This month marks the 15 year anniversary since MySpace was born, and with it becoming the birth place for many embarrassing photos, reasons to learn HTML, and silly bulletins. Back before the days when Facebook ruled the roost (yeah, we’re going back a bit now), MySpace was the social media daddy.

Sure, if you were a regular MySpace user then you probably recall the intense amounts of huge fake hair with multiple colours, the range of ‘scene’ names where you’d include anything mildly gory or dangerous if it wasn’t “RAWR”, whore trains, and a plethora of bulletins asking for PC4PC/S4S/W4W/etc. However, one of the things that kept MySpace such an interesting prospect from its inception to its dwindling demise from about 2008 onwards was what it did for music.

MySpace was the number one stop to find more information about your favourite bands, where to catch them, what they sound like, getting a head start in unearthing up-and-comers – the whole shabang really. In fact, MySpace even had their own record label and, for a lot of acts, even helped to launch their careers, with many referring to the top names as “MySpace bands”.

Whether they’re still around today or not, that tag has, of course, been shaken off. We’re taking a look at 21 bands who fell under that bracket, and whether or not they’re still here today to tell the tale.

And, whilst you have a little read, we’ve got a full tracklist of nostalgic hits to enjoy!

Attack Attack!



Years Active: 2007-2013

Genre: Metalcore / Electronicore / Post-hardcore

Often confused with the Welsh band with the same name (who have also since parted ways), Attack Attack! were not only branded as one of the later generation of “MySpace bands”, but also inadvertently created their very own genre: crabcore.

Their MySpace days were that of their debut album, ‘Someday Came Suddenly’, which featured the band’s original vocalist Austin Carlile (who formed Of Mice & Men shortly after) before moving frontman duties to Caleb Shomo (now of Beartooth).

The final line-up confirmed that they’d be calling it a day back in April 2013 and since have gone on to form Nativ, a band that faced a short career that ended in 2014.

Breathe Carolina



Years Active: 2006-present

Genre: Electronic rock / Electro-pop

Colorado’s Breathe Carolina are evidence that just a couple of friends equipped with a laptop with music-creating software GarageBand installed, a microphone, and a hard working DIY attitude can make a name for themselves. David Schmitt and Kyle Even did just that to self-record and self-release their ‘Gossip’ EP in 2007 before being picked up by Rise Records to then release debut full-length, ‘It’s Classy, Not Classic’.

Following two further albums, ‘Hello Fascination’ and ‘Hell Is What You Make It’, Kyle Even left the group and Breathe Carolina became a band with a four member line-up, who went on to release their fourth record ‘Savages’ in April 2014. They’ve since released a few further EPs that have veered further from rock and deeper into the EDM world.

Bring Me The Horizon



Years Active: 2004-present

Genre: Metalcore / Deathcore (early)

Back in MySpace’s glory days, you’d be facing a challenge to find someone who enjoyed heavy music and didn’t have a Bring Me The Horizon track as their profile song at least once during the time they’ve had their account… other than those revolting against their apparent approach to style over substance.

Fast-forward a few years to today, and Bring Me The Horizon are considered to be one of the biggest bands in the world to be both heavy and entering the mainstream and, to top it all off, headlined Wembley Arena at the end of 2014.

Their fifth record ‘That’s The Spirit’ was released at the end of 2015, which saw the most drastic change that the band have made to their sound yet, almost abandoning their metal style completely. They also played a show with a full orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April 2016.

Brokencyde



Years Active: 2006-active

Genre: Crunkcore

Few bands have suffered as venomous of a backlash from their general existence than that endured by “crunkcore” forerunners, Brokencyde. Indeed, just the fact that they brought to the table the crunkcore genre alone caused more haters than fans and this, along with several attacks from the media along with the public from different avenues, may leave Brokencyde with the unwanted title of most hated band in recent memory.

