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Medicine at Midnight

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Medicine at Midnight
Studio album by
Foo Fighters
ReleasedFebruary 5, 2021 (2021-02-05)
RecordedOctober 2019 – February 2020
StudioEncino, Los Angeles
Genre
Length36:32
Label
Producer
Foo Fighters chronology
Foo Files
(2019) 		Medicine at Midnight
(2021)
Singles from Medicine at Midnight
  1. "Shame Shame"
    Released: November 7, 2020
  2. "No Son of Mine"
    Released: January 1, 2021
  3. "Waiting on a War"
    Released: January 14, 2021
  4. "Chasing Birds"
    Released: April 30, 2021
  5. "Making a Fire"
    Released: June 8, 2021[4]

Medicine at Midnight is the tenth studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters. Originally scheduled for 2020, the album was delayed to February 5, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band, the album shows a slight shift in the band's style, pairing their usual rock sound with elements of dance rock and pop.

Three singles were released for the album: "Shame Shame" in November 2020, "No Son of Mine" on New Year's Day 2021, and "Waiting on a War" in January 2021. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.

Background and recording

After releasing their ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold in 2017, and touring extensively behind it through much of 2018, the Foo Fighters announced they would be taking a break in October 2018, with frontman Dave Grohl stating that although they needed a rest, he already had some initial ideas for the band's next album.[5] The break would last for less than a year, as by August 2019, drummer Taylor Hawkins reported that Grohl had already been demoing material by himself, and that the rest of the members planned to start contributing shortly thereafter.[6] The band collectively started recording for the album in October 2019.[7] 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".[8]

The album was recorded in a large, old house from the 1940s in Encino, Los Angeles.[9] 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.[10][9] Grohl recalled:

"I knew the vibes were definitely off, but the sound was fucking on. We would come back to the studio the next day and all of the guitars would be detuned. Or the setting we'd put on the [mixing] board, all of them had gone back to zero. We would open up a Pro Tools session and tracks would be missing. There were some tracks that were put on there that we didn't put on there. But just like weird open mic noises. Nobody playing an instrument or anything like that, just an open mic recording a room."[10]

Grohl noted that they captured unexplainable footage on video, but due to a non-disclosure agreement with the house's owner, who was attempting to sell the property, the footage cannot be shown.[11] 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.[10] In February 2020, Grohl confirmed that the album was finished.[12]

Composition and themes

Grohl likened the album's sound to David Bowie's Let's Dance album, with him explaining that it's "not like a EDM, disco, [or] modern dance record" but rather "this really up, fun record" that is "filled with anthemic, huge, sing-along rock songs."[13] Hawkins described the album as being more "pop-oriented" than prior releases, different from their usual post-grunge sound.[14] He also noted the use of a drum loop on the album, another atypical trait for the band.[14] One song on the album, "Cloudspotter", contains a guitar riff that Grohl wrote 25 years ago in Seattle, but was never able to find a song to use it in until now.[15] 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."[16]

Grohl states the album was inspired by "Our love of rock bands that make these upbeat, up-tempo, almost danceable records.[17]

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.[18][19] While the tour was originally scheduled to run in April and May 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the band to delay the tour to October and December of the same year.[20] 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 post-pandemic.[21][22] 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 anyways, upon realizing its ability to be heard and lift people's spirits outweighed their desire to tour in support of it.[23] Anticipation for the album remained high for the album; Kerrang! placed the album atop of their "15 Albums Still to Look Forward to in 2020" list.[24]

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.[25] Treading up to the performance, they started teasing new music snippets of a song on their social media platforms.[26] On November 7, the band released the first single, "Shame Shame".[27] On January 1, 2021, the band released the second single of the album, "No Son of Mine".[28] On January 14, the band released the third single, "Waiting on a War".[29]

In the United States, Medicine at Midnight debuted at number 3 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.[30]

Critical reception

Medicine at Midnight received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the release received an average score of 75, based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[31]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.0/10[32]
Metacritic75/100[31]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Guardian[33]
The Independent[34]
NME[35]
Pitchfork4.7/10[3]
Rolling Stone[36]
Rock Celebrities[37]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Foo Fighters

No.TitleLength
1."Making a Fire"4:15
2."Shame Shame"4:17
3."Cloudspotter"3:53
4."Waiting on a War"4:13
5."Medicine at Midnight"3:30
6."No Son of Mine"3:28
7."Holding Poison"4:24
8."Chasing Birds"4:12
9."Love Dies Young"4:20
Total length:36:32

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.[38]

Foo Fighters

Additional musicians

  • Samantha Sidley – background vocals
  • Violet Grohl – background vocals
  • Barbara Gruska – background vocals
  • Laura Mace – background vocals
  • Inara George – background vocals
  • Omar Hakim – percussion
  • Jacob Braun – cello (2, 4)
  • Greg Kurstin – strings (2, 4)
  • Alma Fernandez – viola (2, 4)
  • Charlie Bisharat – violin (2, 4)
  • Songa Lee – violin (2, 4)

Technical

Charts

Chart performance for Medicine at Midnight
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[39] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[40] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[41] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[42] 3
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[43] 3
Croatian International Albums (HDU)[44] 1
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[45] 7
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[46] 6
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[47] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[48] 2
French Albums (SNEP)[49] 16
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[50] 1
Greek Albums (IFPI)[51] 4
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[52] 13
Irish Albums (OCC)[53] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[54] 2
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[55] 11
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[56] 1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[57] 4
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[58] 6
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[59] 1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[60] 1
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[61] 3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[62] 2
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[63] 1
UK Albums (OCC)[64] 1
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[65] 1
US Billboard 200[66] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[67] 1

Certifications

Sales certifications for Medicine at Midnight
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[68] Silver 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "The Foo Fighters Throw a Pop Party on 'Medicine at Midnight'". Rolling Stone. January 26, 2021. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Medicine at Midnight – Foo Fighters". AllMusic. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Larson, Jeremy D. "Foo Fighters – Medicine at Midnight". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "Future releases - June 8, 2021". allaccess.com. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  5. ^ "Foo Fighters to 'take a break' – but have ideas for their new album". NME. October 17, 2018. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  6. ^ "Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins: "I Think We'll Have a New Record By Next Year"". Spin. August 19, 2019. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  7. ^ "Foo Fighters hope to release new album in 2020". Consequence of Sound. August 19, 2019. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  8. ^ "Dave Grohl on New Foo Fighters Album: "It's Fucking Weird"". Spin. November 14, 2019. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
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  25. ^ "Foo Fighters Announced as This Week's SNL Musical Guests". Pitchfork. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
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  33. ^ Petridis, Alexis. "Foo Fighters: Medicine at Midnight review – music for toilet breaks at their gigs". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  34. ^ Pollard, Alexandra. "Foo Fighters review, Medicine at Midnight: Robust rock'n'roll that stays in its lane". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
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  44. ^ "Lista prodaje 7. tjedan 2021. (08.02.2021. – 14.02.2021.)" (in Croatian). Top Lista HR. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  45. ^ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 06.Týden 2021 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
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