Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Maroon 5
Early Days and Formation of Kara's Flowers:
Future Maroon 5 members Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick all went to high school together in west Los Angeles. They put together a band called Kara's Flowers and played their first public show at the legendary Whisky a Go Go in 1995. Their grunge style caught the attention of Reprise Records, and, despite production from Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, the album The Fourth World was a commercial flop. All 4 members headed to various colleges across the country.
Evolution Into Maroon 5:
Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael headed to the State University of New York. There the pair were exposed to a wider range of music, particularly R&B and hip-hop. Upon returning to Los Angeles, they re-connected with the other former group members, added guitarist James Valentine, and selected a new group name, Maroon 5. The band quickly generated label interest and signed with the independent Octone Records who had a distribution deal with BMG.
Maroon 5 Members:
- Adam Levine - Vocals and Guitar
- James Valentine - Guitar
- Jesse Carmichael - Keyboards
- Mickey Madden - Bass
- Matt Flynn - Drums
'Songs About Jane':
Maroon 5 headed into the studio with Matt Wallace, veteran of work with the Replacements and Faith No More, producing. The result was the album Songs About Jane first released in June 2002. A great deal of the music on the album was inspired by Adam Levine's rough relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Jane. The album was not an instant commercial success, but constant touring generated eventual radio support. Songs About Jane peaked at #6 on the album chart in August 2004, over two years after initial release.
Maroon 5 Reviews:
Maroon 5 Videos:
Maroon 5's videos for the top 10 hits "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved" generated a bit of controversy due to their erotic content. "This Love" was briefly banned by MTV. Watch all of the band's music videos below.
- "Goodnight Goodnight"
- "Harder to Breathe"
- "If I Never See Your Face Again"
- "Makes Me Wonder"
- "She Will Be Loved"
- "Sunday Morning"
- "This Love"
- "Won't Go Home Without You"
Awards and Recognition for Maroon 5:
Songs About Jane ultimately sold over 4,000,000 copies in the US and over 8,000,000 worldwide. The singles "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved" both reached the pop top 10.
In early 2005, Maroon 5 took home the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. They followed this with a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for a live recording of "This Love." In 2007, Maroon 5 took home another Grammy Award winning Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for a second year in a row, this time for the single "Makes Me Wonder."
Quote From Maroon 5 Member Adam Levine:
Referring to his college experience, quoted from the Maroon 5 official site:
"The halls were blasting gospel music and people were listening to stuff we'd never actually listened to, like Biggie Smalls, Missy Elliot and Jay-Z. The Aaliyah record had come out around then, and we were just blown away."
'It Won't Be Soon Before Long':
The much-awaited second album by Maroon 5, titled It Won't Be Soon Before Long, was released May 22, 2007. It featured new drummer Matt Flynn, who replaced founding member Ryan Dusick in September 2006. The band said that the album was "sexier, stronger," and "lyrically darker" than Songs About Jane. The first single "Makes Me Wonder" hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album opened at #1 on the charts selling over 400,000 copies in its first week. It was ultimately certified double platinum. The second single "Wake Up Call" also reached the pop top 20.
'Hands All Over':
Maroon 5 headed to Switzerland in 2009 to record their third studio album, Hands All Over, with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who is responsible for seminal albums by the Cars, Def Leppard, his ex-wife Shania Twain, and many others. The album is due in stores in September 2010 and includes the debut hit single "Misery." Maroon 5 embark on a summer concert tour in advance of the album.
Credits To:http://top40.about.com/od/m/p/maroon5.htm
Fall Out Boy
It’s not every day you get to watch a rock star pee.
Fall Out Boy are in Philadelphia, the second stop on a back-to-basics club tour to promote their new album. They drove down from Boston this morning in a rented Dodge minivan and are currently lounging in the makeshift dressing room of a North Philly dive bar, across the street from Floyd & Diann’s Tire Service. A camera crew from Fuse is here, and a gaggle of pubescent girls awaits a meet-and-greet just outside the door. And over in the corner, Pete Wentz is unzipping his pants.
Armed with an empty 16-ounce Poland Spring bottle, Wentz—Fall Out Boy’s 29-year-old bassist and mouthpiece—turns to face the wall. While the rest of the room averts their eyes, he hunches his back and takes what is, by all appearances, a brief yet wholly satisfying piss.
“All right,” he says, zipping back up. “We ready?”
Pete Wentz has built his life around making the private public. In an age when all reality is televised and the most intimate of details are broadcast via Facebook Alert, Wentz is the king of the overshare—penning songs that flaunt their autobiographical provenance and blogging obsessively about everything from his 2005 suicide attempt to his favorite skate shoes. Unguarded and unashamed, he’s the quintessential 21st-century rock star—a penis-flashing Twitter stream come to life.
Wentz has been mocked mercilessly for his attention- mongering. He’s been branded an asshole, a sellout, a fucktard, a fame whore, a twat, a dick and a closeted gay douchebag—and those are just the comments on one Perez Hilton post. But as Wentz puts it in the single Fall Out Boy will encore with tonight: I don’t care what you think, as long as it’s about me.
“Being famous is like being in the WWF,” Wentz says. “When we first came out, I was Hulk Hogan. Kids loved me. Now I’m more like the Undertaker. The thing people don’t understand is, the boos are the same as the cheers to me. I just love to wrestle.”
“Aaaaand, action on the carousel!”
Two days later—sunny Los Angeles. Fall Out Boy are shooting a video for their new single “America’s Suitehearts” at a hangar-sized soundstage. The set resembles a ghoulish Hollywood carnival, complete with zombie starlets, a moat of toxic sludge and a giant red merry-go-round where the band will perform before a pack of bloodthirsty paparazzi.
The cameras roll, and the carousel begins to spin. As the fake photographers swarm, the members of Fall Out Boy circle one by one into view. First comes guitarist Joe Trohman—crazy-haired and slightly dazed-looking, in red suede boots and a matching fez. The photographers’ flashbulbs go pop. Next, Andy Hurley, the bearded, tattooed drummer, in a leprechaun-green tuxedo jacket and no shirt. Pop pop. Singer Patrick Stump, wearing a canary-yellow tailcoat and a feathered top hat, looking like a debonair chicken. Pop pop pop. And finally—in knee-high leather boots, gold lamé hot pants and a black lace headpiece so ghastly Cher could have worn it to the Oscars, and once did—comes Wentz, looking like some kind of gay glam gladiator, an evil-skeleton smile plastered on his face in black and white greasepaint. Poppoppoppop.
It’s not hard to find reasons to make fun of Wentz. His swooping bangs and disproportionately large head make him look disturbingly like a grown-up version of a Garbage Pail Kid. He wears girls’ jeans and toils in a genre known more for its interest in cosmetics than for its contributions to the pop-music canon. His lyrics are more self-indulgent than a luxury-spa retreat. Pictures of his penis have wound up on the Internet. He plays the bass—and not very well.
Yet this self-described “dirty, shitty boy” is also, improbably, the world’s biggest rock star under the age of 30. (Try naming one bigger.) He has his hand in a clothing line, an MTV show, a chain of bars and his own record label. Riding the cresting twin waves of emo and MySpace, Fall Out Boy transformed themselves from four Midwestern kids with funny names and bad haircuts to one of rock’s last reliable record-movers, selling a combined 4 million copies of their last two albums. And today, over in the band’s dressing room, curled up on a checkered sofa, sits another keystone of Wentz’s growing celebrity: a very pregnant Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. She and Wentz were married last May; they’re expecting their first child, a boy, literally any minute. “Hey, babe,” Wentz says during a break in shooting. He bends down and kisses her cheek. “Feeling OK?”
