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Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers live at Pinkpop Festival in 2006. Left to right: Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, and John Frusciante.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	Funk rock, alternative rock
Years active	1983–present
Labels	EMI, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Ataxia, Chickenfoot, Fear, Rocketjuice and The Moon, What Is This?, Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam
Website	redhotchilipeppers.com
Members
Anthony Kiedis Flea Chad Smith Josh Klinghoffer
Past members
Hillel Slovak Jack Irons Cliff Martinez Jack Sherman DeWayne McKnight D.H. Peligro John Frusciante Arik Marshall Jesse Tobias Dave Navarro

Red Hot Chili Peppers is American alternative rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock, hip hop and psychedelic rock. The band consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass), alongside longtime drummer Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer (guitar), who joined in late 2009, following the departure of John Frusciante.
The band's original line-up featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons, albeit not playing on the debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Cliff Martinez was the drummer for the first two records, replacing Irons, and guitarist Jack Sherman played on the first album only. Slovak performed on two albums with the band, Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan; he died of a heroin overdose in 1988, resulting in Irons' departure. Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist, DeWayne McKnight was brought in to replace Slovak though his tenure was short and he was replaced by John Frusciante in 1988. Former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro was brought in to replace Irons though after a short tenure with the band he was out and replaced by Chad Smith that same year. The line-up of Flea, Kiedis, Frusciante and Smith was the longest-lasting, and recorded five studio albums starting with 1989's Mother's Milk.
In 1990, the group signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded under producer Rick Rubin the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), which became the band's first commercial success. Frusciante grew uncomfortable with the success of the band and left abruptly in 1992, in the middle of the album tour. His use of heroin increased. After recruiting guitarist Arik Marshall to complete the tour, Kiedis, Flea, and Smith employed Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction for their subsequent album, One Hot Minute (1995). Although commercially successful, the album failed to match the critical or popular acclaim of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, selling less than half as well as its predecessor. Navarro left the band in 1998. Frusciante, fresh out of drug rehabilitation, rejoined the band that same year at Flea's request. The reunited quartet returned to the studio to record Californication (1999), which became the band's biggest commercial success with 15 million copies worldwide. That album was followed three years later by By the Way, and then four years later by the double album Stadium Arcadium, their first number one album in America. After a world tour, the group went on an extended hiatus. Frusciante announced he was amicably leaving the band to focus on his solo career. Josh Klinghoffer, who had worked both as a sideman for the band on their Stadium Arcadium tour and on Frusciante's solo projects, joined as lead guitarist in 2009. The band released their tenth studio album, I'm with You, in 2011. The album topped the charts in 18 different countries.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have won seven Grammy Awards. The band has sold over 70 million albums worldwide, charting nine singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (including three in the Top 10), seven number one singles on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and they currently hold the record for most number one singles on the Alternative Songs chart at twelve. The band was named inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and will be inducted in April 2012.

History

Early history (1983–84)

The Red Hot Chili Peppers was formed by rapper and singer Anthony Kiedis, guitarist Hillel Slovak, bassist Flea and drummer Jack Irons while they attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.^[1] Originally under the moniker of Tony Flow & the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, their first performance was at the Rhythm Lounge to a crowd of approximately thirty people, opening for Gary and Neighbor's Voices.^[2] They "wrote" for the occasion, which involved the band improvising music while Kiedis rapped a poem he had written called "Out in L.A.".^[3] Since Slovak and Irons were already committed to another group, What Is This?, it was intended to be a one–time performance. However, the performance was so lively that the band was asked to return the following week.^[2] Due to this unexpected success, the band changed its name to The Red Hot Chili Peppers, playing several more shows at various LA clubs and musical venues. Six songs from these initial shows were on the band's first demo tape.^[4]

Founding guitarist Hillel Slovak performing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1983.

Several months after their first performance, the band announced that they were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and were noticed by EMI and signed with the record label in early 1984. Two weeks earlier, What Is This? had also obtained a record deal but with MCA. Slovak and Irons still considered the Red Hot Chili Peppers as only a side project and so they quit to focus on What Is This? Instead of dissolving the band, Kiedis and Flea recruited new members.^[5] Cliff Martinez, a friend of Flea's and from the punk band, The Weirdos, joined shortly thereafter. The band held auditions for a new guitarist which included Weirdos guitarist, Dix Denney but it was decided that Jack Sherman was the best fit.^[6]
Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill produced the first album. Gill, who "didn't embrace [the band's] musical aesthetic or ideology," argued constantly with the band over the record's sound.^[7] Kiedis recalled that "Andy's thing was having a hit at all costs, but it was such a mistake to have an agenda."^[8] Despite the misgivings of Kiedis and Flea, Gill pushed the band to play with a cleaner, crisper, more radio-friendly sound.^[9] Their eponymous debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers was released on August 10, 1984. Though the album did not set sales records, airplay on college radio and MTV helped to build a fan base,^[10] and the album ultimately sold 300,000 copies. However, the band was disappointed in the record's overall sound, feeling it was overly polished and as if it had "gone through a sterilizing Goody Two-shoes machine".^[11] During the ensuing tour, continuing musical and lifestyle tension between Kiedis and Sherman complicated the transition between concert and daily band life.^[12] Sherman was fired soon after, with Slovak returning to the Chili Peppers after growing tired of What is This?.^[13]

Freaky Styley (1985–86)

George Clinton produced the next album, Freaky Styley. Clinton combined various elements of punk and funk into the band's repertoire,^[14] allowing their music to incorporate a variety of distinct styles. The band often indulged in heavy heroin use while recording the album, which influenced the lyrics and musical direction of the album.^[15] The band had a much better relationship with Clinton than with Gill,^[16] but Freaky Styley, released on August 16, 1985, also achieved little success, failing to make an impression on any chart. The subsequent tour was also considered unproductive by the band.^[17] Despite the lack of success, the band was satisfied with Freaky Styley; Kiedis reflected that "it so surpassed anything we thought we could have done that we were thinking we were on the road to enormity."^[18] The band appeared in the 1986 movie Thrashin' (directed by David Winters and starring Josh Brolin) playing the song "Blackeyed Blonde" from Freaky Styley. During this time the band also appeared in the movie Tough Guys starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas performing the song "Set It Straight" at a Los Angeles nightclub.^[19]
In the spring of 1986, the band decided to begin work on their upcoming album. EMI gave the band a budget of $5,000 to record a demo tape, and the band chose to work with producer Keith Levene, because he shared the band's interest in drugs.^[20] Levene and Slovak decided to put aside $2,000 of the budget to spend on heroin and cocaine, which created tension between the band members. Martinez' "heart was no longer in the band", but he did not quit, so Kiedis and Flea fired him.^[21] After the firing of Martinez, original drummer Jack Irons rejoined the band to Kiedis, Flea, and Slovak's great surprise, which marked the first time all four founding members were together since 1983. During the recording and subsequent tour of Freaky Styley, Kiedis and Slovak were dealing with debilitating heroin addictions. Due to his addiction, Kiedis "didn't have the same drive or desire to come up with ideas or lyrics" and appeared at rehearsal "literally asleep".^[22] He was briefly kicked out of the band after the tour, and given a month to rehabilitate.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988 during The Uplift Mofo Party Plan tour; (left to right) Jack Irons, Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak

The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Slovak's death (1986–88)

The band won the LA Weekly "Band of the Year Award" which prompted Kiedis to get clean in order to continue making music. He called his mother in Michigan for guidance, who sent him to drug rehabilitation.^[23] After Kiedis completed his stint in rehab, he felt a "whole new wave of enthusiasm" due to his sobriety and wrote the lyrics to "Fight Like a Brave" on the plane ride home.^[24] He rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Los Angeles to record the group's next album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.^[25] The Chili Peppers attempted to hire Rick Rubin to produce their third album, but he declined. The band eventually hired Michael Beinhorn, the band's last choice.^[26] Kiedis sat down with producer Michael Beinhorn to discuss the recording of the album; Kiedis planned to record the album in ten days and write the songs during the recording sessions.^[27] Songs began to form quickly, and the album took shape, blending the same funk feel and rhythms as Freaky Styley, with a harder, more immediate approach to punk rock.
The album was recorded in the basement of the Capitol Records Building.^[28] The recording process for the album was difficult; Kiedis would frequently disappear to seek drugs.^[29] After fifty days of sobriety, Kiedis decided to take drugs again to celebrate his new music. His drug use "made a mess of the early recording process", but the band still had an enjoyable time recording the album.^[28] The band was musically inspired by the return of their original drummer Jack Irons, who added "such an important and different element to our chemistry."^[30] Slovak helped Kiedis record his vocals on the album. In between takes, Slovak would run around the studio out of excitement and say "This is the most beautiful thing we've ever done."^[31]
On September 29, 1987, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was released, becoming their first album to appear on any chart. Although it peaked at only No.148 on the Billboard 200,^[32] this was a significant success compared to the first two. During this period, however, Kiedis and Slovak had both developed serious drug addictions,^[33] often abandoning the band, each other, and their significant others for days on end. Slovak's addiction led to his death on June 25, 1988, not long after the conclusion of the Uplift tour.^[34] Kiedis fled the city and did not attend Slovak's funeral, considering the situation to be surreal and dreamlike.^[35] After returning to L.A. following his departure after Slovak's death, Kiedis along with Flea, Irons and manager Lindy Goetz had a meeting to figure out what to do next. Irons decided he had to leave the group, saying that he did not want to be part of a group where his friends were dying. Irons, who would battle through years of depression, went on to become a member of Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam many years later.^[36]With Slovak dead, Irons quitting, Kiedis and Flea debated whether they should continue making music, but ultimately decided to move ahead, hoping to continue what Slovak "helped build".^[37]

Mother's Milk (1988–1990)

Chad Smith became the band's drummer in early 1989 replacing D.H. Peligro.

After losing two of the original band members Flea and Kiedis started looking for musicians to fill those spots. In September 1988 they chose DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, former member Parliament-Funkadelic, to replace Slovak on guitar; D. H. Peligro of the punk rock outfit Dead Kennedys replaced Irons. The lineup ended up recording one song together, "Blues For Meister", a song sung by Flea and only played three shows before McKnight was fired. McKnight was unhappy about being firing and threatened to burn Kieidis' house down.^[38] Shortly after McKnight's firing, Kiedis and Flea found a replacement in teenage guitarist John Frusciante who joined the band for his first show in October 1988. Frusciante was originally directed to audition for the band, Thelonious Monster. An avid Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, Frusciante was, according to Flea, "a really talented and knowledgeable musician. He [Frusciante] knows all the shit I don't know. I basically know nothing about music theory and he's studied it to death, inside and out. He's a very disciplined musician—all he cares about are his guitar and his cigarettes."^[39] Flea and Kiedis had jammed with Frusciante twice before hiring McKnight. Frusciante joined Kiedis, Flea and Peligro and the new lineup started writing music for the next album and went on a short two month tour to finish out the year. Following the tour, Kiedis and Flea felt the need to fire Peligro due to his own various drug problems. Much like McKnight, Peligro didn't take the news well and years later Kiedis said firing Peligro was one of the toughest things he ever had to do. The Chili Peppers were again without a drummer and were forced to hold open auditions. The last to audition, Chad Smith, was a six-foot three-inch tall drummer who, according to Flea, "lit a fire under our asses". Smith was a hard-hitting musician the Chili Peppers believed they would create a strong relationship with. Kiedis later said the audition with Smith "left the band in a state of frenzied laughter that we couldn't shake out of for a half an hour".^[40]
Unlike the stop-start sessions for The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, where Kiedis would frequently disappear to seek drugs, pre-production for Mother's Milk went smoothly. The band recorded basic tracks during March and early April 1989 at Hully Gully studios in Silver Lake; songs like "Knock Me Down" were formed from jam sessions without any input from returning producer Michael Beinhorn.^[41] Although there had been stress and conflict during the recording of other Chili Peppers albums, the Mother's Milk sessions were especially uncomfortable due to Beinhorn's incessant desire to create a hit. Frusciante and Kiedis were frustrated with the producer's attitude.^[42] In April 1989, the Chili Peppers embarked on a short tour to break in the new lineup.^[41]
Released on August 16, 1989, Mother's Milk peaked at number 52 on the U.S. Billboard 200.^[32] The record failed to chart in the United Kingdom and Europe, but climbed to number 33 in Australia.^[43] "Knock Me Down" reached number six on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks whereas "Higher Ground" charted at number eleven;^[44] the latter of the two ultimately proved to be more successful, however, by influencing foreign charts at number fifty-four in the UK and forty-five in Australia and France.^[45]^[46] Mother's Milk was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in late March 1990—it is now certified platinum—and was the first Chili Peppers album to ship in excess of 500,000 units.^[47]

Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Frusciante's first departure (1990–92)

In 1990, after the success of Mother's Milk, the group decided they had enough with EMI and entered a major label bidding war ultimately signing with Warner Bros. Records and hired Rick Rubin to produce their then-untitled fifth album. Rubin, who would go on to produce all of the band's subsequent studio albums, originally turned the band down in 1987 because of Anthony and Hillel's drug problems, this time felt the band was in a better place and much more focused. The writing process for this album was far more productive than it had been for Mother's Milk, with Kiedis stating, "[every day], there was new music for me to lyricize".^[48]
The band spent six-months recording a new album, with long periods of rehearsal, songwriting, and incubating ideas. However, Rubin was dissatisfied with a regular recording studio, thinking the band would work better in a less orthodox setting, believing it would enhance their creative output. Rubin suggested the mansion magician Harry Houdini once lived in, to which they agreed. A crew was hired to set up a recording studio and other equipment required for production in the house. The band decided that they would remain inside the mansion for the duration of recording, though Smith, convinced the location was haunted, refused to stay.^[49] He would, instead, come each day by motorcycle.^[49]^[50] Frusciante agreed with Smith, and said "There are definitely ghosts in the house," but unlike Smith, Frusciante felt they were "very friendly. We [the band] have nothing but warm vibes and happiness everywhere we go in this house."^[51] Rubin is the current owner of the studio known as The Mansion. During production, the band agreed to let Flea's brother-in-law document the creative process on film.^[49] When the album's recording was complete, the Chili Peppers released the film, titled Funky Monks. The band was unable to decide on the title of the album, but to Rubin, one particular song title stuck out: "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Although it was not a featured song, Rubin believed it to be "clearly the best title".^[52]

Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante performing live in 1991 during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour

On September 24, 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released. "Give It Away" was released as the first single; it eventually became one of the band's biggest and most well known songs, won a Grammy Award in 1992 for "Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal" and became the band's first number one single on the Modern Rock chart^[53]^[44] The ballad "Under the Bridge" was released as a second single, and went on to reach No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,^[44] the highest the band has reached on that chart as of 2011,^[44] and became one of the band's most recognizable songs. Other singles such as "Breaking the Girl" and "Suck My Kiss" also charted well. The album itself was an international sensation, selling over 15 million copies and greatly broadening the Chili Peppers' audience and becoming one of the most iconic albums of its era.^[54] Blood Sugar Sex Magik was listed at number 310 on the Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 1992 it rose to No.3 on the U.S. album charts, almost a year after its release.
The unexpected success instantly turned the Red Hot Chili Peppers into rock stars. Frusciante was blindsided by his newfound fame, and struggled to cope with it. Soon after the album's release, he began to develop a dislike for the band's popularity and personal problems between Kiedis and Frusciante began to unfold. Kiedis recalled that he and Frusciante used to get into heated discussions backstage after concerts: "John would say, 'We're too popular. I don't need to be at this level of success. I would just be proud to be playing this music in clubs like you guys were doing two years ago.'"^[55] The final dates with Frusciante were a mess and Frusciante was so disconnected from the group often changing the way he played on certain songs, which further got under Kiedis' skin. Unknown to others, Frusciante was also starting his own drug habit at the time and was shutting himself off from everyone except for his girlfriend. Frusciante abruptly quit the band hours before a show during the Blood Sugar Japanese tour in May 1992.^[1]^[56] The band reached out to Dave Navarro, who had just split from Jane's Addiction however he was involved in his own personal drug battles. The group had rehearsals with Zander Schloss though after a few days they decided he wasn't the right fit either. Guitarist Arik Marshall was hired to replace Frusciante and the band headlined the Lollapalooza festival in 1992. Marshall would also appear in the music videos for "Breaking the Girl", "If You Have to Ask" and on The Simpsons fourth season finale, "Krusty Gets Kancelled".
In September 1992, the Peppers, with Marshall, performed "Give It Away" at the MTV Video Music Awards. The band was nominated for seven awards including Video of the Year (which they lost) however they did manage to win three other awards including Viewer's Choice. On February 24, 1993, the band, along with George Clinton & the P.Funk All-Stars and Weapon of Choice performed "Give It Away" at the Grammy Awards, a song which won the band their first Grammy later that evening. The performance marked the end of the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour and Marshall's final performance with the band. The band had planned to begin a follow-up to Blood Sugar Sex Magik with Marshall. However, things quickly changed and they decided that Marshall failed to fit with their future plans. Jesse Tobias of the Los Angeles-based band Mother Tongue was recruited. However, his tenure with the band did not last long, with the rest of the band stating that "the chemistry wasn't right".^[57] They decided to hold open auditions, which they considered a huge mess. Flea decided to again to reach out to Dave Navarro and this time he accepted and was ready to play music again.^[58]

One Hot Minute (1993–97)

Dave Navarro (pictured) replaced John Frusciante as guitarist in 1993.

