Artist:Twenty One Pilots
Song:Ride
Album:Blurryface
Ride was one of two top five hits from the 2015 Twenty One Pilots album Blurryface. That album was certified 6XPlatinum. They haven't been as successful since then. The leader of Twenty One Pilots is Tyler Joseph. He was born Dec. 1, 1989 in Columbus, OH. He is lead singer, songwriter and producer. He formed Twenty One Pilots in 2009. But before that, he uploaded the 2008 album No Phun Intended to his PureVolume account. These were recorded in his basement. He decided to turn it into a band as he would have had to hire musicians to tour anyway. Joseph knew bassist Nick Thomas in school. And he met drummer Chris Salih at a party at Ohio State University. Salih built a recording studio in his home. They started playing local clubs and released the album Twenty One Pilots in 2009. Salih and Thomas left in 2011. Josh Dun replaced Salih. He had planned to move to Nashville to pursue a music career. Thomas attended school in North Carolina for a year. He returned to Twenty One Pilots as more of a tour and merchandise manager. The second Twenty One Pilots album Regional at Best was released in 2011. After they played a show at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, record companies came calling. They signed with Atlantic's alternative music label Fueled by Ramen, released an EP and went on a short tour with Neon Trees and Walk the Moon. They returned to the studio and recorded the 2013 album Vessel. The album was certified 2XPlatinum mostly on the strength of Alt Radio airplay and MTV playing their videos. They toured the festival circuit and made a few TV appearances. They finally broke through with the 2015 album Blurryface. The third single Stressed Out reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the next single Ride reached #5. Statistically they are even but Stressed Out charted higher in England. The album was certified 6XPlatinum. As with all Twenty One Pilots albums, Joseph wrote, produced and played all the instruments except for Dun on drums. While they were still a big deal, the 2016 single Heathens from the film Suicide Squad reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. I guess this is a discography orphan as there is no Twenty One Pilots comp yet. Blurryface is available on CD. Since then Twenty One Pilots have released three albums and album sales have gradually declined. The likely reasons for this include MTV not being a factor anymore and listeners and radio programmers always looking for the next big thing. So I think the band has been forgotten though they still are on a heavy tour schedule. They released the album Clancy in May and started a new world tour that will end in May 2025. So I expect Twenty One Pilots to continue until Atlantic drops them and then maybe they retire. They've had a pretty good run. Here's the video for Ride by Twenty One Pilots.
No comments:
Post a Comment