Twenty One Pilots | |
Number of songs: 14 | Total weeks on charts: 962
Appearing in a total number of: 78 charts | Total period running: 2671 days
Appearing in a total number of: 78 charts | Total period running: 2671 days
Songs by Twenty One Pilots
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Biography
Twenty One Pilots (stylized as twenty one pilots or twenty øne piløts) is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. The band was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with former members Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who left in 2011. The current line-up is Joseph and drummer Josh Dun.
They put out two self-released albums, Twenty One Pilots in 2009 and Regional at Best in 2011, before being signed by Fueled by Ramen in 2012. Their label debut, Vessel, was released in 2013. The duo achieved breakthrough success with their fourth album, Blurryface (2015), which produced the successful singles "Stressed Out" and "Ride". In addition, the single "Heathens", recorded for the soundtrack of the film Suicide Squad, made the group the first alternative artist to have two concurrent top ten singles in the US. The duo's fifth studio album, Trench, was released on October 5, 2018. They have won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Tyler Joseph first met future bandmate Nicholas "Nick" Thomas at a young age while playing little league basketball in Columbus, Ohio. Thomas later transferred to Joseph's middle school, and the two would remain friends through high school.
Joseph began playing music after finding an old keyboard in his closet, a Christmas gift from his mother, and started mimicking radio melodies. In 2007, Joseph recorded a solo album titled No Phun Intended in his parent's basement. Thomas contributed guitar to several songs on the album, and collaborated on the track "Trees", which would later become a signature Twenty One Pilots song.
While attending Ohio State University, Joseph met Texas-born future bandmate Christopher "Chris" Salih at a party. Noting the songwriter's talent and creative energy, Salih consulted Joseph about starting a band. Impressed by the recording studio Salih had built in his house, Joseph agreed to play music together and began sharing his ideas for new music. Just before their first performance, Joseph invited Thomas to join the unnamed band as a bassist. In 2009, the group moved into a house of their own, where their first album was conceptualized and recorded in the basement.
The band initially played for a wide variety of audiences at clubs and venues around the Columbus area. Playing at metal, hardcore, and electronic venues influenced Joseph to incorporate these disparate styles with his songwriting. To catch the attention of unfamiliar or disinterested attendees and promoters, the band began to experiment with costumes and on-stage acrobatics.
Now going by "Twenty One Pilots", the group released their debut, self-titled album, Twenty One Pilots, on December 29, 2009, and began touring the rest of Ohio. Their initial marketing was grassroots; Joseph's mother would stand outside of Ohio State University giving away tickets to his shows. During this time, the band participated in "Battle of the Band" contests at The Alrosa Villa and The Basement, important Columbus music venues. In 2010, the band posted two tracks to their SoundCloud account, a cover of "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri and a remixed interpretation of "Con te partirò (Time to Say Goodbye)" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. The latter track would become the first song local drummer Josh Dun heard from the group. Joseph, Dun, and Salih participated in musical efforts of a Columbus, Ohio church called Five14. They contributed to four of fourteen tracks of their album album Clear, with Travis Whittaker and the gospel band "New Albany Music." In 2011, Joseph appeared in a 3-part video called "The (moderately inspiring tale of the) Longboard Rodeo Tango"., and sang "O come, O come, Emmanuel" in another video, Christmas With the Stars.
Salih left on May 8, 2011 to focus on work, and Thomas left the next month on June 3, 2011 to focus on schooling, both posting farewell notes on the band's official Facebook page. Before departing the project, Salih invited Guitar Center co-worker and friend of the group Josh Dun (former touring drummer for House of Heroes), to take his place in the band. Impressed by the band's potential and Joseph's creative vision, Dun abandoned plans to pursue drumming in Nashville and joined the project only a few weeks before Thomas left the group.
Both Salih and Thomas remained involved with the band's production for some time after their departure. Thomas briefly attended school in North Carolina, but moved back into Joseph and Dun's house in Columbus a year later and began to manage their merchandise. Thomas remained a part of the merchandise distribution crew throughout the production of Blurryface and continues to stay actively involved in the band's tour cycle. Thomas has since relocated to Savannah, Georgia where he resides today. Salih co-founded the carpentry company "Elmwood Custom Goods", where he works as an account manager and resides in Columbus.
With a new lineup consisting of only Joseph and Dun, Twenty One Pilots self-released their second album, Regional at Best, on July 8, 2011. The album was accompanied by a free CD release show on the grounds of New Albany High School. While Salih and Thomas were involved with the conceptualization of the album, neither they nor Dun claim to have had much involvement with its production, which was handled nearly exclusively by Joseph. The album features Joseph's brother Zack on the track "Kitchen Sink" and Joseph's college acquaintance Jocef on the track "Be Concerned".
