Silverchair lyrics and Silverchair guitar tabs, Silverchair pictures and biography

The Australian grunge band Silverchair quickly rose to
international stardom in 1995 with their debut album,
Frogstomp. Sounding like a bastard offspring of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Silverchair gained more
notoriety for their age than their music -- at the time
they released Frogstomp, they were 15 years old.
Originally called the Innocent Criminals, Silverchair
was formed in 1992 in Newcastle, Australia by three
schoolmates -- guitarist/vocalist Daniel Johns, bassist
Chris Joannou, and drummer Ben Gillies. Two years
later, their demo tape was chosen as the winner out
of 800 entries in an Australian talent contest
conducted by Nomad, an Australian music television
show and a local radio station, 2JJJ-FM. Included in
the prize was a day in the radio's recording studio, as
well as a video for their winning song, Tomorrow.
2JJJ-FM and Nomad began playing the video before
the Innocent Criminals had signed a record contract,
which helped the band earn a following of fans. It also
began a bidding war among Australian record labels.
By the end of the year they had a deal with Murmur, a
subsidiary of Sony.

Before the release of their debut single Tomorrow in
September of 1994, the group changed their name to
Silverchair; the name was derived from Nirvana's
Sliver
(which was accidentally misspelled as Silver )
and You Am I's Berlin Chair. Tomorrow became
a major hit in Australia, reaching number one; it would
eventually become the country's fourth biggest-selling
single ever. In January, 1995, Silverchair released a
second single, Pure Massacre, which also hit number
one. That same month, the band recorded their debut
album, Frogstomp, in just over a week. Upon its
release, Frogstomp became the first album to enter the
Australian charts at number one and it went platinum
within a week; it would soon go double platinum and
spend six weeks in a row at number one.

Silverchair's success in the United States was nearly as
quick. Released in America in the summer of 1995,
Frogstomp began climbing the US charts quickly, thanks
to heavy MTV exposure and modern rock airplay for
Tomorrow. Soon, the album went platinum in America
as well, and by the end of 1995, Pure Massacre had
become a radio/MTV hit in the U.S.

Silverchair toured throughout the first half of 1996,
recording their second album in the second half. The
band returned in early 1997 with Freak Show, a record
which received better reviews than its predecessor, yet
failed to match its sales. Neon Ballroom followed two
years later.