Shinedown

Shinedown was Brent Smith's second shot. After his old band Dreve fell apart, the singer, still under contract to Atlantic Records, put a new group together in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2001, with Jasin Todd on guitar, Brad Stewart on bass and Barry Kerch on drums. Leave a Whisper followed in 2003, and "45" announced a voice that could go from wounded croon to full-throated roar in a single line.

This is hard rock with post-grunge muscle and an alternative-metal edge, but the real engine is Smith's knack for the big, cathartic chorus. Us and Them in 2005 brought "Save Me" and "I Dare You", and "Simple Man" became a countdown favorite in its own right. The late '00s brought lineup changes, and by the end of it Zach Myers had taken over guitar and Eric Bass the low end, with Smith and Kerch still anchoring the band. The Sound of Madness gave them "Second Chance", and Amaryllis, Threat to Survival and ATTENTION ATTENTION kept the hits coming, from "Cut the Cord" to "Devil" and "Monsters".

On Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart they've collected more number ones than anyone, and every single they've released has reached the top five there. Rock radio has clearly decided it can't get enough of them.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.