By pitching their music somewhere between the arena-friendly style of U2 and the mature pop/rock of bands like Maroon 5 and Counting Crows, the Fray rose to commercial prominence with their 2005 debut, How to Save a Life. The Denver-based band had formed three years prior, when former schoolmates Isaac Slade (vocals, piano) and Joe [...]
Few bands embodied the era of pop-metal like Bon Jovi. By merging Def Leppard’s loud but tuneful metal with Bruce Springsteen’s working-class sensibilities, the New Jersey-based quintet developed an ingratiatingly melodic and professional variation of hard rock — one that appealed as much to teenagers as to housewives. Bon Jovi skillfully employed professional songwriters to [...]
Through a combination of zealous righteousness and post-punk experimentalism, U2 became one of the most popular rock & roll bands of the ’80s. They were rock & roll crusaders during an era of synthesized pop and heavy metal, equally known for their sweeping sound as for their grandiose statements about politics and religion. The Edge [...]
Vocalist/bassist Tyson Ritter and guitarist Nick Wheeler both hail from Stillwater, OK, where the pair first embraced music as an appealing diversion from the ho-hum life of small-town America. Citing such influences as AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi, they formed the emo-pop group All-American Rejects in 2000, while both members were still in high [...]
Few bands did more than Nickelback to establish the force of slick, commercially minded post-grunge in the 2000s. Led by vocalist Chad Kroeger, the band initially emerged in the late ’90s as Canada’s answer to Creed, prizing a blend of gruff vocals and distorted (yet radio-friendly) guitars. After a handful of singles failed to gain [...]