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Third Eye Blind (frequently abbreviated 3eb) is an alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s. The original members were Stephan Jenkins (singer, song writer, electric guitar), George Earth (guitar), Adrian Burley (drums), and Jason Slater (bass guitar). The band's original line-up changed several times before the release of the group's debut album, Third Eye Blind, and again shortly after the release of the band's second album Blue — at which point the band's guitarist Kevin Cadogan was released from the band under circumstances that still elicit controversy among fans. Third Eye Blind's current line-up is Stephan Jenkins (vocals, electric guitar), Arion Salazar (bass guitar), Brad Hargreaves (drums), and Tony Fredianelli (electric guitar). For a time the band also featured future Smash Mouth drummer Michael Urbano and early Primus drummer Tim "Curveball" Wright.

History

Third Eye Blind recorded their first demo in 1993. The band landed an opening for the Rolling Stones when Oasis was unable to perform. The audience gave the band an overwhelmingly good response and demanded an encore. The band was paid double what they were promised for the gig. Afterwards, the band found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, in which they settled with Elektra because they believed it offered the most artistic freedom. Stephan Jenkin's outspoken behavior after signing the deal earning him the title of "the biggest mouth in music" by many critics. Stephan has spoken out many times against several different artists, including a heated feud with Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty.

Third Eye Blind (Self Titled)

Third Eye Blind's 14-track self-titled debut album Third Eye Blind was released on April 8, 1997. This album included the smash hit "Semi-Charmed Life" and others, including "Jumper," "How's It Gonna Be," "Graduate," "Losing A Whole Year," "Narcolepsy," and "Motorcycle Drive By." The album has since gone on to sell well over 6 million copies.

The biggest misconception about the band's biggest single "Semi-Charmed Life" is that it is a straight pop song. In interviews Stephan Jenkins has said that it is actually about the culture in San Francisco and the use of crystal meth. Interestingly, Jenkins changed the lyrics from originally being "I want nothing else" to "I want something else," as can be heard in the demo of the song versus the final LP. When asked in an interview about the change, the question was dodged.

The band was set to receive an award for best new artist in 1998, but when Stephan changed the lyrics of "Graduate" to a more suggestive compilment at a live concert, the award was quickly revoked.

Blue

In 1999, the band began writing new material and recorded their 13-track album Blue, which was released on November 23, 1999. Despite the general agreement by the band's fans that as a whole Blue was a much moodier, darker album, the pop-esque "Never Let You Go" helped launch the album to selling well over 2 million copies.

In addition to being considered to be moodier and darker than its predecessor, Blue is still considered to be an experimental album. Despite success from the first album, Third Eye Blind was looking to try out different material.

During the Band's tour shortly after the release of Blue, Kevin Cadogan was "released" from the band (allegedly following a vote by the band's other members). Tony Fredianelli, who had some limited experience with the band previously, joined the band shortly thereafter. Cadogan subsequently sued Third Eye Blind for breach of contract, with a settlement of an undisclosed amount permanently ending the relationship.

Out of the Vein

The band's third album Out of the Vein was released on May 13th, 2003. Despite a strong debut at #12 on the Billboard 200 and many quotes from the band remarking on their happiness with the album, Out of the Vein has largely been a commercial disappointment. The lack of professional music videos for the album's two singles "Blinded" and "Crystal Baller" have been lamented by fans. In mid-2003, "Blinded" could be heard on mostly all pop radio stations in the United States. Despite the song's success, Out of the Vein lacked the original success from the band's debut album.

By the time the band released 2003's Out of the Vein, Elektra was in the midst of being absorbed into Atlantic Records and Jenkins contends the group was not a priority. "I worked really hard on Out of the Vein," he said of the band's least successful outing, which has sold around 250,000 copies. "Elektra was imploding as we were making it, so we didn't make a video and didn't do a marketing campaign, but as far as critics go, it was my best-reviewed album." Discouraged by the record's failure, Jenkins said he pulled back and did some soul-searching. "If you take the first three albums, they were of a piece," he explained. "They were lyrically about making a good shield, putting up a really good front and all the triumph and damage that that incurred." While lying low, Jenkins produced girlfriend Vanessa Carlton's 2004 album, Harmonium, and began writing songs for a solo record. Once he heard what the rest of his band — Arion Salazar (bass), Brad Hargreaves (drums) and Tony Fredianelli (guitar) — was up to in the studio, he scrapped those plans and got to work on the group's fourth release.

(from MTV NEWS)6-1-06

Fourth Album

A fourth album is reportedly in the works set for a possible 2007 release. It has recently been posted that the new album is being recorded currently and that a greatest hits album is in the works. A short East Coast swing around the Baltimore and New Jersey area in early 2005 sparked some renewed interest in the band and this album, as four new songs were played. Two of these songs had been played at an earlier concert in Salt Lake City. These song titles are "In The Skin", "Summer Town", "Second Born (Family)", and "Don't Believe a Word". Fans feel that "Town" is the most accessible. Speculation has it that this song could be the first single when the fourth album is released. Fans also speculate that "Second Born (Family)" was written about Stephan's mother. Their manager Allison Clark was very instrumental in producing this album. Adrian Burley said that the band could not have done it without her. In the second half of 2005, the band played additional new material in concert. The songs were: "[http://www.coldsuzy.com/3eb/tvcy/Third%20Eye%20Blind%20-%2010%20-%20Lay%20Back%20(live%20@%20Wantagh,%20NY).mp3 Lay Back (and the Water Will Hold You)," "Standing Up For You (aka "Out In The Blue"), "Red Star (aka "So Pretty" or "Spoke Your Mind")," and "Monotov's Private Opera." Concerts in Spring 2006 have yielded "(You Really) Don't Like Me Now," "(You're Not Going To) Break Me," and "Stevie Ray Vaughan." "(You're Not Going To) Break Me" seems to strike out at the media with the heated verse: "the critics burn the image down, but you can't f*ck with the sound!" Based on this, it is certainly a possiblity that this song could have been influenced by the poor album sales of Out Of The Vein

