Television series
Foo Fighters Sonic Highways
- Backstage musical
- Light-hearted
A love letter to American music cities and the musicians who built them. Dave Grohl directs the Foo Fighters as they record one song in each of eight legendary studios, collaborating with local heroes and letting each place's spirit shape the music. It's part travelogue, part creative process documentary—intimate without being introspective, celebratory without being saccharine.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love seeing how songs get built, from a rough riff in a borrowed room to a finished record, and you enjoy stories about local music scenes and the people who shaped them.
Skip it if you want a tight, fast documentary; each episode lingers on conversations and studio sessions, and if you came for the band's private life rather than the craft, the pace may frustrate you.
What it asks of you: Roughly an hour an episode across eight episodes, unhurried and talky, with long stretches of conversation and playing. It rewards patience more than close attention to any single detail.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Metropolis1927
A silent film about how a great city shapes its art and people. Like Sonic Highways, it's intoxicated by urban geography and architecture as creative fuel—the visual language of the city becomes the language of the song.
But It's nearly three hours of 1920s expressionism. The pacing and aesthetic are deliberately strange.
On the Record: Sam Smith - The Thrill of It All2017
A different kind of artist documentary: quieter, more introspective, but equally fascinated by how environment shapes music. Shot in multiple locations, it captures the relationship between place and inspiration that Sonic Highways explores.
But It's deliberately meditative and lacks the larger-than-life energy of the Foo Fighters. Some will find it slow.
Muscle Shoals2013
A documentary about a legendary Alabama recording studio and the session musicians who made it iconic. Same DNA as Sonic Highways: a place, its history, the people who came there, and the songs that resulted.
But It's more old-school talking-heads documentary than Grohl's cinematic approach. Less immediate, more earnest.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Foo Fighters Sonic Highways
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Wrecking Crew2008
Both films argue that great music comes from collaboration and place rather than singular genius. Sonic Highways features local legends; The Wrecking Crew *is* the legends nobody knew.
A documentary about the session musicians who played on hundreds of hit records you know—the invisible backbone of American popular music. Like Sonic Highways, it's obsessed with how the right people in a room together create magic, but focuses on the artists no one remembers.
But Some of the subjects are elderly and tired, the pacing is gentle, and it lacks the rock-star glamour. It's a document of a lost world that can feel melancholic.
More like this (6)
Sound City2013
Dave Grohl directed this too—a documentary about a legendary L.A. studio and the musicians who recorded there. If you love Sonic Highways, this is the obvious companion piece, same sensibility, same reverence for place.
But It's essentially the same idea from the same director, so it feels derivative of what you're watching rather than a new direction.
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage2010
A band's 40-year story told through the eyes of devoted fans and fellow musicians. It's funny, moving, and captures how a band becomes part of people's lives in ways mere success cannot measure.
But It's deeply focused on one band's mythology rather than broader cultural geography. Less about cities, more about tribe.
The Who: The Kids Are Alright1979
A live-and-archive documentary that captures a band's relationship to their own history and their audience. It has the same generous spirit toward music-making that Sonic Highways does.
But It's older and less polished. The editing is looser, the sound mix is dated. It feels more like a relic than an event.
Super High Me2007
A comedian documents getting high and attending concerts across America. It's a weird lens on live music and regional scenes, irreverent where Sonic Highways is reverent, but equally interested in how places shape musical culture.
But It's basically a stoner comedy. If you're looking for seriousness, you won't find it, and the premise wears thin.
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster2004
A band in crisis making an album, with no heroes or easy answers. It's messy and sometimes painful in ways Sonic Highways isn't, but it shares that same fascination with the creative process and how people make music together.
But It's brutal and uncomfortable. The band comes across badly at times. It's less celebration, more exposure.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil2008
Both are love stories between musicians and their craft. Sonic Highways celebrates mastery; Anvil celebrates persistence. Same heart, different outcomes.
A band that never broke through pursues their art anyway, with documentary warmth and no condescension. It's about devotion to music-making, the way Sonic Highways is—but for a band that never got the stadium, the record deal, or the validation.
But It's a smaller, stranger story, and the band is frankly not as technically accomplished. It asks you to admire struggle rather than celebrate success.
