Click to listen to the Foo Fighters' "Rope"

The Foos went for a stripped down, return-to-basics approach on their forthcoming seventh album, Wasting Light (recorded with Butch Vig in Dave Grohl's garage). The first single rides lower to the ground that the usual Foos anthem, especially during the gnarled-guitar fire-fight at the end, without undercutting the modern-rock heroism that's become one of the few reliable guitar-based brands on contemporary radio. Grohl's the last of the modern-rock Mohicans, forever true to his fading creed, probably because he helped invent it.

Foo Fighters Reunite, Play New Songs at Secret Show

Gallery: The Week's Hottest Live Shots

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.