In Your Honor

In Your Honor is the fifth studio album by Foo Fighters, released on June 14, 2005 on RCA Records. It consists of two discs. The first contains up beat rock songs and the second disc contains mellower acoustic songs.

Development

After the tours for One by One, Dave Grohl was uncertain on what to do next, specially as he felt rushing to do another record would not be creatively rewarding. So he started writing acoustic songs, considering a possible film score, and reached a full album's worth of songs.^[3][4] Grohl felt that he did not want to do a solo album, so he decided to bring the songs to the Foo Fighters, as he considered there was no problem to drift from his usual style - "who's to say what we should sound like?" -^[3] and bassist Nate Mendel replied that because the songs did not sound like the Foo Fighters were "why it should go on the record."^[5] So he decided to make a double album, with "one CD that's all the really heavy rock shit" and another "that's really beautiful, acoustic-based, lower dynamic stuff",^[6] which Grohl described as “the bottle and the hangover”,^[7] and also with the rock record being "my Jack and Coke record" with songs that "I realise I cannot live without that", and the acoustic being "my Sapphire-and-Martini-with-Kylie record".^[5] The album was recorded in a new recording studio built on Grohl's house in Northridge, California, baptized Studio 606 West in contrast to the original Studio 606 in Grohl's basement in Alexandria, Virginia.^[3]

Much of the album's theme and content, including the title, came after Grohl spent time on the campaign trail with John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. "We'd pull in to small towns, and thousands of people would come to be rescued by this man," said Grohl. "It's not a political record, but what I saw inspired me."^[8]

The lyrics on the rock album tried to focus on "general themes that everyone can get their hands on", while the acoustic had introspective lyrics that are "vulnerable and revealing", with things Grohl "wouldn't say out loud, wouldn't even admit to myself."^[4] These include "Friend of a Friend", a song which Grohl wrote in the 1990s about himself and his former Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain during the time they shared an apartment together in 1990 - which had been also recorded under the pseudonym 'Late!' on the cassete Pocketwatch - ^[5] and "Still", talking about a suicide Grohl saw when he was ten in Virginia, by a boy who jumped on the train tracks.^[8]

In Your Honor features a number of special guests on its second, mellower disc, including Norah Jones, John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame) and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl has described John Paul Jones' guest appearance - which happened as the musician went to the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles - as the "second-greatest thing to happen to me in my life" behind his marriage.^[8]

On an episode of Making the Video on MTV, for the single "Best of You," Grohl said that he hopes that the Foo Fighters are most remembered for this album.

Release

The price of the album was just one dollar above the regular single disk CD, as Grohl thought the albums "complemented each other in one package, and I don't need any more money". The first 25,000 US copies were in a special edition is also a special edition DualDisc set that contains a "making of" documentary, and the second disc in 5.1 surround sound. RCA also issued limited 5,000 copies of a quadruple vinyl LP record. The promotional campaign included the MTV special 24 Hours of Foo.^[4]

In the U.S., the MediaMax CD-3 copy protection system is used. This copy protection only appears on the standard CD version of the album, but not on the DualDisc version.

The release was promoted with the In Your Honor Tour. The tour began in the summer of 2005, and ran through to June 2006. It featured two shows per city, an electric one in arenas and an acoustic in smaller venues.^[8] Among the additional band for the acoustic shows was guitarist Pat Smear, who had been in the Foo Fighters from 1995 to 1997, and followed the In Your Honor Tour with another five years as a touring musician before rejoining as a full-time member for the recording of Wasting Light.^[6] The acoustic shows from August 29, 30 and 31, 2006 at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles were turned into the live album Skin and Bones.

Reception

In Your Honor was generally met with positive reviews. It entered the U.S. and UK charts at #2 behind Coldplay's X&Y (the worldwide best selling album of 2005) with the strongest initial sales of their entire career this far - 310,500 copies in the United States .

As of December 2011, In Your Honor has sold 1,442,000 units in North America, being their third most successful album behind Foo Fighters and The Colour and the Shape.^[17] It was also certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[18]

This album was the third Foo Fighters album to have a song reach the top of the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the first to top the chart with two songs, "Best of You" and "DOA".

In Your Honor found the most success in Canada where it is certified 3X Platinum, making it their best seller there as well.

Their Greatest Hits album, released 2009, only contains one track from In Your Honor (this track being "Best of You"), the least amount of songs from a Foo Fighters album to be featured on the compilation.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett except where noted. 

Personnel

Band line-up during recording

• Dave Grohl – lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar, drums on "Cold Day in the Sun"
• Chris Shiflett – lead guitar
• Nate Mendel – bass
• Taylor Hawkins – drums, percussion, lead vocals and rhythm guitar on "Cold Day in the Sun"

Additional musicians

• Joe Beebe – guitar on "Virginia Moon"
• Danny Clinch – harmonica on "Another Round"
• Petra Haden – violin on "Miracle"
• Josh Homme - guitar on "Razor"
• John Paul Jones - mandolin on "Another Round" and piano on "Miracle"
• Rami Jaffee – keyboards on "Still", "What If I Do?", "Another Round", "Over and Out", "On the Mend" and "Cold Day in the Sun"
• Norah Jones – vocals and piano on "Virginia Moon"
• Nick Raskulinecz - double bass on "On the Mend" and bass on "Cold Day in the Sun"

Production

• Nick Raskulinecz – production
• Foo Fighters – production
• Mike Terry – engineering
• Nick Raskulinecz – mixing (disc one)
• Elliot Scheiner – mixing (disc two)
• Bob Ludwig – mastering

Artwork

• Dan Winters – photography
• Danny Clinch – photography
• Brett Kilroe – additional art and "Crest" concept
• Robin C. Hendrickson – additional art and "Crest" concept
• Kevin Reagan – art direction
• Kevin Reagan – design
• Bret Healey – design

Charts and certifications

Grammy nominations

Although it was the band's first album since The Colour and the Shape to not receive a Grammy, it got the most nominations with 5. (This has since been tied by the album's successor, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace)

• Best Rock Album
• Best Rock Song - "Best of You"
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals - "Virginia Moon"
• Best Surround Sound Album
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal - "Best of You"

Song use in media

• "No Way Back" was a song included in Madden NFL 06.
• "DOA" was released on 12/23/08 as DLC for the Rock Band video game series.
• "Miracle" has appeared in episodes of Scrubs, The West Wing and Cold Case. "Resolve" also appeared in the same West Wing episode.
• "No Way Back" is a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
• "Razor" appears in the 2007 film Catch and Release.

References

External links

• Interview with the band about the album