10 Hard Rock Albums That Are Worse Than You Remember
4. Sonic Highways - Foo Fighters
Looking back on Sonic Highways, Dave Grohl was actually undertaking a pretty cool idea for the latest Foo Fighters record. Instead of kicking back with a scenario that he knew worked, the idea was to take the Foos to 8 different cities across the United States and make a song that reflected their experience in that city. That's just the idea though...execution is an entirely different beast.
Seeing how every track was recorded somewhere else, Sonic Highways feels like a bit of a mess as a result. Though you can still hear the trademark Foo aggression coming through in songs like the Feast and the Famine and Something From Nothing, the album comes nowhere close to actually establishing some kind of tone. One minute you'll find yourself having a country-esque romp on Congregation, and the next you'll be hearing choirs and orchestral symphonies being brought in for the final track I Am A River.
Along with the actual album, this was also taking place around the same time that the Foos were filming the documentary of the same name, where they would learn more about each city before they set about writing the actual song. While the Foos don't really have a bad album in them, Sonic Highways definitely works as a better documentary than it does an actual record of music.