The '90s were a great time to be in a band, especially in the post-grunge era. Since it took the rock world so long to figure out what to do with itself following the death of Kurt Cobain, just about anybody could get song on the radio with a slightly crunchy guitar riff and an earnest chorus. That's not to say that everything was hacky; in fact, some of the stuff that came from that era was great. One of those great things? Better Than Ezra, who first broke big with the single "Good," which owned modern rock radio in the summer of 1995. The band's videos also dominated MTV, especially "In the Blood" and "Desperately Wanting," that latter of which came from the group's 1996 record Friction, Baby.
Though Better Than Ezra remain an active band (they dropped their seventh album, Paper Empire, back in May), frontman Kevin Griffin has joined a surprisingly long line of hitmakers from the '90s who have parlayed their success into writing tunes for high-profile pop stars. Griffin has worked with a number stars, including Meat Loaf and Howie Day, as well as a number of stars from "American Idol," including David Archuleta, David Cook and Jason Castro and is currently working on tunes for both Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. He joins the club that includes Linda Perry (formerly of 4 Non Blondes, now a major songwriter for Christina Aguilera, Pink and Gwen Stefani) and Butch Walker (frontman of the Marvelous 3 who has worked with Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry).
Better Than Ezra were (and still remain) folk heroes in their hometown of New Orleans, and on Friction, Baby they dropped a tribute to the Big Easy with the single "King of New Orleans."
Dear Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party: