“Something From Nothing” by Foo Fighters

"Something From Nothing" led the charge for Sonic Highways, the Foo Fighters' eighth album, in 2014, and it's steeped in Chicago: cut at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio and shaped by the city's music scene. Rolling Stone's Daniel Kreps heard the Great Chicago Fire in the words, and the song burns the same way, starting from muffled guitar and a slow smolder and catching until, deep in its fourth minute, it's a full blaze.

Butch Vig produced with the band, and James Brown recorded and mixed it. Rick Nielsen adds baritone guitar, Rami Jaffee layers clavinet, organ and mellotron, and along the way there's a Smashing Pumpkins soar in the guitars and a riff that leans hard on Dio's "Holy Diver". It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.