American Hi-Fi

Not many artists ever get to stand in the immediate vicinity of The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards, and even if they did, fewer still would have the guts to even talk to him. However, Stacy Jones was one of the lucky, brave people to talk to the rock legend during a chance meeting with him in a club in the late 90's. It's pretty much safe to say that it went pretty well for Jones. At the time, he was most known as a journeyman drummer who'd played with the likes of Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo. However, while talking to the bona-fide legend Jones mentioned that he had formed a new band, but couldn't decide on a name. Keef paused for a moment, and then suggested American Hi-Fi. Being a reasonable human being, Jones immediately contacted the rest of the band to say that they now had a name.

Thanks to the connections Jones had made as a member of several seminal indie bands in the 90's, American Hi-Fi secured a record deal with Island Records shortly after forming properly. Their debut single “Flavor Of The Weak” was released in January 2001 and was an immediate commercial success, charting strongly on the Billboard Hot 100 and hurtling into the top ten of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart as well. February 2001 saw the release of their self-titled debut album which was another strong seller that seemingly set them up to be the next big thing on the rock scene. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case. While not exactly tanking, their second effort, 2003's “The Art Of Losing”, did very similar business to their debut and by the end of the year, the band had been dropped from Island Records.

Ever since then, the band has remained a cult sensation, with a dedicated world-wide fanbase and three more hugely acclaimed albums to their name. They might not have changed the face of rock music, but all the same, American Hi-Fi come highly recommended.