 The focus was on a strong performance, where Grohl could "scream the whole way through".During the first rehearsals, Grohl came close to injuring his throat and felt afraid of being unable to perform live, but eventually considered he could pull it off as "when you go out and sing words from the heart, you scream twice as hard.”

The music video was directed by Mark Pellington, best known for his work on the video for "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam.He was inspired by the death of his wife a few months prior to the shoot, and was drawn to the song's notion of dealing with pain in life.