We're approaching a brand-new year and iHeartRadio is helping you leave 2020 behind with our upcoming iHeartRadio ALTer EGO show on Thursday, January 28, 2021. Hosted by Woody of ALT 98.7's nationally-syndicated The Woody Show, the all-rock show is set to feature new performances from Billie Eilish and Foo Fighters and iconic past ALTer Ego performances from the likes of The Black Keys, blink 182, Coldplay, The Killers, twenty one pilots, Muse and so many more. You know the names, but we want you to get even more acquainted with the lineup with some tid-bits, stats and facts about the rock chart-toppers. Scroll on below to see what we mean!
Fans can tune in to watch the 2021 iHeartRadio ALTer EGO on January 28, 2021 at 9pm ET/6pm PT via LiveXLive.com and/or the LiveXLive app, and listen across more than 80 Alternative and Rock iHeartRadio stations.
Billie Eilish
1. Billie is the first artist born in the 2000s to hit No 1.
Photo: Wes and Alex for iHeartRadio
2. She took home five GRAMMY awards at the 2020 ceremony. She took home Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘bad guy’ and Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”, becoming the second person ever to sweep all four major categories. She also took home the award for Best New Artist.
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Foo Fighters
3. In 1994, Dave Grohl wrote and recorded the Foo Fighters' first album entirely by himself in Seattle, Washington.
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4. The Foo Fighters released a cover of Prince's “Darling Nikki” as b-side to the band's Australian "Have It All" single. Prince did not give the band the green light to release it officially in the US. "I don't like anyone covering my work. Write your own tunes!", he explained to Entertainment Weekly.
Prince went on to play Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” at the Super Bowl Halftime show in 2007, which Grohl cites as his "proudest musical achievement".
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Beck
5. Beck started the Record Club in 2009, a musical project with the purpose of covering an entire album by another artist in one day.
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6. He got his first guitar at the age of 16, his first shows being on city buses. The year before his song "Loser" became a hit, he was living "in a shed behind a house with a bunch of rats, next to an alley" in downtown LA.
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The Black Keys
7. The duo released a hip-hop collaboration under the name ‘Blackroc’, with contributions from Mos Def, Q-Tip and Ludacris.
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8. Their single ‘Tighten Up’ appeared in a car ad, a video game, on the soundtrack to several films and in an episode of Gossip Girl.
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blink-182
9. The six-part harmony ending of their single, “Feeling This” was a happy accident. “Our engineer accidentally automated a fade and left off the vocals so all of the music faded out and the vocals were still doing this harmony thing. We were like, ‘that’s really cool, let’s expand on that,'" Mark Hoppus explained to Alternative Press.
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10. Their seventh studio album, California, became the band’s second number-one album on the Top 200 and their first in 15 years.
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Cage The Elephant
11. The band had to cancel a whole USA tour once because frontman Matt Schultz tore a cartilage in his knee after stage diving.
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12. Cage The Elephant worked with fellow ALTer Ego performer, Beck and his father, arranger and composer David Campbell, on their latest album, Social Cues.
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Coldplay
13. The band is looking into ways to make touring sustainable and environmentally beneficial. "The hardest thing is the flying side of things. But, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single use plastic, to have it largely solar powered,” Chris Martin explained to BBC News.
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14. Coldplay bought a bakery in North London. It then became the Coldplay HQ. Since 2008, the band has used The Bakery as their practice and recording space.
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The Killers
15. Brandon and guitarist Dave Keuning wrote "Mr Brightside" in their very first rehearsal.
Photo: Wes and Alex for iHeartRadio
16. Prior to joining The Killers, every band member was part of a different band.
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Mumford and Sons
17. The group performed for an event hosted by Barack Obama for British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012.
Photo: Steven Taylor for iHeartRadio
18. Many of their lyrics feature Christian themes and reference John Steinbeck (Marcus Mumford's favorite author).
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Muse
19. Frontman Matt Bellamy smashed 140 guitars on Muse's 2004 tour, setting the Guinness World Record for the most guitars smashed on tour.
Photo: Wes and Alex for iHeartRadio
20. In their song "Space Dementia", Matt's pant zipper is used as a sound effect.
Photo: Ashley Osborn for iHeartRadio
twenty one pilots
21. After Josh Dun discovered he could backflip during a soundcheck, he does his signature backflip at every show.
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22. In a story according to Scott Stienecker, president of PromoWest Productions, after a Killers concert at the Columbus, OH arena he worked, Tyler Joseph announced: “You know what, I want to be the next Brandon Flowers”. He quit shortly after.
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Weezer
23. Cuomo applied to Harvard while visiting the university after a soundcheck nearby. He graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor's degree in English.
Photo: Ashley Osborn for iHeartRadio
24. Weezer took a four year hiatus after the release of their album, Pinkerton. During their hiatus, they played small shows featuring all Nirvana and Oasis covers under the pseudonym, Goat Punishment.
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