Navarro first appeared with the band at Woodstock '94. The band opened their set wearing enormous light bulb costumes attached precariously to chrome metallic suits, making it near-impossible for them to play their instruments. Navarro hated the idea but went with it. The performance saw the debut of new songs such as "Warped", "Aeroplane", and "Pea" although the songs were in the beginning stages and the lyrics were much different than the final versions. The band followed up their performance at Woodstock with a brief tour which included a performance as the opening act for The Rolling Stones. According to Kiedis, however, opening for the Stones was a horrible experience.^[59] While externally, the band appeared to be settled, the relationship between the three established members and Navarro had begun to deteriorate.^[60] His differing musical background made performing difficult as they began playing together,^[61] and continued to be an issue over the next year. Navarro admitted he didn't care for funk music or jamming. Kiedis was also struggling with his heroin addiction; he had been through a dental procedure in which an addictive sedative, Valium, was used; this caused him to relapse, and he once again became dependent on drugs although the band wouldn't find out for a while he had relapsed.^[62]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers with Navarro in a promo shot for One Hot Minute.

Navarro's joining and Kiedis's continued drug addiction had a profound effect on the band and the subsequent sound of their next album, One Hot Minute. With Frusciante no longer present for collaboration, songs were written at a far slower rate.^[62] Working with Frusciante had been something Kiedis took for granted: "John had been a true anomaly when it came to song writing. He made it even easier than Hillel to create music, even though I'd known Hillel for years. I just figured that was how all guitar players were, that you showed them your lyrics and sang a little bit and the next thing you knew you had a song. That didn't happen right off the bat with Dave."^[62] To compensate, Kiedis and bassist Flea took several vacations together, during which entire songs were conceived and with Kiedis often absent from recording due to his drug problems or struggling to come up with lyrics, Flea took a much bigger role in the writing process coming up ideas for many songs including full lyrics and even singing lead on his own song, "Pea".
Navarro's only album with the band was One Hot Minute, released on September 12, 1995 after many delays and setbacks. Navarro's guitar work had created a stylistic departure in the band's sound, which was now characterized by prominent use of heavy metal guitar riffs and hints of psychedelic rock.^[63] The band described the album as a darker, sadder record compared to their previous material, which was not as universally well-received as Blood Sugar Sex Magik.^[61] Many of the lyrics written by Kiedis were drug related including the lead single, "Warped" which left Kiedis stunned that nobody else in the band picked up on his lyrics and that he was using again. Broken relationships and deaths of friends and family also played a major role in the album's darker tone and lyrics. The ballad, "Tearjerker" was written about Kurt Cobain while "Transcending", which was written by Flea, was about longtime friend, River Phoenix while the single, "Shallow Be Thy Game" took shots at religion. Despite mixed reviews, the album was a commercial success. Selling eight million copies worldwide,^[64] it spawned the band's third No.1 single, the ballad "My Friends", and enjoyed chart success with the songs "Warped" and "Aeroplane". This iteration of the band appeared on several soundtracks. "I Found Out", a John Lennon cover, was featured on Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon. The Ohio Players cover, "Love Rollercoaster", was featured on the Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack, and was released as a single.
The band began its tour for One Hot Minute in Europe on September 27, 1995 and played 16 shows. A US tour was to follow but was postponed after Chad Smith broke his wrist. The band spent most of 1996 playing shows in the United States and Europe. By 1997, for the first time, the band cancelled many shows. Most of this was again due to problems within the band. Flea at that point was talking about quitting the band and Anthony had recently been involved in a motorcycle accident which left one arm in a sling and created yet another drug relapse. Even Navarro was back to using drugs. 1997 saw the band playing just one show. This was at the very first Fuji Rock Festival on July 26, 1997. A massive typhoon hit that day but the band played anyway. They played through 8 song set before having to cut the show short due to the storm. This would be the final show with Navarro and due to Flea's previous comments left many speculating if it was the end of the band.
After making attempts to carry on with Navarro and record a follow-up to One Hot Minute things were not working out and due to Navarro's drug problems and lack of effort in the studio the band felt it was time to part ways. In April 1998 it was announced that Navarro had left the band due to creative differences; Kiedis stated that the decision was "mutual".^[65] Reports at the time, however, indicated Navarro's departure came after he attended a band practice under the influence of drugs, which at one point involved him falling backwards over his own amp.^[64]

Return of Frusciante, Californication (1998–2001)

In the years following his departure from the band, it became public that John Frusciante had developed a heroin addiction, which left him in poverty and near death.^[66] Frusciante had lost contact with most of his friends however Flea always remained in contact and he helped talk Frusciante into admitting himself to Las Encinas Drug Rehabilitation Center in January 1998.^[67]^[68] He concluded the process in February of that year and began renting a small apartment in Silver Lake.^[69] He acquired many injuries/problems in the years of his addiction, some requiring surgery, including permanent scarring on his arms, a restructured nose, and new teeth to prevent fatal infection.^[70]

The newly reunited band in a Californication promotional shot, circa 2000.

After Navarro's departure in early 1998, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were on the verge of breaking up. Flea told Kiedis, "the only way I could imagine carrying on [with the Red Hot Chili Peppers] is if we got John back in the band."^[71] Kiedis was surprised and thought there was no way Frusciante would ever want to work with him and the two still had unresolved personal problems from when Frusciante quit in 1992. With Frusciante free of his addictions and ailments, Kiedis and Flea thought it was an appropriate time to invite him back. In April 1998, when Flea visited him at his home and asked him to rejoin the band, Frusciante began sobbing and said "nothing would make me happier in the world."^[69]^[72] Flea decided to contact Anthony and have him meet with John to try and resolve any personal problems that the two might have had. Flea was relieved to find out that both had no bad blood towards each other and were once again excited to make music together. Within the week and, for the first time in six years, the reunited foursome jump-started the newly reunited Red Hot Chili Peppers.^[73] Anthony Kiedis said of the situation:^[74]

“

For me, that was the defining moment of what would become the next six years of our lives together. That was when I knew that this was the real deal, that the magic was about to happen again. Suddenly we could all hear, we could all listen, and instead of being caught up in our finite little balls of bullshit, we could all become players in that great universal orchestra again.^[73]

”

Despite the band's elation, Frusciante was both mentally and physically torn. Frusciante had not played with the band since his departure and other than his solo albums had not picked up a guitar in years. He had lost his guitars in a house fire from which he barely escaped,^[66] he experienced a difficult time resuming his prior life. The group began jamming in Flea's garage and it didn't take long for Frusciante to regain his talent, however, and new songs began to roll out. Frusciante's return restored a key component of the Chili Peppers' sound, as well as a healthy morale. He brought with him his deep devotion to music, which had an impact on the band's recording style during the album.^[75] Frusciante has frequently stated that his work on Californication was his favorite.^[75] On June 8, 1999, after more than a year of production and meticulous practice, Californication was released as the band's seventh studio album. The album ultimately sold over 15 million copies and became the band's most successful recording to date.^[76] Californication contained fewer rap-driven songs than its predecessors, instead integrating textured, consistent, and melodic guitar riffs, vocals and bass-lines.^[77] Californication produced three more number one modern rock hits: "Scar Tissue", "Otherside" and "Californication". "Scar Tissue" won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. It was performed at the ceremony and included a brief jam with rapper Snoop Dogg. Other singles included "Around the World", "Road Trippin'", and "Parallel Universe", which broke the Top 40 modern rock charts without a separate release as a single. Californication gained positive critical acceptance in contrast to its less popular predecessor, One Hot Minute, and was a greater success worldwide.^[78] While many critics credited the success of the album to Frusciante's return, they also noted that Kiedis' vocals had also greatly improved.^[79]
In July 1999, as part of the band's two-year long international world tour in support of their new album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played at Woodstock 1999, which became infamous for the violence it resulted in.^[1]^[80] Some 10 minutes before the show, they were asked by Jimi Hendrix's stepsister to play a cover of her brother's songs. After some hesitation due to not having performed the song in years, the band decided to play his classic "Fire", which they had covered on Mother's Milk. Coincidentally, about two thirds of the way into the band's set, the closing set of the three day concert, a small fire escalated into full-fledged vandalism and resulted in the intervention of riot control squads.^[81] The disruption escalated into violence when nearby property including ATMs and several semi-tractor trailers were looted and destroyed.^[82]^[83] Kiedis felt that "It was clear that this situation had nothing to do with Woodstock anymore. It wasn't symbolic of peace and love, but of greed and cashing in... We woke up to papers and radio stations vilifying us for playing 'Fire'."^[84]
In September 2000, the Peppers were nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, which they again lost; however they managed to win two awards for their Californication video and they performed the song as well. The Peppers were also honored with the MTV Video Vanguard Award which is given to musicians who have had a profound effect on MTV culture.
In 2001, the Chili Peppers released their first concert DVD, Off the Map. The DVD was directed by longtime friend Dick Rude, who had also produced the music video for "Catholic School Girls Rule" and would later produce the video for "Universally Speaking". The footage was taken from two different concerts, but was amalgamated with transition and indistinguishable song conversions.

By the Way (2001–04)

The writing and formation of the band's next album, By the Way began immediately following the culmination of Californication's world tour, in the Spring of 2001. As with Californication, much of the creation took place in the band members' homes, and other locations of practice, such as a recording studio stage.^[85] Kiedis recalled of the situation: "We started finding some magic and some music and some riffs and some rhythms and some jams and some grooves, and we added to it and subtracted from it and pushed it around and put melodies to it."^[85] Frusciante and Kiedis would collaborate for days straight, discussing and sharing guitar progressions and lyrics.^[86] For Kiedis, "writing By the Way...was a whole different experience from Californication. John was back to himself and brimming with confidence."^[85]

The band performing during the By the Way Tour.

Before recording By the Way, the Chili Peppers decided that they would again have Rick Rubin produce the album.^[87] In the past, Rubin had given the band creative freedom on their recording material; this was something they thought essential for the album to be unique, and could only occur with his return.^[88] Originally the album was headed in a much different direction that the final production. The album started out as a group of fast, hardcore punk songs with Rubin rejected. Frusciante also wanted a darker, 80's UK pop/new wave sound mixed in with 80's hardcore. The recording process was tough for Flea who felt like an outsider in the band and that his role was being diminished due to a musical power struggle with Frusciante.^[89] Flea wanted to create more funk-inspired songs, while Frusciante felt that the band had overused their funk side.^[89] Flea considered quitting the band after the album, but the two eventually worked out their problems.^[90]
By The Way was released on July 9, 2002 and produced four singles; "By the Way", "The Zephyr Song", "Can't Stop" and "Universally Speaking". The album was their most subdued album to date, focusing primarily on melodic ballads as opposed to their classic rap-driven funk. Frusciante also concentrated on a more layered texture on many of the songs, often adding keyboard parts that featured low in the mix, and also writing string arrangements for songs such as "Midnight" and "Minor Thing".^[91] The album was followed by an eighteen month-long world tour.^[92] The European leg of the By the Way tour produced the band's second full-length concert DVD, Live at Slane Castle, recorded at Slane Castle in Ireland on August 23, 2003. The band released their first full-length live album, Live in Hyde Park; recorded during their performances in Hyde Park, London. More than 258,000 fans paid over $17,100,000 for tickets over three nights, a 2004 record; the event ranked No.1 on Billboard's Top Concert Boxscores of 2004.
In November 2003, the Chili Peppers released their Greatest Hits album, which featured two new songs, "Fortune Faded" and "Save the Population"^[93] The two songs were selected out of sessions that generated fifteen tracks, ^[94] which Chad later said the band had hopes to use along with new compositions to create a full album after finishing the tour, but the idea was vetoed by Frusciante because his musical influences and styles had evolved and wanted to do something new.^[95]

Stadium Arcadium (2005–07)

Red Hot Chili Peppers performing at the 2007 Grammy Awards. From left to right: Flea, Kiedis, Smith and Frusciante

In 2006 the band released the Grammy Award–winning Stadium Arcadium produced by Rick Rubin. Although 38 songs were created with the intention of being released as three separate albums spaced six months apart,^[96] the band instead chose to release a 28-track double album, and released nine of the ten as B–sides. It was their first album to debut at No.1 on the US charts, where it stayed for two weeks, and debuted at number one in the UK and 25 other countries. Stadium Arcadium sold over seven million units.^[97]
The record's first single, "Dani California", was the band's fastest-selling single, debuting on top of the Modern Rock chart in the U.S., peaking at No.6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching No.2 in the UK. "Tell Me Baby", released next, also topped the charts in 2006. "Snow ((Hey Oh))" was released in late 2006, breaking multiple records by 2007. The song became their eleventh number one single, giving the band a cumulative total of 81 weeks at number one. It was also the first time three consecutive singles by the band made it to number one. "Desecration Smile" was released internationally in February 2007 and reached number 27 on the UK charts. "Hump de Bump" was planned to be the next single for the US, Canada, and Australia only, but due to positive feedback from the music video, it was released as a worldwide single in May 2007.^{[citation needed]}
The band began another world tour in support of Stadium Arcadium in 2006, beginning with promotional concerts in Europe and culminating in a two-month long European tour from late May to mid-July. During this tour Frusciante's friend and frequent musical collaborator Josh Klinghoffer was essentially a fifth band member: he contributed guitar parts, back up vocals, and keyboards. Klinghoffer's presence allowed the live performances of songs to sound more like the recorded versions in which Frusciante laid down multiple tracks himself. The group toured North America from early August to early November, returning to Europe later in November for a second leg that ran until mid–December. The Chili Peppers began 2007 with a second North American leg, this time including Mexico, from mid–January to mid–March. This was followed by April shows in various cities in Australia and New Zealand and concerts in Japan in early June. The Peppers concluded their tour with a third European leg from late June to late August. They appeared at the Live Earth concert at London's Wembley Stadium on July 7, 2007. The band appeared at several festivals, including Denmarks Roskilde festival, Ireland's Oxegen in July 2006, Lollapalooza in August 2006 in Grant Park, Chicago, a subsequent set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California in late April 2007 and in August 2007 they appeared as one of three headliners at the Reading and Leeds festivals along with Razorlight and Smashing Pumpkins.
In February 2007, Stadium Arcadium won five Grammys: Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song ("Dani California"), Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal ("Dani California"), Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package, and Best Producer (Rick Rubin).^[53]

Hiatus and Frusciante's second departure (2008–09)

Following the last leg of the Stadium Arcadium tour, the band members took an extended break. Kiedis attributed this to the band being worn out from their years of nonstop work since Californication. Kiedis explained that he was preoccupied with taking care of his new son and possibly creating a short television series called Spider and Son^[98] which was set to recap his autobiography. Flea began taking music theory classes at the University of Southern California, and revealed plans to release a mainly instrumental solo record that was being recorded in his home; guest musicians include Patti Smith and a choir from the Silverlake Conservatory.^[99] Flea also joined Thom Yorke of Radiohead in the supergroup Atoms for Peace.^[100] Frusciante continued his solo career and released his solo album, The Empyrean.^[101] Chad Smith worked with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and Michael Anthony in the supergroup Chickenfoot, as well as on his solo project, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats.^[102] The band planned to remain on hiatus for "a minimum of one year." The band's only recording during this time was in 2008 with George Clinton on his latest album George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love. Accompanied by Kim Manning, the band recorded a new version of Shirley and Lee's classic "Let the Good Times Roll".^[103]
Kiedis was honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughn Award in May 2009 at the fifth annual MusiCares even for his dedication and support of the MusiCares MAP Fund and for his commitment to helping other addicts with addiction and recovery process.^[104] Kiedis' fellow band members, minus Frusciante were on hand to pay tribute and under the name, 'The Insects', Kiedis, Smith, Flea along with Ron Wood, Josh Klinghoffer and Ivan Neville performed a brief set of cover songs.^[105] In September 2009, the group was named first-time nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame however the band did not end up making the final cut for the class of 2010.^[106]
The band officially ended their hiatus in October 2009 and, without Frusciante, entered the studio to begin writing for their tenth studio album. The band was joined by Josh Klinghoffer, who to the public was still the band's backup touring guitarist, although later it was confirmed that he was already an official member and Frusciante's replacement. In December 2009, Frusciante made the announcement that he had officially quit the band sometime before 2009. Frusciante explained on his MySpace page that there was no drama or anger about him leaving the band this time and that the other members were very supportive and understanding. Frusciante said he felt his musical interests had led him in a different direction and that he needed to fully focus his efforts on his solo career.^[107]

I’m with You and Hall Of Fame (2010–present)

Josh Klinghoffer (pictured), who acted as backup touring guitarist for the band in 2007, replaced John Frusciante in 2009 as the band's full-time guitarist.

