Twenty years into their career and the Foo Fighters are as hard as ever. The band released their new single, “Something From Nothing,” on Thursday (Oct. 16).
“Something From Nothing,” the lead single off the band’s Nov. 10 album Sonic Highways, even gets a little extra firepower thanks to Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen. And the subject matter should get fans pumped. It’s a chugging rock anthem about rising to the top. “Give me the flammable life,” Grohl proclaims on the song’s opening line.
Foo Fighters Play Intimate NYC Gig After HBO Series Screening
“I’m something from nothing,” Grohl later sings. He further amps up the rebellious attitude, adding “F— it all, I came from nothing.”
The Foo Fighters headed to Chicago to record the song as a part of their eight-part HBO docuseries, Sonic Highways, which premieres Friday (Oct. 17). Listen below via DirectLyrics.
The single is the sonic interpretation of Grohl’s interactions with the musicians he interviewed in Chicago, including Nielsen, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, his cousin and former teen punk rocker, Tracy, and one-time Nirvana producer Steve Albini. The band recorded the track at Albini’s Electrical Audio studio.
“The episode is basically about these people and how they all started with nothing,” he told reporters at the New York screening for the first episode earlier this week. “They were just inspired to follow their dreams, like Buddy Guy, legendary blues guitarist. He made his first guitar from wires and nails and pieces of wood from a screen porch. Now he’s like a blues legend.”
Watch Dave Grohl & Perry Farrell Cover Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones
This particular episode also takes a deep look at Chi-Town’s blues and punk scenes. Those movements not only influenced the sound of the track, but also the lyrics, with Grohl even making reference to “a city on fire,” as many of the punk clubs in Chicago burned down at one point.
He continued, “And Chicago’s also the place where I saw my first show. The first time I ever saw a live band play was at this little bar called the Cubby Bear right across the street from Wrigley Field. It was just like ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life.’ So the idea of the song, and the episode, is that once you find that spark and inspiration, that begins your path in life, for whatever it is you want to do.”