In November 2011, after months of cultivating a fan base in the Columbus area via social media interaction and constant touring, the band played a sold out concert at Columbus' Newport Music Hall. This notable accomplishment for an unsigned local group caught the attention of several record labels interested in seeing if the band's appeal could stretch outside of Ohio. That same year, the duo put out two free, otherwise unreleased songs via their email newsletter: the original version of "House of Gold" and "Two". On February 11, 2012, the band released a music video on YouTube for an unreleased song titled "Goner". "Goner" was rewritten and again recorded for its release on Blurryface in 2015.
Joseph and Dun embarked on the Regional at Best Tour with rock band CHALLENGER!, documenting it in a series of videos uploaded to the Twenty One Pilots YouTube channel.
In April 2012, the band announced their signing to Atlantic Records subsidiary Fueled by Ramen, the label responsible for the commercial success of popular alternative artists like Panic! at the Disco and Paramore, during a sold out show at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion. On July 17, 2012, they released their debut Fueled by Ramen recording, an EP entitled Three Songs. The next month, the band embarked on a short tour with Neon Trees and Walk the Moon.
Tyler Joseph successfully negotiated to maintain ownership of the preceding self-titled album, which remains available digitally. However, as part of a signing agreement in 2012 with record label Fueled by Ramen, rights to Regional at Best were transferred to the label, meaning that Regional at Best was discontinued and removed from digital markets. Regional at Best tracks "Slowtown", "Anathema", "Ruby", "Be Concerned", and "Clear" have since been made commercially unavailable, and physical copies of the album are now rare and highly sought after.
On November 12, 2012, the official music video for "Holding on to You", directed by Jordan Bahat, was released on YouTube. On January 7 and April 19, 2013, the band released music videos for "Guns for Hands" and "Car Radio", respectively, both directed by Mark Eshleman of Reel Bear Media.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Joseph described Regional at Best as a "glorified mixtape" and confirmed that songs from that project would reappear on their major-label debut studio album. Ultimately, five tracks from Regional at Best – "Guns for Hands", "Holding on to You", "Ode to Sleep", "Car Radio", and "Trees" – were re-recorded and released for their third album. "Lovely" was also re-recorded and released as a single in Japan on April 17, 2013. "Glowing Eyes", "Kitchen Sink", and "Forest" appeared unchanged as bonus tracks on the UK version of Vessel.
Twenty One Pilots' third album, Vessel, was released January 8, 2013; it would reach No. 21 on the Billboard 200, No. 9 on the Digital Albums chart, No. 17 on the Internet Albums chart, No. 15 on the Rock Albums Chart, and No. 10 on the Alternative Albums Chart. The band's first charting single, "Holding on to You", reached No. 11 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. Additionally, the singles "Guns for Hands" and "Lovely" reached No. 21 and No. 67, respectively, on the Japan Hot 100.
In May 2013, Twenty One Pilots were announced to join Fall Out Boy as opening acts on their Save Rock and Roll Arena Tour, along with Panic! at the Disco, also serving as opening acts.
On August 8, 2013, Twenty One Pilots performed "House of Gold" on Conan in their late night debut. On October 2, the music video for the song was uploaded onto YouTube.
On March 17, 2014, Twenty One Pilots performed a set at the mtvU Woodie Awards during SXSW. On April 13, Twenty One Pilots performed "Car Radio" at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards. On April 28, the band performed "Car Radio" on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
In 2014, Twenty One Pilots played a number of music festivals and other events around the United States, such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Boston Calling, and Firefly. Requests from many of these cities were incorporated into the band's first headlining tour, the Quiet Is Violent World Tour, which began in September 2014 and ended in November of the same year.
On December 31, 2014, the band released a music video for the song "Ode to Sleep". Composed of footage captured by the band's creative director, Mark C. Eshleman of Reel Bear Media, from three concerts over the preceding three years, the video depicted the band's rapid growth from their origins as a small local band to a nationally-popular alternative act, an upward trend that would continue into the next album cycle.
On March 16, 2015, the band announced that a new album, Blurryface, was to be released on May 19. They also released the first single, "Fairly Local", on March 17. Their second single of the album, "Tear in My Heart", and its music video were released on April 5, 2015. On April 28, "Stressed Out", the third single from the album, was released along with a music video. "Stressed Out" became the group's highest selling single, peaking at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on both Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts and surpassing one billion views on YouTube.
Blurryface was released two days early on May 17, 2015, and sold 134,000 copies in the first week in the United States, becoming the band's first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. On May 22, 2016, Blurryface won in the category of "Top Rock Album" at the Billboard Music Awards, while the band won the category of "Top Rock Artist".
The band began the Blurryface Tour on May 11, 2015, in Glasgow, Scotland. The tour spanned the United States, Australia, South East Asia, Japan and Europe. The U.S. section began September 8, 2015 and featured Echosmith and Finish Ticket as openers.
