DAVE GROHL Tried To Save Studio Featured In 'Sonic Highways'

According to The Pulse Of Radio, FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl attempted unsuccessfully to keep a legendary New York City recording studio open. Grohl offered to financially back the founder of The Magic Shop, located in the trendy downtown Manhattan district of SoHo, in an attempt to buy the studio property from the building landlord after a year-long rent dispute. But the bid was rejected by the building's co-op board and the studio will now close on March 16.

In addition to FOO FIGHTERS, the studio — which had been open for 28 years — was used by artists such as Lou Reed, Norah Jones and David Bowie, who recorded his last two albums there.

Founder Steve Rosenthal told The New York Times in a statement: "As the city becomes more of a corporate and condo island, some of us wish for a better balance between money and art, between progress and preservation, and we hope that one day we will see a reversal of the destruction of conscience and community we are witnessing."

The Magic Shop was featured on the FOO FIGHTERS album and documentary "Sonic Highways", with the band recording the disc's closing track, "I Am A River", there. The recording session in New York was the basis of the show's final episode.

Grohl told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that his love for studios like The Magic Shop and the now-defunct Sound City — which he made a documentary about — is all about keeping the human element in making music. "The most important thing is that there's a human element to what you're doing," he said. "With digital technology, it became a lot easier to manipulate these performances. I think what that does is it really takes a lot of personality out of music, you know. Like John Lennon didn't really sing perfectly in key and John Bonham didn't really play perfectly in time, but they just… It felt great."

Dave Grohl has been confirmed to appear at this year's Academy Awards ceremony, according to EW.com. Grohl will give a "special performance" on the show, although further details are not yet available.