Foo Fighters released One by One in the United States on October 22, 2002. Their fourth studio album opened with “All My Life” and included “Times Like These,” two songs that emerged from a recording process the band had struggled to finish. Before listeners heard that version, Foo Fighters had already spent months making recordings they ultimately decided weren’t good enough to release.
This was their first studio album with guitarist Chris Shiflett, joining Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins. Yet the circumstances surrounding that lineup’s recording debut were difficult. Hawkins was recovering from a near fatal overdose in 2001 when work began. Looking back in a 2002 SPIN interview, Grohl questioned whether they had returned to the studio too soon. “I don’t think we were really ready yet,” he said. The expensive recordings acquired a nickname from Hawkins: the “million-dollar demos.”
Grohl’s pursuit of a more polished record had become part of the problem. He later told Classic Rock that the meticulous approach left him feeling disconnected from the performances. After approximately four months and nearly $1 million, he couldn’t imagine promoting the results with conviction. The band stopped rather than release something he didn’t believe in.
Meanwhile, Grohl’s work with Queens of the Stone Age on Songs for the Deaf and their live shows had given him another musical outlet. Inside Foo Fighters, the uncertainty extended beyond the recordings. Recalling that period in a 2021 conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Shiflett described a major argument during an early rehearsal of “Times Like These.” He remembered wondering whether the band would survive. They were experimenting with recording methods while still working out how to function together, and the disagreement made those problems impossible to ignore.
A way forward emerged through Grohl and Hawkins working on demos together, including “Times Like These” and “Low.” Hawkins connected the former to the possibility of the band ending and the reasons to keep playing together. Returning to Grohl’s Virginia basement with Raskulinecz, they recovered the enthusiasm missing from the earlier sessions. Grohl and Hawkins began tracking, with Mendel and Shiflett adding their parts. In roughly two weeks, the replacement sessions had produced the album they wanted to put out.
The setting suited the relationship between Grohl and Raskulinecz. In a 2010 interview with MusicRadar, the producer recalled shopping with Grohl for sleeping bags to hang on the studio walls. He enjoyed the practical work of getting the room ready as much as the recording itself. Raskulinecz also described a clear division behind the drums: Grohl had ideas about the parts, but trusted Hawkins to play them. The producer said Grohl never stepped in to replace Hawkins’ performances. His recollection of One by One was of a loose process that protected the energy of the songs.
That approach left room for more than the attack of “All My Life.” Brian May played guitar on “Tired of You,” giving the album a connection to Queen within one of its quieter passages. At the other end of the record, “Come Back” stretched to nearly eight minutes, making space for an extended acoustic section before returning to the full band. The album could move beyond its concise singles without abandoning the performances that had finally made the sessions work.
The finished recordings earned recognition across two Grammy ceremonies. “All My Life” won Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003. In 2004, One by One won Best Rock Album, with the production award credit shared by Grohl, Hawkins, Mendel, Shiflett and Raskulinecz, alongside engineer and mixer Jim Scott.