Twenty One Pilots performed "Stressed Out" on Late Night with Seth Meyers on September 14, 2015.
The band announced a London show in February 2016, and later announced a run of UK dates, with a second London date added. The band Transviolet served as openers. This run of UK dates ended the initial Blurryface Tour.
Soon after, the band announced a second tour for the Blurryface album, the Emotional Roadshow World Tour, which started in Cincinnati on May 31, 2016. The tour covered the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. Chef'Special and Mutemath opened for the American leg. Irish singer Bry joined the tour for its European leg.
On June 16, 2016, the band released the song "Heathens" as the first single from the Suicide Squad soundtrack, earlier than the expected release date of June 24, after the song leaked onto the Internet on June 15. A music video for the song was released on June 21, 2016. "Heathens" plays during the ending credits of the film.
Twenty One Pilots became only the third rock act to have two singles simultaneously chart in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, joining the Beatles and Elvis Presley, in addition to becoming the third duo to accomplish this feat, after OutKast in 2003 and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ten years later.
In September 2016, the band contributed a cover of the piano ballad "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance to the tribute album Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade. An animated lyric video followed the release of the song.
Twenty One Pilots featured as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, performing orchestra-accompanied versions of "Heathens" and "Ride" in what Rolling Stone called their "most high profile performance yet". The band later performed a medley of "Heathens" and "Stressed Out" on the American Music Awards of 2016, where they also accepted their first awards on American television for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo and Favorite Alternative Rock Artist. On November 25, 2016, the band released a limited-edition live vinyl album documenting two performances at Fox Oakland Theatre, on the duo's 2015 Blurryface Tour under the name Blurryface Live.
Joseph and Dun collaborated with alternative rock band Mutemath, for a five-song EP, TOPxMM, composed of remixes and reimaginings of four tracks from Blurryface and Heathens. The EP was uploaded onto the band's official website free of charge on December 19; a twenty-five-minute long video of the bands recording the songs live in studio was also released on the band's YouTube channel.
On February 12, 2017, Twenty One Pilots won a Grammy Award for "Stressed Out" in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. The band stripped to their underwear before taking the stage, with Joseph claiming in their acceptance speech that this was a fulfillment of a promise the duo had made each other in their early days as a local Columbus band.
On March 27, 2017, the band began selling tickets for what they called a "Tour De Columbus", a five-date hometown tour taking place in June 2017. The duo performed at several small venues they first played as a local band including The Basement, Newport Music Hall, and Express Live!, before ending their tour cycle with arena shows at Nationwide Arena and Value City Arena.
In an interview with Alternative Press in November 2016, Twenty One Pilots stated that after their last show, they will be "going dark" to focus on new music. Joseph stated that he would like to focus on lyrical content of the music, and bring the music back to the "authenticity, lyrics, delivery, and fearlessness of songwriting" similar to that of the self-titled album. The band's last activity came in July 2017 in the form of posts on social media depicting an eye closing over lyrics from several of their songs.
In March 2018, their song "Hometown" received a Gold certification from the RIAA, making Blurryface the first full-length album to have every track achieve at least gold status.
In April 2018, a cryptic message was uncovered on the band's web store, which revealed a website. Fans began using the clues and found other sections of this site, hinting at the possibility of the band's return. There were multiple images uploaded to the website, including letters from a character named "Clancy". In July 2018, Twenty One Pilots broke their year-long silence, first sending a cryptic email to fans and later posting a video to all social media platforms and updating their logo and branding.
On July 11, 2018, the band released two new songs, "Jumpsuit" and "Nico and the Niners", a music video for "Jumpsuit", and the announcement of their fifth studio album, Trench, scheduled to be released on October 5, 2018, and a new world tour, titled "The Bandito Tour", starting October 16. Later, on July 26, 2018, the music video for "Nico and the Niners" was released. The song "Levitate" was subsequently released as the album's third single via Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show as the day's "World Record". A music video was also released, concluding the trilogy series.
On August 20, 2018, at the MTV VMAs, a ten second long snippet of the song "My Blood" was played at the end of a commercial promoting the album. On August 27, 2018, a Twitter user leaked the full song onto his Twitter account in low quality, after they found that it could be played on their Apple HomePod. The leak was later confirmed to be real when the band made the song available on streaming services, as the album's fourth official single. Tyler Joseph made his first media appearance in over a year for an interview with Zane Lowe of Beats 1 from his own home studio in Columbus, Ohio, in which he spoke about the band's year long hiatus, creating the new album, and battling against personal demons and insecurities.
On September 12, 2018, Twenty One Pilots played their first live show in over a year, titled A Complete Diversion, at Brixton's O2 Academy in London. They performed the four released songs from Trench, as well as some songs from their previous albums, to promote the album and the upcoming "The Bandito Tour".
