Maynard James Keenan ( tool-APC ) Best modern artist in modern rock
Maynard James Keenan
ROCK IN FMQB'S 2004 LEADERS POLL
HONOR IS BESTOWED BY MODERN ROCK PROGRAMMERS AND MUSIC INDUSTRY
PROFESSIONALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY;
THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLS A PERFECT CIRCLE'S NEW ALBUM "A SOUNDTRACK FOR
BLUE-STATE MALAISE"
Maynard James Keenan, front man and vocalist for Virgin Records'
critically-acclaimed recording group A Perfect Circle, has been voted Best
Male Artist in Modern Rock in FMQB's prestigious 2004 Leaders Poll. In a
field packed with a host of stellar candidates including Green Day's Billie
Joe Armstrong and Velvet Revolver's Scott Weiland. Keenan's passion and
artistry vaulted him to the top of the online poll, which was tabulated from
votes by Modern Rock radio programmers, label executives, and music industry
professionals all across the country. This illustrious accolade marks the
second year in a row that Keenan has been honored by the FMQB Leader Poll in
2003, the APC vocalist was named Best Rock Artist.
Keenan and A Perfect Circle are ending 2004 with one triumph after another.
The band's latest album, eMOTIVe, made a stunning #2 with-a-bullet debut on
the Billboard 200 when it was released on November 2. The collection, which
sees APC reimagining radical rock classics for a new generation, was the
top-selling record on three SoundScan sales charts: Top Album Retailers, Top
Hard Music Albums, and Digital Albums (marking the first-ever Virgin Records
release to top the Digital Albums listing).
A Perfect Circle's second consecutive #2 entry, eMOTIVe is also the band's
third consecutive top 5 debut.
Along with the commercial success of eMOTIVe, the album has reaped a wide
range of critical acclaim in a variety of national publications, including
Rolling Stone, Revolver, Entertainment Weekly, and the New York Daily News.
Described by Keenan as a collection of songs about war, peace, love and
greed, eMOTIVe finds APC bridging three decades of protest songs, spanning
an array of genres hardcore punk and heavy metal, new wave and Delta blues,
folk rock and rhythm & blues.
Jon Pareles spotlighted the album in the Sunday New York Times Playlist
section recently, praising new arrangements of old songs [that] switch
familiar tunes like "Imagine" and "What's Going On" into minor keys behind
Maynard James Keenan's desolate, androgynous croon. Noting the album's
themes of war and annihilation, Pareles writes that the album's ominous tone
and bleak pessimism make it a soundtrack for blue-state malaise.
In addition to classic protest songs by John Lennon and Marvin Gaye, eMOTIVe
also includes such insurgent classics as Memphis Minnie's blues stomper,
"When The Levee Breaks" (made famous by Led Zeppelin), Fear's "Let's Have A
War", and Depeche Mode's "People Are People." The album also features a pair
of thought-provoking APC originals, "Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The
Rhythm Of the War Drums" and "Passive."
And just two short weeks after eMOTIVe made its mark on the charts, the band
released their first-ever DVD, aMOTION, a collection of APC's classic videos
along with an assortment of imaginative remixes. aMOTION also hit the charts
with a bang, coming in at #4 on SoundScan's Top Music Video chart.
eMOTIVe is A Perfect Circle's third full-length release, following 2000's
RIAA platinum-certified Mer De Noms, and 2003's platinum-selling Thirteenth
Step.