Lit is an American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band formed in 1988 in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
. They have released seven studio albums, but are best known for their 1999 album ''
A Place in the Sun'', which featured the hit single "
My Own Worst Enemy". "
Zip-Lock" and "
Miserable" were also successful, leading to a platinum certification for ''A Place in the Sun''.
History
Pre-Lit (1986–1995)
Guitarist Jeremy Popoff and bassist Kevin Baldes met in 1986, and soon after, began playing music together. In 1987, Popoff (guitar), Jerry Neel (bass), Dave Barber (drums) and Derek Johnson (vocals) formed the band Strate Lace and performed three live shows together: The Troubador in Hollywood, The Waters Club in San Pedro, and a back-to-school party in a friend's backyard. Neel quit the band early on to pursue a career in the mortgage industry and Johnson would go on to attend the Trebas Institute of Recording Arts in Hollywood, California, where he learned to produce and engineer. On February 20, 2003, Derek Johnson was among the 100 killed in
the nightclub fire while attending a Great White concert at
The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Meanwhile, around 1988, high school friends Baldes (15 or 16 at the time) and Jeremy Popoff's brother, A. Jay, (14 at the time) formed the pop metal band Razzle. The lineup being Kevin Baldes (lead vocals, bass), A. Jay Popoff (drums), and Sean Holland (guitar). They performed their first show on June 26, 1988, at
The Troubadour. In 1989, A. Jay switched from drums to lead vocals, and the band added guitarist Jeremy Popoff and drummer
Allen Shellenberger
Allen Shellenberger (September 15, 1969 – August 13, 2009) was an American drummer who played in the band Lit.
Early life and career
Shellenberger was born to Paul Shellenberger and Connie James. He founded Lit in 1988 in Fullerton, Cal ...
. Things began to come together in 1990, when the group released a demo tape (engineered by Derek Johnson, the singer of Strate Lace) and an EP entitled ''New Vibe Revolution'' in 1993. Razzle dissolved in 1993 and became Stain in 1994, which had a much harder and heavier sound. They released a demo tape in 1995 and eventually signed with Malicious Vinyl in 1995. After finding out the name "Stain" was already owned, the band changed their name to Lit.
''Tripping the Light Fantastic'' (1996–1997)
On April 1, 1997, the group released ''
Tripping the Light Fantastic'' on the Malicious Vinyl record label.
Lit continued to grow their local and national fan base playing locally and touring with alternative bands such as Radish (Ben Kweller), Lifter and Reel Big Fish. Malicious Vinyl (owned by Hip Hop label Delicious Vinyl) lost its national distribution shortly after''Tripping the Light Fantastic'' was released, which allowed the band to get out of their recording contract. They spent the next few months writing songs and showcasing for various major record labels. Lit signed with
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
in 1998.
The RCA years and mainstream success (1998–2002)
Lit gained world wide popularity with their second album ''
A Place in the Sun'', released in February 1999. ''A Place in the Sun'' yielded the massive hit single "
My Own Worst Enemy", topping the
Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for a total of 11 weeks and receiving a ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Music Award for the biggest modern rock song of 1999. It was followed by "
Zip-Lock" (which featured
Blink-182
Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...
in the video) and "
Miserable", the latter of which was among the top ten most played songs of 2000 and featured
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997).
Anders ...
in the video, as a
giantess who lets the band walk on different parts her body before eventually betraying and
devouring them all. Shortly after, the album was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
in the US and
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
in Canada, becoming the band's best selling album. The band performed over 286 shows and toured worldwide in support of ''A Place in the Sun''. In addition to the
Vans Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
and a slot on
Woodstock 1999
Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999) was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock fes ...
, the band toured with
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guita ...
,
Garbage, and
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...
. The band's tracks also appeared in soundtracks of ''
Ready to Rumble
''Ready to Rumble'' is a 2000 American buddy comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and written by Steven Brill, which is based on Turner Broadcasting's now defunct professional wrestling promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The mo ...
'' and ''
The Replacements,'' and appeared in the movie ''Replicate'' and the TV series ''
V.I.P.'' starring
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997).
Anders ...
. The band became staples on late night television shows The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with Conan O'Brien, Later with Craig Kilborn and appeared regularly on MTV TRL, Spring Break and guitarist Jeremy Popoff appeared in an episode of MTV Cribs.
Lit followed up ''A Place in the Sun'' with the 2001 release of ''
Atomic''. The band's highest charting single was "
Lipstick and Bruises
"Lipstick and Bruises" is a song by American rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places Un ...