Simpson wipes a smudge of Wentz’s makeup off her face. “I hope he comes out soon,” she says, lifting her shirt to expose her colossal belly. “He’s killing my bladder.”
America’s Funniest Home Videos is on, and Wentz plops down on the floor to watch. He scoots backward between Simpson’s legs, resting his chin on her thigh and his head gently against her stomach. She strokes his hair, brushing the bangs from his eyes. On the TV, a fat lady tumbles off a trampoline and into a fence. They both laugh.
Wentz allows that the pregnancy sped things up, but he always knew they’d be married someday. He courted Simpson publicly and relentlessly, babbling about his crush in magazines (both were dating other people) and e-mailing her often. “I hunted her down and shot the dart in her,” he says. “I just had to wait for her to collapse.” Now they live in a Beverly Hills mansion just up the road from Posh and Becks, with his-and-hers bulldogs and a son on the way. “Basically,” Wentz says, “I’m married to the person I’d be jerking off to.”
The band’s new album is called Folie à Deux, French for a madness of two—a psychological condition in which two people suffer from similar delusions, each feeding off the other’s psychosis. (Wentz read about it in Newsweek.) The textbook example is Romeo and Juliet, but Wentz swears the title isn’t about him and Simpson. Instead it’s about fame—the toxic symbiosis between stars and their public.
Wentz has always lived his life in the spotlight, mostly by design. But since he married pop’s most notorious little sis, he’s become a red-hot tabloid magnet, hounded by paparazzi outside Starbucks like any Hollywood celebutard. “Pete would never be on the cover of People if it weren’t for Ashlee,” Perez Hilton says. “Before her, he was just that guy in the band who wore eyeliner and spent a lot of time on his hair.” As Ashlee’s due date nears, the paps have staked out the couple’s home 24/7, hoping to score pics of the mommy-to-be en route to the hospital. The morning after the video shoot, I meet Wentz and Stump for breakfast at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Wentz arrives a half-hour late: The paps pounced before he’d pulled out of the driveway, and he spent the next 30 minutes zigzagging his black Range Rover through the Hollywood Hills trying to lose them. “It’s weird,” he says, sliding into the booth. “Spending your life being followed by people who want a picture of the person sitting next to you.”
Stump snorts: “Welcome to my world.”
Wentz likes eating here because the paparazzi can’t get in. Still, he sits with his back to the wall, his eyes darting nervously toward any peripheral movement. “I’m paranoid pretty much all the time,” he says. A few nights ago, he was in the kitchen when he saw someone on the security monitor: a man, scaling the fence. He ran outside; the intruder hopped in his car and sped off, smashing the Range Rover on the way.
Wentz sets his sunglasses on the table and picks up the menu. Truth be told, he doesn’t look great. Dark bags ring his eyes, and his skin has a waxy, jaundiced pallor. He says he sleeps three hours a night—sometimes less—and pops Ambien like Tropical Skittles. “I can take three Xanax bars and not feel a thing,” he says. “It’s kind of scary.”
We haven’t been seated long when who should walk in the restaurant but Wentz’s buddy John Mayer. “Oh, shit!” Wentz says, jumping up to give him a hug. “What’s up, dude?”
Mayer answers with a hearty clap on the back. “I just sent you an e-mail! How’s the 32-month pregnancy?” He turns to Stump. “I swear to God, they’re making a superhero over there.”
Close friends who—had things turned out differently with Jessica Simpson—might also have been brothers-in-law, Wentz and Mayer set online tongues wagging last spring when they engaged in a breathless bromance on their respective blogs. (Wentz praised Mayer in a post called YES, IT'S A CRUSH; two days later, Mayer responded with a gushing note titled CRUSH REQUEST ACCEPTED.) “Pete has this fabulous meta-awareness,” Mayer says. “Some people mistake it for narcissism, but it’s really just his way of playing with the idea of ‘Pete Wentz.’ His genius is he’s always one step ahead.” Mayer also admires the way Wentz has navigated the perils of tabloid romance: “To have this beautiful relationship with someone who gets attacked so often, and to handle it with such grace and respect—I just find that really impressive.”
