Fun
With a band name like this, you can imagine the marketing taglines already, can’t you? Fun Fun Fun. Who Doesn’t Like Fun. Have Fun. And yet, there’s more to this New York-based pop trio than just punny wordplay. First up, there’s the fact that their frontman Nate Ruess looks like a young Mark Wahlberg with a step haircut. Then, of course, there’s the music – a snappy, showy rush of grand piano pop that mixes the chart smarts of Maroon 5 with the theatrical pomp of Queen.
After Rusess’ last band The Format crashed in 2008, Fun (technically, written ‘fun.’ Wacky band punctuation is so un-fun) started not long after, when he recruited guitarist Jack Antonoff (from band Steel Train) and piano player Andrew Dost (from Anathallo) to, you guessed it, join in on the fun. They pushed out their debut album Aim and Ignite in 2009, before signing to the Fuelled By Ramen label, the home of Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes, a year later.
The move paid off and their 2011 sequel Some Night has seen them hit the big time, mostly thanks to their runaway single ‘We Are Young’ featuring none other than R&B superstar Janelle Monae.The track hit #3 on the US Billboard charts, been covered on the TV show Glee and soundtracked a TV ad during the Superbowl. Fun times indeed.