They eventually decided to redo the album from scratch during a two-week period at frontman Dave Grohl's home studio in Alexandria, Virginia.

The album, which includes the successful singles "All My Life" and "Times Like These", has been noted for its introspective lyrics and a heavier, more aggressive sound compared to the band's earlier work, which Grohl said was intended to translate the energy of the Foo Fighters' live performances into a recording.

[5][6] After taking time off to recover, during which Grohl accepted an offer to play drums for the Queens of the Stone Age on their album Songs for the Deaf,[7] the band got together in October 2001 to continue composition.

Raskulinecz had just left his job at Sound City Studios, and speculated that Grohl, having found difficulty in 'finding a guy who would commit to sitting in his basement for four months', picked him for his energetic and enthusiastic nature.

[10] The progress of the Virginia sessions started to become stale,[6] so with six tracks finished, in January 2002 the band moved to Los Angeles' Conway Studios for a "change of scenery".

[11][5][12] 29 songs were recorded, including "The One"—featured in the film Orange County and released as a standalone single[13][14]— and ten finished tracks that were considered for the upcoming album.

[19] Bassist Nate Mendel said that he was in a bad attitude during the sessions due to disagreements with Grohl, and guitarist Chris Shiflett added that he felt he would at times spend whole days in the studio without playing anything.

[21] The band also showed disappointment with the ten songs that emerged from the sessions, as Hawkins described the finished tracks as "million-dollar demos",[22] and Grohl considered the recordings "far too clean, too tame and boring".

[5] The members then each started individual projects: Grohl became the full-time Queens of the Stone Age drummer for a tour,[16] Shiflett started the Viva Death and Jackson projects with his brother Scott[23][25] and rejoined his former band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Hawkins played with Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery, and Mendel both played with Juno and reunited with his former bandmate William Goldsmith in The Fire Theft.

[8] Later on April, they reunited for the Foo Fighters' scheduled concert at the 2002 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which Grohl felt could be the last the band would perform.

[33] Grohl said that the album mainly focused on the energy of live performances,[33] which he attributed to both the extensive touring preceding the compositions,[17] and the short period during which the re-recordings were done.

[36] The variety included moody songs such as "Have It All" and "Tired of You", the seven-minute "epic opus" album closer "Come Back", and the alternating dynamics of "Halo", which drew inspiration from Tom Petty, Cheap Trick and Guided by Voices.

[42] A limited international edition features seven bonus tracks: the outtake "Walking a Line", three live songs, and three covers, The Psychedelic Furs' "Sister Europe", the Ramones' "Danny Says"—with Shiflett on the vocals—and Joe Walsh's "Life of Illusion"—sung by Hawkins.

[48] Reviewer Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone praised the "potent guitar riffs" and the introspective themes, which he called "stronger and broader than autobiography".

[49] The Austin Chronicle reviewer praised the heavy sound of the album, saying it drifted from the light-hearted tone of songs such as "Big Me" while "retaining their melodic instincts".

Club described One by One as "mostly middling, sticking to slick, pounding, functional rock that doesn't dig much deeper than the usual spleen-venting and loud-quiet brooding-to-bluster formula".

[62] Eric Carr of Pitchfork was very critical of the album, saying it was overproduced and the songs are "weightless, antiseptic cuts" with "skillful composition" but "lacking strength and character".

[64] While the band had a positive opinion about the record following release, as Grohl said the songs were "the best we've ever written",[65] he and the rest of the Foo Fighters eventually grew distasteful about the results.