While the two pals catch up, Patrick Stump sits in silence, awkwardly picking at his huevos rancheros. Though he’s ostensibly Fall Out Boy’s frontman, Stump inevitably takes a backseat to Wentz both onstage and in real life. Partly it’s good for business: Their well-known division of labor (Pete writes the lyrics, Patrick the melodies) keeps Wentz’s antics front and center, while Stump is largely a blank slate—a golden-throated delivery system for someone else’s emotions, the plain white cracker to Wentz’s cheese. But it’s also a function of personality. A self-described nerd, Stump says he has “terribly low self-esteem” and shuns the spotlight whenever possible. And though he’s a gifted producer who’s been invited to make beats for superstars like Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, he always finds a way to say no. “I’m just a fat white dude from Glenview, Illinois,” he says. “As a hip-hop fan, I don’t want me doing hip-hop.”
According to Wentz, Stump “has this amazing ability to hide in plain sight.” Sometimes, though, it’s unclear whether he’s hiding or just not being seen. Take the night of the presidential election, when both were in New York. Wentz attended a birthday party for Diddy, where he cheered the returns alongside Jay-Z, Ben Stiller and Kenneth from 30 Rock. Stump, meanwhile, watched CNN alone in his hotel room. “Dude, you should have called me!” Wentz says when he hears this news. But it’s clear from Stump’s face that it wouldn’t have mattered.
Still, the two are about as close as friends as can be. Stump was the best man at Wentz’s wedding, as well as the one who “talked him off the cliff” when the penis photos hit the Web. (“Things literally could not have gotten worse,” Wentz says now. “I was just a wingman for my cock.”)
Often, however, the pair’s folie à deux doesn’t leave much room for numbers trois and quatre. The first time I meet Andy Hurley., in his dressing room at the video shoot, he’s feeling suicidal. “If the Packers don’t get this first down I’m going to kill myself,” says the drummer, watching his beloved Packers struggle against the Vikings. When Green Bay’s kicker misses the game-winning field goal, Hurley slams his iPhone onto the table, gets up and, without a word, starts punching the metal door frame, and doesn’t stop for 45 seconds.
Let’s face it: The dude’s a little weird. A self-described “anarcho-savagist,” Hurley believes that civilization is on its way out, and the sooner the better—he opposes conservation, supports ecoterrorism, and plans to use his Fall Out Boy money to buy land in northern Wisconsin and ride out the apocalypse. He shares a house in Milwaukee with four vegan straight-edge buddies, where they play kickball on Thursdays and practice jujitsu every morning. They call it Fuck City. “I don’t really get into that red-carpet stuff,” Hurley says, somewhat unnecessarily. “I like to keep things pretty simple.”
Talking with Hurley, you get the impression that he’s completely content to play the drums and go home to his Boca Burgers and Alan Moore comics. Joe Trohman, on the other hand, wants to do more. “I do feel left out a lot,” the guitarist says. At 24, he’s the youngest of the Fall Out boys, and he plays the role of kid brother well—splurging on old Nintendo games and $500 Storm Trooper figurines, finding funny YouTube videos for the guys to watch (latest favorite: “Chimpanzee Riding a Segway”). If Fall Out Boy were the Ninja Turtles, Wentz would be Leonardo, Stump would be Donatello, Hurley would be Raphael, and Trohman, all agree, would be Michelangelo—the “party dude.” “Joe is a free spirit,” Stump says. “He’s kind of just off in Joe Land, which is an awesome place to be.”
