Muse |
Green Day |
AFI |
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Coldplay |
MCR |
A7X |
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Muse |
Green Day |
AFI |
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Coldplay |
MCR |
A7X |
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Their idiosyncratic style is a blend of indie rock, progressive rock and heavy metal, with heavy influences from classical composers, especially those of the Romantic era such as Sergei Rachmaninov. The band is famed for its energetic live performances(they've won numerous Best Live act awards) and frontman Matthew Bellamy's eccentric interests in global conspiracy, extraterrestrial life, theology and the apocalypse. Muse consists of Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, and Chris Wolstenholme. The members of Muse were in separate bands at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. The formation of Muse began after 14 year old Matthew Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Dominic Howard's band.
They were left with a dilemma when their bassist decided to leave, so they asked close friend Chris Wolstenholme to learn to play the bass guitar. The band changed names a number of times after this, cycling through names such as Gothic Plague, Carnage Mayhem, Fixed Penalty, and Rocket Baby Dolls, before adopting the name Muse (the chronology of these names is unclear, as Muse has given contradictory accounts in various interviews). In 1994, under the name Rocket Baby Dolls and with a Gothic/glam image, the group won a local battle of the bands contest, trashing their gear in the process (they were "the only real rock band" there).[3][4] Shortly after this win the band decided to forgo university and take on a living as professional musicians. They changed their name to Muse and started playing concerts in local clubs like the Cavern in Exeter.
Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California.
Their early releases for independent label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label. Nevertheless, their major label debut Dookie became a breakout success in 1994 and eventually sold over 10 million copies worldwide.[1] As a result, Green Day was widely credited, along with fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk music in the United States.[2][3] Green Day's immediate follow-up albums didn't achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful. Their 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band's popularity, selling 15 million copies worldwide.[4]
The band has sold over 50 million records worldwide,[5] Their success has influenced prominent pop punk bands such as Sum 41 and Good Charlotte.[3] Green Day currently have three Grammy Awards under their belt for Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."In 1987, childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt (both 14 years old) formed a two person band called Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working.[6] In late 1989, Armstrong, Dirnt and John Kiffmeyer (aka Al Sobrante) formed Green Day, allegedly choosing the name in reference to an entire day they had spent smoking marijuana.[citation needed] Green Day performed its first show in the courtyard of Contra Costa College, a junior college in San Pablo, California that Sobrante attended.[citation needed]Larry Livermore, who played guitar for The Lookouts and ran the Berkeley, California independent label Lookout! Records, offered the band a record deal after hearing them play. The band, he said, played the show like "The Beatles at Shea Stadium"[7][8] In late 1989 they released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, and quickly followed it up with their first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990.
AFI disbanded when its members attended different colleges, including the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Kresge moved to New York where he played with Blanks 77. After reuniting to perform a live show, the other members decided to drop out of college to play full-time with AFI. Between 1993 and 1995 they released several vinyl EPs (Behind the Times; Eddie Picnic's All Wet; Fly in the Ointment; This Is Berkeley, Not West Bay; AFI/Heckle; Bombing the Bay) independently. Their first full length, Answer That and Stay Fashionable was released in 1995. Very Proud of Ya soon followed in the next year.
After several tours in support of the album, Kresge decided to leave the group. His spot was filled by Hunter Burgan for the remaining Very Proud of Ya tour dates. Burgan went on to help AFI record Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes and was invited to become the full-time bassist. Eyes introduced AFI fans to a much more aggressive sound that included much more shouting as opposed to singing.[2]After recording the A Fire Inside EP (1998), Stopholese left the band and was replaced by Puget, his close friend. Following the A Fire Inside EP, the band recorded Black Sails in the Sunset (1999), a musical turning point in the band's career. On this album, their original hardcore roots were still the base of their sound, but more of the Dark Romantic influences (a poem by French Dark Romantic Charles Baudelaire, entitled "De profundis clamavi," is present in the hidden track "The Midnight Sun") as well as that of the Deathrock & Horror Punk scenes were apparent.