" which reached top 10 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Lit toured to support ''Atomic,'' which began with a headlining US tour that scheduled to begin on September 11, 2001 in New Jersey, the same day as the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. The band continued to tour, appear on television and movies, and also released two albums from Handsome Devil and The Color Red who the band signed to their Dirty Martini label, distributed by RCA.
Self-titled album and death of Allen Shellenberger (2003–2009)
Lit continued to tour the states, including several festivals, before the release of their self-titled ''Lit'' on the
DRT Entertainment
DRT Entertainment was a New York City based independent record label founded in 2003 by Derek Shulman, Ron Urban, and Theodore "Ted" Green. The label is defunct.
The label advertised itself as an "artist friendly hard rock music company for ban ...
label on June 24, 2004. The single "Looks Like They Were Right" made it on the Top 40 charts. That year the group also put out its first long-form
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, ''All Access'', on November 16, 2004.
On May 5, 2008, Lit announced that drummer Allen Shellenberger was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Shellenberger immediately underwent clinical trials, chemotherapy and radiation at the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute. It was discovered that the tumor was
malignant glioma
A glioma is a type of tumor that starts in the glial cells of the brain or the spine. Gliomas comprise about 30 percent of all brain tumors and central nervous system tumours, and 80 percent of all malignant brain tumours.
Signs and symptoms
...
and was incurable. His treatments were documented in a piece on ''
ABC World News Tonight
''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program of ABC News, the news division ...
'' that aired in the same month. Lit canceled their scheduled tour dates with
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
due to Shellenberger's diagnosis. On July 26, 2008, Lit held a benefit concert for him at the
House of Blues
House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at ...
in Anaheim, California. A number of bands performed including
Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray is an American rock band formed in Newport Beach, California, in 1986. Originally playing heavier funk metal and nu metal style music, the band achieved mainstream popularity in 1997 with their more pop-influenced single " Fly". T ...
and
Handsome Devil.
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...
drummer
Adrian Young
Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American drummer and member of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar.
Biography
When not performing, in the studio or touring, Young likes to spend his time out on the golf course, as he is an ...
filled in for Shellenberger for a couple of songs. Both drummers also played at the same time for a few songs. Shellenberger's last show with the band was September 28, 2008 at
Paramount Studios
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...
for Paramount Rocks. He died from the cancer on August 13, 2009, at the age of 39.
On November 23, 2009, Lit played their first concert since Shellenberger's death. Drum tech Nathan Walker, who had filled in for Shellenberger earlier that year, was now his successor on drums. They later announced that they had begun to work on a new album.
''The View from the Bottom'' (2010–2014)
In April 2010 during an interview with OC Talk Radio, Lit hinted that they would return to a major label for their next release. They also revealed their work on a new management deal, as well as performing new material live. In September 2010, Kevin Baldes confirmed that Lit were in the studio, writing and recording their sixth studio album. The band worked with producer
Marti Frederiksen
Martin Harold "Marti" Frederiksen (born July 1, 1962) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. He writes and produces music primarily in rock, country, and pop. He is best known for his work with many artists and bands incl ...
(
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
,
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
,
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
,
Foreigner).
The band reported that they were still in the studio recording in July 2011, and released a demo video titled "You Tonight". Lit announced in December 2011 that they were back in the studio with producer
Butch Walker
Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s as well as the lead vocalist ...
to finish their new album. It was also announced that the band had signed with
Megaforce Records
Megaforce Records is an American independent record label founded in 1982 by Jon Zazula and his wife Marsha Zazula to release the first works of Metallica, and devoted primarily to hard rock and heavy metal. It has offices in New York City (w ...
and would release their new album ''
The View from the Bottom'' on June 19, 2012. The first single, "You Tonight", was released on iTunes on May 1, 2012, and a video for "The Broken" was released in August 2012. On January 7, 2013, frontman A. Jay Popoff told ''
Loudwire
''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...
'' that after Lit finished touring in support of ''The View from the Bottom'', they would begin writing their next album. A video for "Miss You Gone" was released on June 13, 2013.
On December 9, 2013, the band announced via its
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page that it would perform a special 15th anniversary show for ''A Place in the Sun''. The band played the entire album from front to back on February 28, 2014, at the
House of Blues
House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at ...
in Anaheim, California.
These Are the Days (2015–2021)
On October 1, 2015, the band announced that they had been working on new music at SoundStage in Nashville, Tennessee.
