Critical Analysis of Evanescence Rock Band - Essay Example

Critical Analysis of Evanescence Rock Band The selected rock band that I chose to talk about is Evanescence. Evanescence is a rock band that was established in the year 1995. The lead singer of the group is Amy Lee who was the founding member of the band. The band has been very successful over the 17 years that it has braced the rock genre of music with its music. Having sold around 17million copies of their different albums, the band has seen most of the bright sides of rock music and hence has always been on the frontline of success. Going through the different characteristics and features of the rock band ensures that in depth knowledge of the band is attained which subsequently makes people appreciate the music produced by this band. The group started by produced music that was solely aimed at pleasing the fans by messages of fun and hype. However, as times have changed, the group has shifted focus to music that speaks about love and relationships (Moore 73). The main inspiration behind this drastic change was the failed relationships that certain members of the group such as Amy-Lee went through over the first decade of the 21st century. The rock band has had the pleasure of visiting different countries all around the world such as Brazil and France, which has made them appreciate different kinds of cultures, which is important in that it helps them get more content for their music. Various newspapers and magazines have had a rather great impact on the success of the rock band. High on the list of supportive newspapers is the New York Times. The newspaper is known for having the character of having a section on rock music that exclusively gets produced every two weeks. The New York Times has shown the various strides that the band has made over the years and consequently increasing the fan base of the band. The Washington Post is another important newspaper that has assisted in the growth of Evanescence. This is from the fact that despite the exclusivity of the magazine to publishing a lot of information concerning finance, the newspaper has published monthly issues showing the expenses of the group and consequently having people understand the running of the band. One of the factors that affect the success of the band is the positive views and the competitor levels that the band faces. The newspaper and magazines have worked hard to show the success of the band from the positive views that they offer. Research has shown that approximately 70% of the reviews given by people concerning the band is positive and thus the success (Evanescence 34). Personally, the music produced the band is rather catchy and it is not difficult to understand the reason as to why the band has been successful. One of the contemporary issues that affect the modern day society is relationship matters. Changes have been experienced over the years having people cheat in relationships and other negative issues. Evanescence has the ability to relate to these issues and bring them out in their music in a manner that very few rock bands do. Many of the contemporary bands playing their genre of rock do not have clear messages to pass but rather focus on just entertainment without message. However, the fact that this rock band has had the ability to pass clear messages through their music shows that all the negativity associated with rock bands and rock artists can be overcome and a positive outcome accomplished. Anywhere but Home is there second studio album that managed to capture the attention of many hearts because it was the first album that managed to talk about social issues. Prior to that album, most of the music that they had played did not get any relation from many people. Evanescence produced their initial songs towards the end of the millennium, one of their most notable songs that could get relation was I’d do anything but Love you. This song received a lot of credit from the fact that it gave strength to people that had gone through difficult situations in life involving heartbreaks. This was the first song that received acclamation from 15 different countries to a point where the New York Times stated that it was the next big thing after Elvis Presley (Benedict 46). This went on to gain a lot of credit from many rock artists, especially existing ones at the time that had them increase in fame. At the beginning of the year 2003, Amy Lee was able to sign up more recording artists to the group that would help her back up her voice and thus make records that would go platinum. Rocky Gray and Will Boyd were incorporated into Evanescence that led to the production of various songs and the increase in tours all around the world. At this point, the group failed to focus on their major issue that was to discuss issues concerning major life problems and joys. The group increased in size and shifted focus towards having increased profits by having a larger number of tours. This came as a major setback to the group as it did not receive a lot of support from many people despite the high number of people that showed up in their concerts. The repercussion of this was the dropping out of one of the major members of the band, Moody. Despite this, the band continued with its behavior and it is only until Amy Lee got advice from her producer that she sat down with the group and got strategies towards having the band get better results by having quality music. Fallen was the first studio album produced by the band back in 2002. Despite the less success as compared to its second album, the song Fallen was able to retain a top 10 spot in the billboard awards for around 43 weeks. As of the contemporary date, Fallen is number six of all bestselling albums over the last 10years enough to show the major strides that the band has had over the last couple of years. However, their 2006-2009 album, The Open Door was a major hit and has been able to capture the attention of many rock lovers to date (Evanescence 67). The reason behind the success of this album was the fact that evanescence had already introduced a website where people could have the ability to get more people to listen to more of their music online. Moreover, the success of their previous album had acted as a catalyst influencing people to expect the release of their other albums. On February 22 2010, Amy Lee got back to the studio commencing her work on another studio album. The album was meant to get produced by the end of the year 2011 but due to one other member dropping out to focus on family matters, there was a setback in this. The amount of hard work that this group has put towards the success of their music is inspiring. Many other websites have also been found to post music that ensures that it has links that lead to evanescence music (George 97). Moreover, the fact that the contemporary time have seen these rock artists come together in an effort to promote each other’s albums. This is important in that it has seen the unity of the rock industry that has resulted to people coming together and hosting concerts together. These concerts have been important in that the numbers of people that attend them are fans of different rock bands that has led to the group gaining more fans. Moreover, the number of people that listen to rock music has grown rapidly over the past number of years from the changes experienced in the music industry. Work Cited Moore, Simon. The Story of Evanescence. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 2008. Print. Evanescence. Evanescence: The Open Door. London: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. George, Berguno. “Evanescence”. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 22. 2, p280-290 Benedict, Paul. Contemporary Rock Music. New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Evanescence. The Music Revolution. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 2012. Print. Read More