One Liner: Massive hits with a synth-heavy rap rock thing that seems to have gone out of style
Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 8:30
American Express Stage
Thoughts: Weird. I could have sworn that I already did them for this year, but apparently that was a fever dream. But boy, I will tell you that when they last came here, I was not very complimentary! Here is what I had to say back in 2015. First, when I tried them out because they were on the 6th line of the Lolla poster:
Twenty-One Pilots. This is crap. Kind of EDM-y, kind of earnest piano rock, kind of Linkin Park rap/rock, with plain bad rap added in for good measure. Two 2015 singles, "Tear in my Heart" and "Fairly Local" to follow up two albums and a Spotify Sessions from SXSW. Here is "Tear in my Heart,"
"The songs on the radio are OK, but my taste in music is YOUR FACE." Mmmmkay. Yeah, and that might be an improvement over the most popular songs on Spotify from the last album. This reminds me of bad Good Charlotte.
And then once I realized they were on the ACL poster and I had to go back to the well:
Yuck. I listened to these dudes a few weeks ago in trying to figure out who was on the 6th line of the Lolla poster, and they have not gotten any better with distance. I just tried their most recent album out again (2013's Vessel) and its still bad rap/rock/electro badness. I'm doing a public service here, forcing myself to finish the album long after I can tell how that is going to go. This is the 7th line of the poster! Fitz & the Tantrums and Gaslight Anthem last year! Ugh.
I already showed you "Tear in my Heart" (see link above), so here is their most listened to track on Spotify, "Car Radio"In a nutshell, bad Linkin Park poetry rap over a simple piano/drum, then some synths kick in too, and then it turns into an electro dance instrumental until the singer screams some lyrics. I mean, maybe if you are an angst-y teenager and you want to mumble these lyrics to yourself while you think about mean people in your junior high? Is that what is going on here? Over 16 million spins for that track on Spotify, so someone thinks its worth listening to over and over again. And then a lot of the other songs are much more poppy and dance-y, not so screamo. I have no clue what this is supposed to be. I'd love to dig the bands this high on the poster, but I just can't get behind that stuff.
Wow. And the result of their ACL show in Austin that year was that they became massive stars. So, shows you what I know about anything... My recollection is that the lead singer climbed up on the stage scaffolding and everyone was amazed by it, but I can't argue with the fact that they became a massive band after those two songs kept getting airplay.
And now, in 2026, I don't know if the world has worn me down, or if I have just come around, but I am actually finding myself enjoying some of this. Their most recent release is an hour and twenty-six minute long live show from Mexico City, and I am finding myself grooving with it. His singing/rapping voice sort of sounds like Eminem now. Except for "Guns for Hands," where he kind of, confusingly, sings like Ben Gibbard.
They have an MTV Unplugged album on Spotify, and the intro was interesting to me because he admits that their normal music is mainly just preset loops that they then play and sing over. I kind of figured these were mainly real instruments being played - like the synths play the fake ass reggae bop - but I guess the reality is that they just play the bass and drums over the otherwise computerized tracks.
In light of the fact that the University of Texas is playing Ohio State University this weekend, I can clearly and definitely say that Columbus, Ohio blows. These two guys met each other playing basketball in Columbus youth leagues, and remained friends through middle school and high school. Frontman Tyler Joseph began playing music with an old synth he received for Christmas, trying to replicate melodies from the radio. Later, while attending Ohio State, Joseph met Chris Salih at a party and they started making music. They invited another friend to join, and 21 Pilots was launched. Several years later, some of the guys, along with Joseph's old friend Josh Dun, were involved in making music at a Columbus church and with a gospel rock band called New Albany Music. In 2011, two of the founding members left the group, Dun officially joined, and the band moved forward as a duo. Soon thereafter, they signed to the Fall Out Boy label and got to work on their big hits.
2013's Vessel included the very large hit linked above - "Car Radio" - now with 570 million streams. The album reached #21 on the Billboard charts, and every single song on the album received at least a Gold certification, which was somehow novel. They went on tour, opening for Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy.
But then it was 2015's Blurryface that blew it all open for them. "Tear in My Heart," that first song up above, was the first mega hit, but then "Stressed Out" went 13x Platinum, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racking up billions of YouTube streams. It now has 3.1 BILLION streams on Spotify.
Honestly, if I put away my prejudices against rock rap and these being overplayed, the lyrics are close to perfect and the groove is undeniable. I too wish that I could turn back time to the good old days. Man, those mothers shown in that video SUPER look like they are Columbus, Ohio mothers. Dammit. I'm actually on board with that song once I really dig in to it. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. The next song that blew up on the album was "Ride," now with 2.3 BILLION streams and that super annoying reggae dub beat and half rap.
Ready made to be sung in a stadium, but not actually a good song to me. Again, every song on this album went at least Gold, making them the first band with two albums in a row with Gold certification for every single track. They also won the Billboard Music Award for Best Rock Album and Top Rock Artist in 2016. Right around here, they also release "Heathens," which was featured on the Suicide Squad soundtrack, and racked up another 2.3 BILLION streams.
As I recall it, I kind of liked Suicide Squad. Although, if you asked me to tell you the plot of it, I would be pretty unsure which one of the crappy DC Comic ones featuring Margot Robbie this one was. Song is fine. However, when it hot #4 on the Hot 100, the band became the third rock act in history to have two top 5 songs at the same time, joining Elvis and the Beatles. That bums me out a little.
2018's Trench missed my consciousness at the time. The top song from that album is called "Chlorine," and it really doesn't ring any bells. Has 708 million streams though, so it has been around. He sings about "sippin' on straight chlorine" in it, which seems like a really bad idea. The lyrics overall make no sense to me. This beat is a chemical and the moment is medical. Deep bro. 2021's Scaled and Icy looks to have been a dud by their standards - many of the songs failed to hit 100 million streams, and the hit ("Shy Away") doesn't sound familiar at all and sounds like a weak 80's synth pop cover.
2024's Clancy looks kind of the same - no song on here breaks 153 million streams and many of them are under 100 million. I don't recognize "Overcompensate" at all, the top track. Pretty high energy though. 2025's Breach was an even worse one for stream counts, no song passed 75 million. Feels like the world has passed by the rap/rock synth movement that they were pushing.
I have found myself surprisingly on board here. And I honestly think that a big reason why is the live album that they released here. The sound of the crowd, absolutely howling along with the hits, definitely brings a new angle to how I hear them. It sounds like a blast. Unfortunately, the XX is the only other headliner that I would consider watching, and of course they are up against each other. But I guess I could see myself doing this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment