Maroon 5’s Ultimate Success

Nowadays, one of the top leading bands in the music industry that hits the billboard chart and contributed a lot in influencing the youth through their music is known to be Maroon 5. The American band first started as a pop rock group in which they originally formed in 1994 and they used to call their band as “Kara’s Flowers” when they were still in their high school days. They had their first album entitled “The Fourth World” when they signed a contract to Reprise Records in 1997 where the original members of the band were: Adam Lavinge as their lead vocals, Jesse Carmichael who plays the guitar, Mickey Maden in bass, and Ryan Michael Dusick, Adam’s old friend controls the beat as he plays the drums as they also made their first performance at the West Hollywood’s Whisky A Go-Go on September 16, 1995. (Aceshowbiz.com. http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/maroon_5/biography.html)

With their eagerness to get their album on the top chart of billboard, unfortunately, they were not able to meet their expectations where the record only sold five thousand copies and it was indeed a total failure on their career as a band. With their frustration and disappointment, they decided to leave Reprise Records in 1999 where they continued their college education. Ryan Michael along with his bassist Mickey, they both chose to go and study at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) while the two other members decided to enter Five Towns College in Long Island, New York.

Adam and Jesse later on made a decision to give up their education and pursue their career in the music industry as they can’t resist themselves to play music thus they immediately returned to Los Angeles and reunited with their band mates Ryan and Mickey. With their comeback, they added some ingredients on their music specifically R&B, to their high notes rock and roll sound, their lead singer come up with a new style in writing their songs and the way he sing it. With their new image and sound, they have decided start all over again where they started to perform in the cities of Los Angeles. With their busy schedule touring around LA, they met James Burgon Valentine who then later became a member of the band and that was when the personnel came up with an idea of new identity of the band. This was the time when the Adam suggested the name of the group along the new crew, James and named it as Maroon 5. (Aceshowbiz.com. http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/maroon_5/biography_2.html)

Their music popped up on the chart when they launched their first album entitled “Songs About Jane” using their new band name Maroon 5 in which it propelled to the 6 th rank in 2004 in Billboard 200 Album Chart where first gained number 102. Their two songs “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved” went surprisingly popular worldwide and placed 5th in the Billboard Hot 100. The elegance of the two hit songs reached the top place of Billboard Top 40 Mainstream in 2004 which eventually increased the sale of their album “Song About Jane” that became multi Platinum in the U.S. and Australia while also certified Gold in some other countries. They again scored Platinum when they launched a live album “1.22.03.Acoustic” where they perform their previous album in unplugged version. Perhaps, with the band’s musical style and influences from some famous artists, they were able to create music that triggers that attention of the people and made them of who they

are now. Listening carefully to their music, we can identify some of the band’s influences like the way Adam sings which were actually influenced by the King of Pop: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Police, Aaliyah, Oasis, Shabba Ranks, and Prince. Another, if we are going to pay attention on the progress of their album, it is noticeable that their sound changes from album to album. Song About Jane, most of the songs in the album talk about the break-up of Adam and his ex-girlfriend Jane. Another album entitled It Won’t Be Soon Before Long is something less personal but more on electric synthesizer making it become more retro sounds. In 2011, they released their hit single “Moves Like Jagger” along with Christina Aguilera which again made an extreme change in the band once more. Studying more about Maroon 5’s success is more about Adam’s singing performance in high notes and falsettos.

The late King of Pop, Michael Jackson made him the best because of his unique talent using his voice and falsetto singing. That influenced Adam to do the same in another level of performance. Today, Maroon 5 continues to dominate the music industry and changed the way the music does to the people not just merely listening to it but at the same time sing and dance with it. The kind of music that this group has now is being love by many and now became a popular music in many countries. Like in our country Philippines, most of their songs topped the chart and became part of the teenager’s and even adult’s daily/nightly gimmick. The song Moves Like Jagger also became so popular and mobile networks made use of the song as a marketing strategy. These networks send free MP3 tones and later ask for subscription after the free trial. This has also indeed changed the market in the mobile network business.

Their success was just not in the music industry as they too would like to help people in their own little way. In their website, Maroon5.com, they have a page where they write their advocacies in helping people. One of the blogposts was made by Mickey in where he said: “Hey Everyone, I want to take this time to make you all aware that there’s a really horrific situation developing in Somalia right now. Serious drought, guerrilla war, and food crisis are leading to an epidemic of starvation and a massive refugee problem. The UN Refugee Agency and OXFAM International are in serious need of donations. This is a very important issue that myself and the band feel strongly about doing all that we can to help raise awareness. Please see the link below to help donate to this cause. – Mickey Madden Donate to UNHCR.” (Blog. Maroon 5. http://www.maroon5.com/overexposed/blog_detail/crisis_in_somalia/) I believe that Maroon 5’s music is truly amazing and striking not only when it comes to the beat and melody but also to the lyrics. Paying attention of the lyrics will help you understand in learning more about their story.

REFERENCES

Maroon 5. http://www.maroon5.com

Wikipedia, Maroon 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_5 AceShowbiz.com, Maroon 5 Biography. http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/maroon_5/biography.html

Ashley Fetters, Maroon 5’s Falsetto Singing: An Act of Cultural Defiance (?!). http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/09/maroon-5s-falsetto-singing-an-act-ofcultural-defiance/262982/

“Maroon 5 (The Best Band)” (http://bestuff.com/stuff/maroon5). Bestuff.com. Retrieved July 17, 2011.

Maroon 5 – Unabridged Guide. http://www.scribd.com/doc/117826257/Maroon-5-UnabridgedGuide

Lyrics007. http://www.lyrics007.com/Maroon%205%20Lyrics/This%20Love%20Lyrics.html

MetroLyrics. http://www.metrolyrics.com/this-love-lyrics-maroon-5.html