On October 26, 2016, Lit's music video for their new song "Fast" debuted on
CMT, which went to number 1 on the viewer voted 12 Pack Countdown. The band announced a
PledgeMusic
PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
campaign for their new album on December 6, 2016. They also released another new song "Back with You". These two songs showed a shift in sound for the band to a more
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
-influenced sound. The band released their sixth album, ''
These Are the Days'', on December 15, 2017.
Lit's song "My Own Worst Enemy" went double platinum on May 8, 2020. On June 12, 2020, the band released their first live album ''Live in NY, 99'', which was taken from their performance at
Woodstock '99
Woodstock '99 (also called Woodstock 1999) was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock fe ...
. On July 3, 2020, they released a video for a rare song called "Get Back", which was originally recorded in 2004.
The band released a new single titled "Yeah Yeah Yeah" on October 25, 2021. Nine days later Lit premiered the official music video for the song on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
''Tastes Like Gold'' (2022-current)
Lit announced their seventh studio album ''Tastes Like Gold'' on April 8, 2022 and released the song "Kicked Off The Plane" that same day. The album was released through Round Hill Records on June 17 and featured a pure alternative rock sound. Lit joined
Bowling for Soup
Bowling for Soup (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vo ...
in April for Europe's two week Crowd Surf the UK Tour which was originally to take place in 2021. and the following month the Spring Loaded tour took the band across most of the eastern United States.
Musical style and influences
On the band's first album ''
Tripping the Light Fantastic'', Lit incorporated elements of
punk rock,
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
and
heavy metal.
The band moved away from the style featured on that album and moved to
a
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
and
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
style on their album ''
A Place in the Sun''. Lit has been mainly described as
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
and pop punk.
Lit also has been described as
post-grunge
Post-grunge is a derivative of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox and Collective So ...
.
They moved to
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
sound with the band's 2017 album ''
These Are the Days''. Lit's influences include
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
,
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
,
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...
,
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
,
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...
,
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
,
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...
,
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...
,
George Lynch,
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
, and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
Band members
Current members
* Kevin Baldes – bass
(1988–present), backing vocals
(2004–present); co-lead vocals
(1988–1989)
* A. Jay Popoff – lead vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar
(1989–present); drums, percussion
(1988–1989)
* Jeremy Popoff – lead guitar, backing vocals
(1989–present)
* Taylor Carroll – drums, percussion
(2018–present)
Former members
* Sean Holland – guitar, backing vocals
(1988–1992)
* Charles Ward – lead vocals
(1988–1989)
*
Allen Shellenberger
Allen Shellenberger (September 15, 1969 – August 13, 2009) was an American drummer who played in the band Lit.
Early life and career
Shellenberger was born to Paul Shellenberger and Connie James. He founded Lit in 1988 in Fullerton, Cal ...
– drums, percussion
(1989–2009; his death); backing
(2004–2009)
* Chadd Anthony (Chad Benekos) – guitar, backing vocals
(1992–1995)
* Nathan Walker – drums, percussion
(touring substitute 2008, 2009; 2009–2016)
* Ryan Gillmor – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
(2010–2012, 2016–2020; touring member 2015–2016; touring guest 2013)
* Evan Kilbourne – drums, percussion
(touring member 2017; 2017–2018; touring substitute 2018)
Former touring members
* Terry Stirling Jr. – drums, percussion
(2016)
Touring substitutes
*
Adrian Young
Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American drummer and member of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar.
Biography
When not performing, in the studio or touring, Young likes to spend his time out on the golf course, as he is an ...
– drums, percussion
(2008)
* Rich Redmond – drums, percussion
(2008)[Rich Redmond recorded drums on unreleased demos from ''The View from the Bottom''.]
Touring guests
*
Stan Frazier – drums
(2008)
* Jay Sparring – guitar
(2013)
Timeline
Discography
;Studio albums
* ''
Tripping the Light Fantastic'' (1997)
* ''
A Place in the Sun'' (1999)
* ''
Atomic'' (2001)
* ''
Lit'' (2004)
* ''
The View from the Bottom'' (2012)
* ''
These Are the Days'' (2017)
* ''
Tastes Like Gold
''Tastes Like Gold'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock music, rock band Lit (band), Lit. It is the band's first album with drummer Taylor Carroll.
Track listing
Personnel
Lit
* A. Jay Popoff – lead vocals
* Jeremy Popoff – ...
'' (2022)
References
External links
Official websiteLitTV at YouTube.com*
{{Authority control
Alternative rock groups from California
American pop rock music groups
American post-grunge musical groups
Musical groups established in 1988
Musical groups from Orange County, California
Pop punk groups from California
Sibling musical groups
1988 establishments in California
American punk rock groups