Coldplay's early material was often compared to acts such as Jeff Buckley and Radiohead,[1] while also drawing comparisons to U2.[2] Since the release of Parachutes, Coldplay have also drawn influence from other sources, including Echo and the Bunnymen[3] and George Harrison[4] on A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) and Johnny Cash and Kraftwerk for X&Y (2005), the band's latest release.[5]Coldplay have been active supporters of various social and political causes, such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International. The group has also performed at various charity projects such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, and the Teenage Cancer Trust.[6]The members of the band met at Ramsay Hall, a residence hall at UCL in September 1996. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland were the first members of the band, having met one another during their orientation week. They spent the rest of the year planning a band, with their efforts culminating in an *NSYNC-inspired boy band called Pectoralz.[7] Eventually Guy Berryman, a classmate of the two, joined the band without consideration of what musical direction it was taking. By 1997, Coldplay were performing small club gigs for local Camden promoters. By that time, the band had renounced their earlier boy-band flavoured aspirations, and changed their name to Starfish.[7]
Martin also had recruited his erstwhile school friend Phil Harvey, who was studying classics at Oxford, to act as band manager. Harvey managed the band until the release of their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Flyer for an early 1998 gig, after the band had officially become Coldplay.Finally, in early 1998, the band's lineup was complete when Will Champion joined the band to take up percussion duties. The multi-talented Champion had grown up playing piano, guitar, bass, and tin whistle; he quickly learned the drums, despite having no previous experience with that instrument. Eventually Tim Rice-Oxley, a mutual friend, gave the band permission to use the name "Coldplay", which he had rejected for his band as he thought it was "too depressing". Rice-Oxley also was offered a position as Coldplay's keyboard player, but he refused since he was already committed to Keane.[8]
The first recording sessions were done in Matt's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (then called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band.[2]
My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001 or 2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded.[2]
Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Frank Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville".In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You".
It was during this time that the band replaced their drummer, Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in July 2004. The true nature of Pelissier's departure was due to an argument with band member Ray Toro or as a result of mistakes made by the drummer during live performances.
At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. Later that year MCR co-headlined and headlined their own tour,with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect, around the US.
That same year My Chemical Romance and The Used collaborated on a cover of the David Bowie and Queen classic "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.
City of Evil, released on June 7, 2005, strays from metalcore, heading more towards heavy metal and adds a more hard rock sound with obvious influences ranging from various bands. Although the band have been labeled metal, metalcore, emo, and hard rock in many publications, the band themselves claim that they are a "heavy-metal" band and have no musical similarities to metalcore in any way although this is heavily debated by their peers. During the recording of City of Evil, M. Shadows' vocal styling changed to focus more on melodic singing rather than hardcore screaming. M. Shadows had minor surgery on his vocal cords, but he has claimed that this was not responsible for the band's change of musical style. He says the purpose was to remove the band from a genre that was "dying."
The band's name is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible and the story of Cain and Abel, where Cain is punished to live in exile, alone and miserable. Anyone who relieved Cain of his misery by killing him would have "vengeance taken upon him sevenfold." The title of Avenged Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" references Genesis IV, the chapter of the Bible in which the story of Cain and Abel takes place. The song's subject also appears to be this story. "Beast and the Harlot", yet another song derived from the Bible, comes from the book of Revelation and refers to the punishment of Babylon the great, the world empire of false religion. The song "The Wicked End" also has a reference to the bible, specifically Adam and Eve. In the song, several times it is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Although the band's title and members' stage names make obvious references to religion, Shadows stated in an interview that they are "not really religious at all." "Anyone that read the lyrics and really knew anything about us, they would know we're not promoting either", he said. "That's one thing about this band that I love is that we never really shove any kind of, like, political or religious beliefs on people. We just, the music's there to entertain and maybe thought-provoking on both sides, but we don't try to, like, really shove anything down anyone's throat. There's too many bands that do that nowadays, I think." [1]
Their song "Blinded in Chains" was used in the soundtrack for the video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Another song, "Bat Country", was used in the soundtracks for SSX on Tour, NHL 06 and Madden 06, following in the footsteps of "Chapter Four" which had also been on the soundtrack for NHL 2004, Madden 2004 and NASCAR Thunder 2004. The song "Beast and the Harlot" was in the soundtrack for Burnout Revenge. All the above games, not coincidentally, are produced by various divisions of Electronic Arts. "Beast and the Harlot" appears in RedOctane's Guitar Hero II, released November 7, 2006. The song "Burn it Down" is featured on the October 24th, 2006 release of the Saw III soundtrack.
During recent tours (Coheed and Cambria spring 2006 tour and Ozzfest 2006), Avenged Sevenfold have been performing the song "Walk", originally by Pantera, as part of a tribute to the late "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott.
At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Avenged Sevenfold received the award for best new artist. They took the award over several other artists--Angels and Airwaves, Panic! at the Disco, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and James Blunt. This is somewhat ironic, since they're aren't "new artists", and have been performing for many years.
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At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Avenged Sevenfold received the award for best new artist. They took the award over several other artists--Angels and Airwaves, Panic! at the Disco, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and James Blunt. This is somewhat ironic, since they're aren't "new artists", and have been performing for many years.At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, Avenged Sevenfold received the award for best new artist. They took the award over several other artists--Angels and Airwaves, Panic! at the Disco, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and James Blunt. This is somewhat ironic, since they're aren't "new artists", and have been performing for many years.