To hear Trohman tell it, though, Joe Land isn’t always so awesome. “It does get frustrating, not being able to contribute,” Trohman says. “I mean, to be labeled a background guy, someone who’s just along for the ride—it’s hard. I started Fall Out Boy, you know?” He wrote a few songs for the new album, but they were all cut at the last minute. “It’s kind of a bummer, to work so hard and have it come to nothing. I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing anyone, or I’m ungrateful,” he stresses. “Because I’m very happy to be a part of all this. I’m afraid the guys are gonna read this and wish I’d talked to them first—which maybe I should have. But sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m even in the band.”
Pete Wentz doesn’t Google himself anymore. He used to do it once a day, sometimes more. But recently he had to quit: “I was letting the blogs get to me. It’s semi-frustrating when your name actually becomes a synonym for douchebag.”
Wentz is at a corner table in a quiet Italian restaurant in Studio City. The paparazzi followed him here, too, descending as soon as he handed his keys to the valet. “Eh, those guys weren’t so bad,” he later shrugs. “We have a five-man security team for the hospital. I heard the tabloids sneak in pregnant women.”
Wentz talks of wanting to join “the club”—revered, long-lived groups like Green Day and U2—but he knows Fall Out Boy aren’t at the top of anyone’s list. “We’ve definitely made it into, like, the Big in ’05 VH1 special,” he says. “But I don’t think we’re in the hall of fame.” He also realizes that his colorful personal life—the photos, the tabloids, the pop-tart wife—might be why they aren’t taken very seriously. “I know for a fact that some of the stuff I’ve done has hurt my band. I know it’s selfish, and I know it’s self-destructive. But it’s like when you put your foot in the hot tub and go, ‘Fuck, that’s hot as shit’—even though there’s a sign right there saying CAUTION: 1,000 DEGREES. I have to dip my toe in.”
“I can’t imagine he doesn’t get hurt by things,” Mayer says. “But Pete is really brave in that he refuses to put his sensitivity away. You know how in Good Will Hunting Matt Damon’s dad would make him choose between getting beat with a belt, a stick or a wrench, and he’d pick the wrench, ’cause fuck him, that’s why? Pete always picks the wrench.”
Not long ago, during a tour for their last album, Patrick Stump quit Fall Out Boy. They were at an airport in Australia when Stump found out that Wentz had made a decision without consulting the band. “Pete isn’t a control freak, but he is very controlling,” Stump says. “It was just some stupid business thing, but I was fed up. I’d had enough.” He’d been writing songs on his own, stockpiling material for a solo album in case “Pete ever pissed me off,” and he decided it was time. “I said, ‘We’ll finish this tour, and then I’m fucking gone.’”
Eventually, they reconciled, but for Wentz, the incident was an eye-opener. “There are some moments where you go, Dude, I’ve spent the last 28 years of my life as a complete shit pile,” he says. “I’m not empathetic at all. People think I’m some kind of Dr. Phil problem-solver, but most of the time I couldn’t care less. Now, for the first time, I’m trying to look at things from other people’s perspective.”
Part of this newfound selflessness stems from Wentz’s impending fatherhood. He says he’s prepared—he’s read all the books—and he thinks he’ll make a pretty rad dad (or, as he puts it, a DILF): “I love my band, and I love my wife, but this is the first thing I’ve cared about too much to fuck up.” Last night he was up until 4 a.m. putting together a mini piano that he knows won’t get used for years, if at all.
Two weeks later, when 7-pound, 11-ounce Bronx Mowgli is born, he takes a break from diaper duty to check in by e-mail, sounding even more humbled: “It’s incredible. The thought that someone is dependent on me is empowering and also really fucking scary.” (Actually, he writes, “really f**n scary”: He’s “working on the f-bombs.”)
Wentz has this fantasy: “Sometimes I think Ashlee and I should do Newlyweds 2, take that fuck-you money and move to an island somewhere,” he says. “Just disappear.” So why doesn’t he? “Partly, I’d be fucking over a lot of people,” he says. “My band, people who rely on me.” But his second answer is more indicative: “I’d probably miss the lights too much.”
