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Sonic Highways

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This article is about the album. For the companion television series, see Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways.

Sonic Highways
Studio album by
Foo Fighters
ReleasedNovember 10, 2014 (2014-11-10)
RecordedSeptember 2013 – July 2014
Studio
Genre
Length42:08
Label
Producer
Foo Fighters chronology
Medium Rare
(2011) 		Sonic Highways
(2014) 		Songs from the Laundry Room
(2015)
Singles from Sonic Highways
  1. "Something from Nothing"
    Released: October 16, 2014
  2. "The Feast and the Famine"
    Released: October 24, 2014
  3. "Congregation"
    Released: October 31, 2014
  4. "What Did I Do? / God as My Witness"
    Released: November 6, 2014
  5. "Outside"
    Released: August 4, 2015[2]

Sonic Highways is the eighth studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on November 10, 2014, through Roswell and RCA Records.[3] Similar to their previous album, Wasting Light (2011), it was produced by the band with Butch Vig. In writing the album's eight songs, singer and guitarist Dave Grohl traveled to eight cities across the United States to conduct interviews with musicians, recording engineers, record producers, and other individuals discussing each city's musical history, which he used as inspiration for the songs' lyrics. The band and Vig then traveled to a different recording location in each city to record the songs.[4] Each track features contributions from one or more musicians with ties to that city's musical history. The process was filmed for a companion television series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, which was broadcast on HBO in the months surrounding the album's release.[5][6]

Background and writing

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Despite initially announcing a break after supporting Wasting Light, Grohl later stated in January 2013 that the band had started writing material for an eighth studio album.[7] On February 20, 2013, at the Brit Awards, Grohl said he was flying back to America the following day to start work on the next album.[8] In an August 2013 interview with XFM, Grohl announced that their next album was slated for a 2014 release, saying:

"Well, I’ll tell you, we have been in our studio writing and in the past few weeks we’ve written an album and we are going to make this album in a way that no-one’s ever done before and we’re pretty excited about it... It’s a little ways off – it’s not ready to happen right now – but I think next year is going to be a really big year for the Foo Fighters, without question."[9]

According to lead guitarist Chris Shiflett, Grohl would finish the lyrics just before recording his vocals, the last part of each song. This time the compositions would drift away from "love letters and confused relationships" to deal with the feelings Grohl had regarding each city during production.[10]

Recording

[edit]
Further information: Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways

On September 6, 2013, lead guitarist Chris Shiflett posted a photo to his Instagram account that indicated 13 songs were being recorded for the album.[11] Keyboardist Rami Jaffee recorded parts for three songs, one of which is entitled "In the Way."[12] Butch Vig, who produced the band's prior album, Wasting Light, confirmed he produced Sonic Highways as well.[13][14] On July 30, 2014, Vig revealed that the band had finished recording and mixing the new album and that it was slated to be released a month after the Sonic Highways TV series.[15] In an August 2014 press release, Grohl spoke about the album, saying: "This album is instantly recognizable as a Foo Fighters record, but there's something deeper and more musical to it. I think that these cities and these people influenced us to stretch out and explore new territory, without losing our ‘sound’."[3]

Packaging

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The album artwork by Stephan Martiniere[16] has a cityscape amalgamating landmarks of every town used for production – Seattle's Space Needle, the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles – and a recurring motif of the number eight, marking both the Foo Fighters' eighth album and infinity (∞).[3] The vinyl pressings of the album are packaged in nine different covers, depicting each of the eight cities and the "Forever" building shaped like the infinity symbol.[4] Most retailers would not guarantee which cover the purchaser would receive, and album art is "randomly selected" for orders from the band's official website.[17]

Promotion

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Main article: Sonic Highways World Tour

On January 16, 2014, a picture was posted to the Foo Fighters Facebook page with several master tapes, some labeled "LP 8".[18] On May 15, 2014, it was announced that the band's eighth album would be released in November 2014 and that the Foo Fighters would commemorate the album and their 20th anniversary with an HBO TV series directed by Dave Grohl entitled Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways.[19] On August 11, 2014, it was announced that the album would be titled Sonic Highways and released on November 10, 2014.[20]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?6.4/10[21]
Metacritic68/100[22]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[23]
The A.V. ClubB−[24]
The Daily Telegraph[25]
Entertainment WeeklyB[26]
The Guardian[27]
NME7/10[28]
Pitchfork5.6/10[29]
Q[30]
Rolling Stone[31]
Uncut8/10[32]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 31 reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews".[22] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic says the album "celebrates not the coiled fury of underground rock exploding into the mainstream, the way the '90s-happy Wasting Light did, but rather the classic rock that unites the U.S. from coast to coast."[23] Philip Cosores at Consequence of Sound stated "the album plays out more like a bonus feature, something that can enhance the series’ enjoyment or simply further inform the experience".[1]

Patrick Doyle from Rolling Stone noted that some of the album's songs are among "the band's most ambitious moments yet".[31] Stuart Berman of Pitchfork was more critical of the album, stating "Foo Fighters completely demystify their own creative process, effectively turning the Sonic Highways project into a glorified homework assignment—educational, perhaps, but laboriously procedural."[29]

Commercial performance

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The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with sales of 190,000 copies in the United States.[33] As of September 2015, it has sold 490,000 copies in the US.[34]

Track listing

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Sonic Highways track listing
No.TitleRecording locationLength
1."Something from Nothing" (featuring Rick Nielsen)Electrical Audio, Chicago, Illinois4:49
2."The Feast and the Famine" (featuring Peter Stahl and Skeeter Thompson)Inner Ear Studios, Arlington County, Virginia3:50
3."Congregation" (featuring Zac Brown)Southern Ground Studios, Nashville, Tennessee5:12
4."What Did I Do? / God as My Witness" (featuring Gary Clark, Jr.)Studio 6A, Austin, Texas5:44
5."Outside" (featuring Joe Walsh and Chris Goss)Rancho De La Luna, Joshua Tree, California5:15
6."In the Clear" (featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band)Preservation Hall, New Orleans, Louisiana4:04
7."Subterranean" (featuring Ben Gibbard)Robert Lang Studios, Seattle, Washington6:08
8."I Am a River" (featuring Tony Visconti and Kristeen Young)The Magic Shop, New York City, New York7:09
Total length:42:08

Personnel

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Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[35]

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications for Sonic Highways
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[85] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[86] Gold 7,500*
Canada (Music Canada)[87] Platinum 80,000^
Germany (BVMI)[88] Gold 100,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[89] Gold 25,000*
Netherlands (NVPI)[90] Gold 20,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[91] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[93] Platinum 316,770[92]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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