THE BLACK EYED PEAS
The Black Eyed Peas is an American hip hop group, consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and singer Fergie. Originally an alternative hip hop group, they subsequently added R&B and EDM influences. Although the group was founded in Los Angeles in 1995, it was not until the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003 that they achieved high record sales. Since that time, the group has sold an estimated 76 million records (35 million albums and 41 million singles), making them one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the Black Eyed Peas were the second-best-selling artist/group of all time for downloaded tracks, with over 42 million sales as of the end of 2011. (More from Wikipedia)
But it wasn’t just the little guys; rock started to be seen as cool again in the larger world of popular music. In 2004, the Black Eyed Peas scored their first big hit song with “Let’s Get it Started” that seemed to be about equal parts rock and hip hop, instead of the amalgamation leaning heavily to one side or another. Rock bands started appearing regularly at country music awards shows. With rock music pretty much cut out of hit-oriented radio stations, hard rock music became the soundtrack for numerous television ads. One of the first that I remember was when Royal Caribbean Cruises used as their signature song “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop, right after Peggy and I had our honeymoon on one of their ships in late 2003. I have been hearing one of my favorite Queens of the Stone Age songs backing a TV ad currently (for T-Mobile?).
(January 2013)
