Alternative Sound Bytes

The Used is a rock band from Orem, Utah. Their sound mixes many different genres and has been described as anything from post-hardcore to emo to alternative rock.

The Used formed in Orem, Utah. Drummer Branden Steineckert was the person who got everyone together to make music. The area is known for its large Mormon population, not for its incredible punk rock scene, so The Used had a lot of trouble finding venues that would let them play. The Used’s luck changed when they were signed to Reprise Records. The Used’s hit songs include A Box Full of Sharp Objects, The Taste of Ink.

The members of the Used had to overcome poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, not to mention the straight-laced attitudes of their hometown of Orem, UT, to bring their screamo-tinged brand of post-hardcore to life. But they persevered and earned a contract with Reprise Records, releasing their self-titled debut album in June 2002.

- www.kidzworld.com/article/3079-band-the-used-biography
- http://music.yahoo.com/ar-292804-bio–The-Used

Gin Blossoms is an alternative rock band formed in 1987, in Tempe, Arizona. They took their name from a photo of W.C. Fields which bore the caption “W.C. Fields with gin blossoms,” referring to the actor’s gin-ravaged nose. The band, who were musically weaned on The Byrds and Tom Petty, released three albums and had several hits in the mid 1990s, before breaking up in 1997. Five years later in 2002, the band reunited, released a DVD, resumed touring, and promised a fourth album. Major Lodge Victory, the Gin Blossoms’ first album in ten years, was released on August 8, 2006 on the Hybrid Recordings label.

The Blossoms are featured on two tribute albums to date—they contributed a cover of Kiss’ “Christine Sixteen” to the Kiss My Ass album, and they backed Tommy Keene for his version of “Carrie Anne” on the Sing The Hollies In Reverse album. They’ve also contributed songs to several soundtracks: “Idiot Summer” for Wayne’s World 2, “Soul Deep” (a Box Tops cover) for Speed, and “Til I Hear It From You” for Empire Records. The Blossoms’ hit “Hey Jealousy” also appears on MTV’s Buzz Bin Volume 1 compilation.

Their song, Follow You Down according to Robin Wilson is the “kind of a general, vague sort of a thing about just kind of being addicted to somebody who you know is bad for you.” And Found About You, is about an ex-girflriend of Doug Hopkins, who did some serious Tae Kwon Do moves on him that landed him on a hospital for a week and a half with a shattered cheekbone and an even shattered occipital lobe.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_Blossoms
- http://www.ginblossoms.info

Rumours is a spectacular re-invention of one of the very popular and longest running band in the history of rock music. If you have been hearing Rumours lately, it’s like hearing Fleetwood Mac comes to life. Rumours is considered as one of the most bona fide tribute acts on the west cost. In fact most of the time, it is being mistaken as the real one. It features six all-star players lineup and has created again every stage of the remarkable development of Fleetwood Mac. Way back as they started as a “British Invasion” quartet in 1967 until their latest reunion dance album titled “The Dance” including their 1997 national tour.

1. Nirvana

The Number One grunge band of all time is Nirvana. Its single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from the album “Nevermind” was astonishingly conquering the alternative scene and it can be said that Nirvana had the power to have single-handedly brought grunge music its commercial success. The album “Nevermind” sold more than ten million copies in the U.S. and sold more than twenty-five million copies around the world. As Michael Azerrad of the Rolling Stones said, Nirvana was the “flagship band of Generation X”.

Nirvana was a band so passionate with its craft in music that it took a number of drummers before the band actually settled with Dave Grohl. Some songs in the album, such as “All Apologies” and “Heart-Shaped Box” has to be revised as it did not come out perfect-sounding.

After Kurt Cobain’s sudden death on April 8, 1994, Nirvana also died. It was a very tragic decline for the band which independently amplified the sound of grunge to a vast extent. Still, Nirvana fans proved to be loyal to the legacy that Cobain left.

2. Pearl Jam

Another Seattle native is the band Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam’s album “Ten” is commonly received as that of Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, the albums which geared their way towards mainstream music of the 1990s alternative. While “Nevermind” was considered to be the greater mainstream mover, Pearl Jam’s “Ten” was in second place. This album won platinum twelve times and is the most successful album of the band.

