6. Foo Fighters
Formed in 1994, after the death of Kurt Cobain, by the Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters is an American band. Although it was initially a one man project, one year later Grohl added Nate Mendel as bass player and William Goldsmith as drummer for 2 years.
In present the band is made out of Grohl as lead vocalist, Mendel as bassist, Christ Shiflett as lead guitarist, Pat Smear as guitarist and Taylor Hawkins as drummer. In the early activity years, the band was often compared to Nirvana, but as time passed by the differences were easily noticed and the band was rewarded with 26 awards for their 8 albums, 32 singles and 36 music videos.
2015
This year meant for the Foo Fighter the official 20th anniversary and to celebrate it, they decided to continue their international tour for “Sonic Highways” with a North American one. Though, Dave Grohl’s accident and leg injury lead to the cancellation of their last concerts On 4th of July, the band performed at RFK Stadium and to make the lead singer’s situation seem less dramatic, the name of the tour was changed into the Broken Leg Tour.
Going back on stage was not easy as the Westboro Baptist Church were making things difficult for them during one concert, but the members showed once more their positivity and funny side. Foo Fighters returned to Europe after initially cancelling their tour there, holding concerts in the United Kingdom.
5. Florence + The Machine
From 2007 till present you must have heard Florence Welsh’s angelic voice and her band’s touching sound. Their first album was released in 2008 under the name “Lungs”. The success was immediate and since then nominations and awards started coming.
The band’s popularity also came from TV series and movies using their music in their productions, getting their fans interested into Florence and The Machine. The song “Kiss with a fist” was featured on “Jennifer’s Body” and “Wild Child”; “Dog days are over” appeared on “Gossip girl” and “Skins UK”. They also created songs especially for certain movies such as “Heavy in your arms” for “the twilight Saga: Eclipse”, “Breath of life” for “Snow White and The Huntsman” and “Over the love” for “The Great Gatsby”.
2015
The release of “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”, the group’s third album and the partaking in various Europeans festivals during this summer, took Florence and the Machine to the next level. In September, the “How Big Tour” began in Belfast.
Regarding the themes of the new album, Welsh declared that “I guess although I’ve always dealt in fantasy and metaphor when I came to writing, that meant the songs this time were dealing much more in reality. Ceremonials was so fixated on death and water, and the idea of escape or transcendence through death, but the new album became about trying to learn how to live, and how to love in the world rather than trying to escape from it. Which is frightening because I’m not hiding behind anything but it felt like something I had to do.”
4. Muse
This electronic, art rock, rock opera, space rock band was originally formed in 1994 in Devon, England by Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard.
With lyrics depicting relationship issues, social alienation, apocalypse and war, Muse first tasted the music industry with small gigs. Their first EP “Muse” was released in 1998 and first official album “Showbiz” in 1999. Their best album so far is “black Holes and revelations” from 2006 which brought them many awards out of their total of 45.
2015
In June, Muse released “Drones”, their seventh album. An album in which the modern world and its people’s herd like mentality is criticised. The front man of Muse stated that “To me, drones are metaphorical psychopaths which enable psychopathic behaviour with no recourse. The world is run by drones utilising drones to turn us all into drones. This album explores the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope, to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone, to their eventual defection from their oppressors.” The official Drones started on 17th November.