In the midst of the early 1990s grunge boom, Counting Crows emerged as an alternative to the heavy, alienated sounds of the Kurt Cobain crowd. The California band harked back to the classic '60s folk-rock sounds of the Band, Bob Dylan, and Van Morris…

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into th…

"A big slice of American cheese" was how the singer of this American country rock band once described their sound. Favoured sons of MTV, they had earlier attracted a fierce local following after formation in Tempe, Arizona, USA, in 1987. Their origin…

Formed in Stockbridge, Georgia, USA, Collective Soul have earned their reputation with strong, hook-laden pop rock songs, the best example of which is "Shine', which topped Billboard"s Rock Album Tracks poll in May 1994. The band's history up to then…

Pearl Jam strode the middle of the neo-hard rock road manfully with their angst-ridden anthemic tunes bearing echoes of 1970s riff-rock. They arrived as part of Seattle's grunge explosion, with a sound less "punk" than Nirvana and less "metal" than S…

U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to alt-rock, with Bono's expressive …

The members of Live began playing together as teenagers in their native York, PA, under various band names. After singer Ed Kowalczyk arrived, they were on the fast track to stardom. The moody alternative-rock sound of their 1991 debut album made som…

Along with such peers as Tonic and Matchbox Twenty, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind broke through at a crucial juncture in the '90s music scene. In between the twilight of grunge (from which they took some influence) and the ascendancy of nu-metal, T…

The angst-ridden alt-rock that bands like Nirvana popularized in the early-1990s eventually branched off into a softer, more mature sound with such groups as the Goo Goo Dolls. Although they began as raw and rowdy Replacements-style rockers in the la…

The Stone Temple Pilots are the result of a chance meeting between Scott Weiland (b. 27 October 1967, Santa Cruz, California, USA; vocals) and Robert DeLeo (b. 2 February 1966, New Jersey, USA; bass) at one of Black Flag's final shows in Los Angeles.…

The honey-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan has ascended from modest success in the U.S. and her native Nova Scotia to international stardom. Her music is accessible enough for the masses, yet serious enough to strike a strong chord w…

Better Than Ezra were formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in 1988, when all three members, Kevin Griffin (vocals, guitar), Cary Bonnecaze (drums) and Tom Drummond (b. 30 June 1969; bass), were at university there. They made their debut two years l…

Growing up in the shadow of Bob Dylan would be too much for many, let alone trying to make it in the same field as the legendary troubadour. But Bob's son Jakob Dylan succeeded on his own terms when his band the Wallflowers hit it big with their own …

In 2000, Coldplay emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become a worldwide smash with their debut album PARACHUTES and hit single "Yellow." They're generally lumped in with the Britpop crowd, but, like Travis, they favor a more thoughtful, melodic pop …

b. 1969, Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Sheik grew up in South Carolina and New Jersey, learning to play the piano and guitar. He played with Lisa Loeb while studying at Brown University, and later appeared with His Boy Elroy on a 1993 album for Epic Re…

The late-'90s witnessed a plethora of groups that specialized in mature, pop-friendly alternative rock, namely Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20, and Tonic. Although Tonic didn't rack up a monster hit a la the aforementioned bands, their first two releases,…

Most alternative rock of the 1990s was based around purging one's demons over a wall of distorted power chords, but bands like Barenaked Ladies showed that tunefulness and carefree pop ditties weren't completely extinct. Hailing from Canada, this pur…

This endearingly popular live "modern rock' outfit was formed in 1991 by Georgetown University undergraduates Keith Kane and Matthew Scannell. The two singer-songwriters began performing together as an acoustic duo, relocating to Cape Cod, Massachuse…

This four-piece band came together in 1989 when Christopher Barron (b. 5 February 1968, Hawaii; vocals) and Eric Schenkman (b. 12 December 1963, Massachusetts, USA; guitar) met Aaron Comess (b. 24 April 1968, Arizona, USA; drums) at the New School of…

Hootie & the Blowfish burst out of the grass-roots southern rock scene in the mid-1990s, but their panoramic, All-American pop-rock sound was more influenced by John Mellencamp than by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band's distinguishing feature was the robust,…