This article or section may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. (January 2012)

The band, with Josh Klinghoffer on guitar, made their live comeback on January 29, 2010, paying tribute to Neil Young with a cover of "A Man Needs a Maid" at MusiCares. After months of speculation, in February 2010 Klinghoffer was officially confirmed by Chad Smith as Frusciante's full-time replacement.^[108]
The band officially began recording their tenth studio album with producer Rick Rubin in September 2010. According to Rubin, the band recorded enough material to release a second double album, following Stadium Arcadium but ultimately decided not to. Rubin notes, "it was painful not to share all of the material that we had, but we felt it would be too much. We really wanted it to be twelve songs but it ended up being fourteen just because nobody could agree on which twelve." The recording process lasted until March 2011. Many of the songs were written between October 2009 and August 2010 and according to Flea around 60-70 songs were written in the ten months prior to entering the studio to record the album. Rubin spoke about Klinghoffer and the new music by saying "Josh is fantastic. He played with John Frusciante for many, many years and he actually toured with the Chili Peppers before, so he's sort of part of the extended family. He's stylistically very close to John but has a completely different trip. It sounds like the Red Hot Chili Peppers that you've never heard before" According to Kiedis, the writing and process this time around was much different. In the past many of their songs came through jams however this time around many were thought out and planned thanks to Flea's new knowledge of music theory.^[109]
In July 2011 the band kicked off a trio of invitation only warm-up dates in California. These were the first shows the band played since August 2007 and their first official shows with Josh as their guitarist.^[110]^[111]
I'm with You, the band's tenth studio album was released in the United States in August 2011. The album topped the charts in 18 different countries although failed to provide the band with their second straight number one debut in the U.S.. The album was met with mostly positive reviews from the critics however some felt the new album lacked the focus and creativity of the previous records, especially those that featured John Frusciante. The album's first single, "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" was released a month earlier and went on to become the band's 12th number one hit single, topping their own record. Kreayshawn was tapped to direct the music video for the single however due to unknown reasons, the video shot by Kreayshawn went unreleased and a second video directed by Marc Klasfeld was released in its place.^[112]^[113]

Josh Klinghoffer, Flea, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith in a 2011 promotional photo

The band kicked off a month long promotional tour in August 2011 starting in Asia. On August 30, 2011, the band appeared on movie screens throughout the world via-satellite from Cologne, Germany performing the entire new album in sequence minus "Even You Brutus" along with "Give It Away" and "Me and My Friends".^[114] The band officially kicked off the I'm with You tour on September 11, 2011. The tour is expected to last into 2013 and be one of the band's biggest to date. All shows from the upcoming world tour will be made available to purchase as downloads through LiveChiliPeppers.com.^[115]
The band was nominated for two MTV Europe Music Awards awards for Best Rock Band and Best Live Artist^[116] and nominated for Best Group at the 2012 People's Choice Awards^[117]I'm with You was also nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.^[118]
"Monarchy of Roses" was announced as the album's second single on September 17, 2011 during a interview with Anthony and Chad on BBC Radio 2. Host, Justin Lee Collins broke the news of the single. The single was released October 7, 2011 while the music video, directed by Marc Klasfeld was released November 14, 2011.^[119] The single became a minor hit however it has failed to reach the top of the charts like the album's previous single. It was announced in December 2011 that the third single from the album would be "Look Around" and the Robert Hales directed music video will be released January 25, 2012. In Brazil, fans voted for "Did I Let You Know" to be the next single and it will be exclusively released only in that country. The song was already getting heavy airplay at the time despite not being a single. This was also the first time ever the fans were allowed to select a single.
After being named a finalist in September 2011 and failing to make the final cut the previous two years, on December 7, 2011 the Red Hot Chili Peppers were announced as part of the Class of 2012 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.^[120] The awards ceremony will be held in April 2012. Kiedis was asked if John Frusciante would attend the induction ceremony and said he didn't know and assumed he wouldn't attend. He said he hasn't talked to Frusciante in a while so he doesn't know his feelings about the induction however he's more than welcome to attend and will be embraced if he does. Kiedis said he assumes both Cliff Martinez and Jack Irons will attend.^[121]Dave Navarro congratulated the band on their induction however said he has no plans to perform with them and it is unknown if he will attend.
The band was the main performer at a invitation only New Year's Eve party on December 31, 2011 which was held in St. Barts by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The band performed for an hour and were joined by Toots Hibbert for a performance of Louie Louie to end the set. Around 300 guests including George Lucas, Martha Stewart, Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Buffett were invited to the party at Abramovich's $90 million estate.^[122]^[123]
On January 11, 2012, the band made the announcement that they were being forced to postpone the start of their U.S. tour, which was expected to begin on January 19, 2012. The tour has been postponed due to multiple foot injuries Kiedis has suffered through since the Stadium Arcadium tour. During a recent break for the band, Kiedis had surgery on his foot and is expected to make a full recovery. The first U.S. leg of the tour, including dates in Canada, will now kick off on March 29, 2012 and last into June 2012 with the rest of the already scheduled U.S. dates being made in August through October 2012. Dates in Australia and Asia, which were expected in 2012, have yet to be scheduled.^[124]
On January 17, 2012, the band released their first ever Smartphone application for free download. The application contains tourdates, news and exclusive content only for users of the application. Upon it's release, the band released and exclusive behind the scenes video for the upcoming music video for their next single, "Look Around".^[125]
On January 25, 2012, the band released the video for Look Around, premiered on their official website. In the video, each member performs in a separate room, with each room loosely representing the band members' personalities. All of the rooms were filmed simultaneously. Almost all the props and artwork in the rooms came from their personal collections.^[126]

Musical style

Techniques

"Fight Like A Brave"

"Fight Like A Brave", the first single from The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, exemplifies the band's typical punk and funk rock sound of the period, also marked by Anthony Kiedis' rapping lyrics. The song is also noted for its backing vocals sung by football fans.^[127]

"Knock Me Down"

"Knock Me Down", the first single from Mother's Milk, exemplifies a stylistic divergence away from the band's typical punk and funk rock into more alternative territory. The track was originally intended to be a duet between guitarist John Frusciante and vocalist Anthony Kiedis but was mixed in a way that Frusciante's voice is more prominent.

"Under the Bridge"

"Under the Bridge", the second single from Blood Sugar Sex Magik, was a reflective and melodic composition that would go on to become one of the defining songs of the nineties.

Problems listening to these files? See media help.

The Peppers' musical style is a mix of funk, alternative rock, hard rock and punk rock. The band's influences include Defunkt, Parliament-Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Gang of Four, Bob Marley, Sly and the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Black Flag, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holliday, Santana, Elvis Costello, The Stooges,^[128] The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees,^[129] Devo, and Miles Davis.^[130]
Kiedis provided multiple vocal styles. His primary approach up to Blood Sugar Sex Magik was spoken verse and "rapping". Complemented with traditional vocals, he helped the band maintain a consistent style.^[131] Nevertheless, as the group matured, starting with Californication the group reduced the number of rapped verses. By the Way contained only two rap-driven-verse/melodic chorus form.^[132] Kiedis' more recent style was developed through ongoing coaching.^[133]
Hillel Slovak's style was strongly based on blues and funk. Slovak was primarily influenced by hard rock artists such as Jimi Hendrix, KISS and Led Zeppelin.^[134] His playing method was highly based on improvisation, a style commonly used in funk music.^[135] He also was noted for his aggressive playing style; he would often play with such force that his fingers would "come apart."^[135] Kiedis observed that his playing evolved during his time away from the group in What Is This?, with Slovak adopting a more fluid style featuring "sultry" elements as opposed to his original hard rock techniques.^[136] On The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Slovak experimented with genres outside of traditional funk music including reggae and speed metal.^[137] His guitar riffs would often serve as the basis of the group's songs, with the other members writing their parts to complement his guitar work. His melodic riff featured in the song "Behind the Sun" inspired the group to create "pretty" songs with an emphasis on melody.^[28] Kiedis describes the song as "pure Hillel inspiration".^[138] Slovak also used a talk box on songs such as "Green Heaven" and "Funky Crime", in which he would sing into a tube while playing to create psychedelic effects.^[139]
Frusciante's musical style has evolved over the course of his career. His guitar playing employs melody and emotion rather than virtuosity. Although virtuoso influences can be heard throughout his career, he has said that he often minimizes this.^[140] Frusciante brought a more melodic and textured sound to albums such as By the Way, Californication and Stadium Arcadium. This contrasts with his previous abrasive approach in Mother's Milk,^[141]^[142] as well as his dry, funky and more docile arrangements on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. On Californication and By the Way, Frusciante derived the technique of creating tonal texture through chord patterns from post-punk guitarist Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column, and bands such as Fugazi and The Cure.^[75]^[143]^[144] He originally intended By the Way to be made up of "these punky, rough songs", drawing inspiration from early punk artists such as The Germs and The Damned. However, this was discouraged by producer Rick Rubin, and he instead built upon Californication's melodically-driven style.^[145] During the recording of Stadium Arcadium, he moved away from his New Wave influences and concentrated on emulating flashier guitar players such as Hendrix and Van Halen.^[146]
Navarro brought an entirely different sound to the band during his tenure, with his style based on heavy metal, progressive rock and psychedelia.^[147]
Flea's electric bass style is an amalgamation of funk, psychedelic, punk, and hard rock.^[148] The groove-heavy, low-tuned melodies, played through either finger–picking, or slapping, contributed to their signature style. While Flea's slap bass style was prominent in earlier albums, albums after Blood Sugar Sex Magik^[148] have more melodic and funk–driven bass lines. He has also used double stops on some newer songs. Flea's bass playing has changed considerably throughout the years. When he joined Fear his technique centered largely around traditional punk rock bass lines,^[149] however he was to change this style when the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed. He began to incorporate a "slap" bass style that drew influence largely from Bootsy Collins.^[150] Blood Sugar Sex Magik saw a notable shift in style as it featured none of his signature technique but rather styles that focused more on traditional and melodic roots.^[151] His intellectual beliefs on how to play the instrument were also altered: "I was trying to play simply on Blood Sugar Sex Magik because I had been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, 'I've really got to chill out and play half as many notes'. When you play less, it's more exciting—there's more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good."^[151]
Smith blends rock with funk. He mixes funk, rock, metal and jazz to his beats. Influences include Buddy Rich to John Bonham.^[152] He brought a different sound to Mother's Milk, playing tight and fast. In Blood Sugar Sex Magik, he displays greater power. He is recognized for his ghost notes, his beats and his fast right foot. MusicRadar put him in sixth place on their list of the "50 Greatest Drummers Of All Time", behind Mike Portnoy, Neil Peart, Keith Moon, Rich and their number one choice, Bonham.^[153]

Lyrics and songwriting

Through the years, Kiedis' lyrics covered a variety of topics, which shifted as time progressed. Early in the group's career, Kiedis wrote mostly comical songs filled with sexual innuendos as well as songs inspired by friendship and the band members' personal experiences. However, after the death of his close friend and band mate Hillel Slovak, Kiedis' lyrics became much more introspective and personal, as exemplified by the song "Knock Me Down" which was dedicated to Slovak.When the band recorded "One Hot Minute" Kiedis had turned to drugs once again, which resulted in darker lyrics. ^[154] He began to write about anguish, and the self mutilating thoughts he would experience as a result of his heroin and cocaine addiction.^[155]^[156] During the recording of the album One Hot Minute, Kiedis once again struggled with his addictions, which contributed to his melancholy and sometimes cryptic lyrics.^[62] After witnessing Frusciante's recovery from his heroin addiction, Kiedis wrote many songs inspired by rebirth and the meaning of life on Californication. He was also intrigued by the life lessons that the band had learned,^[56] including Kiedis' experience with meeting a young mother at the YMCA, who was attempting to battle her alcohol addiction while living with her infant daughter.^[157] On By the Way, Kiedis was lyrically influenced by love, his girlfriend, and the emotions expressed when one fell in love.^[158] Drugs also played an integral part in Kiedis' writings, as he had only been sober since December 2000.^[159] Tracks like "This Is the Place" and "Don't Forget Me" expressed his intense dislike for narcotics and the harmful physical and emotional effects they caused him. Stadium Arcadium continued the themes of love and romance; Kiedis stated that "love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles – those are real and profound influences on this record. And it's great, because it wasn't just me writing about the fact that I'm in love. It was everybody in the band. We were brimming with energy based on falling in love."^[160]
Themes within his repertoire include love and friendship,^[161]^[162] teenage angst, good-time aggression,^[163] various sexual topics and the link between sex and music, political and social commentary (Native American issues in particular),^[164] romance,^[161]^[165]^[166] loneliness,^[167] globalization and the cons of fame and Hollywood,^[168] poverty, drugs, alcohol, dealing with death, and California.^[169]

Band members

Main article: List of Red Hot Chili Peppers band members

Anthony Kiedis – lead vocals (1983–present)
Flea – bass, piano, trumpet, backing vocals (1983–present)
Chad Smith – drums, percussion (1989–present)
Josh Klinghoffer – guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, six-string bass, banjo, backing vocals (2009–present)

History Avenged Sevenfold

2012-02-07T09:51:00.004+07:00

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold in 2011
Background information
Origin	Huntington Beach, California, USA
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock, metalcore
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Good Life, Hopeless, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Pinkly Smooth, Suburban Legends, Brian Haner, Sr., Confide
Website	avengedsevenfold.com
Members
M. Shadows Zacky Vengeance Synyster Gates Johnny Christ
Past members
The Rev Matt Wendt Justin Sane Dameon Ash

Avenged Sevenfold (often abbreviated A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ.
They are known for their diverse rock sound, dramatic imagery in album covers and t-shirts.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet but their style had evolved by their third album and first major label release, City of Evil into a hard rock/heavy metal sound. The band continued to explore new sounds with their self-titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, died in 2009. Despite his death, the band continued on with help of now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and released and toured in support of their fifth album Nightmare in 2010 which debuted on the top spot of the Billboard 200, their first number one debut.^[5]
To date, Avenged Sevenfold has released five studio albums, one live album/compilation/DVD, and eighteen singles and sold more than four million albums worldwide.^[6] The band has received much credit for their worldwide mainstream success and were featured as second place on Ultimate Guitar's Top Ten Bands of the Decade.

