3 Doors Down

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• Genre: Contemporary Hard Rock
• Hometown: Escatawpa
• 3 Doors Down Website

About

Can you raise your lighter high in the stadium and still keep your indie cred? Probably not, but you can combine the catchy hard rock of the Scorpions with the grungy street metal of Nirvana and get 3 Doors Down. Their debut hit, "Kryptonite," was a surprise smash, selling quantities that would make Shania or Britney very happy -- 2000's The Better Life went quadruple platinum in its first year of release, paving the way for still more multimillion sellers. Not bad for a rocking band that escaped from Escatawpa, Miss. (population: 8,000). Their 2008 self-titled album found them expanding their vision of modern rock, mixing heartland harmonies with touches of funk and world music -- but still delivering their music with an urgency as searing as ever.

- Nick Dedina