly" is the first single from the Foo Fighters' third album There Is Nothing Left to Lose. It was released on two different singles in the UK in 1999. "Learn to Fly" is one of the band's most successful and recognized singles, including being their first Modern Rock #1 song on the Billboard charts, beating their single "This Is a Call"'s previous peak of #2. Reaching #19, it is also the band's second highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as becoming their first Top 40 single, while being their highest charting on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart along with the 1996 hit "Big Me", reaching #13.

Music video

The music video for the song takes place on an airplane, parodying the movie Airplane!, and by extension, the film Airport 1975 and its sequel Airport '77. Two airline mechanics (played by Jack Black and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D) smuggle and hide their narcotic known as "World Domination brand 'Erotic' Sleeping Powder" in the coffee-maker. This ends up incapacitating everyone who drinks the coffee. The band, having avoided the coffee (choosing liquor instead), in a homage to Karen Black's role in Airport 1975, finds themselves forced to land the plane. For the video, each band member (Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel and Taylor Hawkins) portrays himself as well as several other roles, including an FBI agent who arrests the two mechanics. Also, as in the music video for "Monkey Wrench", a Foo Fighters song is played as Muzak in the beginning, this time with "Everlong" from The Colour and the Shape. The premise of smuggling drugs in airplane coffee is nearly identical to an actual smuggling operation that was uncovered in 1997.

The video was filmed in London, England in a cabin crew training airplane. The video won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

Track listing

Disc 1

1. "Learn to Fly"
2. "Iron and Stone" (The Obsessed cover)
3. "Have a Cigar" (Pink Floyd cover)

Disc 2

1. "Learn to Fly"
2. "Make a Bet"
3. "Have a Cigar" (Pink Floyd cover)

Personnel

• Dave Grohl - vocals, guitar
• Taylor Hawkins - drums
• Nate Mendel - bass

Chart positions

References

1. RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Foo Fighters singles. RIAA.com.
2. "Gold & Platinum Certification – January 2010". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
3. http://www.foofighters.com/faq.php?id=06.04#goto Foo Fighters FAQ. Accessed December 27, 2006
4. "Smuggling sting nabs 55 from airline, contractor". CNN.
5. ^ Learn To Fly positions. australian-charts.com. Retrieved on December 01, 2012.
6. Dutch Top 40. "Foo Fighters Dutch top 40 Archive". www.top40.nl. Retrieved 28 February 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. ^ billboard.com. "Learn To Fly Billboard Chart History". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 01 December 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

External links

• "Learn to Fly" Official music video on YouTube

• 1999 singles
• Foo Fighters songs
• Billboard Alternative Songs number-one singles
• Singles certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
• Songs produced by Adam Kasper
• Songs written by Dave Grohl
• Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
• Songs about aircraft
• RCA Records singles
• Singles certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association