History

Formation and early years (1999–2002)

The band was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California with original members M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev and Matt Wendt. M Shadows came up with the name as a reference to the story of Cain and Abel from The Bible, which can be found in Genesis 4:24, although they are not a religious band.^[7] Upon its formation, each member of the band also took on a pseudonym which were already nicknames of theirs from high school.^[8]
Before the release of their debut album, the band recorded two demos in 1999 and 2000. Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001.^[9] After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, at the end of 1999 when he was 18 at the introductory track "To End the Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002. The band started to receive recognition, performing with bands such as Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall and playing on the Take Action Tour.^[10]^[11]

Line-up stability and chart success (2003–2006)

Having settled on their fourth bassist, Johnny Christ, they released Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Records in August 2003. The album featured a more refined and mature sound production in comparison to their previous album. The band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and played in the Vans Warped Tour.^[12]^[13] In 2004, Avenged Sevenfold toured again on the Vans Warped Tour and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which went into rotation on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball.^[14] Shortly after the release of Waking the Fallen, Avenged Sevenfold left Hopeless Records and were signed to Warner Bros. Records.
City of Evil, the band's third album and major label debut, was released on June 7, 2005 and debuted at No.30 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 30,000 copies in its first week of release.^[15]^[16] It utilized a more classic metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous albums, which had been grouped into the metalcore genre.^[17]^[18] The album is also notable for the absence of screamed and growled vocals; M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson—whose clients have included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell—for months before the album's release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the tone".^[17]^[19] The album received steller reviews from several magazines and websites and is credited for propelling the band into international popularity.
After playing Ozzfest in 2006, Avenged Sevenfold memorably beat out R&B Singers Rihanna and Chris Brown, Panic! at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves and James Blunt for the title of Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, thanks in part to their Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-inspired song “Bat Country.”^[20]
They returned to the Vans Warped Tour, this time headlining and then continued on their own "Cities of Evil Tour."^[21] In addition, their lead single "Bat Country" reached No.2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts, No.6 on Billboard's Modern Rock Charts and the accompanying video made it to No.1 on MTV's Total Request Live.^[22] Propelled by this success, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first gold record.^[23] It was later certified platinum in August 2009.

Self-titled album and death of "The Rev" (2007–2009)

Avenged Sevenfold's was invited to join Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed and System of a Down for the first time in 2006.^[24] That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After a sixteen month promotion of City of Evil, the band announced that they were cancelling their Fall 2006 tour to record new music.^[25] In the interim, the band released their first DVD titled All Excess on July 17, 2007.^[26] All Excess, which debuted as the No.1 DVD in the USA, included live performances and backstage footage that spanned the band's eight year career. Two tribute albums, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String Tribute were also released in October 2007.
Avenged Sevenfold, the band's fourth album, was released on October 30, 2007, debuting at No.4 on the Billboard 200 with over 90,000 copies sold.^[27] Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" were released prior to the album's debut. In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven." Due to the song's controversial subject matter, however, Warner Brothers only released it to registered MVI users over the internet. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Their fourth single, "Dear God", was released on June 15, 2008. Although critical reception was generally mixed the self-titled album went on to sell over 500,000 copies and was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards.^[28]
Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot.^[29] They used the footage from their last show in Long Beach for Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD which was released on September 16, 2008. They also recorded numerous covers, including Pantera's "Walk", Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".^[29]^[30]^[31]
In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band was writing the follow-up to their self-titled fourth album within the upcoming months.^[32] They also announced that they will be playing at Rock on the Range, from May 16–17, 2009.^[33] On April 16, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.^[34] On December 28, 2009, drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan was found dead at his home at the age of 28.^[35] Autopsy results were inconclusive,^[36] but on June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol".^[37] In a statement by the band, they expressed their grief over the passing of The Rev and later posted a message from Sullivan's family which expressed their gratitude to his fans for their support.^[38]^[39]

Nightmare and recent events (2010–present)

M.Shadows live in Norway, 2011

Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates live in 2011

The band members admitted in a number of interviews that they considered disbanding at this point of time. However, on February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold stated that they had entered the studio, along with now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, to drum for the record, in place of the Rev.^[40]
The single "Nightmare" was digitally released on May 18, 2010.^[41]^[42] A preview for the song was released on May 6, 2010 on Amazon.com, but was removed soon after for unknown reasons.^[42]^[43] Mixing for the album had been completed in New York City, and Nightmare was finally released worldwide on July 27, 2010.^[44] It met with mixed to positive reviews from music critics but was well received by the fans. Nightmare beat sales projections easily, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 163,000 units in its first week.^[45] After finishing recording, in December, Portnoy and the band posted simultaneous statements on their websites stating that he will not be their replacement for The Rev. However, Portnoy did travel with the band overseas in December 2010 for three shows in Iraq and Kuwait sponsored by the USO. They played for US Soldiers at Camp Adder, Camp Beuhring, and Balad Air Base.^[46] On January 20, 2011, Avenged Sevenfold announced via Facebook that former Confide drummer Arin Ilejay will tour with them starting this year. Whether or not he will be joining the band on a permanent basis has not been decided yet.^[47]^[48]
Avenged Sevenfold performed at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals on June 3–5, 2011 alongside other bands such as Alter Bridge, System of a Down, and In Flames.^[49] On April 2011, the band headlined the Golden God Awards held by Metal Hammer. The same night the band won three awards for "Best Vocalist" (M. Shadows), "Epiphone Best Guitarist(s)" (Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance) and "Affliction’s Album of The Year: " for Nightmare, while Mike Portnoy won the award for "Drum Workshop’s Best Drummer" for his work on the album.
In May 2011, it was confirmed that the band had written a new song to be included in the Escalation DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops.^[50] The song is the first time developers Treyarch have commissioned an outside band to contribute a song since the franchise began.^[51] The song, titled "Not Ready to Die", was released on iTunes on May 2, 2011.
In August 2011, vocalist M. Shadows stated the band would finish the Uproar Festival then go home to take a break for six to seven months before starting a new record.^[52] He also roughly stated that Arin Illejay and the band are getting along great, but that they have to make sure he's comfortable writing music with them, but also that he hopes everything works out.
Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2011 Uproar Festival with supporting acts Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, among others.^{[citation needed]}
The band will be touring in November and December on their "Buried Alive" tour with supporting acts Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, and Black Veil Brides.^{[citation needed]}

Style and influences

The band has cited bands such as Bad Religion, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Dream Theater, Metallica, NOFX, Alice in Chains, Black Flag, Corrosion of Conformity, The Misfits, Slayer, The Vandals, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Deftones and AFI as their artistic influences.^[53]
Avenged Sevenfold's material spans multiple genres and has evolved over the band's entire career. Initially, the band's debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of metalcore sound; however, there were several deviations to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a punk style and "Warmness on the Soul," which is a piano-oriented ballad.^[54] On Waking the Fallen, the band displayed the contemporary metalcore style once more, but added more clean vocals as well as more mature and intricate musical elements. In the band's DVD All Excess, producer Andrew Mudrock explained this transition: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming. The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all singing.'"
On City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold's third album, the band chose to abandon the metalcore genre, developing a more hard rock style. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles from the album's main hard rock and heavy metal songs, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which is circled within the influence of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. Nightmare contains further deviations, including a piano ballad called "Fiction" and a brief return to their metalcore roots on "God Hates Us". The band has changed considerably since their first album, in which during that time they have been characterized as a heavy band with a screamed and growled vocal style combined with clean vocals, chugging guitar riffs and breakdowns that one can expect from the metalcore genre.

Discography Dream Theater

2012-02-07T09:51:00.000+07:00

Dream Theater

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dream Theater
Dream Theater performing live in 2011.
Background information
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Progressive metal
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Roadrunner, Warner Bros., Atlantic, Elektra, EastWest, Atco, Mechanic
Website	www.dreamtheater.net
Members
John Petrucci John Myung James LaBrie Jordan Rudess Mike Mangini
Past members
Mike Portnoy Kevin Moore Chris Collins Charlie Dominici Derek Sherinian

Dream Theater portal

Dream Theater is a Grammy Nominated American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would ultimately become Dream Theater. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remained together along with James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess until September 8, 2010 when Portnoy left the band. In October 2010, the band held auditions for Portnoy's replacement drummer. Mike Mangini was announced as the new permanent drummer on April 29, 2011.
The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Guitarist John Petrucci has been named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any invited players. In 2009 he was named the No. 2 best metal guitarist by Joel McIver in his book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists. He was also named as one of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" by GuitarOne magazine.^[1] Former drummer Mike Portnoy has won 23 awards from Modern Drummer magazine and is also the second youngest person (at the age of 37) to be inducted into the Rock Drummer Hall of Fame. His replacement Mike Mangini has also previously set 5 WFD records.^[2] John Myung was voted the greatest bassist of all time in a poll conducted by MusicRadar in August through September 2010. The band was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2010.^[3]
The band's highest-selling album is the gold-selling Images and Words (1992), which reached #61 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[4] Both the 1994 release Awake and their 2002 release Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also entered the charts at #32 and #46 respectively and received mostly positive reviews. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also led to Dream Theater becoming the initial band reviewed in the music section of Entertainment Weekly during its opening week of release, despite the magazine generally preferring more mainstream music. In 2007, Systematic Chaos entered U.S. Billboard 200 at #19.^[4] By 2008, Dream Theater had sold over 2.1 million albums in the U.S. and by 2011, over 12 million records worldwide.^[5]
The band's eleventh studio album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, was released on September 13, 2011. It entered the U.S. Billboard 200 at #8, two positions lower than their previous release Black Clouds & Silver Linings and entered the UK Rock Chart at #1. The album is the band's first with Mike Mangini, since Mike Portnoy's departure.^[6] On November 30, 2011 it was announced that "On the Backs of Angels" has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category, the first Dream Theater song ever to do so.^[7]

Early years (1985–1990)

Formation

Founding members (from left to right) John Myung, Mike Portnoy, and John Petrucci in 1985.

Dream Theater was formed in Massachusetts in 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and drummer Mike Portnoy decided to form a band while attending the Berklee College of Music. The trio started by covering Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.
Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy joined together on the name Majesty for their newly formed group. According to the The Score So Far... documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album Caress of Steel) sounded "majestic". It was then decided that Majesty would be the band's name.^[8]
The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group. Petrucci asked his high school band-mate Kevin Moore to play the keyboard. After he accepted the position, another friend from home, Chris Collins, was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of "Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche.^[9] During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci, and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in college. Moore also left his college, SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band.

	"Another Won" "Another Won" from The Majesty Demos.
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The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled The Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene. The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape format today, despite being released officially on CD, through Mike Portnoy's YtseJam Records.
In November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together, Chris Collins was fired. After a year of trying to find a replacement, Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure.
Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty^[10] threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name, so the band was forced to adopt a new moniker. Various possibilities were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1, which were all rejected, though the band did go as Glasser for about a week, though fans reacted poorly to this decision. Eventually, Portnoy's father suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a small theater he ran in Monterey, California, and the name stuck.^[11]

When Dream and Day Unite (1988–1990)

Dream Theater in 1989: John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Charlie Dominici, Kevin Moore, John Myung

With their new name and band stability, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Records, a division of MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on June 23, 1988^[11] and set out to record their debut album. The band recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Recording the basic tracks took about 10 days, and the entire album was completed in about 3 weeks.^[12]
When Dream and Day Unite was released in 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated. Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract, so the band was restricted to playing around New York City. The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts, all of which were relatively local. Their first show was at Sundance in Bay Shore, New York opening for the classic rock power trio Zebra.^[13]
After the fourth show, Charlie Dominici was let go because the band was starting to feel the limitations of his voice based upon the vocal style they wanted. The band was looking for more of a Bruce Dickinson/Geoff Tate type of singer, and his stage presence was not what they wanted for a front man. Shortly after, however, the band Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was given the opportunity to perform one last time.^[13] It would be another two years before Dream Theater had a replacement vocalist.

The Atlantic years

Images and Words and the addition of James LaBrie (1991–1993)

	"Pull Me Under" "Pull Me Under" from Images and Words.
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Following Dominici's departure, Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic, and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album. In their search for a new singer, they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch; all were turned down. In mid-1990, at a gig in New York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer. They had successfully recorded demos with him, which can be seen on the Images and Words Demos, though he only performed one live show with them that ended up disastrous, and Stone was fired immediately. The band says he had been dancing around the stage in a rather odd manner, seemingly doing a bad impression of Bruce Dickinson. Also, he had infamously shouted 'Scream for me Long Beach!' several times throughout the show, although they were actually performing in Bayshore, embarrassing the band further.^[14] It was five months before Dream Theater played another show, this time all-instrumental (under the name YtseJam). Until 1991, the band remained focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music.^[13] It was during this period that they wrote the majority of what would become 1992's Images and Words.
In January 1991, Kevin James LaBrie, of glam metal band Winter Rose, was flown from Canada to New York for an audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band, and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position. Once recruited, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band. For the next few months, the band returned to playing live shows (still mostly around NYC), while working on vocal parts for the music written before acquiring LaBrie. Derek Shulman and Atco Records (now EastWest), a division of Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract based on a three song demo (later made available as "The Atco Demos" through the Dream Theater fan club).
The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was 1992's Images and Words. For promotion, the label released a CD Single and video clip for the song "Another Day", but neither made significant commercial impact. The song "Pull Me Under", however, managed to garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me Under", which saw heavy rotation on MTV. A third video clip was produced for "Take the Time", but it was not nearly as successful as "Pull Me Under".
The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, caused Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan. A tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed Marquee Club. The show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.

Awake and Kevin Moore's departure (1994–1995)

	"A Mind Beside Itself: II - Voices" "Voices" from Awake.
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Eager to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. Awake, Dream Theater's third studio album, was released on October 4, 1994 in a hail of controversy among fans. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he was simply no longer interested in touring, nor did he favor the style of music Dream Theater performed and would be quitting Dream Theater to concentrate on his own musical interests.^[15] As a result, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be considered.
Jens Johansson, who would go on to become a member of Stratovarius, was among the biggest names to audition, however the band members were eager to fill the position with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Portnoy and Petrucci had come across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, where he was recognized as "best new talent" in the readers' poll. The two invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in Burbank, California.^[13] For the members of Dream Theater, the show went incredibly well, and Rudess was asked to fill the keyboardist position permanently, however Rudess opted to tour with The Dixie Dregs instead, since it granted him more personal latitude. Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus Derek Sherinian, who had previously toured and recorded with Alice Cooper and KISS, to fill in for the Awake promotional tour. By the conclusion of the tour, the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore's full-time replacement.^[8]

A Change of Seasons, Falling into Infinity (1995–1998)

	"A Change of Seasons" "Carpe Diem/The Darkest of Winters" bridge from A Change of Seasons.
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Once again finding themselves with a new member, Dream Theater did not immediately start working on new material. Fans around the world, united on the YtseJam Mailing List (the most popular form of communication between Dream Theater fans at that point), had started placing pressure on the band to officially release the song "A Change of Seasons". It had been written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of Images and Words, but at almost 17 minutes, it was deemed too long for studio placement. However, the band did perform it live on occasion while continuing to revise it in the years leading up to 1995.
The petition was successful, and the group entered BearTracks Studios in New York in May 1995 to rewrite and record the 23 minute song with Sherinian contributing significantly to the final product. To disseminate "A Change of Seasons", the band released it as an EP along with a collection of cover songs recorded live at a show they played at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London earlier that year.
After a short run of small concerts to promote A Change of Seasons, Dream Theater took a break for a few months. To keep busy, however, the band released a special Christmas CD through their official fan club, consisting of rare live tracks recorded during the band's early years. They continued releasing a new CD each Christmas until 2005.^[16] Also during the break the individual members set out to write compositions for their upcoming collaborative writing sessions.
Meanwhile, there were several changes at EastWest, and Dream Theater's main contact within the label was fired. As a result, the new team at the company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former EastWest personnel, and they pressured them to write an album that was more accessible. In mid-1997, they entered the studio to write their next album. In addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound, EastWest recruited writer/producer Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the lyrics to his song "You or Me". The whole band substantially reworked the music to the song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" with a chorus that was barely reminiscent of the original. Child also had a noticeable impact on the album, with a shift towards compositions that were less complex and more radio-friendly.
The band wrote almost two CDs worth of material, including a 20 minute long follow-up to the Images and Words song "Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper". The label, however, did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140-minute record would not be digestible by the general public. James LaBrie also felt that the CD should be a single disc.^[17] The unused songs were later released in the Ytsejam Records release The Falling into Infinity Demos.^[18]
The material that made it onto the album proper was released as Falling into Infinity, which received a mixed reception from fans who were more familiar with the band's earlier sound. While the album was moderately progressive-sounding, tracks such as "Hollow Years" and "You Not Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding Dream Theater. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Although Portnoy did not speak out publicly at the time, many years later, in the 2004 DVD commentary for 5 Years in a Livetime, he revealed that he had been so discouraged during this period he'd considered disbanding Dream Theater altogether.
During the European leg of the Touring into Infinity world tour, two shows were recorded for a live album entitled Once in a LIVEtime, in France and The Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as the video 5 Years in a Livetime, which chronicled the time from when Kevin Moore left the band up to the Falling into Infinity promotional tour.

