Everything about Staind totally explained
Staind is an
American alternative metal group from
Springfield,
Massachusetts,
United States. Over the past nine years the band has had a number of successful singles spanning several albums, selling over 15 million albums worldwide.
History
Early days
Staind formed on
November 24,
1995 in
Springfield, Massachusetts. After meeting through friends and covering
KoRn,
Rage Against the Machine,
Pearl Jam, and
Alice in Chains, among others, in smalltime clubs for a year and a half, Staind self-released their debut album,
Tormented, in November 1996, citing influences
Pantera and
Sepultura. Until recently, the album was difficult to obtain, as only four thousand copies were originally sold. Since then, the band's official
website
has released the album to meet the demand from fans.
During this time, Staind played a show with
Limp Bizkit. When
Fred Durst saw the controversial cover of the group's debut album, he tried to have the band kicked off the bill, but when he saw the band's live show, he changed his tone and befriended them, later singing backup on Aaron Lewis's live, original version of the future Staind song "Outside." Durst was one of the executive producers for Dysfunction and Break the Cycle. He also directed a few videos for the band later on.
Dysfunction
The band's big break came in October 1997 after
Limp Bizkit frontman
Fred Durst witnessed the band open up for them at a
Hartford, Connecticut show, eventually signed them to his Flip record label, and co-produced their 1999 breakthrough
Dysfunction with
Terry Date. Although it's supposed that the band owe a lot of success to Durst,
Aaron Lewis has expressed in interviews that the band never had much of a relationship with either the singer or the band, claiming the band 'only worked on four songs with Durst and recorded the rest of the album themselves.' Staind hasn't been associated with Durst since he directed several videos from their 2001 follow-up.
Dysfunction has sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone. The album was given mediocre reviews by critics for being "indicative of the times", but a large number of the band's fans nonetheless regard it as the group's best work. The nine-track LP (with one hidden track, "Excess Baggage") produced three singles, all of which enjoyed radio play. The most well known, "Mudshovel", (which also appeared on
Tormented, spelled as "
Mudshuvel"), has since become a staple of the band's live shows.
Break the Cycle
Staind toured with Limp Bizkit for the
Family Values Tour during the fall of 1999, where Aaron Lewis performed their first mainstream hit "Outside" (a song he was working on at the time but hadn't yet finished—he finished it on the fly while performing) with Fred Durst to hundreds of waving cigarette lighters, and which set them up for their smash hit 2001 album
Break the Cycle, which brought them international success (it went number 1 in both the U.S. and the UK), sold more than 7 million copies, and had first week sales of over 767,000 in the U.S. alone. The album sees the band move away from the nu metal sounds of their previous album and resort to an
alternative metal sound which has spawned five hit singles to date, "
It's Been Awhile", (which hit the Billboard Top 10) "Fade", (which has been featured on a number of movie soundtracks and television shows), "
Outside", "For You", and the acoustic ballad "Epiphany", and included a track called "Waste", devoted to two teenage fans who committed suicide shortly before the album was released. The album also received mixed critical praise;
Rolling Stone magazine called them "the grim genre's most song-oriented, downright sensitive band in years"
(External Link) while
New Musical Express referred to the album as "14 tracks of parent-friendly grunge-flavoured soft rock that make
Creed sound like
GG Allin."
(External Link) (a statement that proved ironic, since Break the Cycle was later included in
Hit Parader's The Top 50 Metal Albums of All Time at number 46 and
The Top 10 "New Metal" CDs at #3). 'It's Been Awhile' spent a total of 16 and 14 weeks on top of the modern and mainstream rock charts, respectively, making it one of the highest joint number 1s (30 weeks) of all time.
