Dave Grohl had the idea of making a new album in 2010, while he was touring in Australia with Them Crooked Vultures. He wanted to make a documentary of making the album. He also didn't want to make it in an expensive studio with new equipment, but instead wanted to use the same equipment used in the 1990s. He later also said he didn't want it to be the best album they had made, but he wanted it to be the one people would know them for best. He said it would be a lot like "Back in Black" for Amy Winehouse or "The Black Album" for Metallica. The album was also the first to have guitarist Pat Smear. Smear had left the band after the album "The Colour and the Shape" in 1997.