Addition of Jordan Rudess and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999–2000)

In 1997, Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive 'supergroup' to work on an album, which would become the first in a long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater.^[19] The lineup consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs. The band assumed the name Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater. In 1999, he accepted an offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater keyboardist, replacing Sherinian.^[8]
With yet another new member, Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio once again to write and record their next album. As a result of an ultimatum from Portnoy, the label gave the band complete creative control. The follow-up to "Metropolis Part 1", which was written during the Falling Into Infinity sessions (but not used on that album), was taken off the shelf for reworking. They decided to expand the 20-minute song into a complete concept album, with a story revolving around themes such as reincarnation, murder and betrayal. To avoid stirring up the fan base, a tight veil of secrecy enveloped the writing and recording process. The only things fans were privy to prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band's wishes, and a release date. In 1999, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was released to high critical acclaim. It was hailed as Dream Theater's masterpiece by many fans and critics alike, despite only reaching #73 on the US album chart.^[4]
The album was mixed by David Bottrill, but only a few of his mixes made it on the final album. The bulk was remixed by Kevin Shirley. The rest of the mixes can be heard in the band's official bootleg "The Making of Scenes from a Memory".
A massive world tour followed recording the album, taking over a year to complete, by far their largest to that point. The concerts reflected the theatrical aspect of the album. They played the entire Scenes From a Memory album from start to finish, with a video screen on the back wall of the stage showing a narrative companion to the story of the album. In addition to playing the album in its entirety, the band also played a second set of Dream Theater songs, as well as a few covers and improvisations of old Dream Theater material. For one extra special show, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, actors were hired to play characters in the story, and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in some sections of the performance.
This show, the last North American date of the tour, was recorded for the band's first DVD release. After many technical delays, the DVD, titled Metropolis 2000, was released in early 2001. Shortly after, the band announced that an audio version of the concert, with the entire four-hour long set-list (some of which had to be cut from the DVD to save space), would be released.
The cover for the CD version of the concert, titled Live Scenes from New York, depicted one of Dream Theater's early logos (the Images and Words-era burning heart, modeled on the Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in "Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in the flame above it. In an unfortunate coincidence, the album was released on the same date as the September 11 attacks. The album was quickly recalled by the band and was re-released with revised artwork later,^[20] though some copies were sold, and have since become rare collectors items for fans.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2001–2002)

	"Overture" Part one of the eight parts that constitute "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", the longest song Dream Theater has written to date, (unless you were to count Metropolis Pt.2 as one entire piece or even further, Pt.1 and Pt.2 conjoined) from the album of the same name.
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Putting the whole ordeal behind them, Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they first petitioned EastWest to allow them to release a double album, they finally got their chance with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7–13 minutes in length, and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which is to date the longest song Dream Theater has written. The genesis of that song came when Rudess wrote what would become the "Overture" section of "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", and the band took some different melodies and ideas contained within it and expanded them into chapters of a complete story.^[8]
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence ended up being received very well by critics and the press. It was the most publicized of Dream Theater's albums since Awake, debuting on the Billboard charts at #46^[4] and the Billboard Internet charts at #1.^[21] Throughout the next year and a half they toured the world once more, with an expanded live show including a select few special "album cover" gigs (see Cover songs section, below), in which they played Metallica's Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast in their entirety.

Train of Thought (2003–2004)

During 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album. Since Scenes from a Memory was written and recorded simultaneously in the studio, in the spirit of change, the band took a different approach by setting aside three weeks for writing prior to recording. In the middle of the recording sessions for the album, a special tour with two other progressive metal bands, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, was undertaken in North America. The "Escape from the Studio American tour", as it was referred to in Dream Theater's promotional material, featured Queensrÿche and Dream Theater as co-headlining acts with Fates Warning performing supporting act duties. As a finale for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often playing cover songs.
At the completion of the tour, Dream Theater returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album, Train of Thought, the follow-up to sixth double disc album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. They concentrated more on writing a great song-oriented album, a mindset inspired by covering Master of Puppets and Number of the Beast on their previous concert tour. As a result, the more straightforward metal sound of those two albums seemed to creep into Train of Thought.^[22] The album was a critical success, but it alienated a fair proportion of Dream Theater's fans who preferred traditional progressive rock, such as Yes or King Crimson. Regardless, it seemed to expand Dream Theater's fan base into new territory, capturing many more metal fans.^[8]
Another world tour followed, during which Dream Theater performed support act duties for one of their major influences, Yes. A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands, after which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so-called "An Evening With Dream Theater" shows.
Their next move was to release another live CD/DVD combination, this time recorded at the famous Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on their Train of Thought World Tour. Live at Budokan was released on October 5, 2004.

Octavarium (2005–2006)

Dream Theater after a concert in Paris during the first European leg of their tour (2005). From left to right: Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, James LaBrie, John Myung and Jordan Rudess

Upon the completion of their Train of Thought promotional tour, Dream Theater entered the Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album. As it turned out, they would be the last group ever to record in that famous studio, and after they wrapped up their final session, the lights were turned off at the studio forever.^[23]
Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Among its eight songs is a continuation of Portnoy's "Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All Evil", steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track, a musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons". Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate. Octavarium was the last album under their seven-album deal with Elektra Records, which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records.
Dream Theater toured extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on Gigantour alongside Megadeth and put together by frontman Dave Mustaine, also featuring Fear Factory, Nevermore and Symphony X. During a show on August 2, 2005 in Dallas, the band paid tribute to Pantera's late guitarist Dimebag Darrell by performing the song "Cemetery Gates" as an encore. In addition was the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians Russell Allen (Symphony X vocalist), Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory vocalist) and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth vocalist/guitarist), who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song.
Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour a few dates before it ended and continued on with their own series of concerts. Several concerts were recorded and released for the Fanclubs. The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1, 2006. Though the show had minimal promotion, it was sold out days after tickets were made available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called Score released on August 29, 2006 through Rhino Records, was the band's first concert accompanied by an orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra").

The Roadrunner years

Systematic Chaos and Greatest Hit (2006–2008)

After the show at Radio City Music Hall, the band decided to take the summer off for the first time in the band's career. Dream Theater later entered Avatar Studios in September 2006 to record their follow up to 2005's Octavarium, once again being self produced by John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy, with legendary Studio Engineer, Paul Northfield handling engineering and mixing duties. Dream Theater's 9th studio album, Systematic Chaos was released on June 5, 2007. The record marked their first with new label Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of the band's previous label Atlantic Records. Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for the album, and as a result, Systematic Chaos reached number 19 on the Billboard 200. It also saw the release of a video for "Constant Motion" on July 14, the band's first music video since Hollow Years in 1997. An authorized book entitled Lifting Shadows, detailing their first twenty years, was also released in 2007, with an updated and expanded edition released in 2009^[24] Systematic Chaos contains eight tracks, but technically only seven songs. The album contains an epic titled "In the Presence of Enemies", bookending the album as tracks 1 and 8, Portnoy's continuing AA Saga with the song "Repentance", and a song of political nature, "Prophets of War".
The 2007/2008 Chaos In Motion World Tour started off in Italy. Dream Theater played in the Gods of Metal concert on June 3, 2007.^[25] Dream Theater also appeared at the Fields Of Rock Festival in the Netherlands on June 17, 2007.^[26] They also played at various other European festivals including the UK's Download Festival and the French festival Hellfest Summer Open Air with other bands such as Megadeth, Korn, Mastodon and Slayer.
Dream Theater returned to perform the North American leg of the tour on July 24 in San Diego, California and wrapped up on August 26 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts Redemption and Into Eternity. The "Chaos In Motion" tour continued for the rest of the year and into 2008, playing shows in Asia, South America and, for the first time, Australia.^[27]
On April 1, 2008, a two-disc compilation album entitled Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title jokingly references the song "Pull Me Under", the band's only significant radio hit. It also includes three song re-mixes from their second album, Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released songs, and a track from a single B-side. Unlike most greatest hits compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up with the tracklisting that they felt best represented their musical careers.
Mike Portnoy, after the release of Greatest Hit, organized a new tour called Progressive Nation 2008. Unlike previous Dream Theater tours, performances were held in cities that they had not visited before in the past (such as Vancouver, Canada) or cities they had not played in for several years. This tour also marked the first time, since the release of Images and Words, where the group performed in small venues and performance halls.
After this tour, the band released a DVD set called Chaos in Motion 2007–2008, a compilation of songs from the tour supporting their 9th album, Systematic Chaos. There were two sets of DVDs released. One was a regular two disk set while the Special Edition set contained three CDs of music that went along with the DVDs. It was released on September 30, 2008.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings and Mike Portnoy's Departure (2008–2010)

On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater again entered Avatar Studios to begin work on their 10th album, resuming their relationship with Paul Northfield to engineer and mix the record. The album, titled Black Clouds & Silver Linings, was released on June 23, 2009.^[28] In addition to the standard CD, the album is available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs from artists such as Queen and Rainbow. On July 1, 2009, the album debuted at #6 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart, with first week sales totalling 40,285, making their highest entry on the chart.^[29]
Mike Portnoy spoke to Metal Hammer about the new album and commented the song 'The Shattered Fortress' was the last in a series of songs about his 12 Steps recovery from alcoholism, 'The Best of Times' "is a real heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the album," adding, "He was battling cancer throughout its making."^[30]
The band also embarked on a second Progressive Nation tour, including the tour's first performances in Europe. Opeth, Unexpect and Bigelf supported Dream Theater in Europe, while Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain Of Salvation, and Beardfish were slated to perform on the North American leg. However, Pain of Salvation and Beardfish were unable to tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa because of financial troubles within their respective record labels. The two new bands that filled the vacated slots for the Progressive Nation 2009 tour in North America were Bigelf and Scale The Summit with Bigelf performing on both European and North American legs.
After the Progressive Nation Tour, Dream Theater entered the studio right after New Year's Eve to write and record a brand new instrumental track for inclusion on the God of War III soundtrack EP God of War: Blood & Metal. Titled "Raw Dog", God (of) War reversed, the instrumental was sent to Roadrunner Records January 8, 2010. This marked the first time that the band has written and recorded an exclusive track for an outside project.^[31] "Raw Dog" includes the first ever commercially recorded harpejji track, performed by Jordan Rudess, as well as Dream Theaters final recorded performance with Mike Portnoy on drums. In December 2009, during their Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour whilst visiting Australia, Dream Theater appeared with one support act, Pain of Salvation.^[32] In March 2010, they toured South America with Bigelf. Afterwards, during the summer of 2010, Dream Theater supported Iron Maiden on the US and Canadian legs of their summer tour which were the last shows DT played during 2010.^[33]
On Wednesday, September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced he had left Dream Theater.^[34]
In his official statement he said:

"Dream Theater was always my baby...and I nurtured that baby every single day and waking moment of my life since 1985...24/7, 365...never taking time off from DT's never-ending responsibilities (even when the band was "off" between cycles)...working overtime and way beyond the call of duty that most sane people ever would do for a band....But I've come to the conclusion that the DT machine was starting to burn me out...and I really needed a break from the band in order to save my relationship with the other members and keep my DT spirit hungry and inspired. "We have been on an endless write/record/tour cycle for almost 20 years now (of which I have overseen EVERY aspect without a break) and while a few months apart from each other here & there over the years has been much needed and helpful, I honestly hoped the band could simply agree with me to taking a bit of a "hiatus" to recharge our batteries and "save me from ourselves"... "Sadly, in discussing this with the guys, they determined they do not share my feelings and have decided to continue without me rather than take a breather...I even offered to do some occasional work throughout 2011 against my initial wishes, but it was not to be..."

The rest of the band did not agree and decided to continue on without him. Because of this decision, Portnoy decided he will be leaving Dream Theater.^[35]
Portnoy, who had recently finished recording Avenged Sevenfold's most recent studio album, "Nightmare" in place of their late drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, appeared to have a stint with Avenged Sevenfold after his departure from Dream Theater. After the members of Avenged Sevenfold decided to continue on without Portnoy, he went back to the members of DT to try to reconcile. However, the band had already moved on and any chance of rekindling their working relationship had already passed. Portnoy wrote, “Just for the record, this is indeed true…Fairly recently, I reached out to the guys to try and make amends and offered to reconcile for the sake of having peace back in our lives…(plus I know how much it meant to a lot of the fans…),”. Portnoy also wrote online, “I figured it was still possible to try and save us, because they hadn’t made any announcements yet or begun any public activity with another drummer…but sadly, they declined my offer (well, actually their lawyer did…they didn’t even tell me themselves…)”.^[36] In Early 2011, he formed Adrenaline Mob, which focusses more on heavy metal^{[citation needed]}.

The addition of Mike Mangini and A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011–present)

After Mike Portnoy's departure, auditions to find a new drummer were to begin in October.^[37] An interview with James LaBrie conducted on October 8, 2010 confirmed that there were seven world-class drummers lined up for auditions,^[38] which would be taking place through the rest of October. On January 3, John Petrucci stated on his Twitter account that Dream Theater entered the studio to begin recording their eleventh album, but still had not revealed who the new drummer was.^[39] Two months later, Petrucci posted on his Facebook page that the band had finished writing the next album and would soon begin the tracking process.^[40]
On March 17, 2011, John Petrucci addressed on his forum page, since there was frustration among the fan base about who the new drummer was, he commented: "I appreciate everyone's patience regarding the announcement (or lack thereof!) of DT's new drummer. I know it has been very frustrating to have to wait for the news. Believe me, we are busting at the seams to tell everyone and rest assured that our decision will not disappoint on any level!".^[41]
On April 21, 2011, the band released a trailer for an upcoming documentary, entitled "The Spirit Carries On", in reference to a song from the album "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, about the search for their new drummer. This trailer revealed the seven drummers who auditioned; Mike Mangini, Virgil Donati, Marco Minnemann, Peter Wildoer, Thomas Lang, Derek Roddy and Aquiles Priester.^[42] On Friday April 29, 2011, Dream Theater revealed over YouTube, in the third and final episode of the documentary, that they chose Mike Mangini as Portnoy's replacement.^[43]
On May 24, 2011, John Petrucci announced that they would be working with legendary producer Andy Wallace for mixing the album.^[44] On June 7, 2011, John Petrucci revealed over Facebook and Twitter that the title of the band's upcoming album would be A Dramatic Turn of Events.^[45] A track listing of the new album was revealed on June 8, 2011.^[46] On June 28, 2011 Mixing and mastering of the album had been completed, and on the following day released their first single from the album, "On the Backs of Angels".^[47]
After it first week of release, it sold 36,000 copies to land at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 charts, 2 positions lower than their previous release Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which debuted at No. 6.^[6]

Logo and imagery

Dream Theater wordmark and "Majesty" symbol

Despite the band's being forced to change their name, Dream Theater adopted a custom logo (known as the Majesty symbol) and wordmark which has appeared on the vast majority of their promotional material and on the front cover of almost every Dream Theater studio album. The Majesty symbol is derived from Mary, Queen of Scots' mark,^[48]^[49] which was re-worked by Charlie Dominici for use on the album artwork for When Dream and Day Unite.^[50]
In September 2010, a fan of Dream Theater discovered that all of the letters of "DOMINICI" fit together perfectly into the Majesty symbol.^[51] When Charlie discovered this, he laughed and mentioned that "it only took them 25 years to figure out the 'Dominici Code!'"^[52] This has earlier also been discovered as shown on the comment section of DTFAQ^[50] and in the DTNorway Podcast Episode 2 from 2008, with Charlie Dominici.^[53]

[edit] Musical style

Dream Theater is well noted for being one of the early progenitors of the progressive metal genre.^[54] The original two members, John Petrucci and John Myung have strong influences from bands such as Rush, Yes, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, various speed metal bands, and even the hair metal of the day.^[55] This synthesis created a unique metal that was not traditional of the day: it had distorted guitars and fast riffing, but the music focused more on technical proficiency and precise execution than on heavy metal riffs. The band's music has focused on three main elements: metal, melody, and progressive roots.^[56]

Live performances

Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually become bigger, longer, and more diverse. The most obvious example of this is their rotational set list policy. That is, every single night of every tour has had its set list devised by Portnoy using a meticulous process that ensures its uniqueness. Factors such as set lists from previous cities are taken into account to ensure that people who see Dream Theater multiple times within the same area will not see the same songs performed twice, and even the set list from the last time the band was in a particular city is taken into account for the benefit of fans who see the band on successive tours.^[57] Whether or not this practice will continue following Portnoy's departure remains to be seen.

