Wasting Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters. It was released on April 12, 2011 on Roswell and RCA Records. It was the first Foo Fighters album with guitarist Pat Smear playing on it since The Colour and the Shape (1997) as a member. He did play on Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007) as a guest.
When making the album, the band did not want to use digital recording as they wanted to sound how they did in their first albums. The album was made in the garage of Dave Grohl, the lead singer and guitarist of the band. The house was in Encino, California. The album was made on only analog equipment. It was produced by Butch Vig. Vig had worked with Grohl in 1991 and 1992 to produce Nirvana's album Nevermind. The band spent three weeks making sure they could play the songs well before recording, as no mistakes can be fixed after recording on analog equipment. There were also guests who played on the album, such as Bob Mould, Krist Novoselic, Jessy Greene, Rami Jaffee and Fee Waybill.
Six singles were released from the album. The most successful was Rope, which went straight to number one on Billboard's Rock Songs chart. It was only the second ever single to go straight to number one on this chart. Wasting Light went straight to number one on the albums charts of twelve countries. Critics said mainly good things about the album, mainly about the production and songwriting. In 2012, Wasting Light won four Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.