Airdate: Sound City

Dave Grohl’s excellent documentary on iconic LA recording studio Sound City, which aired a year ago on Pay TV, has its Free to Air premiere tonight.

Despite its rudimentary surrounds, Sound City became a mecca for American musicans recording legendary albums including those by Neil Young, Elton John, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Foreigner, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rick Springfield and more.

Rock icon, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) makes his directorial debut in the feature length documentary, Sound City. His homage to the iconic LA recording studio, Grohl once described the star-studded film as his “most important work”. 

For over four decades, Sound City recording studios became the birthplace for some of the world’s most cherished music. From Neil Young’s After The Goldrush and Fleetwood Mac’s eponymous album, through to Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled release and Johnny Cash’s Unchained to name just a few.

Sound City is an insightful journey through time, revealing the story of real rock ‘n’ roll history and celebrating the human element of music. The film examines the legacy of the now-defunct Sound City studios and its legendary, custom-built Neve 8028 recording console that was involved in the making of so many classic albums.

Through interviews with legendary musicians and producers (including Neil Young, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Rick Rubin, Lars Ulrich, Mick Fleetwood and Josh Homme), Sound City sets out to uncover and define the intangible magic within those wires and walls that was reponsible for such an incredible history of contemporary music.

Along the way we learn how Mick Fleetwood met Stevie Nicks and Lyndsey Buckingham at the studios, leading to them joining Fleetwood Mac. We find out why musicians and producers such as Butch Vig, Frank Black, Trent Reznor and Lars Ulrich all chose to work in an analogue environment at Sound City over other, more state of the art studios. Throughout the documentary we also track the growth of digital music and the inevitable death of analogue recording which changed the industry and Sound City forever.

The story of Sound City is an integral part of the personal story of Dave Grohl, whose music was heavily influenced by those who once recorded in Studio A and left their mark in the form of the many platinum records hanging from Sound City’s walls.

Dave Grohl finishes the film by bringing some of these great artists together at his Studio 606 to record a new album on the original Sound City console, culminating in new performances from Rick Springfield, Stevie Nicks, Lee Ving, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor, Krist Novoselic and Sir Paul McCartney.

10:30pm tonight on ABC.