\nLaunched in 1994 in Tallahassee, Florida, post-grunge quartet Creed went on to become that rarest of creatures: critically dismissed but hugely successful on a commercial level. Fronted by angst-filled singer Scott Stapp, Creed\u2019s songs explored emotional themes that certainly resonated with listeners. Creed\u2019s debut release, My Own Prison<\/i> sold more than 6 million copies domestically. The band\u2019s second album, 1999\u2019s Human Clay<\/i> was certified Diamond (more than 11 million units sold), making it one of the biggest sellers in the 21st<\/sup> century, a distinction it still holds. Creed\u2019s most well-known song \u201cOne Last Breath\u201d is an exemplar of the group\u2019s rocking, melodramatic and earnest approach to songcraft. Despite personal setbacks and turmoil, the band \u2013 which took two breaks, 2005-1009 and again 2013 to 2023) still boasts its classic lineup: Stapp plus guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips on drums. Creed\u2019s passionate, heart-on-sleeve Christian-themed rock isn\u2019t for all tastes \u2013 Creed somehow manages to show up again and again on both best- and worst-band polls \u2013 but there\u2019s no denying the enduring power and popularity of this band.
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The Doobie Brothers<\/b>
\nLaunched in San Jose, California in 1970, The Doobie Brothers struck a chord with listeners thanks to their stylistic breadth: breezy, catchy pop-rock tunes, soulful ballads, hard-charging rockers \u2013 and their commitment to touring. Drawing form r&b, country and folk, The Doobies covered a stunning amount of musical ground. Along the way, the group has earned six Top Ten spots on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s 200 album chart, sixteen Top 40 hit singles, a Grammy Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over the years, the group’s musical approach has changed here and there, as has its lineup: only guitarist Patrick Simmons has appeared on every one of the group\u2019s 15 studio releases. Most of the band\u2019s hits have featured either Simmons, original lead singer Tom Johnston or his replacement, Michael McDonald (these days Johnston is back in the fold). But the band\u2019s appeal has endured, not only by delivering the classics in concert but \u2013 in an age when many classic rockers rest upon their back catalog \u2013 with new material. Libert\u00e9<\/i>, the group\u2019s 2022 album, earned positive reviews.
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Drive-By Truckers<\/b>
\nWho says Southern rock can\u2019t be musically and lyrically ambitious? Certainly not Patterson Hood, the driving force behind critic\u2019s favorite, The Drive-By Truckers. The band has always paired incisive, thoughtful lyrics with their supercharged country-rock sound. From their 1998 debut, Gangstabilly<\/i> to their latest album, 2022\u2019s loosely autobiographical Welcome 2 Club XIII<\/i>, the Athens, Georgia based group has resolutely charted its own path. Son of legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood, Paterson Hood is an acclaimed songwriter who takes on big themes while never forgetting to make hook-filled music that rocks. Highlights among the group\u2019s body of work (14 studio albums and a fistful of captured-live releases) are many, but a widely-revered high point is 2001\u2019s Southern Rock Opera<\/i>. That 94-minute album initially fared modestly in the marketplace; it was released the day after 9\/11, when the world had other things on its collective mind. But critics were \u2013 and remain \u2013 all but unanimous is their appreciation for the group\u2019s fresh take on the concept album format; Southern Rock Opera<\/i> wove a mythical story into an accessible and heartfelt narrative. The Drive-By Truckers\u2019 current run of tour dates celebrates their early masterwork by reviving the album, performing it start to finish for the first time in decades (and likely the last-ever).<\/p>\n
Echo & the Bunnymen <\/b>
\nWhen one thinks of music from Liverpool, England, the first group to come to mind is The Beatles. But the port city on the Mersey River has a long and proud musical tradition, and not all of the artists from Liverpool draw upon the Fab Four for inspiration. Launched in 1978, Echo & the Bunnymen cut a decidedly different figure. The group\u2019s namesake wasn\u2019t a person: according to popular lore (though disputed by the group itself) \u201cEcho\u201d was the moniker given to the group\u2019s drum machine. Echo & the Bunnymen crafted dramatic, haunting post-punk that drew from goth and electronica, but with a sound firmly rooted in the rock tradition. While the band\u2019s commercial success in the U.S. was measured, Echo & the Bunnymen scored more than a dozen Top 40 singles in their native England. Stateside they remained a popular fixture of college radio, with memorable tracks like \u201cRescue,\u201d \u201cThe Cutter,\u201d \u201cBring on the Dancing Horses\u201d and \u201cThe Killing Moon.\u201d In 1986, founding member Pete deFreitas left the band; he died in 1989. The group continued without him, eventually disbanding in 1993. By 1997 lead vocalist and keyboardist McCulloch and lead guitarist Will Sergeant re-launched the band, with a return to live performance and recording. Primarily a touring entity today, the band\u2019s most recent album is 2018\u2019s The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon<\/i>, a collection of new versions of Echo & the Bunnymen songs that date back to their 1980 debut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More of my capsule commentaries. Crowded House New Zealand guitarist, singer and songwriter Neil Finn launched Crowded House in 1987, out of the ashes of his previous group, Split Enz. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28441,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28440\/revisions\/28441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}