His BlackBerry buzzes: It’s Ashlee, and she’s hungry. “I gotta take off,” he says apologetically. “The wife is freaking out.” He orders her a goat cheese salad—extra walnuts, extra strawberries—and has the waiter box it up. We settle the bill, and Wentz stands and checks his hair in the mirror, smoothing out a few errant wisps. He walks to the door—not fast, but with purpose—and as he pushes it open, he flinches almost imperceptibly, bracing himself for the flashbulbs waiting on the other side.
Linkin Park
Formation of Linkin Park:
The genesis of Linkin Park occurred among 3 Los Angeles high school friends, vocalist Mike Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, and drummer Rob Bourdon. The trio recruited DJ Joe Hahn, bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and vocalist Mark Wakefield to form the group Xero. However, tensions surfaced when the group failed to secure a record deal. Wakefield left in frustration. Forced to recruit another vocalist, the band settled on Chester Bennington, formerly of the group Grey Daze. Bennington suggested a name change and the band became Linkin Park.
Members of Linkin Park:
- Chester Bennington - Vocals
- Mike Shinoda - MC / Vocals
- Joe Hahn - DJ
- Brad Delson - Guitars
- Rob Bourdon - Drums
- Dave "Phoenix" Farrell - Bass
Hybrid Theory:
Warner Bros. Records vice-president Jeff Blue was instrumental in suggesting that Chester Bennington consider becoming a vocalist for Xero before the band's name change. After the group again faced multiple rejections in seeking a record contract, Blue stepped in again and ultimately helped the band get signed to Warner Bros. The first album Hybrid Theory, a title that was briefly the band's name, was released in October, 2000. Warner Bros.' gamble paid off when the album sold almost 5 million copies in its first year of release and earned 3 Grammy Award nominations.
Meteora:
After extensive touring in support of Hybrid Theory and the release of a remix album titled Reanimation, Linkin Park headed back to the studio in mid-2002 to record a follow up. Titled Meteora, the band's second studio album was released in March, 2003. It debuted at #1 on the album chart and has sold over 5 million copies in the US. The band again set out on a heavy touring schedule including their package tours known as Projekt Revolution that included other alternative acts such as Korn, Less Than Jake, and Mudvayne.
The Sound of Linkin Park:
Linkin Park are most frequently attached to the rock genre known as nu metal. Bands considered nu metal include a blend of traditional heavy metal or hard rock with electronic music as well as 90's alternative rock and grunge. Linkin Park often adds elements of hip hop to the mix.
Linkin Park's Top Hit Singles:
- 2001 - In the End - #2 Pop
- 2003 - Somewhere I Belong - #32 Pop
- 2004 - Breaking the Habit - #20 Pop
- 2004 - Numb - #11 Pop
- 2004 - Numb/Encore - #20 Pop
The Mash-Up:
In late 2004 Linkin Park released the mash-up album Collision Course with rapper Jay-Z. The album featured remixed mash-ups of 7 Linkin Park songs with 6 Jay-Z recordings. The project yielded another top 20 hit single, the blend of Linkin Park's "Numb" with Jay-Z's "Encore." The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
Fort Minor and Other Side Projects:
In 2005 the band took a break from most of their appearances and work together. However, they did embark on charitable projects including the tsunami relief effort Music for Relief and an appearance at Live 8.
In late 2005 Mike Shinoda announced his side project Fort Minor. The album Rising Tied included the major hit single "Where'd You Go." Chester Bennington also announced a side project called Snow White Tan. Reportedly, he delayed the project's first album release to concentrate on the next Linkin Park recording.
Minutes to Midnight and the Return of Linkin Park:
In early 2006 Linkin Park headed back to the studio with Rick Rubin as primary producer. After approximately a year of work on the album, Warner Bros. announced that Minutes to Midnight would be released May 15, 2007. The album title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock. Reportedly, the band began with approximately 150 rough songs and will eventually whittle the album down to less than 17. The project's first single "What I've Done" was released digitally in early April, 2007.