At the early stages of its career, Pearl Jam has been criticized as a “corporate cash-in”. However, the band had different causes that made it admirable and such causes were the going against “rock star excess”, their public dispute with Ticketmaster, and their rejection of making music videos of their shows. Ultimately, it is very noteworthy that Pearl Jam had outlived many of the members of its generation, considering the problems and issues that came with the success of grunge music.

3. Stone Temple Pilots

One grunge band from outside of Seattle is Stone Temple Pilots. STP had so much going on for them that made it as one of the more prominent names in the genre of 1990s alternative. The group had over 17 million albums sold in the United States alone, fifteen singles topped the Billboard charts, a “Best Hard Rock Performance” Grammy award, and a number of American Music awards.

Alongside STP’s fame was a load of harsh criticisms against them. They rose so quickly upon the release of their debut album “Core” and their fans grew more and more. The Rolling Stone magazine declared them as the “Best New Band” but their music critics said otherwise – “Worst New Band”. However, before actually disbanding in the year 2002, the group released four more albums that were all successful, and this made STP leave a deep mark in the grunge music scene.

4. Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains, formed in 1987, is also from Seattle. The band released three albums as well as an EP entitled “Jar of Flies”. To date, this EP was the one which sold over ten million copies around the world. Alice in Chains’ signature was their intense guitar and distortion music and such was truly manifested in their album “Dirt”.
However, the popularity of grunge music and its bad side effects took toll on the band. Alice in Chains was truly successful with its career but vocalist Layne Staley’s problem with drug addiction greatly affected the future of the band. His death due to substance overdose led to the unofficial disbanding of the grunge group.

Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez of Deep Forest are sound reporters. A voiceless musical duo, they draw on voices from every corner of the world. Under their patronage, infinitely distant utterances have become familiar to us. Hymns of joy and cries of anger, prayers and aubades, songs of hope and despair have all been brought to shake our certainties, seize our senses and stir our emotions.From Africa or Eastern Europe, from pygmies to nomads,the human visions brought to us by Deep Forest have helped greatly in narrowing the musical gap between the hemispheres. In the North of France, Deep Forest’s homeland, sheltered from sight and far from worldly concerns, a true communion has sprung up between ethnic songs and instruments on the one hand, and accordion, piano, synthesisers and high technology on the other.

Deep Forest’s music – in the manner of so many non-Western civilisations – refuses to draw lines between joy and suffering, elation and sadness, just as, from the very beginning, it has banished all barriers of style from its personal grammar. After three albums and thanks to the diversity of encounters, mixes and alliances that the group has undertaken, Deep Forest have not only invented a sound different from any other, they have also created a language. From the heart of the Amazon forest to the North of France, from Havana to Prague, from Madagascar to New York, it remains our best-shared secret.

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The huge genre of the music industry has joined in the commercial mainstream to harvest the rewards and make things easier. But this phenomenon is not a bad thing. Proof of which is Echoing August. For a song to be successful, it has to be catchy. The melody and lyrics must stick to the mind of the listeners so that singing along will not be a hard task. These are the ingredients used by Echoing August for its songs. The first E.P. of the band, the Intentions, was released and include Nick Martucci on vocals and guitar, Shawn Sandi on drums and Pat McCarthy on bass.

An alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979.

The band comprised guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars for most of their career.

The Band began as a punk rock group, but began to incorporate other subgenres of rock music and became instrumental in the development of early alternative rock.The Replacements is one of the influences of these bands such as The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Pavement and many more.

Following the critically acclaimed Let It Be (1984), the band signed to Sire Records, becoming one of the first American underground rock bands to sign to a major record label.

In the ’80s the Replacements’ blend of punk guitar and pop melodies garnered critical acclaim but little commercial success. Hailing from the Minneapolis home base of acts as diverse as Hüsker Dü and Prince, the quartet was seen by its fans as generational spokesmen; Paul Westerberg’s angst-ridden confessional songs cast him as a postpunk Bob Dylan and would influence such ’90s stars as the Goo Goo Dolls.

via [Rolling Stone]