"This album is about what happens when you take all those layers you have and you let go of them," he said of the record the group began in early 2005. "That process, lyrically, has been really hard for me." Admitting to a touch of writer's block, Jenkins — who has co-produced all of the band's albums — said lyrics have been holding things up so far, but he doesn't worry that people have forgotten about 3EB. He noted that a fan-run Web site recently racked up 36,000 hits in a single month, a British magazine named Blue one of the most underrated albums of the past decade — and despite not having a new album to push, in May 3EB played to their biggest crowd ever as a headliner in Philadelphia. "We finally got our cred and people got what we were doing," Jenkins said. A career retrospective is due in July on Rhino Records, but Jenkins said he doesn't plan to shop the new album to a label. "Why would we?" he asked. "What will that do for us? I don't think we can equal what we did before *, but I think we can reach a lot of people with our music and our albums can be defining the culture." Current plans call for the as-yet-untitled disc to be released in 2007.

FROM MTV NEWS 6-1-06

Recently, the long-ago fan-established Third Eye Blind Myspace page was officially commandeered by a friend of the band. To commemorate the occasion, the elusive b-sides "Persephone" and "Carnival Barker" were finally released to the public.

The band recently played Arenabowl XX, but again, for the second time in a row, Arion Salazar was absent from set. Many fans suspect mounting tension within the band due to Stephan Jenkin's hold up with the lyrics to be the cause. This is all suspected, not fact.

Symphony of Decay

An EP, Symphony of Decay, has also been completed. The band reportedly has a contractual obligation to deliver the EP and has leaked several tracks to fans. The leaked tracks are a full-accompaniment version of "My Time in Exile," the stripped down song that played on the menu of the DVD included with their third album, as well as two very different and instrumental songs, "Knife in the Water" and "Animal." Also included on this EP is the full version of an instrumental song from Blue, titled "Slow Motion." This has been available online since Blue's release because of its inclusion on international versions of Blue. "Carnival Barker," a seven-minute instrumental, which is also a track off of the EP, was released on the band's Myspace page.

Greatest Hits album

As reported on Amazon, AOL, and VHI, a Third Eye Blind Greatest Hits package will be released July 18th, 2006 in the United States (currently unknown elsewhere) via Rhino Records (not Elektra). While a DVD bonus disc was originally in the works, it has since been scrapped. It can be purchased from Amazon. *

Trivia

A common misconception is that the name of the band is a euphemism for penis. However, Stephan Jenkins indicated during a radio station interview that the band's name came from the metaphysical idea of a mind's eye, a topic of a book he had read. The other group members liked it and chose it as the band's name. In the past, Stephan has also joked about a Ouija board and vodka being the sources of the name. In Finnish, "Third Eye" means "asshole", not in offensive means. In some Finnish jokes, it is considered "the blind eye".

It's also noteworthy that in their early days, Third Eye Blind has opened for popular bands such as Oasis and U2. Additionally, Third Eye Blind got their big break opening for The Oasis, Third Eye Blind was a late addition to the show after Stephan joked with the promoter his band should be the opener. It was widely expected that they would be booed off the stage by the demanding fans in attendance, however, they were warmly received as the crowd demanded they perform an encore. As a result of their amazing performance, the booking agent paid Third Eye Blind double what was originally promised them—a rare occurrence.

Third Eye Blind played a halftime show and a post-game concert in Las Vegas at ArenaBowl 20. They did this without Arion Salazar, their bassist. He was absent due to personal reasons.

The lyrics for the song "Slow Motion" from Blue originally were: "Slow motion in the ghetto", and were later changed to "slow motion see me let go".

This band is the favorite of many famous people, including up and coming film producer "Meatball" Mike Bruno, and computer progammer Michael "Caps" Copelli.

Discography

Singles

Year Song Billboard Hot 100 Mainstream Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Adult Top 40 US Pop 100 Album
1997 "Semi-Charmed Life" #4 #26 #1 #8 #9 Third Eye Blind
1997 "Graduate" #16 #26 #14 #8 #9 Third Eye Blind
1998 "Losing A Whole Year" #17 #36 #13 #22 #14 Third Eye Blind
1998 "Jumper" #5 #8 #9 #6 #12 Third Eye Blind
1998 "How's It Going To Be" #9 #16 #5 #19 #23 Third Eye Blind
1999 "Anything" #40 #35 #11 #38 #29 Blue
2000 "Never Let You Go" #14 #9 #4 #6 #2 Blue
2000 "Deep Inside Of You" #69 #19 #39 #17 #22 Blue
2000 "10 Days Late" #40 #31 #21 #20 #19 Blue
2003 "Blinded (When I See You)" #45 #61 #35 #18 #12 Out Of The Vein
2003 "Crystal Baller" #69 #49 #35 #44 #37 Out Of The Vein

Awards

External links

Alternative musical groups | American musical groups | 1990s music groups | 2000s music groups | California musical groups

Third Eye Blind | サード・アイ・ブラインド

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Third Eye Blind".

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