My Current Favourite Rock Band – Daughtry

Daughtry is an American rock band formed and fronted by namesake Chris Daughtry, who was a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2006 and reached number one on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell more than six million copies in the United States and has been certified sextuple platinum by the RIAA.

Daughtry was also named the bestselling album of 2007 by Billboard, becoming the fastest-selling debut rock album in Nielsen SoundScan history. The album produced four top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including top five hits "It's Not Over" and "Home".

Daughtry is often mistakenly believed to be Chris Daughtry's solo project. However, in a manner similar to Bon Jovi, Dio, Dokken and Van Halen, Daughtry is a band, taking Chris Daughtry's surname as their moniker. In an interview, Daughtry explained, "We could've come out with a really obscure name but coming from the TV show and having name recognition, it was easier just to go with my last name." He also joked, "Steel Dragon would have been great."

The band's second album, Leave This Town, was released in July 2009 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Daughtry's second number one album in the United States. To date, Leave This Town has sold over 1.3 million copies in the United States and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "No Surprise", became the band's fifth top 20 hit on the Hot 100. Their third studio album, Break the Spell, was released in November 2011 and debuted within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA. Daughtry's fourth studio album, Baptized, was released on November 19, 2013, and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 90,000 units. To date, Daughtry has sold over 9 million albums and over 25.6 million digital tracks in the U.S.

Before Chris Daughtry's surprise early elimination from American Idol, rumors were rampant about an invitation for him to join the rock band Fuel as lead vocalist. After leaving the competition, Chris Daughtry quickly announced that he had turned down the Fuel offer which opened the door for the formation of his own band. Before American Idol, Chris Daughtry was lead vocalist for the band Absent Element, but his recording contract with RCA Records entailed building an entirely new band with the following members.

The history of the band was when building on his start as one of the most popular finalists of American Idol's fifth season, Chris Daughtry's post-Idol career spanned the archetypal modern rock of his early albums to the folk- and dance-tinged territory of 2010s albums such as Baptized. Where Bo Bice proved that American Idol could have a rocker as a finalist, Chris Daughtry proved that the show could generate a successful rocker outside the context of the show. Of course, it helped that he was the polar opposite of Bice, a shaggy retro-rocker soaked in the South. Bold and bald, Daughtry was the picture of a modern rocker, living by the rule book written by Live and Fuel. These were the qualities that helped make Chris Daughtry the most successful new rock & roll singer of 2006, as well as one of the most successful Idol graduates in the show's history.

Out of all the songs the band’s releases, my personal favourite would be "What About Now". This song is my first introduction to Daughtry. "What About Now" is the seventh single from American rock band Daughtry's self-titled debut album. The song is a ballad, that was written by Ben Moody, David Hodges (both former members of Evanescence), and Josh Hartzler, who is married to Amy Lee (the lead singer of Evanescence). It is one of only two songs on the album not at least co-written by Chris Daughtry. The song was announced as the band's next single on their website. It was officially released in the U.S. on July 1, 2008.

A year later, pop group Westlife released a version of the song which reached No. 2 in the Irish Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart. Westlife’s official music video is marked as the last film the large part Vatnajökull Glacier in Iceland was seen in because of the distortion caused by a subsequent volcanic eruption.

This song is about a broken relationship. The more that the guy and the girl are not talking, the more the distance between them increases. The guy is saying that he needs the girl back in his life because she makes him feel alive and makes him all he's meant to be. He says, "what if our love never went away, what if it's lost behind words we could never find?" The guy means that he doesn't believe the love will go away and that it's only their silence that is distancing them. He talks about how far they've come and that he'll always be beside the girl. The guy says that they should mend their relationship before it's too late because there's still hope. Since, they've come so far, he says that they shouldn't fear because he'll be right by her and maybe they'll mend their relationship. This song is so sad. I wish to power of music didn't hurt so much. Anyway, I feel that this song is about this girl that he still has feelings for. They see each other and remember all the times they had together. However, he broke her heart and she doesn't want to be hurt again. Yet, he is promising that they can work together and pull through. He still loves her, so he is asking her to give him another try to see if they were actually meant to be. Because time won't wait forever for them.