14 Shades of Grey
In early 2003, Staind embarked on a worldwide tour to promote the release of the follow-up to
Break The Cycle,
14 Shades Of Grey, which sold two million albums and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The fourteen-track collection was the band's most mainstream yet, and showed Aaron Lewis writing songs about his daughter, as well as moving on with his life and forgetting his past, hence the title representing uncertainty for the future and forgiveness (a tribute to Lewis's idol
Layne Staley from
Alice in Chains also appeared on the album). The album provided two mainstream hits: the lead single "
Price to Play", and "
So Far Away" (which spent 14 weeks on top of the rock chart); in addition, two other singles failed to crack the Hot 100—"How About You" and "Zoe Jane"— but "How About You" was a fairly popular song on
modern rock radio. Their song "
Price to Play" was the official theme song of
WWE's Vengeance
pay-per-view event in July 2003. As well, their song "So Far Away" was featured on an episode of WWE RAW as part of a video tribute to
hardcore wrestling legend
Mick Foley. The band's appearance at
Reading Festival during the 2003 tour had another impromptu acoustic set, this time due to equipment failure. The singles "So Far Away" and "
Price to Play" came with two unreleased tracks, "Novocaine" and "Let It Out", which were released for the special edition of the group's
Chapter V, which came out in late 2005. In 2003, Staind unsuccessfully sued their logo designer Jon Stainbrook in New York Federal Court (
blabbermouth.net) for attempting to re-use the logo he'd sold to the band. They re-opened the case in mid-2005.
Chapter V
After extensive promotions, including an appearance on Fuse TV's 7th Avenue Drop, Staind's newest album, titled
Chapter V was released on
August 9,
2005, and became their third consecutive number one. The album opened to sales of 185,000 and has since been certified platinum in the U.S. The first single "
Right Here" has been the biggest success from the album thus far, garnering much mainstream radio play and peaking at number 1 on the mainstream rock chart. "Falling" (the video of which doesn't feature the band members at all) was released as the second single, followed by "Everything Changes" and "King of All Excuses." Staind have been on the road since the album came out doing live shows and promoting it for a full year, including participating in the Fall Brawl tour with
P.O.D.,
Taproot and
Flyleaf, a solo tour across Europe and a mini-promotional tour in
Australia for the first time. Recent live shows have included a cover of
Pantera's
This Love, a tribute to
Dimebag Darrell. Staind appeared on
The Howard Stern Show on
August 10,
2005, to promote their new album
Chapter V. They performed
acoustic renditions of the single
Right Here and
Beetlejuice's song "This is Beetle." Their rendition of "Beetle" is immensely popular with fans and listeners alike and became a staple of the show. Staind also performed a version of "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. Kevin Lofton, who does all the animation for the Howard Stern website, created a black-and-white animated video for the song. During a January 2006 Episode of WWE RAW, a tribute video to then
WWE Champion Edge featured the band's song "Right Here". In early November 2005, Staind released the limited edition 2-CD/DVD set of
Chapter V. The set included several rarities and fan favorites—
music videos; a complete, 36-page booklet with exclusive artwork; an audio disc with an acoustic rendition of "This is Beetle"; the original, melodic rendition of "Reply"; the previously released
B-side singles "Novocaine" and "Let It Out"; and live versions of "It's Been Awhile" and "Falling", among many others.
The Singles: 1996-2006
Staind announced that they'd be performing an acoustic show in the Hiro Ballroom,
New York City on
September 6th and the songs played would be recorded for their upcoming "Greatest Hits" album, scheduled for a
November 14th release. They played sixteen songs including three covers:
Tool's
Sober,
Pink Floyd's
Comfortably Numb and
Alice in Chains's Nutshell.
The title was later renamed to "The Singles" and finally "". The album had most of Staind's singles (including "Everything Changes" which was recorded at the New York show), the three covers performed at the New York show and a remastered version of "Come Again", from Staind's first independent release
Tormented.
It was released on November 14th, 2006.
"The Illusion Of Progress"
Staind's sixth studio album. No tracklisting is available yet. But the band is shooting
for a summer release amidst a tour with 3 Doors Down and Hinder.
When asked, the bands lead singer, Aaron Lewis has this to say
"STAIND continues to work on its sixth studio album, which Lewis says is tentatively titled "The Illusion of Progress". He said that only a few guitar and vocal tracks remain to be done. "We are just about finished," he said. "We just wrote a couple more songs to add into the mix of it all, and then, you know, getting it mixed down and stuff, and we go back out on tour this summer with 3 DOORS DOWN, and then when that's over we go to Europe with NICKELBACK."
Lewis says STAIND is planning a summer release for the new album, which will follow up 2005's "Chapter V".