Rudess and Petrucci dueling in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2008).

For this to be possible, the band prepared to play the majority of its catalogue at any performance, depending on what Portnoy decided to program for that night. This process also required the employment of a complex lighting system to load pre-configured lighting cues based on the individual songs.
Some of Dream Theater's more notable touring partners include Porcupine Tree, Symphony X, Between The Buried And Me, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Iron Maiden, The Dixie Dregs, Joe Satriani, King's X, Marillion, Megadeth, In Flames, Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Queensrÿche, Riverside, Spock's Beard, Fear Factory, Enchant, 3, Yes and Zappa Plays Zappa. In 2005, Dream Theater toured North America with the Gigantour festival, co-headlining with Megadeth, and have played with Megadeth and Iron Maiden physically on stage.
The band's full world tours, since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, have predominantly been so-called "Evening with..." tours, in which the band performs for at least three hours with an intermission and no opening act. The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly four hours in length, and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized after acquiring severe food poisoning from the food he ate before the show.^[58]^[59]

	"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", live at Nagoya, Japan.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

There is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and improvisation attached to a Dream Theater concert. In the midst of "A Change of Seasons" it is quite common for themes such as those for Major League Baseball and The Simpsons to be quoted, and Rudess routinely modifies his solo section in the song and others, often playing the ragtime section of "When the Water Breaks" from Liquid Tension Experiment 2. Several songs included on Once in a LIVETime include snippets of others' pieces, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Other quotations include "Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass Moon", a quote of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"'s main melody played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of "Through Her Eyes" in Buenos Aires, the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul, and the opening riff of Rush's "A Passage to Bangkok" at a show in Bangkok, Thailand. On the "20th Anniversary World Tour" Rudess has even thrown in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during "Endless Sacrifice", and during a concert in Israel he started a spontaneous "Hava-Nagilla" later accompanied by the rest of the band.
Occasionally, a member of the audience is picked at random to perform on stage, an example of which can be seen during Portnoy's drum solo on the Live at Budokan DVD. There have also been many impromptu renditions of "Happy Birthday" when a member of the band or crew has a birthday corresponding to a tour date, which normally results in a birthday cake being thrown at the subject.
Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert structure is that during Derek Sherinian's time with the band. At selected shows the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictitious band dubbed Nightmare Cinema. They usually performed a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers", and, on one occasion, Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution". At some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers". Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song entitled "I Don't Like You" with Petrucci and Portnoy backing. In Chaos in Motion tour, in several concerts before "Trial of Tears", Portnoy and Petrucci would change positions and play.
Dream Theater's largest audience as a headlining act was 20,000 in Santiago, Chile on December 6, 2005.^[60] This was during their first tour of South American countries other than Brazil (which they had visited in 1997 and 1998). The show was released on DVD through Portnoy's YtseJam Records.
In the Score and Chaos in Motion DVDs, an animation has accompanied certain parts of the songs, showing the band playing along to the music as cartoon characters. On the Score DVD, during the song Octavarium, the band is seen performing in an octagonal shaped maze. As the animation continues Jordan Rudess spontaneously turns into Santa Claus and John Petrucci catches fire.^[61] In "The Dark Eternal Night" from the Chaos in Motion DVD, the band battles against a monster by shooting fireballs from guitars, throwing drum sticks, and screaming.^[62]
In 2007, after their show in Salt Lake City on July 30, Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed a proclamation officially marking July 30, 2007 as Dream Theater Day in the state of Utah.
In 2008 Dream Theater started the "Progressive Nation '08" tour, along with Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, and 3. The tour is the brainchild of Mike Portnoy, who stated, "I've been wanting to assemble a package tour like this for many years now. With all of the festivals and package tours that go through America, I've been talking with our manager and agent for over 10 years now about doing something that focuses on the more progressive, musician-oriented side of hard rock and metal. I decided it was time to stop talking the talk, lace up and finally walk the walk."^[63]
On February 13, 2009, Dream Theater announced the official line up for their Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The tour was originally set to feature bands including Swedish bands Beardfish and Pain of Salvation, as well as Zappa plays Zappa. On June 22, 2009, Mike Portnoy announced that Pain of Salvation and Beardfish would not be touring the North American leg of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour because of record label complications. In the same announcement, Portnoy stated that the bands Scale the Summit and Bigelf would replace Pain of Salvation and Beardfish on the tour.^[64] This lineup change has put Bigelf on both the North American and European legs of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The tour's North American leg ran throughout July and August 2009. On March 26, 2009 it was announced that Dream Theater would take the Progressive Nation tour to Europe for the first time alongside Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect. The tour ran throughout September and October 2009.^[65]
In June/July 2010 Dream Theater were the opening band for Iron Maiden during the first leg of their Final Frontier Tour which included Madison Square Garden as one of the many venues. On December 7, 2010, Dream Theater announced on their website that they would be headlining the High Voltage Festival alongside Judas Priest in 2011. In July 2011 they started a new tour to promote their newest release.

Cover songs

Dream Theater has covered other artists' work throughout their career. During the promotional tour for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, during shows in Barcelona, Chicago and New York City, they covered Metallica's "Master of Puppets" album in its entirety after a full set of Dream Theater material.^{[citation needed]}
On the next leg of the tour they covered Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" and received a similar reaction to Master of Puppets, although it was already known that a cover was to be performed that night because the tour itinerary included two successive gigs in a single city. On October 11, 2005, Dream Theater covered. Dream Theater's official webpage stated that the second sets of the second nights in Amsterdam, London, Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Tokyo (October 11, October 25, December 4, December 11 and January 13 respectively), and also the second set of the January 15 show in Osaka, would be a classic album covered in its entirety. The Dark Side of the Moon was played again on October 25 in London. However, in Buenos Aires (December 4) and São Paulo (December 11) the 'classic album' played was Dream Theater's own Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, to make up for not having visited Argentina and Brazil in their Metropolis 2000 tour. On January 13, 2006 (Tokyo) and on the 15th (Osaka), Dream Theater covered Deep Purple's live album Made in Japan. Portnoy said that he had planned one more cover show, but refused to reveal when it would occur, or what album would be covered.^[66]
Under Mike Portnoy's drum solo under the instrumental track, Ytse Jam, from the Images and Words: Live in Tokyo DVD, he covered the beginning of Pantera's "By Demons Be Driven" from their sixth album, Vulgar Display of Power.
During Gigantour 2005, Dream Theater did a cover of Pantera's "Cemetery Gates" as a tribute to "Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott. As an added bonus, they had Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, and Russell Allen of Symphony X do guest vocals and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, do the main solo for the song.
In March 2006, Dream Theater played the Rush song "Jacob's Ladder" at a show in Toronto. John Petrucci said a few days later in Asbury Park, New Jersey, prior to the night's show, that "Rush wouldn't play it, so we thought we'd play it for them."
In addition, Dream Theater performed several live cover songs on their EP A Change of Seasons, including songs from Elton John, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dregs, and Genesis.
In 2008, they recorded a version of Iron Maiden's "To Tame a Land" for a Kerrang magazine compilation entitled Maiden Heaven.^[67] This song was later included on the special edition of Black Clouds and Silver Linings.
Also in 2007/2008, they performed portions of "Sugar Mice" by Marillion at various live shows, including in Seoul, Korea.
Dream Theater also recorded a number of cover songs for their 2009 album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. The songs came as a bonus disc in the special editions version of the album.
Dream Theater played "Hava Nagila", the traditional Jewish song, during "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper" at a sold-out concert in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 16, 2009.^[68]
On August 14, 2009 during a Toronto show, Dream Theater played the Rush song "The Camera Eye", which was originally released on Rush's Moving Pictures album.
Dream Theater also performed "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd eight times during their 'Escape The Studio' Tour, accompanied by Queensrÿche from July 12 - August 2, 2003.^[69]

Bootleg culture

Dream Theater have released a series of official bootlegs, demos and other rarities through YtseJam Records, headed by Portnoy.^[70]

Demo series

The Majesty Demos 1985–1986
When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987–1989
Images and Words Demos 1989–1991
Awake Demos
Falling Into Infinity Demos
Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003

Studio series

The Making of Falling Into Infinity
The Making of Scenes From a Memory

Live series

New York City – 3/4/93
Tokyo, Japan – 10/28/95
Old Bridge, New Jersey – 12/14/96
Los Angeles, California – 5/18/98
Bucharest, Romania – 7/4/02
When Dream and Day Reunite – 5/6/04 CD/DVD

Cover series

Master of Puppets (CD)
The Number of the Beast (CD)
Made in Japan (CD)
Uncovered 2003–2005 (CD)
The Dark Side of the Moon (CD/DVD)

Discography

Main article: Dream Theater discography

Main releases

When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Images and Words (1992)
Awake (1994)
A Change of Seasons (EP) (1995)
Falling into Infinity (1997)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Train of Thought (2003)
Octavarium (2005)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)

Tours

Majesty Shows (1986–1988)
Early Dream Theater Shows (1989)
When Dream and Tour Unite (1989)
Pre-Images and Words Shows (1990–1992)
Images and Tour (1992–1993)
Music in Progress Tour (1993)
Pre-Awake Shows (1994)
Waking Up the World Tour (1994–1995)
A Change of Seasons Tour (1995)
Home for the Holidays (1995)
The Fix for '96 (1996)
An Evening of New Music (1997)
Touring into Infinity (1997–1998)
Deep Purple/ELP/Dream Theater Tour (1998)
An Intimate Evening with Dream Theater (1998)
Pre-Scenes From a Memory (1999)
Scenes From a Memory Tour (1999)
Metropolis 2000 (2000)
World Tourbulence (2002)
Escape From the Studio (2003)
Train of Thought Tour (2004)
Octavarium Tour (2005–2006)
Gigantour 2005 (2005)
Chaos in Motion Tour (2007–2008)
Progressive Nation 2008 (2008)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings Tour (2009–2010)
Progressive Nation 2009 (2009)
The Final Frontier World Tour (2010)
A Dramatic Tour of Events (2011)

History Korn

2012-02-07T09:48:00.002+07:00

Korn

Korn
Korn at the MTV Asia Awards 2006 (L to R: James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, Jonathan Davis, and former drummer David Silveria).
Background information
Origin	Bakersfield, California, USA
Genres	Nu metal, alternative metal
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Roadrunner, Virgin, Epic, Immortal
Associated acts	L.A.P.D., Sexart, Jonathan Davis and the SFA, StillWell, Fear and the Nervous System, Army of Anyone
Website	www.korn.com
Members
Jonathan Davis James Shaffer Reginald Arvizu Ray Luzier
Past members
Brian Welch David Silveria

Korn (often stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. Korn was originally formed by three of the members of the now-defunct band L.A.P.D., with the addition of two other people.
The band released their first demo album, Neidermeyer's Mind, in 1993.^[1] Their debut album, Korn was released in October 1994, where they featured the same musicians that had performed on Neidermeyer's Mind. The band began recording Life Is Peachy in April 1996, and released it in October 1996. Follow the Leader is recognized as Korn's mainstream breakthrough, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200 in August 1998, along with the following album, Issues, in November 1999.^[2] The band released Untouchables in June 2002, and later released Take a Look in the Mirror in November 2003. Their first compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, was released in October 2004, concluding Korn's contract with Epic and Immortal Records. They eventually signed to Virgin Records, releasing See You on the Other Side in December 2005, and an untitled album in July 2007. Korn's latest albums, Korn III: Remember Who You Are and The Path of Totality, were released via Roadrunner Records in July 2010 and December 2011, respectively.
Korn has sold 19 million albums in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan,^[3] and 35 million worldwide. Eleven of the band's official releases have peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200, eight of which have peaked in the top five.^[2] Eight official releases are certified Platinum or Multi-Platinum by the RIAA, and one is certified Gold.^[4] Korn have released six video albums and 39 music videos. They currently have 39 singles, 27 of which have charted.^[2]^[5]^[6] Korn have earned two Grammy Awards out of seven nominations, for "Freak on a Leash" and "Here to Stay".^[7]^[8]

L.A.P.D. and formation (1989–93)

Before Korn was formed, three of the original members of the band were associated with the heavy metal band L.A.P.D.: James Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, and David Silveria.^[9]^[10]^[11] Originally consisting of Richard Morrill, James Shaffer, and Reginald Arvizu, David Silveria joined when he was 15.^[10] When the band moved from Bakersfield, California to Los Angeles, California, Silveria dropped out of high school and Shaffer stayed in Bakersfield.^[12] When Shaffer reunited with the band, they found a manager and released an EP entitled Love and Peace Dude in 1989 through Triple X Records.^[13]^[14] L.A.P.D. released their first full-length studio album on May 3, 1991 which consisted of eleven tracks. The album was entitled Who's Laughing Now.^[15] After releasing two albums, L.A.P.D. broke up. Shaffer, Arvizu, and Silveria enlisted Brian Welch and Jonathan Davis to form the band that went on to become "Korn."^[16]

The band name is derived from a fan suggestion, "Corn," which the group initially rejected, but later settled on for a lack of better ideas. Later, Shaffer had the idea to spell the name with both a "K" instead of a "C," and a backwards "R," so the band's name would appear as "KoЯn".^[16] The logo was designed by lead vocalist Jonathan Davis.^[1] Silveria explained, "the music makes the name, because Korn's a dumb name. But once we get established, it makes the name cool."^[17]
Korn rented a studio from Jeff Creath, called "Underground Chicken Sound," in Huntington Beach, California. While they were recording at Underground Chicken Sound, a crowd had been loitering outside the studio.^[18] The band began playing a prelude to a later song, "Clown", resulting in a larger crowd gathering. Arvizu said the crowd gathered because it sounded so "different."^[19] Korn started performing at gigs in the summer of 1993, with members saying that touring was a "pain-in-the-ass." While in Huntington Beach, the band was spotted by Epic/Immortal Records A&R employee Paul Pontius. Pontius would describe Korn's sound as "the new genre of rock." In 1993, Korn released their first demo album, Neidermeyer's Mind. Their album had very limited printing, and was never well-received by critics or the public.^[1] It was released to record companies and to people who filled out a flyer given out at gigs they played for free with Biohazard and House of Pain.^[17] With this demo, Korn pioneered the nu metal sound.^[20]

Debut album (1994–95)

By May 1994, Korn began recording their debut album with Ross Robinson.^[21] On October 11, 1994, Korn released a self–titled album through Immortal/Epic,^[22] which eventually peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200 in 1995, as well as peaking at number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart.^[2] The album received positive reviews by critics, and it is said to have established the new wave of metal.^[23]^[24] As well as sparking the nu metal genre, the album also started record producer Ross Robinson's music career.^[23] It also influenced other bands, like Slipknot, Coal Chamber, and Limp Bizkit.^[23]^[24]
After Korn finished recording the album, they began touring with House of Pain and Biohazard. Their record company gave them enough money for their own tour bus. Korn's first gig was in Atlanta, Georgia.^[25] About half way through the tour, the tour bus that their record company gave them stopped working, and Korn had to find a new one.^[26] Their first tour was not very successful in promoting the album.^[27] Korn started the Sick of It All Tour in January 1995.^[28] Aside from touring, Korn released four singles. "Blind" was released on August 1, 1994, and "Shoots and Ladders" was released on October 31, 1995. The latter received a Grammy nomination in 1997 for Best Metal Performance.^[29] "Need To" was also released in 1995, on April 8. The fourth and final single, "Clown", was released on February 2, 1996. "Blind" was the only single to chart, peaking at number fifteen on the Canadian RPM Alternative 30.^[2]

Life Is Peachy (1996–97)

After the success of their debut, Korn decided to enter the studio again for a second album.^[30] By then, the band had created a large fan base, and the expectations for their follow-up album were high.^[30]^[31] They went back into the studio in early April 1996 at Indigo Ranch Studios, Malibu, California.^[30]

…We went in really fresh, and we wanted to get it done quickly to capture that energy. So it was probably about 60% knowing what I was going to play and 40% just playing whatever came to mind at that moment… It ended up really good, and it has a kind of energy I probably wouldn't have gotten if I'd worked everything out before hand.