Credits To: http://top40.about.com/od/l/p/linkinpark.htm
My Chemical Romance
Formed:
2001 - New Jersey.
Band Members:
- Gerard Way - Vocals
- Mikey Way - Bass
- Frank Iero - Rhythm Guitar
- Ray Toro - Lead Guitar
Quote From Gerard Way:
"Punk is something that you believe in, not really dictated to you by something else. It's not a fashion style."
Early Days:
My Chemical Romance came into being in 2001 when vocalist Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier (who would later be asked to leave in August 2004) decided to form a band. Way asked guitarist Ray Toro to join the pair. The lineup of My Chemical Romance became complete when Gerard Way's brother Mikey and Frank Iero joined. The new group began touring around the northeast U.S.
Trivia Fact About My Chemical Romance:
The song "Helena" is about the grandmother of Gerard and Mikey Way. According to Gerard she was an artist who taught him to sing, paint and perform. She bought My Chemical Romance their first van for touring. Her funeral was a formative event in the lives of Gerard and Mikey Way.
First Album:
My Chemical Romance signed with New York-based independent record label Eyeball Records for their first album. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was produced by Geoff Rickly, lead vocalist of the group Thursday, and released in 2002. The tone of the album was very dark and the group were frequently compared to Thursday.
'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge':
In 2003 My Chemical Romance signed a major label contract with Warner Brothers subsidiary Reprise Records. They set to work on a second album. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge appeared in June 2004. It was designed as a concept album about two lovers who die in a gunfight in the desert. Much of the album's music is relentlessly loud, intense, and fast. The album debuted at #103 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart at the end of June 2004 and began a long, very slow climb up the chart. After more than a year on the album chart it peaked at #28 and was certified platinum with the single "Helena" hitting the pop top 40.
'The Black Parade':
My Chemical Romance had tremendous momentum heading into the release of their next album. The release of The Black Parade was preceded in the fall of 2006 by a well-received performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. The album debuted at #2 on the album chart in both the US and the UK with stellar critical reviews. The single "Welcome to the Black Parade" also hit the top 10 on the pop singles chart. The album is a concept piece about death.
'Danger Days':
My Chemical Romance toured in support of The Black Parade until May 2008 and then the band took a break. In March 2010 the band announced the departure of drummer Bob Bryar. In September the single "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" hit radio with a new album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys set to hit stores November 22, 2010.
Credits To: http://top40.about.com/od/artistsls/p/mcr.htm
Paramore @ o2 Arena 13th November 2010
I would have to say what makes a gig amazing is the atmosphrere and this night had bundles of it. I arrived at the o2 Arena around 3.30pm. I had early entry so I didn’t have to turn up extra extra early. Doors opened at 5.45 and all the people with early entry power walked to the front. I got to the barrier left centre. This was an amazing position but chose to be my downfall during the time Paramore took to the stage. Basically the front barrier got so tight I was pushed out a la Green Day at Wembley Stadium. Opening up the night was three piece band Fun. In fact there wasn’t just 3 people on stage they were joined by other people. All the tracks sung on the night were from current album Aim and Ignite. Plus there was a interesting cover of Queen’s Radio Gaga. I really enkoyed the songs sung on the night. The style of the music was pop and they were a nice band to open the night. Even though I liked the music I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again. Maybe if they headlined in the UK but at a small intimate venue maybe I would attend.
B.o.B was the second support on the night. The set supported the debut album The Adventures Of Bobby Ray and was 11 songs long. B.o.B is most known for Airplanes which was sung with Hayley Williams of Paramore. Even though the album features many different artists collaborating with B.o.B the only other collaborator apart from Hayley Williams was Playboy Tre. Now I am not a huge fan but I really like the music. The highlights of the set had to be the final three songs. I loved Nothin’ On You even though Bruno Mars didn’t make an appearence, the MGMT cover Kids was extrodinary and unique and Airplanes with Hayley was fanstic. The crowd went crazy for her. Hayley was in a puffa jacket and there were paper airplanes thrown into the crowd.