Admittedly, though still active, Brokencyde have been exceedingly quiet other than a few shows here and there since releasing ‘Guilty Pleasure’ in 2012. That was until the tail-end of 2014, when they launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund its follow-up… which went on to only bring in a total of 33 backers and raise $1,421, a mere 5% of their $30,000 goal. They eventually self-released the album, ‘All Grown Up’, in February 2016.

Apparently they didn’t want to be seen down and out since then either, having just earlier this year released yet another album in ‘Zero To Brokencyde’.

Cute Is What We Aim For



Years Active: 2005–2010, 2012-present

Genre: Pop-punk / Pop-rock / Powerpop

Landing on the ground running with a signing to Fueled By Ramen (the label you absolutely wanted to be on at the time if you made anything remotely pop-punk) early on in their career, the release of debut album ‘The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch’ and several tours across the States and beyond primed Cute Is What We Aim For as a band ready to spearhead the scene.

However, following the release of 2008’s ‘Rotation’, things spiralled out of control. All members bar frontman Shaant Hacikyan left the project and, despite initiating a “comeback” in 2012 and releasing a new song here and there, that didn’t really take affect until 2016 in time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album.

Still, we’re yet to hear a third album from Cute Is What We Aim For.

The Devil Wears Prada



Years Active: 2005-present

Genre: Metalcore

Grabbing on to the clutches of the MySpace wave whilst on its final legs before the success of Facebook started breaking through, The Devil Wears Prada may be one of the last proper “MySpace bands” to come through.

The band managed to secure a deal with Rise Records pretty early on, who released their first two records. Since then, the band have gone on to release a further four records, a live album, and two conceptual EPs. Yet, it’s pretty well documented that the band hate their own name.

Drop Dead, Gorgeous



Years Active: 2004-2011

Genre: Post-hardcore / Metalcore

Possibly having the most MySpace referring track name, ‘Dressed For Friend Requests’, along with also calling one of their songs ‘Bullets Are Scene’, the guys in Drop Dead, Gorgeous definitely hold the title of a “MySpace band”.

Following their second album ‘Worse Than A Fairytale’ back in 2007, the hype surrounding the Colorado outfit began to fizzle out at around the same rate as that of MySpace and, in 2011, the band confirmed that they were to head on hiatus.

Come 2013, the band has deleted both their official Facebook and Twitter accounts, suggesting that this is pretty much a permanent plan.

Enter Shikari



Years Active: 2003-present

Genre: Post-hardcore / Electronicore

Few bands do their careers the DIY way to the extent that Enter Shikari do. From day one, the St. Albans quartet have done everything their way on their terms, from family members standing in as tour management, setting up their own label and organising their own tours, to list just a few things.

Back when MySpace was still at its peak, ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’ and ‘The Feast’ were festering around on nearly everyone’s profile song player, and both are still set staples for the band. To date, the band have a total of five full-length albums under their belt, and are still running strong as a mainly DIY driven project.

These guys are one of the strongest survivors from the “MySpace band” category.

From First To Last



Years Active: 2003-2010, 2013-present

Genre: Post-hardcore / Emo / Melodic post-hardcore

You know Skrillex, right? But, do you know his real name and his musical past before he started making all those weird sounds and raving about the word “bangarang”? Sonny Moore was once the frontman of From First To Last, joining the line-up and recording their debut ‘Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count’ at the mere age of 15 before leaving in 2007 after repeated vocal damage.

The band went on without him, before going on hiatus themselves in 2010. They returned in 2013 with Spencer Sotelo (of Periphery) providing some pipe work, and with whom they released their fifth album ‘Dead Trees’ in April 2015.

Sadly, his involvement was short-lived and his departure wasn’t amicable, but in January 2017 they release ‘Make War’, a new song with Moore singing once again, and just a few months ago they release their second single as a reformed line-up called ‘Surrender’. Will there be another album? Only time will tell.

Hadouken!



