#21. Paramore
Paramore fans have relished in watching their beloved band grow from their early emo style that was dismissed by critics and music snobs, to a more mature pop-rock synth-driven approach that has resulted in memorable tracks like Hard Times and Ain't it Fun.
Even music critics that had previously ignored them couldn't help but praise their last album, After Laughter. Curiously enough, Hayley Williams met her bandmates after signing to Atlantic Records. Though the label wanted the promising singer to be a pop star, she held her own and convinced them to form a band.
#20. Shame
We just had to include a recently formed band in this list! Indeed, Shame has only been active for 5 years approximately, but they have been making quite a racket in the British rock scene recently. In fact, with their debut record, Songs for Praise, they dropped one of the best records of 2018.
The band's five members are between 21 and 22 years old, but the South London lads met when they were about 14 thanks to the budding rock scene of this area of London. They didn't want to go to college, and they believed in the quality of their post-punk songs, that's how their story began.
#19. The Strokes
After endorsing and playing in Bernie's rally in New Hampshire, The Strokes finally announced a new album (called The New Abnormal) and released its somber first single, titled At the Door. Can you believe almost 7 years have already passed since the band's last album?
The group's birth can be tracked down to when Julian, Nick Valensi and Fabricio Moretti started playing together in Dwight School, Manhattan at the age of 13. Right now, fans are eagerly waiting for The Strokes to make a solid comeback after their polarizing LP Comedown Machine.
#18. U2
Julian Casablancas then went to boarding school in Switzerland, and that's where he met Albert Hammond Jr, the lead guitarist of The Strokes! Some musicians are apparently pre-destined to form a legendary band, and this was also the case with U2.
U2 began in Dublin when the 14-year-old drummer Larry Mullen was searching for musicians to start a rock band. After seeing the flyer, Bono went to Larry's house, and guess who else was there? The Edge with his guitar, and Adam Clayton with his bass! And bam, magic happened.
#17. R.E.M.
Here's a mini trivia for all the Friends fans: did you know that a R.E.M. song was going to be used for the show's iconic intro? The song is Shiny Happy People, and, as a matter of fact, the sitcom was going to be called Friends Like Us.
After turning into Alternative Rock titans with more than a few groundbreaking releases, the group called it quits in 2011. Stipe had originally met Peter Buck at the record store were the latter worked in, and then they crossed paths with the rest of the musicians at the University of Georgia.
#16. Vampire Weekend
With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to affirm that the guys of R.E.M. or Vampire Weekend made the right decisions when they decided to abandon their studies in order to focus 100 percent on their music careers. But bear in mind that taking that step requires a lot of conviction and guts!
However, though the members of Vampire Weekend did meet in college like R.E.M., Erza Koenig and company managed to graduate from Columbia before embarking on the recording of their debut album, which blew everyone away when it dropped in 2008. 12 years later, they're still one of the indie scene's giants!
#15. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Only a post by the official Instagram of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was necessary to break the Internet and unleash madness on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. In case you live under a rock and you have no idea whatsoever of what we're talking about, here's what happened.
Without prior notice, RHCP announced that Josh Klinghoffer (who had been their guitarist for the last decade) was leaving the band, to be replaced by John Frusciante. However, their original lineup consisted of Anthony, Flea, Hillel on guitar, and Jack Irons behind the drums. The young troublemakers met at Los Angeles Fairfax High School back in 1983.
#14. Green Day
Just imagine yourself working with the same 2 or 3 friends for more than 20 years, sometimes riding a gloomy van with them during several hours to go from one city to another. This was definitely the case for the members of Green Day!B
By 1994, these three stars had already sold 10 million records and had toured the whole world, and guess what? They were only in their early 20s! Luckily enough, the trio's bond was already solid as a rock, for they had known each other since they were only 14.
#13. The Cure
While it's true that The Cure has only had one constant member (Robert Smith) throughout the decades, every fan of theirs is familiar with the group's first formations. Smith started the project after crossing paths with Michael Dempsey, Laurence Tolhurst, Marc Ceccagno, and Alan Hill while attending the same Middle School in Crawley.
The young boys hated their boring hometown, which was located in West Sussex, hence they were thrilled when The Cure started to make a splash in the new wave and post-punk scene in the late 70s. Fans are now anxiously waiting for the first album in over 12 years, since Robert Smith assured in 2019 that two records were ready to be released in 2020.
#12. MGMT
After leaning towards a more synth-pop oriented sound that (attracted a lot of praise) with their 2018 record, called Little Dark Age, this indie-duo is ready to break new ground again with yet another album.
Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden have already been creating memorable tunes for almost 2 decades, can you believe it? They actually met as freshmen at liberal arts school in Wesleyan University, back in 2002.
#11. Interpol
Interpol is usually associated with the exciting but ephemeral New York garage-rock scene from the 2000s. Along with other peers like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, and LCD Soundsystem, Interpol brought new attention to rock and roll with its brilliant debut from 2002, Turn On the Bright Lights.
However, Interpol had already been sharpening their Joy Division-influenced sound for a couple of years. That's right, Greg Drudy met Daniel Kesler at New York University in 1996. The latter was dying to form a band, so he was over the moon when Drudy reunited with Paul Banks, a singer and guitarist who was an old pal of his.
