Maps of Music

Medicine at Midnight (2021)

Where the lyrics of Medicine at Midnight take you, and where it was really made.

The band recorded the album in an old 1940s house in Encino, where strange things kept happening; the experiences later inspired a horror film.

Key places

Recording in an old house in Encino (2021)

Recording site Chappell Studios (Encino) — The album was recorded in a large, old house from the 1940s in Encino, Los Angeles. Sessions were wrapped up quickly, and the band described strange events during the recording. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Medicine at Midnight: tenth studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters
• Released 5 February 2021 through Roswell and RCA Records
• Release pushed out of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band
• Slight shift from the band's usual rock sound, pairing it with dance-rock and pop elements
• Final Foo Fighters studio album featuring drummer Taylor Hawkins before his death the following year
• Five singles: "Shame Shame", "No Son of Mine", "Waiting on a War", "Making a Fire", "Love Dies Young"

Background

• Followed the ninth album Concrete and Gold (2017) and extensive touring through 2018
• Break announced October 2018; Grohl already had initial ideas for the next album
• By August 2019 Grohl had been demoing material by himself
• Band began recording together in October 2019
• In November 2019 Grohl described the band as "right in the middle" of recording
• The Van Tour 2020, a 25th-anniversary tour, was delayed by the pandemic
• In May 2020 the album was indefinitely delayed; Grohl later chose to release it during the pandemic

Recording

• Recorded in a large, old house from the 1940s in Encino, Los Angeles
• Sessions moved quickly; Grohl linked this to the material progressing fast and to strange events in the house
• Unexplainable footage could not be shown due to a non-disclosure agreement with the owner
• Sessions were wrapped up as quickly as possible, unlike the Concrete and Gold sessions
• In February 2020 Grohl confirmed the album was finished

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Seattle in 1994 as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl.
• Grohl recorded the debut album mostly alone in six days after Nirvana disbanded.
• Recruited bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith of Sunny Day Real Estate, and guitarist Pat Smear.
• The band made its first public performance in February 1995, five months before the debut album's release.

Members

• Current members: Dave Grohl (vocals, guitar), Nate Mendel (bass), Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett (guitars), Rami Jaffee (keyboards), Ilan Rubin (drums).
• Taylor Hawkins died in March 2022; Josh Freese served as drummer from 2023 to 2025 and Rubin from 2025 onward.

Career

• Released twelve studio albums, the twelfth, Your Favorite Toy, in April 2026.
• Won 15 Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album five times.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, their first year of eligibility.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Medicine at Midnight received generally positive reviews from music critics
• Metacritic average score of 75, based on 22 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised Medicine at Midnight as a speedy, hooky, and efficient record
• Rolling Stone's Kory Grow described the music as the band's most upbeat to date
• NME's James McMahon considered it a welcome addition to the catalog and named Love Dies Young among the band's best songs up to that point
• The Guardian's Alexis Petridis found a lack of innovative music and called the album a solid but unspectacular album
• The Independent's Alexandra Pollard also found the music lacking in innovation, but felt it would satisfy longtime fans
• Pitchfork's Jeremy D. Larson criticized the album as another album of inconsequential music

Records

• Debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 70,000 album-equivalent units, 64,000 of them pure album sales
• Debuted at number one on the UK Albums chart with 42,500 album-equivalent units
• Won Best Rock Album at the 64th Grammy Awards; Waiting on a War won Best Rock Song and Making a Fire won Best Rock Performance
• Elected by Loudwire as the 31st best rock/metal album of 2021

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Grohl said the house experiences inspired the comedy horror film Studio 666, starring the Foo Fighters.
• The guitar riff in Cloudspotter was written by Grohl 25 years earlier in Seattle but had never fit a song before.
• Hawkins noted a drum loop on the album, another atypical trait for the band.
• Hawkins described the album as more pop-oriented than prior releases, unlike the band's usual post-grunge sound.
• Grohl likened the album's sound to David Bowie's Let's Dance album.
• The Discogs release was issued in a gatefold digisleeve with an 8-page booklet that includes lyrics and credits.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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