Trapt

Trapt came roaring out of Los Gatos, California, in 2002 with a self-titled major-label debut and a single, "Headstrong", that sounded like a clenched jaw set to guitars. Chris Taylor Brown sang and played guitar, Peter Charell was there from the start, as was Simon Ormandy, and Aaron Montgomery came aboard the year the album broke.

This was alternative metal for the post-grunge generation: riffs that chug and lurch, a quiet verse that coils up, then a chorus Brown hurls at the back wall. "Headstrong" crossed over to the pop charts and helped push the album to platinum, while "Echo" and "Still Frame" kept the brooding going on rock radio. Someone in Control followed in 2005 with "Stand Up" and "Waiting", and if nothing after matched the pop reach of that first single, the band held on to its place in the rock market through the rest of the decade.

Brown has kept the name going ever since, through lineup churn and a long string of albums, from Only Through the Pain and No Apologies to Resurrection in 2026, with Charell still beside him. For countdown listeners, though, it all comes back to 2002 and that one stubborn, fist-in-the-air anthem.

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