Often compared to metal giants like Tool and Korn, Staind have turned their alt-metal sound into a 2 decade long career that has seen over 15 million records sold.
The band met and formed in Massachusetts in the mid-90s and started out covering songs by the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Alice in Chains which would help to mould their sound as they moved forward. The 5 piece line up consisted of Aaron Lewis, Mike Mushok, Johnny April and Jon Wysocki which remained a constant until Jon’s departure in 2011.
The band self-released a small quantity of their debut album ‘Tormented’ and, after opening for Limb Bizkit, made a new fan in frontman Fred Durst. With the help of Terry Date, Fred produced Staind’s major label debut ‘Dysfunction’ which, although a slow seller to begin with, began to pick up traction as the band toured hard and singles began to receive radio play.
The band really broke out with the release of third album ‘Break the Cycle’. As evidenced by hit single ‘It’s Been A While’, the band had started to blend more post-grunge sounds in with their nu-metal foundations with great results as the album debuted at number one in the album charts and eventually went on to sell 7 million copies round the world.
The band continued to release successful albums (all of which debuted in the top 10 of the album charts) and, after taking a brief hiatus in 2012, returned to touring in 2014 with numerous festival appearances.
Hayley Williams
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