In a 2007 interview with XFM, frontman Dave Grohl stopped short of explaining the meaning behind "The Pretender", but alluded its roots go to political unrest of the time it was written. Grohl noted: "That's the thing with lyrics, you never want to give away specifics, because it's nice for people to have their own idea or interpretation of the song. But, you know, everyone's been fucked over before and I think a lot of people feel fucked over right now and they're not getting what they were promised, and so something to do with that." Grohl also told XFM "The Pretender" was not initially planned for the album and happened really quickly: That song didn't happen until later on in the session. We didn't go into making the record with that song and it happened after we recorded a lot of stuff. Up until that point, I didn't know if we had a good opening song or not. So after we recorded it, I thought, "oh this is perfect, we have the song to open the record," and it just became everybody's favorite song.... It's the type of song that I look forward to opening shows with and it came together really easily... We put that song together in, I don't know, a day, whereas a lot of the other songs we worked on for weeks. Personnel Dave Grohl – lead vocals, rhythm guitar Chris Shiflett – lead guitar Nate Mendel – bass Taylor Hawkins – drums, backing vocals The Section Quartet – string section, arranged by Audrey Riley Reception This song was number 47 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The song was a 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Rock Song and Record of the Year. It won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance the same year. This song was also number 94 on MTV Asias list of Top 100 Hits of 2007. The music video was nominated for a 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video, but lost to Linkin Park's "Shadow of the Day". This album was the fourth consecutive Foo Fighters album to have a song reach the top of the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. "The Pretender" was the most densely played alternative rock song of 2007. It held the record for longest running number 1 in the Modern Rock Tracks' history, beating a