#10. The Beatles
We've mostly talked about recent bands, but let's not forget that most of the pioneering rock acts from the 60s started their epic careers as teenagers! Indeed, before scoring countless number one hits in America and releasing stunning masterpieces such as Abbey Road and Revolver, The Beatles were a couple of kids who played under a different name.
John Lennon was merely 16 when he started creating magic with Paul McCartney, and they called themselves The Quarrymen. George Harrison was even younger when he entered the group after dazzling the duo with his guitar chops. Add Ringo, some bowl cuts and suits, and The Beatles' path to glory was already unstoppable.
#9. The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones vs The Beatles, which is the greatest rock and roll band of all time? Fans have always loved the discussion, but what many people weren’t aware of is that the members of these two legendary groups were close pals! Did you know that All You Need is Love features Mick Jagger and Keith on backing vocals? That's how close they were!
Like their peers, the Stones formed at an incredibly young age: Mick and Keith went to the same primary, but they weren't friends. They crossed paths again at a railway station as teenagers, Mick was carrying some rock records, and Keith had his guitar with him. The love for music united them and the band was born a year later.
#8. The Who
Like Jagger, Keith and company, The Who don’t want to know anything with calling it a day as a band. Now in their 70s (and without the unstoppable drumming from Keith Moon and the remarkable bass playing of John Entwistle, who passed away) Daltrey and Townshend are still sticking to their guns and playing classic rock.
They may have lost two of the most notable rock musicians of all time, but they have the tunes to pull off a stunning live show, that's for sure. But how did this story start? Well, Entwistle and Townshend met in highschool, and after befriending Daltrey they began playing as the Detours.
#7. Pink Floyd
When rock fans discuss about which is the greatest rock band of all time, the last three groups from the 60s are all firm candidates that should always be considered for the number one spot. But Pink Floyd are also a force to be reckoned with! Can you believe The Dark Side of The Moon has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Echoes, Animals, The Wall... if legendary albums is what we're taking into account, Floyd has them in spades! Many know about the group's early psychedelic days before Syd Barrett's mental health began to deteriorate. Everyone in the band's first formation (except Syd) met while studying architecture at Regent Street School in London.
#6. Alt-J
Like David Gilmour and most of Pink Floyd's founding members, the musicians who would then form Alt-J stumbled upon each other while studying in college. Joe Newman, who would later be the indie group's frontman, was studying at Leeds University when he met Gwil Sainsbury, Gus Unger-Hamilton and Thom Sonny Green.
This occurred in 2007, and the band's first version included Sainsbury as the main producer, and the fellas had one annoying obstacle... they had to keep it down in the dorms! But this volume restriction didn't stop them from honing their songwriting skills, since they would soon pen awesome tunes like Hunger of the Pine and Breezeblocks.
#5. Talking Heads
Talking Heads are one of those bands that broke new ground in rock and roll with every single release, and that's probably why their influence continues to this day. Every guy who studies at art school and wishes to form a rock band that has the skill to pull off a cutting-edge style has Talking Heads as his/her inspiration.
That's right, David Byrne first crossed paths with Chris Frantz at the Rhode Island School of Design. After joining forces with Tina Weymouth and Herry Harrison in 1977, the band was officially ready to blow everyone's mind with their groovy and avant-garde songs like Burning Down The House, Psycho Killer, and Take to the River.
#4. Radiohead
Talking Heads has unquestionably influenced countless rock acts that thrives in the 90s and 2000s, and Radiohead is precisely one of those groups that carry David Byrne's torch. As a matter of fact, after first calling themselves On a Friday, they changed the band's name to Radiohead because this was the name of a Talking Heads song they all loved.
Thom Yorke, the Greenwood brothers (Colin and Johnny), Ed O'Brien, and Philip Selway all encountered at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire. Rumor has it that they started to hang out together not only because of their shared musical interests, but also because they were all viewed as weirdos.
#3. The Offspring
The Offspring are often seen as a rebellious group of troublemakers, but Dexter Holland and company definitely know what they’re doing. The punk outfit has been sticking to its guns for almost 4 decades, let that sink in!
But before riding into the wave of mainstream success for punk bands in the 90s, Dexter, together with Greg Kriesel, Doug Thompson, and Jim Benton were only jamming and having fun in a garage. The year was 1985 when these high school kids also joined forces with their school's janitor Kevin Wasserman, who entered as the second guitarist.
#2. Public Enemy
Most hip hop fans know that Public Enemy was a revolutionary rap group that spit unrelenting political protest songs charged with a black empowerment message, but it's a shame that many young listeners tend to dismiss 80s rap albums because of their "dated sound".
But how did Chuck D, Hank Shocklee, Flavor Fav, and Professor Griff start this game-changing project? Well, the first two met at the college radio of Adelphi University in Long Island. After the renowned producer Rick Rubin saw their potential, the other two members were added later.
#1. Queen
While it's true that John Deacon studied electronics, Brian May physics, Roger Taylor dentistry, and Freddie Mercury attended London's Ealing College of Art, Queen wouldn't have existed without a couple of chance encounters at different universities. Brian May first started a band with Tim Staffell, who studied with him at London's Imperial College.
After searching for a drummer, they teamed up with Roger Taylor, who auditioned and blew their mind away. Freddie encountered these talented musicians thanks to Tim Staffell, who was also studying at Ealing Art College. Staffell left the band in 1970 to be replaced by Deacon a year later, and that's how the iconic quartet began their rise to stardom!