Foo Fighters lead man Dave Grohl and producer Greg Kurstin have teamed up to release a new series of Hanukkah songs. These “Hanukkah Sessions” will be covering songs from famous Jewish artists. For the second night of Hannuka, Grohl and Kurstin will be covering “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones. Jeffery Hyman and Thomas Erdelyi of the Ramones are both Jewish, and their song “Blitzkrieg Bop” invokes the name of the German military strategy used in World War II. By interpolating the name of the strategy to invoke the hectic environments of punk shows, they are satirizing the military that was responsible for the killing of their ancestors. In their cover of the song, Grohl and Kurstin stay true to the original upbeat sound of the song. The hard rocking cover has Grohl on the drums and Kurstin on electric guitar and they keep the lyrics all the same, only slightly changing to the chorus to embody Jewish heritage more, with “Hey Ho, Lets Go” being replaced by “Hey Oy, Lets Goy.” In the video performance of the song, the background is adorned with various Jewish imagery, such as the star of David and a Menorah.

This is the second installment of their Hanukkah Sessions, with Grohl and Kurstin first releasing a cover of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You)” on the first night of Hanukkah. Grohl has been very active in 2021, with his memoir reaching number 1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. He also released a Bee Gees cover album with his band the Foo Fighters, so these Hannuka Sessions mark the second covers project of 2021 for Grohl.

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Shulz