Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways | |
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Genre | Rockumentary |
Created by | Dave Grohl |
Written by | Mark Monroe |
Directed by | Dave Grohl |
Starring | |
Opening theme | "Something From Nothing" by Foo Fighters |
Composer(s) | Bryan Lee Brown |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 8 |
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Producer(s) |
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Location(s) | |
Cinematography |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
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Release | |
Original network | HBO |
Picture format | 1080i (16:9 HDTV) |
Audio format | 5.1 Surround Sound |
Original release | October 17 | – December 5, 2014
External links | |
Website |
Sonic Highways is a 2014 American documentary miniseries directed by Dave Grohl and written by Mark Monroe. The documentary was made concurrently with Foo Fighters' eighth album, Sonic Highways, and was broadcast on HBO. Grohl described the project as "a love letter to the history of American music". Each of the eight episodes is presented as an exploration of the musical history of a different American city through a series of interviews by Grohl. The group is also shown incorporating what they learned from the interviews into the writing and recording of a new song in or near that city. The series debuted on October 17, 2014.
After the success of Grohl's 2013 documentary film Sound City, he expressed interest to Billboard of doing something similar. According to Grohl,
After making Sound City, I realized that the pairing of music and documentary works well because the stories give substance and depth to the song, which makes for a stronger emotional connection. So I thought, ‘I want to do this again, but instead of just walking into a studio and telling its story, I want to travel across America and tell its story.
On May 15, 2014, it was announced that Foo Fighters' eighth album would be released in the fall of 2014, and that Foo Fighters would commemorate the album and 20th anniversary with the TV series. Each song on the new album was recorded in a different city, featuring “local legends” on each song and lyrics inspired by the ”experiences, interviews and personalities that became part of the process.”
On May 31, 2014, a 20-second video was uploaded to YouTube announcing the series. On August 21, 2014, a trailer, lasting 3 minutes and 31 seconds, was uploaded to YouTube showing most of the people interviewed in the series.
The series eight episodes show the Foo Fighters traveling to eight legendary studios in eight different cities across the United States of America to write and record their album, Sonic Highways. The cities visited were Chicago, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Austin, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Seattle and New York. Studios involved with the project include Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago; Rancho De La Luna in California; Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, and Arlington County, Virginia's Inner Ear Studios.