Years Active: 2006-2014

Genre: Electro / Dance punk / Grindie

“That boy’s a Hoxton Hero, skinny fit jeans and dressed in pink” is the beginning to ‘That Boy That Girl’, and if you’ve only ever heard the one song from grindie (that’s a combo of grime and indie) unit Hadouken!, that’s probably it.

Named after the popular Street Fighter move, Hadouken! saw a nice burst of success thanks to both MySpace and basically being the aural equivalent to the indie scenester worshipping TV series that was Skins. These guys along with Klaxons are basically the reason why in the late 00s kids wore skinny and rave-like clothing, and had such a huge fascination with glow sticks.

Hollywood Undead



Years Active: 2005-present

Genre: Rap rock / Rap metal / Rapcore

These Californian rappers were such a treasure to MySpace, they were one of the first few acts who (almost) signed up to their record label, MySpace Records. However, after a very short lived relationship, Hollywood Undead decided to break off the deal with the label and move to Octone Records to release their debut album ‘Swan Songs’, as they wanted to censor some of their songs or remove them completely.

Still, their songs on their profile racked up thousands upon thousands of plays, including ‘Turn Off The Lights’, a track featuring fellow MySpace celebrity, Jeffree Star.

I Set My Friends On Fire



Years Active: 2007-present

Genre: Post-hardcore / Electronicore

Much like Breathe Carolina, who started with two friends and their own equipment to make music in their bedroom, I Set My Friends On Fire are a band who began on very little. However, unlike Breathe Carolina, ISMFOF had their account shut down on several occasions as MySpace thought they were using illegal software to bring in the huge volume of plays that they were getting for their cover of Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em’s hit ‘Crank That’ in such a short space of time.

Following the departure of co-founder Nabil Moo in 2010, Matt Mehana remains the only original member. In 2016, the band signed with Tragic Hero Records, and intended to release their long awaited third album ‘Caterpillar Sex’ in 2017, and also a fourth album yet-to-be-titled shortly after. That signing was short lived, seeing the band returned to unsigned status again, and we’re still waiting on that third (and fourth) album.

Jeffree Star



Years Active: 2006-present

Genre: Pop / Electro-pop

Not known solely for his social media presence but as someone who likes to dip his finger in several pies at the same time, all the while calling people a “cunt” wherever and whenever possible, Jeffree Star also has a somewhat notable musical career, in MySpace circles at least.

Along with his own material and creating a vulgar lyrical alternative to Black Eyed Peas’ single ‘Boom Boom Pow’, Star also tends to make regular appearances in tracks of other “MySpace band” buddies, including the aforementioned Breathe Carolina and Hollywood Undead, and has embarked on several tours with Brokencyde and Millionaires.

Nowadays it seems like Star has given up the life of a musician and instead focusing on being a make-up artist.

Job For A Cowboy



Years Active: 2003-present

Genre: Death metal / Deathcore (early)

Arguably, Job For A Cowboy is why a lot of the heavier bands, in a lot of cases being copycats, began flooding from several corners of MySpace. Indeed, the lifting of the messy and scratched up band logo, the squee-ing pig squeal screams and general deathcore presence on MySpace came across rarely until this Arizona outfit blew up and became the heavier and “less poser” alternative for a profile song to Bring Me The Horizon, who began drawing MySpace fame at around the same time on the other side of the Atlantic.

Now, more than a decade and several releases into their career, Job For A Cowboy have cut the terms “MySpace band” and “deathcore” from their name, and are one of the scene’s more respected death metal acts.

The Medic Droid



Years Active: 2005–2008, 2012–2016

Genre: Electro-pop / Pop

Though the name The Medic Droid may not mean anything to a lot of people, even if they were in the thick of the MySpace scene, maybe the mention of their song ‘Fer Sure’ would jog most memories back into action.

Beginning solely as Chris Donathon and releasing the aforementioned song, he soon recruited Hector Bagnod and Johnny Chavez (who left in 2007) after the track gained a strong following. In 2008, the band released ‘What’s Your Medium?’, their one and only album before parting ways later that year. However, Chris Donathon announced in 2012 that The Medic Droid had returned, and in mid-2016 released two new songs, ‘Closer’ and ‘Disco Queen’.

