''Medicine at Midnight'' is the tenth studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

. It was released through Roswell and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on February 5, 2021, after having its release be pushed out of 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Produced by

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and contributed to five songs that pe ...

and the band, the album shows a slight shift in the band's style, pairing their usual

sound with elements of

dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and dis ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

. It is the final Foo Fighters studio album to feature drummer

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician who was the drummer and a vocalist of the rock band Foo Fighters, sharing vocals with Dave Grohl. He joined the band in 1997, and remained the band's drummer ...

before his death the following year. Five singles were released for the album: " Shame Shame" in November 2020, "

No Son of Mine "No Son of Mine" is a song by British rock group Genesis, released in October 1991 by Atlantic and Virgin as the lead single from their 14th album, ''We Can't Dance'' (1991). The song, written by Phil Collins and composed by him with Tony B ...

" on New Year's Day 2021, "

Waiting on a War "Waiting on a War" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters. It was released as the third single off of their tenth album '' Medicine at Midnight''. Background The song was first released on January 14, 2021, as the third single from their ten ...

" in January 2021, " Making a Fire" in June 2021, and "

Love Dies Young "Love Dies Young" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Foo Fighters. It was released as the fifth and final single from their tenth studio album, ''Medicine at Midnight'', on November 22, 2021. It was the last single released during drummer ...

" in November 2021. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.

Background and recording

After releasing their ninth studio album, ''

Concrete and Gold Concrete is a composite material composed of construction aggregate, aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that curing (chemistry), cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used b ...

'', in 2017, and touring extensively behind it through much of 2018, the

announced they would be taking a break in October 2018, with frontman

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

stating that although they needed a rest, he already had some initial ideas for the band's next album. The break would last for less than a year, as by August 2019, drummer

reported that Grohl had already been demoing material by himself, and that the rest of the members planned to start contributing shortly thereafter. The band collectively started recording for the album in October 2019. The following month, Grohl described the band as being "right in the middle" of the recording process, and that the album was sounding "fucking weird". The album was recorded in a large, old house from the 1940s in

Encino, Los Angeles Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History Etymology The name Encino is the misspelling in masculine of Encina, the Spanish word for "holm oak” (Quercus ilex). The Spanish name reflects t ...

. Recording sessions proceeded quickly, something Grohl attributed two things – that the material was progressing quickly and that they were recording in an environment where strange things kept happening. Grohl recalled: Grohl noted that they captured unexplainable footage on video, but due to a

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

with the house's owner, who was attempting to sell the property, the footage cannot be shown. Contrary to the ''Concrete and Gold'' sessions, which frequently ended in nights of large cookouts, drinking, and parties, the sessions were wrapped up as quickly as possible. In February 2020, Grohl confirmed that the album was finished.

Composition and themes

Writers described the album's sound as

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

, and

. Grohl likened the album's sound to

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's '' Let's Dance'' album, with him explaining that it's "not like a EDM,

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

, rmodern dance record" but rather "this really up, fun record" that is "filled with anthemic, huge, sing-along rock songs." Hawkins described the album as being more " pop-oriented" than prior releases, different from their usual

post-grunge Post-grunge is an offshoot of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s alternative rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox, Colle ...

sound. He also noted the use of a

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

on the album, another atypical trait for the band. The song "Cloudspotter" contains a

guitar riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

that Grohl wrote 25 years earlier in Seattle but was unable to work into a song previously. Grohl stated, "Some of those songs, the best ones happen in 45 minutes. Then there's other songs — there's a riff on the new record I’ve been working on for 25 years. The first time I demoed it was in my basement in Seattle." Grohl stated that the album's overall style was inspired by the Foo Fighters' "love of rock bands that make these upbeat, up-tempo, almost danceable records".

Release and promotion

In February 2020, the band announced "The Van Tour 2020", a 25th-anniversary tour where the band would perform in all of the same cities as the band had twenty-five years prior in their first North American tour, only in larger venues. While the tour was originally scheduled to run in April and May 2020, the

forced the band to delay the tour to October and December of the same year. In May 2020, the band announced that they had indefinitely delayed the album, while the band figures out how to promote and sell the album after the pandemic. While the initial delay was due to the pandemic and the band's inability to tour in support of it, Grohl later decided to release it during the pandemic anyhow, upon realizing its ability to be heard and lift people's spirits outweighed their desire to tour in support of it. Anticipation remained high for the album; ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' placed the album atop of their "15 Albums Still to Look Forward to in 2020" list. Promotions picked back up again in November of the same year. The band announced they would perform on the November 7 episode of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. Treading up to the performance, they started teasing new music snippets of a song on their social media platforms. On November 7, the band released the first single, "Shame Shame". On January 1, 2021, the band released the second single of the album, "No Son of Mine". On January 14, the band released the third single, "Waiting on a War". In the United States, ''Medicine at Midnight'' debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart which was earned by 70,000 equivalent album units, 64,000 of which were album sales, making it the top-selling album of the week.