“

”

David Silveria on Life Is Peachy's drum quality.^[32]

The album was released October 15, 1996,^[33] and despite minimal radio airplay and television attention, Life Is Peachy debuted at number three on the Billboard 200,^[2]^[30]^[32] and peaked at number one on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand sales chart.^[34] The album sold 106,000 copies in its first week.^[35] Jon Pareles from The New York Times said that the band was "Mad at everybody, including themselves." The album was certified 2× Platinum in the United States,^[36] Platinum in Australia^[37] and Gold in Canada.^[38]
The first single, "No Place to Hide", spawned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance.^[39] "A.D.I.D.A.S." was the second single and only music video from the album, which also did well, and earned the band the most airplay until their next album's singles.^[40] The third single, "Good God", was released on July 14, 1997. The band gained more popularity after co-headlining the Lollapalooza music festival in 1997 with Tool. However, Korn was forced to stop touring after Shaffer was diagnosed with viral meningitis.^[41] A promotional disc was released in 1997 to promote both the band and the Life Is Peachy Tour featuring Incubus and The Urge, and included three live tracks.^[42]

Follow the Leader, mainstream success (1998–99)

Prior to the release of the band's third album, Korn produced a weekly online TV show, KornTV,^[45]^[46] which documented the making of the record and featured special guests such as porn star Ron Jeremy, Limp Bizkit, and 311.^[46] The project also gave fans the chance to call in and ask the band questions, an approach that represented one of the first times a band utilized the Internet in such a way.^[47] Korn released their third album, Follow the Leader, on August 18, 1998,^[48] which featured a number of guest vocalists such as Ice Cube, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and actor Cheech Marin on the hidden track "Earache My Eye" (written by Marin himself).^[47]
Korn launched a political campaign-style tour to promote the release of Follow the Leader.^[49]^[50] The tour took the group, on a chartered jet, all over North America to help promote Follow the Leader.^[49] They talked to fans and answered questions during special "fan conferences", which were organized at every stop along the tour route, and signed autographs. Jim Rose hosted the entire "Kampaign" tour.^[49]^[51]
The album was considered by band members a complete success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with 268,000 copies sold,^[52]^[53] and, among other singles, spawning two of their biggest singles: "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash".^[49] They both exposed Korn to a wider, mainstream audience, with the music videos being mainstays on MTV's Total Request Live. "Got the Life" was the show's very first "retired" video,^[43]^[54]^[55] with "Freak on a Leash" also reaching retirement several months later.^[43]^[56]^[57]
"Freak on a Leash" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.^[58] The video also earned nine MTV Video Music Awards nominations for Video of the Year, Best Rock Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Viewer's Choice.^[59] It eventually won two awards, one being for Best Rock Video and the other for Best Editing.^[43]^[60]^[61] "Freak on a Leash" remains one of Korn's biggest singles on Billboard, having reached number six on Alternative Songs and number ten on Mainstream Rock Songs.^[2] Follow the Leader is considered by members of Korn to be the band's most commercially–successful album,^[43]^[62] being certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA,^[63] and having sold almost ten million copies worldwide.^[2]^[64]

Issues (1999–2001)

The band's fourth album, Issues, produced by Brendan O'Brien, was released on November 16, 1999,^[65] featuring cover art designed by Alfredo Carlos, who won a contest held for the fans by MTV.^[66] Issues was released during a week of many highly-anticipated records. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with more than 573,000 copies sold,^[67] keeping Dr. Dre's album 2001 and Céline Dion's greatest hits album from hitting number one.^[67]
To celebrate the album's release, the band performed the record in its entirety in front of a live audience at New York's historic Apollo Theater and broadcast the concert simultaneously across many radio stations.^[68] This performance marked the first performance by a rock band since Buddy Holly in the late 1950s.^[69] This special event featured the New York Police Department marching drum and bagpipe band conducted by Richard Gibbs as well as a group of back-up singers to enhance the more melodic choruses Davis used on the album.^[69] A snippet of "Falling Away from Me" was featured on RealVideo with a brief interpretive dance by bassist Reginald Arvizu,^[70] and also featured on their official website as an MP3 file, although its release was against the advice of its attorneys and corporate establishment.^[71] The album was also promoted by the band's highly successful Sick and Twisted Tour.
Earlier that year, Korn had appeared on an episode of South Park, titled "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery", in which the first single from Issues, "Falling Away from Me", was premiered.^[72]^[73] Korn released two more singles from Issues, "Make Me Bad" and "Somebody Someone", both of which fared well on Billboard.^[2] Music videos were filmed for all three singles, with long time friend Fred Durst directing "Falling Away from Me", and Martin Weisz directing a concept video for "Make Me Bad", as well as a performance video for "Somebody Someone", which featured the use of CGI effects. Every video was a staple on Total Request Live, two of which made it to retirement.^[56] Issues is considered by some critics to be less hip hop-influenced and closer to alternative metal than nu metal.^[74] It was certified three-times Platinum,^[75] following up the success of Follow the Leader.^[2]

Untouchables (2002–03)

On June 10, 2002, Korn re-emerged into the media with their fifth album, Untouchables. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 434,000 in sales.^[77] The band has blamed Internet piracy for the drop in sales, as an unmastered version of the album had leaked three months prior to its official release date.^[78] On April 2, 2002, the Shock Jocks, an American radio program, began airing songs from Untouchables. After playing a few songs, the broadcasters retrieved a cease-and-desist letter from Sony Music Entertainment. One broadcaster said "The reason for the premature premiere was to infuriate a rival New York station, which disallows their in-studio guests to appear on 'The Opie and Anthony Show.'"^[79] The release of this album was preceded by a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, a day prior to the album's release, broadcast digitally throughout movie theatres in the United States.^[80]
The album contained experiments and styles never previously attempted by Korn. Allmusic related: "The band is far more experimental this time out, delivering Helmet-like ringing guitars that melt and morph into each other, a mix of Metallica-esque blastbeats and tight funk drumming from the constantly improving David Silveria, and memorable riffs that take the shape of dark sound structures and offer more than just a collection of chords."^[81] The first two videos from Untouchables, "Here to Stay" and "Thoughtless", were directed by the Hughes Brothers.^[82] "Here to Stay" earned Korn a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.^[83] "Here to Stay" peaked at number four on both the Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock Songs charts.^[2]

Take a Look in the Mirror, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Head's departure (2003–05)

Due to the album leaking onto the Internet, Take a Look in the Mirror was released on a Friday, November 21, 2003; four days earlier than its original release date.^[84] The album therefore received a weekend's worth of sales, along with a shortage in shipments, both of which resulted in a poor showing on the Billboard 200. During its first full week, Take a Look in the Mirror soared ten places from number 19 to number nine, bringing the album's total sales to 179,000. It is the first album where Korn produced the album themselves. The band explained that they want fans to hear the music as it should be.^[84] The album presented different styles and themes compared to previous albums. Lead vocalist Jonathan Davis related: "The whole album is about love, hate and my hate of people and just losing my mind. The previous albums I did, I think the last three, I was coming from a place of hurt. And I just finally got to the point where I'm done hurting and I'm just pissed off about it now. It's turned back to just sheer hate and anger. And it definitely comes across on the album." MTV said that Davis convinced his fans that they "will be shocked, particularly with the album's second track, 'Break Some Off,' which he called 'brutal'."^[85] Korn released the single "Did My Time" on July 22, 2003,^[86] which was used to promote the film but did not appear on the soundtrack to Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life due to unspecified legal issues.^[87] "Did My Time" gave Korn another Grammy nomination in the Best Metal Performance category.^[83]
Korn released their greatest hits album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, on October 5, 2004.^[88] The album debuted at number four on Billboard, selling more than 129,000 copies.^[89] This album assembles choice tracks from six Korn studio albums between 1994 and 2003.^[90] The first single was a cover of the song "Word Up!", which was originally composed by the group Cameo.^[91] Special editions of the album included a DVD titled Korn: Live at CBGB featuring seven select songs from their November 24, 2003 show at CBGB.^[92] Korn participated in the Projekt Revolution tour with Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg, The Used, and Less Than Jake prior to the release of Greatest Hits Vol. 1.
In early 2005, Brian Welch announced that he would be quitting the band. In front of a crowd of 10,000, in three services at Valley Bible Fellowship in Bakersfield, California, said “I was addicted to methamphetamines and tried everything ... rehab, stuff on the Internet, but nothing helped me kick it. I was trying on my own to quit and couldn’t do it. I wanted to die. No one knew what I was going through. I could not quit. Church was my last shot. I would sit in church high [on drugs]. I would wonder why people would go up to the front after the service. But one day it was for me. I said [to God], ‘Show me how to quit.'"^[93]^[94] Since, Welch has released two autobiographies, and released one solo album.^[95]

See You on the Other Side (2005–06)

Upon completing their record deal with Sony, Korn partnered with EMI and signed to Virgin Records. As part of this innovative arrangement, Virgin paid Korn $25 million upfront in exchange for a share in the profits of their next two studio albums, including tours and merchandising. Virgin also received a 30 percent stake in the band's licensing, ticket sales and other revenue sources.^[96]^[97]

It's taking Korn into another dimension for the listener, I think, that takes you to another world. I think it's really emotional, as far as it's not so anger-based. You know, I think it's a more well-rounded emotional journey it kinda takes you on, the listener.

“

”

James "Munky" Shaffer on See You on the Other Side.^[98]

The band's first album for Virgin, See You on the Other Side, was released on December 6, 2005,^[99] and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200,^[100] scanning close to 221,000 copies.^[101] The album managed to stay in the top half of the Billboard 200 for thirty-four consecutive weeks.^[102] The first single from the album, "Twisted Transistor", was accompanied by a music video directed by Dave Meyers in which hip hop artists Xzibit, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg, and David Banner portray Korn.^[103] The single itself peaked at number three on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs, Korn's highest entry thus far, and number nine on Alternative Songs.^[104] The second single, "Coming Undone", had its performance-based video directed by Little X,^[105]^[106] who previously helmed hip hop and R&B videos.^[107] See You on the Other Side was certified Platinum,^[108] and by mid-2007 had sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide.^[109]
Korn held a press conference at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on January 13, 2006, announcing the See You on the Other Side Tour.^[110] 10 Years and Mudvayne were selected to open all dates of the trek, which kicked off in their hometown of Bakersfield, on what Mayor Harvey Hall officially declared as "Korn Day", February 24.^[111] The resurrection of their Family Values Tour was announced on April 18, 2006, which featured co-headliners Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf, and the Japanese metal group, Dir En Grey on the main stage.^[112] Korn and Evanescence co-headlined the 2007 edition, with Atreyu, 2006 alumni Flyleaf, Hellyeah, and Trivium rounding out the main stage.^[113]
While promoting See You on the Other Side in Europe, Jonathan Davis was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a blood platelet disorder that hospitalized him for the weekend and prevented him from performing at the renowned Download Festival.^[114] Despite the illness, the band still performed, with guest singers including Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour fame, Skindred's Benji Webbe and Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows. This led to Korn canceling the rest of their European bill for 2006,^[115] including the Hellfest Summer Open Air. It was originally unknown to the public what his ailment was, but the singer revealed in a letter to fans that he was "dangerously low on blood platelets and at a high risk of death from a hemorrhage if the problem was not treated".^[116]

Untitled album, MTV Unplugged, David Silveria's departure (2006–08)

Korn at Rock am Ring 2007.

In early December 2006 it was announced that founding drummer David Silveria would be taking an indefinite “temporary hiatus” from the band.^[117]^[118] Korn then performed at the MTV studios in Times Square on December 9, 2006, for the MTV Unplugged series, which was broadcast on February 23, 2007, through MTV.com and on March 2, 2007, across North American, South American, European and Asian MTV stations.^[119] Korn played a 14-song acoustic set complete with guest appearances by The Cure and Amy Lee of Evanescence.^[120] The performance was eventually cut down to 11 songs for the album, two of which did not air on MTV. Sales of nearly 51,000 brought MTV Unplugged: Korn to number nine in its first week out.^[121]
Korn's untitled album was released on July 31, 2007, debuting at number two on Billboard with 123,000 copies sold in its first week.^[122] It concluded Korn's deal with Virgin Records,^[123] and features touring keyboardist Zac Baird, giving the tracks a deeper, atmospheric sound.^[124] Drumming duties were left up to Terry Bozzio, and Bad Religion's Brooks Wackerman, as David Silveria went on a hiatus.^[125] Joey Jordison from Slipknot played drums during Korn's live shows until the permanent addition of Ray Luzier (Army of Anyone, David Lee Roth). This confirmed David's departure.^[126]^[127]^[128] "Evolution" and "Hold On" were released as singles to promote the untitled album. They each charted on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart at number four and number nine, respectively.^[2] A third single, "Kiss", had a limited release in April 2008.^[129]^[130] Korn covered the song "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" in 2008, which was originally performed by Paul Reubens, Catherine O'Hara, and Danny Elfman. It was released on Nightmare Revisited.^[131]

Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2008–2010)

Korn performing live at Metaltown Festival in June 2011

Ubisoft reported in October 2008 that Korn had "written and recorded an original song inspired by Ubisoft's Haze video game, simply entitled "Haze",^[133] which was released on April 22, 2008.^[134] Korn also released a live DVD, Live at Montreux 2004, one of their performances with former guitarist Brian Welch on May 12, 2008.^[135] Additionally, a second greatest hits compilation titled Playlist: The Very Best of Korn was released on April 29, 2008.^[136] Korn announced in February 2009 that they were playing at the Rock Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin, as well as the third annual Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio.^[137] The band was also confirmed for the Download Festival taking place in the UK, sub-headlining to Faith No More, as well as the simultaneous German festivals Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.^[138]

...Korn III: Remember Who You Are isn’t a numbering device, it signifies an opening of another phase in Korn’s career. Somehow, the band has bypassed a Korn II altogether in their discography, but it’s commonly acknowledged that the tail-end of the 2000s found the group floundering a bit, going so far as to flirt with the Matrix in an attempt to figure out which direction to go now that they’ve hit middle age.