There hasn’t been any activity since late 2016, with many assuming they’ve disbanded once more.

Millionaires



Years Active: 2007-present

Genre: Pop / Electro-pop

Much like a lot of MySpace’s electro-pop acts, Millionaires were born from a few friends messing about with GarageBand. Sisters Melissa and Allison Green and their friend Dani Artaud created their first song ‘I Like Money’ using one of the programme’s pre-installed loops and made a few alterations, uploaded said song onto a MySpace profile under the name of Millionaires, and that’s how it all began.

Dani Artaud has since left the group, but the Green sisters have continued onwards, releasing their debut album ‘Tonight’ in March 2013, and continue to be a point of controversy in pop music due to their explicit lyrics. The band even released a song called ‘MySpace Pic’ for free download (here) in 2014.

Panic! At The Disco



Years Active: 2004-present

Genre: Alternative rock / Pop rock

Picked up from hearing a few songs online by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and placed onto his imprint of the Fueled By Ramen label, Decaydance Records, it’s an overwhelming understatement to say that Panic! At The Disco’s presence on MySpace from that point onwards didn’t increase their profile tenfold.

The band hadn’t played a single live show, and yet they were receiving more than ten times the amount of plays per day than a band would in a month that had been touring for several years.

Their debut album ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ by many is still considered the jewel in their crown, but with a further five albums under their belt, P!ATD are a definite MySpace success story.

PenKnifeLoveLife



Years Active: 2003-2007

Genre: Metalcore / Post-hardcore

Perhaps one of bigger success stories in Britain than America thanks to MySpace that nearly broke through the ceiling into progressing towards some true success, but sadly was never meant to be. The band were all over so many MySpace profiles as the choice for a profile song, and even helped to birth Small Town Records.

However, frontman Ross Kenyon parted with the band in 2006 to join Californian outfit Confide and, though the band tried out a few other replacement frontmen, nothing ever developed from it.

Never Shout Never



Years Active: 2007-active

Genre: Indie rock / Indie pop

Originally simply an alias for his solo work, Christofer Drew then brought his live band into the fold as full band members, making Never Shout Never (originally stylised as NeverShoutNever! for cool MySpace points) a band as opposed to a solo project.

Indeed, his solo days were those when he flourished on MySpace, releasing several songs which tugged at the heart strings of all the young girls who came to hear it. Now, as a full band, Never Shout Never are remaining a small fish in a big pond in comparison to their major label contemporaries, but staying to their roots release after release.

Sherwood



Years Active: 2002-2012, 2015-present

Genre: Pop-rock / Indie rock

Californian rockers Sherwood may be the band who stayed with MySpace Records for the longest in the label’s history. Indeed, these guys were the label’s (and, to some extent, the website’s) flagship act. You couldn’t be a regular user of your MySpace account and not have at least seen either their profile, one of their tracks chosen as a profile song, a bulletin from them, or an advert about their latest release popping up on their screen.

Infact, even the ever-popular MySpace founder Tom Anderson had one of their tracks as a profile song. Very possibly the biggest “MySpace band” of them all.

You Me At Six



Years Active: 2004-present

Genre: Pop-rock / Pop-punk / Post-hardcore (early)

Nowadays, You Me At Six are busy feeding your ears via car drives through BBC Radio 1, soundtracking your football computer games, or headlining Wembley Arena with their pop-rock anthems.

However, back in their humble beginnings, they were simply popping up on your MySpace with a blend of pop-punk/post-hardcore and drawing in plenty of fans, enough to then bring them on their first UK tour, through which they did by packing their gear into a Megabus and then carrying it to the venue.

Give oldies ‘Noises’ and the original version of ‘The Rumour’ a listen, and remember You Me At Six over a decade younger than they are today.