What was previously a little-known footnote in Foo Fighters’ illustrious history has, as with all things the way of the web, become public knowledge.
Over ten years ago, Grohl and company were struggling to follow-up their Grammy award-winning third album There Is Nothing Left To Lose, holed up in Los Angeles spending several months in a recording studio along to the tune of a million dollars. As detailed in the James Moll-directed documentary, Back And Forth, the Foos scrapped the entire sessions with Grohl noting his frustration at the lack of band chemistry, noting the recordingss “just didn’t sound right.”
Grohl famously departed to fill the drum stool for Queens of the Stone Age on their 2002 record, Songs for the Deaf. Following touring commitments, which nearly broke up the band, Grohl returned six months later where, alongside bandmates Nate Mendell and drummer Taylor Hawkins, they began their fourth record from scratch.
Reconvening at Grohl’s home studio in Virginia, they completed what would be their fourth studio album in a ten-day stretch, what became One By One, went on to become a critical and commercial success, again netting the band a Grammy for ‘Best Rock Album,’ but the famed lost tapes, referred to as the “Million Dollar Demos” have since been buried as a side-note in the band’s successful history.
Until now.
Two tracks from the abandoned sessions have been discovered by American radio station KROQ, and naturally they’ve now leaked them online. Namely, versions of “Comeback” and “Have It All” demonstrate some interesting differences between the former recordings and the final product.
Though parts of these demos had been leaked before by a fan on the Foo Fighters website some five years ago, this is the first time these two tracks have been available in full.
You can have a listen to the pair of famed “Million Dollar Demos” both below and decide for yourself if Grohl made the right call.
