Maps of Music

Wasting Light (2011)

Where the lyrics of Wasting Light take you, and where it was really made.

The band recorded in a garage with only analog gear, and the producer had to relearn editing with a razor blade.

Key places

Recorded in Grohl's garage (2010)

Recording site Chappell Studios (Encino) — Foo Fighters recorded the album in Dave Grohl's garage in Encino, Los Angeles, using only analog equipment. Recording began September 6, 2010 and lasted eleven weeks. The point marks the city center, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mixing starts at Chalice (2011)

Recording site Chalice Recording — Mixing of the album started at Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood. The work then moved to Grohl's house, where the mixing console was not automated. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Wasting Light: seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters
• Released April 12, 2011 through Roswell and RCA Records
• Produced by the band together with Butch Vig
• Recorded entirely with analog equipment
• Pat Smear played as an official member for the first time since The Colour and the Shape (1997), and it was the first album recorded as a five-piece band

Background

• After the Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace tour ended in 2008, the band recorded songs at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood but abandoned the sessions to take a break
• Two of those songs, Wheels and Word Forward, were rerecorded for the 2009 Greatest Hits album
• The project reunited Grohl with Vig, who had worked with Nirvana on Nevermind
• Grohl wanted an album that would define Foo Fighters, and hired Vig for his skill at trimming the fat
• The band wanted to capture the essence of its earlier work and avoid the artificial sound of digital recording
• Before recording, the band spent three weeks in pre-production and rehearsals at its usual studio, Studio 606, going from forty songs to fourteen

Recording

• Recorded in the garage of Grohl's home in Encino, California
• Recording began September 6, 2010 and lasted eleven weeks, each week focused on one song
• Vig initially thought the idea was a joke and warned the band they would have to play well
• Mixing started at Chalice Recording Studios, then moved to Grohl's house

Cover

• Art direction by New York studio Morning Breath Inc.
• Images were made without computer graphics, using copy machines, transparent ink and X-Acto blades

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

• Metacritic: the album received an average score of 78, based on 37 reviews
• Andrew Perry of The Daily Telegraph: called it tough but accessible, catchy and surprising at the end
• Kyle Ryan of The A.V. Club: said it lacks the filler of earlier albums and succeeds as a return to melodic, hard-hitting rock
• Kevin Liedel of Slant Magazine: gave a mixed review, criticizing the band's growing aversion to anthemic songs
• Dave Simpson of The Guardian: noted an undue arena influence and called it a supersized arena-rock barrage
• David Bevan of Pitchfork: said there is not a melody or hook to really amplify

Reappraisal

• In 2024, Loudwire staff chose it as the best hard rock album of 2011

Records

• Debuted at number one in twelve countries
• First Foo Fighters album to top the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 235,000 copies
• UK: 114,000 units, breaking Adele's 11-week run at the top of the UK Albums Chart
• 380,000 copies sold in the UK in 2011
• 663,000 copies sold in the US as of January 6, 2012
• Four Grammy Awards in 2012, including Best Rock Album

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

Trivia

• Vig said he could once make 20 edits in half an hour, but the first edit on this album took about 20 minutes.
• Vig had to give up on razor-blade editing and switched to punching in and out of tapes.
• One of Grohl's daughters nearly ruined a tape sent from Smart Studios, which led to the punch-in method.
• The mixes were tested in the cars of the band members and Vig, on the belief that a mix that sounds good on a bad stereo will sound good anywhere.

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

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