Near the end of 2001, the band reconvened to record its fourth album.

After spen
ding four months in a Los Angeles studio completing the album, the album "just d
idn't sound right" and the band had no confidence in the album to sell many reco
rds. With the album not reaching their expectations, and much infighting amongst
the members, Grohl spent some time helping Queens of the Stone Age complete the
ir 2002 album Songs for the Deaf. Once the Queens of the Stone Age album was fin
ished, and touring had started for both Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age
, the band was on the verge of breaking up entirely as the animosity grew amongs
t the members. Grohl reconvened with Hawkins, Shiflett and Mendel to have them p
lay at the Coachella Festival, with Queens of the Stone Age playing one day and
Foo Fighters the following. After the Queens of the Stone Age played, Hawkins an
d Grohl talked about retrying the One by One album and had agreed to finishing i
t and seeing where they would go from there. The group went and re-recorded near
ly all of the album (save "Tired of You") in a ten-day stretch at Grohl's home s
tudio in Alexandria, Virginia.[18] The original version of One by One, referred
by the band as "Million Dollar Demos",[25] has never been heard in its entirety,
except for snippets which leaked before the album's premiere, and a few more sn
ippets leaked by a fan on the band's website in 2007. Two songs from these sessi
ons were leaked in 2012.