 A long, long time ago, when Ricky Martin was just a gleam in his parents' ojos, when "N Sync" meant nothing more to a sixth-grade girl than another summer in remedial spelling, the music industry was very different than it is today. Bands wrote their own songs, played their guitars LOUD and growled unabashedly bombastic lyrics about the state of humanity. Albums were intended as cohesive artistic statements, with any track fair game for radio airplay. Moreover, careers often lasted longer than the chart run of a gimmicky single. Stockbridge, Ga.'s Collective Soul is a throwback to those halcyon days of album rock. Almost singularly among rock bands, Collective Soul has remained relevant and commercially viable despite the resurgence of teen pop and the rise of hip-hop. Collective Soul first made waves with the 1994 album Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, which began as a collection of demos singer/guitarist Ed Roland recorded while working at a Stockbridge studio. One of the songs, "Shine," became a regional hit in the Southeast, leading to a contract with Atlantic Records. Roland recruited his brother Dean (rhythm guitar) and local friends Ross Childress (lead guitar), Will Turpin (bass) and Shane Evans (drums) to form the full-fledged Collective Soul. "Shine" exploded nationally, fueling multi-platinum sales for Hints.... The song itself was named Billboard's Album Rock Song of the Year for 1994. The band, whose members had been playing together for years in various combinations, toured with Aerosmith and appeared at Woodstock '94, where they basked in the sound of hundreds of thousands of mud-soaked fans singing along to "Shine." Disciplined Breakdown, the band's third album, slumped a bit in sales. However, the 1997 release was still certified gold and spawned No.1 rock radio singles in "Precious Declarations" and "Listen." Collective Soul returned in 1999 with the critically acclaimed Dosage and the single "Run," which became a hit when it was released on the Varsity Blues soundtrack. Blender, Collective Soul's fifth and latest album, was released in the Fall of 2000.
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