Critical reception

''Medicine at Midnight'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the release received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 75, based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised ''Medicine at Midnight'' as "a speedy, hooky, and efficient record, every bit the party album Grohl promised." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s Kory Grow described the music as the band's "most upbeat" to date. James McMahon of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave further praise to the music, considering it a welcome addition to the band's catalog. He further named "Love Dies Young" as one of the band's best songs up to that point. Other reviewers expressed more mixed assessments. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

found a lack of innovative music compared to its predecessors, stating that the new musical elements are "gentle nods towards an idea, scattered sparingly around an album that otherwise sounds exactly like Foo Fighters." He ultimately deduced the record as "a solid but unspectacular album" but nonetheless successful. Alexandra Pollard of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' also found the music lacking in innovation, calling it "a perfectly perfunctory addition to a canon of robust rock'n'roll". She felt that the album would satisfy the band's longtime fans and make welcome addition to their concert setlists. More negatively, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''s Jeremy D. Larson criticized ''Medicine at Midnight'' as "another album of inconsequential music", further noting that it "adds very little to

he band's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

extensive catalog of interchangeable power pop and hard-rock sing-alongs". It was elected by ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

'' as the 31st best rock/metal album of 2021.

Commercial performance

In the United States, ''Medicine at Midnight'' debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart with 70,000 album-equivalent units, which consisted 64,000 pure album copies. In United Kingdom, ''Medicine at Midnight'' debuted at number one on the UK Albums chart with 42,500 album-equivalent units sold.

Track listing

Personnel

Foo Fighters *

– lead vocals, guitar, producer *

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He was the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles–based punk band The Germs and a rhythm guitarist for grunge band Nirvana ...

– guitar, producer *

Chris Shiflett Christopher Aubrey Shiflett ( ; born May 6, 1971) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, which he joined in 1999 following the release of the band's third album '' There Is Nothing Left to Lose'' (1999 ...

– guitar, producer *

Nate Mendel Nathan ‍Gregor ‍Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician who is the bass guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, as well as a former member of Sunny Day Real Estate. He has also worked with musical acts The Jealous Sound and ...

– bass guitar, producer *

– drums, producer *

Rami Jaffee Rami Jaffee (born March 11, 1969) is an American musician. He is the keyboardist for the rock band Foo Fighters, whom he initially joined in a touring and session capacity in 2005. He has contributed to seven of the band's studio albums, and for ...

– keyboards, piano, producer Additional musicians * Samantha Sidley – background vocals * Violet Grohl – background vocals (1) *

Barbara Gruska The Belle Brigade was an American vocal and instrumental duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of siblings Barbara Gruska (born c. 1983) on guitar, drums, and vocals, and Ethan Gruska (born c. 1989) on guitar, piano, and vocals. The duo r ...

– background vocals * Laura Mace – background vocals *

Inara George Inara Maryland George (born July 4, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, one half of The Bird and the Bee, a member of the band Merrick, with Bryony Atkinson, and a member of the trio The Living Sisters, with Eleni Mandell an ...

– background vocals *

Omar Hakim Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American drummer, producer, arranger and composer. His session work covers jazz, jazz fusion, and pop music. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Chic, Sting, Madonna, Dire S ...

– percussion (all tracks) * Jacob Braun – cello (2, 4) *

– strings (2, 4) * Alma Fernandez – viola (2, 4) *

Charlie Bisharat Charlie Bisharat (born March 15, 1963) is an American violinist known as a member of Shadowfax and for his work in film and with other new age jazz artists. Life and career He was born in Inglewood, California, in 1963 to Palestinian parents w ...

– violin (2, 4) * Songa Lee – violin (2, 4) Technical * Greg Kurstin – producer * Darrell Thorp –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Alex Pasco – assistant engineer *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, ...

–

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

* Matt Wolach – mixing assistant *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including Blink-182, DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse ...

–

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

* Kel Lauren – graphic designer (album cover)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2021 albums Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Albums produced by Greg Kurstin Dance-rock albums Foo Fighters albums Grammy Award for Best Rock Album Power pop albums by American artists Roswell Records albums