Twenty One Pilots released their fifth album, Trench, on October 5, 2018. On the same day, they released the music video for their single "My Blood" on their YouTube channel.
Twenty One Pilots performed their single "Jumpsuit" at the 2018 American Music Awards on October 9, at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. On October 16, the band embarked on the international Bandito Tour, starting in the United States and continuing with legs in Oceania and Europe.
The band's musical style has been described as alternative hip hop, electropop, indie pop, pop rock, rock, pop, electronica, electronic rock, emo rap, indie rock, pop-rap, hip hop, indietronica, psychedelic, reggae, rap rock, and alternative rock.
Ultimately, it is difficult to categorize the band using a single genre only, since they bridge so many of them. This has been attributed partly to the fact that both Joseph and Dun are self-taught musicians, meaning that while producing their work they broke many musical conventions that they were not aware of, including staying confined to a single genre of music.
Instrumentally, Twenty One Pilots bring a mix of piano (sometimes an electronic keyboard or a keytar), synthesizers, drums (sometimes mixed with electronic drums), vocals, organs, bass, and occasionally the ukulele, guitar and trumpet. Lyrically, their songs are written by Joseph, who incorporates both sung and rapped lyrics. Music journalist Carl Wilson has noted that Joseph's rapping is often compared to that of Macklemore, yet he wrote "but among the ranks of post-Eminem white rappers, I find Joseph more probing, sardonic, and expressive." Joseph has stated that he had never intended to become a rapper, but that when attempting to fit poetry which he had written with music, he found that rapping elements of it was the only way for it to fit within the song.
Joseph came up with the band's name while studying All My Sons by Arthur Miller, a play about a man whose choice to send out faulty airplane parts for the good of his business and family caused the death of twenty-one pilots during World War II. Joseph explains that the story's themes of moral dilemma and choosing between the easy and the right decision inspired the name and formation of the band. "Bicycle Thief" and "Chill Coat" were among some of the rejected band names.
The band's name was originally stylized as "twenty | one | pilots" on their earlier cover art; however, by the time of their second album Regional at Best, the formatting was changed to "twenty øne piløts" with slashes through the Os.
Former Twenty One Pilots member Chris Salih stated in an interview that Mark C. Eshleman, a longtime friend of and creative director for Twenty One Pilots, created the band's logo by "messing around with shapes". Joseph found the arrangement to resonate with him.
In regard to their logo, Joseph stated in an interview that: It means Twenty One Pilots, the logo does. Why it means Twenty One Pilots, is it really goes along with one of our songs called "Kitchen Sink". The whole concept of that song is that I feel that humans are always struggling all the time when it comes to purpose, trying to figure out what their purpose is, what purpose even is, what's the point, justifying your own existence. A lot of kids and people my age struggle with "what's the point", and with the logo, what it really means is it's an encouragement. When someone asks me what the logo means to me, the logo means something to me because I made it mean something to me. That's the point. The point is that I created something that only I understand and whether or not I decide to disclose the meaning of it, that's the beginning of purpose for me. The meaning of purpose for me, is by creating something, if it be by writing lyrics, painting a picture, by expressing yourself through art if it's photography or music or theater, or whatever it is. It doesn't have to be artistic, but if you create something and only you know the meaning of it, that's the beginning of purpose for you. When you're in the room by yourself trying to decide whether to stay alive, you can tell yourself "I should probably stay alive because I'm the only one who knows the meaning of that thing", so the logo is an encouragement for people to create. That's what it means.
According to the band, their purpose for making music is "to make people think", as well as encourage them to find joy in what they come to believe in life.
The band's fandom has been dubbed as the "Skeleton Clique" or just the Clique, in reference to the band's use of skeleton iconography in many performances, graphics, and music videos. The Skeleton Clique are represented in the band's official iconography by logos of a skull and alien head atop lines resembling keys. Salih speculates that Tyler Joseph himself originally used the term "Clique" to identify with his fans.
In November 2016, during the Blurryface World Tour, Wood Green tube station in London was decorated in Clique-related artwork, spanning over one-hundred advertising panels.
the 2017 Tour De Columbus, Twenty One Pilots hosted a public art show, dubbed "Artøpia", exclusively for Clique-related artwork at the Nationwide Arena.
Band members:
• Tyler Joseph – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, ukulele, bass (2009–present)
• Josh Dun – drums, percussion (2011–present)
Discography:
• Twenty One Pilots (2009)
• Regional at Best (2011)
• Vessel (2013)
• Blurryface (2015)
• Trench (2018)
Sources: Wikipedia, Top40-Charts.com Editorial team
Twenty One Pilots in the news
More songs by Twenty One Pilots
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