Riverside, CA · hard rock · alt-metal · alt-rock

Alien Ant Farm

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Best known for turning 'Smooth Criminal' into an alt-metal hit — which undersells a Riverside band with a real ear for a chorus and more melodic instinct than their era usually rewarded.

Alien Ant Farm formed in Riverside, California in 1996, when vocalist Dryden Mitchell and guitarist Terry Corso joined drummer Mike Cosgrove and bassist Tye Zamora, each coming from other local bands. They emerged during the nu-metal era and shared some of its rhythmic bounce and downtuned riffing, but leaned harder on melody and pop songcraft than most of their peers.

The band self-released a demo, the $100 EP, in 1996, followed two years later by another, Love Songs. Their independently released debut album, Greatest Hits, appeared in 1999 and won Best Independent Album at the L.A. Music Awards, leading to a friendship with Papa Roach and a support slot on their tour.

Signed to DreamWorks in 2000, the band broke through with its cover of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal, which topped the US Modern Rock chart and reached the top five in Australia, the UK and New Zealand, and appeared in the film American Pie 2. The same album, ANThology, produced the follow-up single Movies and was later certified platinum.

Its follow-up, TruANT, was produced by Stone Temple Pilots' Robert and Dean DeLeo. A fifth album, recorded as 3rd Draft, was shelved after a label buyout and eventually surfaced in 2006 as Up in the Attic; further records followed with Always and Forever in 2015 and Mantras in 2024. The band has released six studio albums in total, sold more than five million records worldwide, and Mitchell and Corso have anchored the lineup throughout.

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hard rockalt-metalalt-rock