The project was ambitious, but the cynics called it pretentious. A documentary about the making of an album? And they’re gonna travel all across the country and record each song in a different studio in every city? What’s the point?
One thing that is apparent with Dave Grohl is that he has a deep appreciation for music history. His first journey into the documentary realm was with 2013’s Sound City, the story of the legendary recording studio in Van Nuys, California where Nirvana’s Nevermind was recorded, the most seminal alt-rock record ever, along with the stories of musical luminaries that walked the studio’s hallowed halls.
When Sound City closed in 2011, Grohl bought the Neve 8028 mixing console that had been there since the studio’s inception. In his interview with Marc Maron on his WTF podcast at the time of the documentary’s release, Grohl gushed about what Sound City Studio and the Neve 8028 meant to him, going on about how a hand-made analog board has helped create some of the greatest pieces of music in history. To Grohl, preservation is tantamount to the creation of new sounds.
It was with that step forward that he decided to bring a newly-found directorial eye back to his band, the last group standing from the alt-rock explosion of the 1990s. Foo Fighters started as Grohl’s vision, with him famously recording the band’s debut album by himself in 1995. Since then, they’ve become the pre-eminent alt-rock band in the world, spiritual successors to Nirvana and beloved by many.
http://youtu.be/q0TrqXHoL10
In Sonic Highways, Grohl’s documentary series hosted by HBO, Grohl and his bandmates chose eight cities in which to record, looking to take in the audio spirituality of each place through their respective musical histories and apply it to their own sound.
But is that sound becoming history like the ghosts of music past Grohl chased across the country? The music landscape has obviously changed, but Grohl and his posse have made sure that their sound perseveres: Stadium rock with the grunge and punk foundations forged by their members’ previous bands. It’s still marketable, but in a music scene that has skewed more electronic than ever, they sound old compared to Young the Giant, Radical Face or Two Door Cinema Club.
There’s also the idea that the documentary was made in an effort to convince themselves of their relevancy in today’s music scene. With people who grew up in the 90s and loved the Foos along with Green Day, The Offspring and Weezer, the sweet spot for musicianship seems to have left, replaced by overly-produced, specifically marketed music that skews to a demographic younger than them. Perhaps the series was created as a counter-marketing ploy akin to the Foos’ punk roots?
Stretching for meta messages aside, the highly anticipated series takes you to eight cities, all with varying musical histories. They are pretty obvious spots one would go to for a taste of musical history: Chicago with its history of blues, D.C. as the home of punk music’s greatest label, Nashville as the true home of country, Austin as the host of music’s most important television series, Los Angeles as a refuge for musicians both on the coast and in the desert, New Orleans as the home of jazz, Seattle’s grunge roots and New York City as the city where music never stops being produced.
Each episode has a similar setup: An introduction to the city itself from some of the names that made it famous, and then here comes Grohl with his reasoning behind choosing the city and the production location of choice. Some are ambitious, others are off the grid, and some have a direct personal tie to the band members. From there, it’s a hodgepodge of the city’s musical history, the band’s creative process and a contemporary that ends up being a featured part of the band’s song creation in that city.
There are obvious standout episodes, and they come from those personal connections more than anything else. With Grohl having grown up just outside of Washington, D.C., his formative years surrounded by political and racial unrest and the city’s punk scene make that particular episode perhaps the best of the series. Don Zientara, the head of Inner Ear Studios, becomes the sun at the center of the D.C. solar system. If there was a punk band coming up in the D.C. underground, you recorded at Inner Ear Studios. Fugazi, Minor Threat, Bad Brains — they all have their stories to tell amongst the tense history of the nation’s capital.
And it’s there where the show shines. There are some incredible stories to be told. From D.C., we move on to Nashville, where Zac Brown tells the story about how he stood up to Joe Galante of Sony Music when “Chicken Fried” was used by The Lost Trailers. In Austin, the band stumbles across a piano that had been put in storage at the old Austin City Limits studio that had some of music’s finest ivory ticklers play it live on that hallowed stage. Guitarist Pat Smear remembers his time as a member of The Germs in L.A., the punk band that brought a new look to the Sunset Strip during the 1980s.
But it’s Grohl’s return to Seattle that speaks to why this project was done in the first place. It truly shines when talking about how the city rallied around Sub Pop, the label responsible for the greatest grunge acts of all time, including Nirvana. But it also tells the bittersweet tale of the commercialism which stole that spirit from its own upbringing. The most poignant part of the entire series comes when Kurt Cobain’s untimely death is discussed, and how Grohl sought refuge in music to help ease the grieving. And with that, the Foo Fighters were born.
The album itself doesn’t break down too many barriers. It’s the same Foo Fighters fans have come to enjoy over 20 years. The lead single “Something From Nothing” starts things off, with little bits and pieces of each city included in each song going forward. Brown gets a singing part on “Congregation.” The Preservation Hall Jazz Band gets a chance to play “In The Clear” at the famous New Orleans music haunt. And say what you might about The Eagles, but even with two notes on “Outside,” a guitar solo from Joe Walsh becomes one of the most exciting moments of the series, especially to drummer Taylor Hawkins.
In fact, it’s nice to see that even with Grohl as the centerpiece, there is time given to his bandmates. Hawkins is the most charming, with Smear and the others getting their chance to shine. Grohl made sure to show the band’s creative juices flowing in the studio while also giving them a platform to tell their own stories. He even runs into some fans outside The Magic Shop in NYC, inviting them inside to hear them play.
One interesting thing to note about the series is that when the New York City finale episode aired this past week, HBO designated it as a Season Finale, not a Series Finale. That would imply that a second season could be in the works, and there’s obviously a second round of places that the band could explore as part of its musical process. Unbelievably, Memphis wasn’t a part of the first season. Neither was San Francisco or Boston. Denver, Florida, the Carolinas… many spots could definitely comprise a second season. There hasn’t been any confirmation quite yet, but even Grohl himself mentioned that a second season could be in the cards.
If that’s the case, it would be a welcome addition. One thing is for certain about Grohl: He appreciates the history of his art form to an extent that few others even care to explore. Would there be another album made? Perhaps. But the documentary portion of the series is one of the first in a long while to really look at the sounds that have shaped our country’s collective musical conscience. If the sound his band is famous for is indeed on its way to extinction, Grohl seems to be ready to go down swinging by making sure that sound is part of the history he adores so much.
