Washington, DC · alt-rock · post-grunge

Vertical Horizon

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Turn-of-the-millennium radio rock with a bigger acoustic-folk backstory than the hits suggest — 'Everything You Want' still inescapable.

Vertical Horizon began in 1991 as an acoustic duo formed by Matt Scannell and Keith Kane while they were students at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. After graduating in 1992 they relocated to Boston to record and self-release their debut album, There and Back Again, then spent several years touring as a duo alongside similarly acoustic-based acts such as Jackopierce before settling back in the DC area.

Drummer Ed Toth joined in 1996 for the John Alagia-produced Running on Ice, and the band issued a live album, Live Stages, in 1997. Bassist Sean Hurley came aboard in 1998, the same year the group signed to RCA Records, which reissued the three self-released albums; before that deal, those records had sold a combined 70,000 copies.

The group is best known for the 1999 album Everything You Want, whose title track topped the Billboard Hot 100 and became Billboard's most-played single of 2000, anchoring turn-of-the-century rock radio. The album was preceded by the single "We Are" and followed by "You're a God" and "Best I Ever Had," and it was eventually certified double platinum.

The follow-up, Go, arrived in 2003 during a period of upheaval at RCA and received little label support, though its single "I'm Still Here" reached the Adult Top 40. The band took a five-year break before returning with Burning the Days in 2009, and Scannell has remained the band's constant, writing and singing through subsequent lineup changes and continuing to record and tour under the Vertical Horizon name.

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alt-rockpost-grunge