Collective Soul are an alternative rock/ post-grunge band from Stockbridge, Georgia, USA. Throughout the 1990's and into the 2000's they've enjoyed major commercial popularity on alternative rock and mainstream rock radio. They've composed hook-laden lush melodies on top of heavy fluent guitar riffs reminiscent of classic rock and hard rock artists from the 70's and 80's. Some of their main influences are Elvis Presley, Elton John, The Cars and The Beatles.
> Early Days - Before stardom
Collective Soul broke through in 1994 after being signed to Atlantic Records. The band originally started out as "Marching Two Step" which included current lead singer Ed Roland and Shane Evans. Between 1989-1994 there were different people who played with Ed Roland at various times. Ross Childress was involved also. Ed Roland had been working at "Real 2 Reel Studios" in Atlanta for a while doing production and studio work for local artists, this studio was owned by Will Turpin's father. Ed recorded an independent solo album on Core/Oxymoron called Ed-E-Roland in 1991. The album is now out of print and is extremely rare but can be found on eBay. All of the original band members knew each other and grew up together in Stockbridge, Georgia. They were friends as schoolchildren. Ed is much older than the other band members.
> Atlantic Records - Major Label Years 1994-2001
They released their first album Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid on Mar 22 - 1994. The album was originally released/recorded in 1993 on the Rising Storm Records indie label based in Atlanta. It was comprised of songs that Ed Roland had written and recorded as songwriter/composer demos in hopes of getting a publishing deal. The album sold very well behind major label promotion, eventually going double- platinum in 1996. The album's sound was similar to the grunge sound that many other bands adopted in the early 1990's. A visual manifestation of this can be seen in the video for the song "Shine," which portrays the band members in a simple setting with long hair, flannel shirts, and denim jeans (thus giving the band an image comparable to other post-grunge bands at the time such as Silverchair and Candlebox). "Shine" became the #1 Album Rock Song of 1994 and won a Billboard award for Top Rock Track, it was one of the biggest hits of the year. The subsequent single "Breathe" had moderate success. The band performed at Woodstock 1994 to over 150,000+ people, among many popular music artists. Their performance was judged as decent, considering they were totally new to big time commercial success. This event marked the 25 year anniversary tribute to Woodstock 1969 . During the albums commercial run, the band went out on extensive touring doing many shows all over North America.
