Wasting Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on April 12, 2011, through Roswell and RCA Records.

Since the old equipment did not allow for many mistakes to be corrected in post-production, the band spent three weeks rehearsing the songs, and Vig had to relearn outdated editing techniques.

Guest musicians include Bob Mould, Krist Novoselic, Jessy Greene, Rami Jaffee and Fee Waybill.

Wasting Light debuted at number one in eleven countries, including the United States, and received positive reviews from most music critics, who praised the production and songwriting.

[4] Hawkins wanted to avoid the "artificial sound" of contemporary recording and believed an analog project would help the band reclaim artistic freedom.

[4] Click tracks were used, but Vig said that there was not a worry for the drums to follow it exactly as they "wanted it to groove" and "we realized that when everything is off just a few milliseconds, the sound gets wider and thicker."

As Grohl wanted the songs "to have maximum emotional potential", the vocals were screamed to the point he had headaches—"when the mic is picking up every tiny inconsistency, you really strain to make it sound right.

"[20] "Miss the Misery" features Fee Waybill of The Tubes, a personal friend of Grohl who said that the frontman invited him because "the background vocal sounded like him".

[21][22] Other guest musicians included three members of the expanded touring band, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, violinist Jessy Greene and percussionist Drew Hester.

"[9] The producer said that during recording he "had to force my brain to fire different synapses" to remember how to deal with the analog equipment and the lack of a digital display.

[23][24] While many recordings had inserts and some parts rerecorded,[17] the only song that had to be redone from scratch was "I Should Have Known", as Grohl felt Vig was "trying to make this into a radio single" when the singer wanted it "to sound really raw and primal".

[15] The mixing started at Chalice Recording Studios, but moved to Grohl's house as engineer Alan Moulder said it was the way "to make it sound like your garage."

[28] The album name, taken from a lyric in "Miss the Misery", was chosen by Grohl because "it seemed to resonate with me: 'OK, that's what we're here doing'", as the band always "recorded each album thinking it could be our last" and tried to take the most of their tenure together—"we're only here for a short time, we're lucky to be alive, lucky to be a band; I don't take any of this for granted; I don't want to spend my time looking backwards, I want to look forwards".

Grohl said that the words were "what was on my mind each week",[17] most being "written from the perspective of who I was then and who I am now",[35] with references to the past, life and death,[3] and "time, but questioning whether it matters at all.

[9] The art direction was done by New York studio Morning Breath Inc., and keeping with the album's analog recording, the images did not use computer graphics, instead being created with "old tools of the trade" such as copy machines, transparent ink and X-Acto blades; the result was not printed in CMYK.

[38] iTunes in turn issued a deluxe edition that included a remix of "Rope" made by Deadmau5, the outtake "Better Off", the video for "White Limo" and a live performance of "Walk".

"[6] Along with images of the sessions themselves and both a whiteboard and papers that showed the progress in recording,[6][40] a live feed of the tape machine would be put on the Foo Fighters website.

[15] On December 21, 2010, the same day the album was finished, the band played a secret gig at the Tarzana, California bar Paladino's, on which four songs from the new record made their live debuts.

[31][41] The Wasting Light World Tour started in 2011,[6] with some concerts having the album played in its entirety along with other hit songs by the band.

[6] Another part of the promotional campaign was a contest held by Fuse TV where fans created their own videos for the Wasting Light tracks.

[55] Andrew Perry of The Daily Telegraph viewed it as by far the band's best album and found it "tough but accessible, reliably catchy, yet also surprising at the last.

"[58] AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called its rock sound "untrammeled" and cited it as "the fiercest album they've ever made ... the kind of record they've always seemed on the verge of delivering but never have.

"[56] Mikael Wood of Spin observed a "back-to-basics aspiration" and dubbed the album "Grohl's most memorable set of songs since 1997's The Colour and the Shape.

"[63] David Fricke, writing for Rolling Stone, commended Grohl's themes and Butch Vig's "nuanced approach to weight and release.

"[57] In a mixed review, Slant Magazine's Kevin Liedel criticized the band's "growing aversion to anthemic songs," writing that "the obvious high points of Wasting Light are those that strive for stadium-pleasing melodies.

"[66] Dave Simpson of The Guardian noted an "undue" arena influence and called the album "a typically supersized arena-rock barrage, with lots of howling and wailing, every chorus tailored to imaginary walls of pyrotechnics and some tracks seemingly specifically constructed to accommodate a guitar spot or drum solo.

"[60] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt that, although it is "competently" performed, the songs are not innovative and suffer from "clichés", including "hardcore punk screed", "streamlined rocker", and "melodramatic power ballad".

"[62] Andy Gill of The Independent criticized its "bombastic level" and stated "the presumed desire for back-to-the-roots simplicity ... jettisons the diversity of Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.

[80] On the week of Wasting Light's release, 6 different tracks from the album made the UK Top 40 Rock Chart.