“

”

Stephen Thomas Erlewine on Korn III: Remember Who You Are^[139]

In a YouTube video, bassist Fieldy affirmed that the "Chi Song" project he was putting together (released as "A Song for Chi") which was released recently to raise money for Deftones bassist Chi Cheng who was in a car crash in late 2008, which resulted in him falling into a coma.^[140] Fieldy revealed that Slipknot guitarist Jim Root, Clint Lowery of Sevendust, drummer Dave McClain of Machine Head and former Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch, would be some of the many musicians playing on the song.^[140]
Along with the announcement of the Ballroom Blitz Tour on March 15, 2010, the title for the new album was revealed as Korn III: Remember Who You Are.^[141]^[142] Later that month, Munky announced that Korn has officially signed to Roadrunner Records.^[143] Jonathan Davis related: "We're going to go to Roadrunner. [It is] real exciting for us, too, because they're one of the last record companies to let you do what you want to do and, um, all the great bands around are on that label and everything seems to just work out right and it seems like a good home for us right now."^[144] Korn announced the track listing on April 24, 2010,^[145] and May 5, 2010, Roadrunner Records released a promotional single titled "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)", for streaming.^[146] The single was simultaneously released for radio airplay, peaking at number ten on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs and number twenty-nine on Alternative Songs.^[2] Korn released the music video for "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)" on May 31, 2010,^[147] and on July 1, 2010, Korn played "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)" and premiered a follow-up single, "Let the Guilt Go," on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.^[148] The band released Korn III: Remember Who You Are in the US on July 13, 2010.^[149] It debuted at its peak of number two on the Billboard 200 with 63,000 purchases reported.^[150] Korn performed "Let the Guilt Go" on the late-night television talk show Lopez Tonight on August 24, 2010.^[151]^[152]^[153] The song's music video premiered on September 2, 2010.^[153]^[154]^[155] Korn will be co-headlining the Music as a Weapon V tour with Disturbed during winter 2011. The tour will also feature supporting acts Sevendust and In This Moment.^[156] "Pop a Pill" was scheduled to be the third single from Korn III: Remember Who You Are, but plans were scrapped by record label Roadrunner Records due to unsatisfactory results with previous singles.^[157]

The Path of Totality (2011–present)

According to guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer, Korn has begun writing new material for their next album. He explains, "We have probably three songs we wrote a couple, two, three months ago. We went into the studio, we wrote some songs, Jon demoed the songs on his computer, and then we took them into the studio and played them live and tweaked them a little bit. Then we put those down and recorded them. They're cool. They kind of remind me a little bit of the Soundgarden style, that sort of Seattle sound… just one of them. The other songs are sort of different, a little more in the experimental stage right now. I don't want to give too much away. We're definitely moving forward, we'll probably start recording in April to try and finetune this sound we're developing."^[158]^[159] It was stated by Jonathan Davis in an interview with ARTISTdirect that one track recorded for the album features acoustic guitar, tentatively titled "Lullaby for a Sadist".^[160]
Jonathan Davis released a 14-second sample on SoundCloud in late March, of a new song entitled "Get Up!", featuring dubstep/electro house artist Skrillex. "Get Up!" appears on The Path of Totality. The album, which was released on December 2, 2011,^[161] features contributions from Skrillex, 12th Planet, Excision, Datsik, Downlink, Kill the Noise, Noisia, and Feed Me. Korn premiered the full version of "Get Up!" on April 14 via Spin.^[162] Additionally, Roadrunner Records' official website allowed fans to download the track for free on April 18. The track was also premiered on several radio stations throughout the United States, most notably Sirius Octane, and has received generally positive reviews amongst critics and fans alike. "Get Up!" was made available for download on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and other digital music outlets in the United States and Canada, on May 10, 2011. It was released in the UK five days later. The promotional single received enough airplay to peak at number ten on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart,^[161] and number twenty-six on Alternative Songs.^[2] 150,000 digital copies of "Get Up!" have been purchased in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[161] "Narcissistic Cannibal" was released as the second single in October.
Korn made their first Pointfest appearance on May 15, 2011, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Missouri, and their second Rock on the Range appearance on May 21, 2011, at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Korn performed at the Nova Rock Festival 2011 in Austria on June 12, 2011, alongside Volbeat, Cavalera Conspiracy and other bands. They performed overseas at the Download Festival with Linkin Park and System of a Down, and during Japan's Summer Sonic Festival on August 13 with Avril Lavigne, The Mars Volta, Ne-Yo, and the Strokes. It was announced on June 8, 2011 that Korn will be composing the theme song for Silent Hill: Downpour. The Path of Totality was made available for pre-order on Amazon.com and iTunes on October 21, 2011.
The band also promoted The Path of Totality during a headlining tour of the same name. Korn split their show into three sections. They kicked off by playing "rare" songs from the first two album sessions, including the b-side "Proud." They followed with a different stage set up, playing several of their new songs. The band ended by playing some of their greatest hits. Other appearances came from Datsik, Downlink, and Dope D.O.D.

Style and influences

The band has stated that their primary influences include Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Sepultura, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Helmet, Rage Against the Machine, Slayer, Pink Floyd, Primus, Tool, Ministry, Mr. Bungle, Biohazard, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Beastie Boys, Black Sabbath, and Jane's Addiction.^[10]^[163]^[164] Much of their work has been inspired by hip hop music, as suggested in the cover song "Wicked", and "All in the Family".^[165]^[166]^[167]
They are the first band to be labeled as nu metal, starting the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.^[20] Alongside this genre, the band has also been labeled as rap metal, thrash rap, and pimp rock.^[168] Their debut album mixed metal, rock, hip-hop, groove, and dissonance. Alongside nu metal, the band is often labeled as heavy metal, alternative metal, post grunge, and rap metal.^[163] Their lyrics focus on pain and personal alienation rather than traditional heavy metal themes.^[169]^[170] In Nu-metal: The Next Generation of Rock & Punk, Korn was marked as the third biggest nu metal band in the world.^[171]
The band's debut album warranted a Parental Advisory label solely because of the album's lyrics. Many of Korn's first works are based on early experiences. The song "Daddy" was described by lead singer Jonathan Davis "When I was a kid, I was being abused by somebody else and I went to my parents and told them about it, and they thought I was lying and joking around. They never did shit about it. They didn't believe it was happening to their son.... I don't really like to talk about that song. This is as much as I've ever talked about it..."^[24]^[172]^[173] "Kill You" was written in spite of Davis's experiences as a child with his step mother.^[174] Follow the Leader marked the first album where the majority of the lyrics did not have origins relating to early occurrences, with songs like "Justin" and "Pretty" written about incidents occurring during adulthood.^[166]
Many of Korn's songs do not include a guitar solo. Bassist Reginald Arvizu plays his instrument using both the techniques of fingerstyle and slapping. Jonathan Davis was said by Doug Small to be "the eye of the storm around which the music of Korn rages."^[175] Small described the band as "a basket-case full of contradictions."^[175] Although the band virtually had no support by television or by radio broadcasting in its first four years, Korn would go on to influence Adema, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Cold, Staind, Seether, Machine Head, One Minute Silence, Kittie, Endo, Taproot, Crazy Town, Otep, Hoobastank, Slipknot, Suicide Silence, Emmure, Impending Doom, Five Pointe O, Lacuna Coil, Chris Volz, Videodrone, Theory of a Deadman, Thousand Foot Krutch, Avenged Sevenfold, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Bleed the Sky, Papa Roach, Coal Chamber, Three Days Grace, Trapt, Skalped, and other bands.^[163]^[176] Korn also created a fan-base described by both Doug Small and Eaton Entertainment as extremely loyal.^[31]

Vulgarity in lyrics

Prior to the release of 1998's Follow the Leader, Gretchen Plewes, a Zeeland high school assistant principal, said in an interview for a Michigan newspaper that Korn's music is "indecent, vulgar, obscene and intends to be insulting" after giving a student, Eric VanHoven, a one-day suspension for wearing a shirt with the Korn logo on it.^[177] WKLQ was filmed giving away hundreds of free Korn T-shirts, which were donated by the band, outside the school. Ottawa County policemen helped hand out shirts as well.^[178]^[179] Korn filed a cease and desist order against Plewes and the school district for their comments. They also threatened with a multi-million dollar lawsuit, but both files were dropped due to the band members' personal lives.^[180]

[edit] Former band members

In September 2009, Korn guitarist Munky, in an interview with Altitude TV, alleged that the band had denied a request by Welch to rejoin the group.^[181]^[182] Welch denied the claims via his Myspace, stating that Korn had been asking him to rejoin but he had turned down the offers after Jonathan Davis and Munky had refused to meet him when Welch visited Fieldy socially. He also claimed that for four years he had not been paid royalties due to him.^[183]^[184]^[185] Weeks later, in reference to Korn's early albums, Davis stated in an interview with pulseoftheradio that Welch had not contributed to writing material because of his drug usage.^[186]
On the 30th of January 2012 former drummer David Silveria appeared on Korn fan site Kornspace [David Silveria Joins Kornspace] confirming that he had started a new band called INFINIKA with former Anyone members Riz Story and Miki Black. During his conversation with fans on the site he stated he left Korn due to "negative attitudes". Silveria also mentioned that he had previously contacted former Korn guitarist Brian "head" Welch about a Korn reunion tour, which the guitarist refused. Korn has not confirmed a reunion tour with original members at this time. Brian Head Welch has however since stated that he would be open to the idea if the timing was right. Singer Jonathan Davis has also stated that Brian "Head" Welch is welcome to rejoin the band at any time. ^[187]
On 2nd February 2012 during a chat converstation with fans on Korn fansite Kornspace, David Silveria was quoted as saying; "I just wanted be in a rock band and tour the world and play for huge crowds." "Yes we did that, but then add huge constant drama, egos and bad attitudes, and the childhood dream starts slipping away." "Finally the fun and joy was gone for me so it was time to go." "Munky and I were always cool." "I miss him very much."

Blessthefall

2012-02-07T09:46:00.001+07:00

Blessthefall is an American post-hardcore band from Phoenix, Arizona, currently signed to Fearless Records. The band was founded in 2003 by guitarist Mike Frisby, drummer Matt Traynor, and bassist Jared Warth. Their debut album, His Last Walk, with original vocalist Craig Mabbitt, was released April 10, 2007. Their second studio album, Witness, with current vocalist Beau Bokan, was released October 6, 2009. Their third studio album, Awakening, was released on October 4, 2011.

Origins and His Last Walk (2004–2007)

Main article: His Last Walk

Blessthefall grew out of high school practice sessions consisting of guitarist Mike Frisby, guitarist Miles Bergsma, drummer Matt Traynor, bassist and screamer Jared Warth, and later, vocalist Craig Mabbitt. After founding member Miles Bergsma left to attend college at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, they released a three-track EP in mid-2005 and added guitarist Eric Lambert to form their first solid line-up.^[4] Phoenix-area gigs with Greeley Estates and an openly religious orientation got the band local press and a deal with Warner subsidiary, Science Records.^[5] The band then toured with Alesana and Norma Jean across the United States and Canada.^[6] Their debut album, His Last Walk, was released on April 10, 2007, to mixed reviews.^[7]^[8]^[9] The band completed the entire 2007 Warped Tour circuit nationwide.^[6] His Last Walk peaked at No. 32 on the U.S. Billboard Heatseekers chart.^[10]
Blessthefall toured with Escape the Fate, LoveHateHero, Before Their Eyes, and Dance Gavin Dance on the Black On Black tour during September and October 2007, they were also part of the Underground Operations Tour And Loathing Tour 2007, opening for Protest The Hero and All That Remains, along with fellow opening bands, Threat Signal and the Holly Springs Disaster, and were a part of From First to Last's fall headlining tour, starting November 1 with A Skylit Drive and Vanna.

Mabbitt's departure and Bokan's induction (2008–2009)

While on their first European tour (with Silverstein) in late 2007, Craig Mabbitt left the band during the United Kingdom portion to spend more time with his daughter, whose childhood he felt he was missing out on. For the remainder of the tour, Jared Warth filled in for vocals while playing bass. When Mabbitt later attempted to return to Blessthefall, the band members decided not to let him back in, preferring to move on without him. On December 15, 2007, Blessthefall posted a blog on their MySpace announcing their parting ways with Mabbitt while Mabbitt posted a bulletin on his personal MySpace stating his willingness to return to the band. Despite the departure, Mabbitt remained great friends with Blessthefall and Beau Bokan.
After the European tour, Blessthefall decided to look for a temporary fill in bass player so that Jared Warth could concentrate on vocals. Aiden Louis, vocalist of Dear Whoever, was added to the group to fill in the bass and backup vocals. This was their new lineup for Taste of Chaos 2008.
In early 2008, Blessthefall released a new video for the song "Rise Up" from the album His Last Walk. The video, (directed by Travis Kopach), is the first to not include Mabbitt.
Mabbitt has stated that the day after he finished recording his first album with Escape the Fate, This War Is Ours, he got a phone call from Blessthefall's management asking him to return to the band, but he refused.^{[citation needed]} Mabbitt felt there was too much bad blood with their management. He also felt the band knew he had just finished a new album and that it was just bad timing, especially when Mabbitt begged to be back in for the previous eight months.^{[citation needed]}
Shortly after this on September 26, 2008 the band announced that Beau Bokan was the new lead singer, he was the former lead-singer for the band Take the Crown, a group who released an EP and a full-length album but broke up because of a lack of management.^[11]^[12]

Witness (2009–2010)

Main article: Witness (Blessthefall album)

During the month of February, the band announced on their MySpace page that they would head into the studio in May 2009 after their tour with Silverstein, Norma Jean, and Before Their Eyes. On May 13 the band announced on their MySpace page and video blogs that they signed to Fearless Records.
On June 3, the band announced via MySpace that they were officially finished with the recording of their new album and that it was to be released in the fall. At the beginning of their tour with August Burns Red and Enter Shikari, they announced that the album would be titled "Witness". In July, Blessthefall released a song clip on their MySpace blog titled "God Wears Gucci", released on iTunes for download on August 11, 2009. In September 2009, the band uploaded another track on their MySpace page titled "What's Left of Me". The album was released October 6, 2009.
In June 2010 Blessthefall toured New Zealand in support of Saosin, and in Australia in support of Story of the Year and Saosin. Blessthefall played across Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
After the release of Witness, the band co-headlined the Atticus Fall Tour with Finch, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, and Vanna from October 10, 2009 through to November 19. Other bands on the tour included Of Mice & Men and Let’s Get It.
In October 2009, the band announced on YouTube that they were working on a music video for "What's Left of Me", which was released December 14 on MySpace Metal.
On January 26, 2010, Greeley Estates released No Rain, No Rainbow, featuring guest vocals by Blessthefall vocalists Beau Bokan and Jared Warth. The album also features guest vocals from former vocalist of Blessthefall, and present vocalist of Escape the Fate, Craig Mabbitt.
The band was featured on the Punk Goes Classic Rock album released April 27, 2010 covering "Dream On" by Aerosmith.
Their song, “To Hell and Back”, released on Witness, was a soundtrack to Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. The game trailer was released on April 9, 2010.^[13]
They released a new music video for their song "To Hell and Back" on July 21, 2010, and were then in the process of recording a new music video for "Hey Baby, Here's That Song You Wanted" this was confirmed through their Twitter. The band was holding a contest to see who can make the best fan-made video to be included in the final music video.
The music video for "Hey Baby, Here's That Song You Wanted" was released on November 4, 2010, and is a short film directed by Chris Marrs Piliero. It is a parody of the 2009 comedy The Hangover, as all of the members wake up unaware of what happened the night before in a messy room, a naked man jumps out from the back of Beau Bokan's car and starts attacking him, and towards the end when Jared Warth pulls out his phone at Eric Lambert's wedding, showing pictures of the night before. The music video also references the movie Dude, Where's My Car?, when Beau Bokan asks where his car is and Mike Frisby responds, "Dude, it's right there."

Awakening (2011–present)

On February 15, 2011, the band announced that Frisby left the band to pursue another path. Elliott Gruenberg, formerly of Before Their Eyes, will be permanently on guitar.^[14]
Bokan confirmed that Blessthefall would not play in the Warped Tour 2011, but rather would be recording their third full length album. Recording began in Orlando, Florida in May 17, 2011.^[15] Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who produced their previous album, also produced this effort.^[16]^[17]
The band had hoped to feature guest vocalists including Ronnie Radke of Falling In Reverse, and Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying,^[18] but it was later confirmed that there would be no guest vocals.^[19]
There will be 12 tracks on the album^[20] and the intro track is the album's title track.^[21] It will be longer than 45 minutes,^[22] and will be released October 4, 2011.^[23] The artwork was done by Jeff Gros, who also did the artwork for Underoath's Define the Great Line.^[24] The album title, Awakening, artwork and track listing were announced on July 21.^[23] They released a studio video for "Bottomfeeder" on August 4, 2011 and the album's first single, "Promised Ones", was released August 16, 2011,^{[citation needed]} and the second, "40 days", on September 15, 2011.^{[citation needed]} The latter involves no screaming from Jared.
Blessthefall joined Emmure, Alesana, Motionless in White and other bands on the All Stars Tour in the late summer.^[25] The band will headline the Fearless Friends tour with The Word Alive, Motionless in White, Tonight Alive, and Chunk! No Captain Chunk!.^{[citation needed]}
They released the official video of "Promised Ones" on November 8, 2011, which starts with the intro song of the album titled Awakening. The video is about members of the band uniting rebels and preparing themselves to go for war.^{[citation needed]}
According to a video interview with Eric and Beau, blessthefall plans entering the studio in February to record an EP with Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying.^[26]

Band members

Current members

Beau Bokan - lead vocals (since 2008)
Elliott Gruenberg - rhythm guitar (since 2011)
Eric Lambert - lead guitar, backing vocals (since 2005)
Matt Traynor - drums (since 2003)
Jared Warth - bass guitar, unclean vocals (since 2003)

Former members

Mike Frisby - rhythm guitar (2003–2011)
Craig Mabbitt - lead vocals (2003–2008)
Miles Bergsma - lead guitar (2003–2005)

Touring members

Aiden Louis - bass, backing vocals^[27] (2007–2008)

Album details :
His Last Walk 2007
Witness 2009
Awakening 2011