Unreleased Songs
Collaborations
Linkin Park - Reanimation: Krwlng (Ft. Aaron Lewis), Family Values Tour 2001: One Step Closer (feat. Aaron Lewis)
Sevendust - Follow (Ft. Aaron Lewis)
Cold - Bleed, Send in the Clowns (Ft. Aaron Lewis)
Stone Temple Pilots - Family Values Tour 2001: Creep (feat. Aaron Lewis)
Limp Bizkit - Outside Ft. Fred Durst (Family Values Tour)
Limp Bizkit - No Sex (Ft. Aaron Lewis)
Jimmie's Chicken Shack - Falling Out (Ft. Aaron Lewis)
Various - What's Going On (Aaron Lewis, Michael Stipe, Nas, Ja Rule, Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, and more)
Amy Lee of Evanescense- Epiphany
Trademark infringement
In November 2003 Staind attempted to sue Ohio musician Jon Stainbrook in New York Federal Court over his 1980 trademark of "The Stain". Staind was unsuccessful in their suit prompting Stainbrook to pursue litigation against the band for including false statements in their application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If Stainbrook's suit is successful, Staind may have to change their band name and forfeit all trademark claims or come to a licensing agreement with Stainbrook.
Miscellaneous
The band's lead singer Aaron Lewis is married to Vanessa Lewis, and is a father of three girls: Zoe Jane (b. 2002), Nyla Rae (b. 2005), and Indie Shay (b. 2007).
During the break between releases, Aaron Lewis performed backing vocals for good friends Jimmie's Chicken Shack for their single "Fallin' Out", taken from that band's LP Re. Present (released in 2004). He also worked with the popular nu metal group Linkin Park in making a remix of their song "Crawling" (spelled as "Krwling") for the band's 2002 album Reanimation. Lewis also performed background vocals on Sevendust's song "Follow" off the 2001 album Animosity and on the tracks "Bleed" and "Send in the Clowns" from Cold's 2000 release 13 Ways to Bleed Onstage
There is speculation that the band's title could be a reference to this line from Paradise Lost by John Milton, directly after Adam's recognition of the error of his and Eve's eating from the Tree of Knowledge (9.1076-9.1080): "Our wonted Ornaments now solid and staind,/ And in our Faces evident the signes/ Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store;/ Evil shame, the last of evils; of the first/ Be sure then."
Recognition
In 2006, Staind were listed in metal magazine 'Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Stars of All Time List, in which lead singer Aaron Lewis was placed at number 49. Notably, this was a list of frontmen, not musicians.
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll notes; "Aaron Lewis is a key figure in metal's shift from the constipated sincerity of Eddie Vedder to the chilly modalities of Layne Staley."
Members
Aaron Lewis - vocals, guitar
Mike Mushok - guitar
Johnny April - bass guitar, backing vocals
Jon Wysocki - drums, percussion
Discography
Studio albums
| Album Information |
| Tormented Released: November 29 1996 (U.S.)
Label: Self-Released
Chart Positions: -
RIAA Certification: -
Singles:
|
| Dysfunction Released: April 13 1999 (U.S.)
Label: Flip/Elektra
Chart Positions: #74 (U.S.)
RIAA Certification: 2x Platinum
Singles: Just Go, Mudshovel, Home
|
| Break the Cycle Released: May 22 2001 (U.S.)
Label: Flip/Elektra
Chart Positions: #1 (U.S.), #1 (UK)
RIAA Certification: 8x Platinum
Singles: It's Been Awhile, Fade, Outside, For You, Epiphany
|
| 14 Shades of Grey Released: May 20 2003 (U.S.)
Label: Flip/Elektra
Chart Positions: #1 (U.S.), #14 (UK)
RIAA Certification: 2x Platinum
Singles: Price To Play, So Far Away, How About You, Zoe Jane
|
| Chapter V Released: August 9 2005 (U.S.)
Label: Flip/Atlantic
Chart Positions: #1 (U.S.), #112 (UK)
RIAA Certification: Platinum
Singles: Right Here, Falling, Everything Changes, King of All Excuses
|
Release: November 14 2006 (U.S.)
Label: Flip/Atlantic
Chart Positions: #41
RIAA Certification: -
Singles:
|
| The Illusion of Progress Released: TBA, 2008 U.S.
Label: Flip/Atlantic
Chart Positions:
Singles:
|
Singles
DVDs
Staind - MTV Unplugged (2002)
(2006)Further Information
Get more info on 'Staind'.
|
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