When the set ended there was a massive black curtain that came down onto the ground. There was pandemonium when Paramore took to the stage. The screams were deafening. We could only see Hayley’s silhouette then the curtain dropped down for the first song on the night Ignorance. The stage looked amazing swinging lightbulbs from the ceiling and there was plenty of singing along to this song. After the song had ended the band launched into Feeling Sorry which got the screams and had people chanting along. Judging from the reaction this was a fans favourite. “Hello London” Willams said after standing in awe of the reception that they were getting. “We Are Paramore” she went on to say before finishing the song. That’s What You Get was a real crowd pleaser everyone was singing along to every word. It is a catchy song and there was plenty of jumping up and down. “Is That All You Got” Hayley said during the song. Loads of energy flowed from this song. ”London, England How You Doing” Hayley told the crowd. There was then quite alot of banter where Hayley told everyone that the show was going to be alot better than the Reading/ Leeds slot. Next up was a fast song and this being For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic. Now there was plenty of singing along and loads of movement. It was then onto Emergency which I never heard live before. This again is a powerful song and extremely infectious. So after plenty of cheers it was onto the forthcoming single Playing God. I must admit this has to be one of my favourite tracks from Brand New Eyes. The lyrics are so catchy even I found myself singing alond to the chorus. The uptempo and strong Careful was next on the night. Hayley delivered it perfectly.
Decode was a strong song and the videos being shown on the screen behind them were fantastic. As for the song it is upbeat and was the song that gained them more fans as it featured on the Twilight soundtrack. The next four songs were special this was because they were completely stripped down and acoustic. First being Never Let This Go. I like acoustic songs but this was incredible. Everyone was singing along with every word. Next up in the aucostic set was When It Rains and they all sat down for this song. Again this was a real crowd pleaser. Where The Lines Overlap is another favourite of mine and I loved its fast pace. While Misguided Ghosts sounded ever so beautiful. For CrushCrushCrush I didn’t get crushed but I managed to get pushed into the mosh pit area. It was mental during this song. There was lots of pushing from side to side and at one point it felt people were going to fall onto the floor. “This song goes to anyone who has stuck with us for the past 6 years” Williams said before launching into Pressue. Seeing the flip in front of my eyes was amazing. “Welcome To The Family” Hayley said when asking the crowd who has never been to a Paramore show before. The band is then introduced to all the first timers. The up tempo Looking Up followed on and what was being shown on the screen behind the band was excellent. The night ended with The Only Exception and this is the closest Paramore come to a ballad. I admit it is a slightly emotional song. The band went offstage only to come on for a encore which at first consisted of Brick By Boring Brick. This was a catchy song which had plenty of people singing along. I love the chorus of this song. Things ended with Misery Business and this song was mental. The crowd were going crazy and Williams had introduced a friend onstage. This being Josh Francesci from You Me At Six. This was a real treat seeing two people from two amazing bands singing the one song.
SET LIST
Ignorance
Feeling Sorry
That’s What You Get
For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic
Emergency
Playing God
Careful
Decode
Never Let This Go
When It Rains
Where The Lines Overlap
Misguided Ghosts
CrushCrushCrush
Pressure
Looking Up
The Only Exception
ENCORE
Brick By Boring Brick
Misery Business
OVERALL: As Hayley said this was the best show they had played beating Wembley Arena last year. “How are you going to top next time when we’re back” she went on to say. This was a fantaastic night and it was a real treat to hear songs that I haven’t heard them sing live. This was the third time I had seen the band play and I will most definately attend when they are next back. I suspect they will play to a sold out Wembley Stadium. But considering they have played in the Winter in 2009 and 2010 would they play Winter 2011 at a open air Wembley Stadium I don’t think so.
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