The song was released on June 6, 2011 to rock radio. No physical CD single was released; it is only a digital downloadable single. The song reached number one on the BillboardRock Songs chart on July 20, 2011, dethroning the album's previous single "Rope", giving the band their third number one single on the chart - the most on the chart so far. On February 12, 2012, the song won two awards at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. They also performed the song live at the Grammys.
Song information
According to Dave Grohl, he came up with the verse about "having a trial" after the time he was helping his first daughter Violet Maye on "learning to walk", and eventually she was able to walk on her own. The song was supposed to be on the previous studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, but Dave decided to put the final version as the last track of Wasting Light because it "sort of makes sense to the album's theme of time and second chances" and to "end the record on a positive note".
Despite not being included on the soundtrack, "Walk" can be heard in the background of the bar scene and in the end credits to the 2011 Marvel superhero film Thor.
HBO aired a promo featuring the song to promote their 2011 summer/fall programming line up.
The song was made as downloadable content for the videogames Rock Band 3 and Rocksmith.
WWE used "Walk" to highlight Edge twice where it was first heard in a video package for his induction into the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame, and again at the conclusion of the WWE 24 documentary episode "Edge: The Second Mountain". Edge, who is a huge fan of the band, thanked Foo Fighters in his acceptance speech for providing their music and later decided to play the song again after he said he wanted real rock n' roll to close out the ceremony because he got sick and tired of listening to the Hall of Fame music WWE plays.
A.J. Ellis of the Los Angeles Dodgers uses the song when he walks up to bat.
The song was featured in the documentary Warren Miller's...Like There's No Tomorrow.
In the opening chapter of The Dresden Files novel Cold Days, the title character talks about remembering his physical rehabilitation in Arctis Tor as a montage set to "Walk".
On WIBC 93.1 FM Indianapolis, the show Chicks On The Right used "Walk" as their theme song.
The song was featured in the trailer to the Robert Zemeckis film, Welcome to Marwen.
