Maroon 5

                Maroon 5 is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers in 1995 and released one album in 1997. They reformed, with guitarist James Valentine, in 2001 and pursued a new direction as Maroon 5. The following year they released their debut album Songs About Jane, which contained four hit singles: "Harder to Breathe", "This Love", "She Will Be Loved" and "Sunday Morning"; it also enjoyed major chart success, going gold, platinum, and triple platinum in many countries around the world. 

 

               In support of Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 toured extensively throughout 2003–2005, during which time two live albums were released. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. Dusick left the band in September 2006, citing injuries sustained by constant touring, and was replaced by Matt Flynn. Maroon 5's second studio album It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released in 2007, with the singles "Makes Me Wonder", "Won't Go Home Without You" and "Wake Up Call". The band performed live in two tours between June and November 2007, during which time a compilation of previously unreleased songs, The B-Side Collection, was released.

                  Two more live albums and a remix album were issued in 2008. Maroon 5's third studio album Hands All Over was released in the U.S. on September 21, 2010. Since debuting in 2002, the band has sold over 10 million albums in the United States and nearly 15 million worldwide.

Maroon 5 has cited Michael Jackson, The Police, Talking Heads, Shabba Ranks, and Prince as influences. Frontman Adam Levine has also cited Stevie Wonder as one of his heroes. Maroon 5's songs tend to be very guitar-heavy, often accompanied by piano or synthesizer. The theme in all of their songs is love, frequently lost love; songs like "This Love", "Makes Me Wonder", and "Misery" have a very cynical tone, often expressing dissatisfaction with a relationship, while their more heartfelt and emotional songs such as "She Will Be Loved" and "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" express a longing for a romantic relationship. "Makes Me Wonder" has a secondary theme in which Levine expresses his disillusionment and frustration with the state of American politics and the Iraq War.

                   Maroon 5's sound changes from album to album. Songs About Jane consists of songs about Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane. On It Won't Be Soon Before Long, however, the songs are less personal, and are more electric with more use of synthesizers, creating a retro feel. Hands All Over continues the band's lost love theme, along with songs about infatuation, and was re-released with the song "Moves Like Jagger", an electropop song featuring Christina Aguilera which represents a drastic change in the band's sound, with more of a dance feel to it. "It was one of those songs that was definitely a risk," Levine said. "It's a bold statement. We've never really released a song like that. But it's exciting to do something different, do something new. I'm just glad that everyone likes it.”. When announcing their fourth album, Overexposed, Valentine called the album "our most 'pop' record ever and we weren’t shy about really going for it."