Paramore

Paramore are a Pop Punk band currently made up of vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and bassist Jeremy Davis (as of December 18, 2010, Guitarist Josh and Drummer Zac have officially left the band). Formed in 2002 in Franklin, Tennessee, Paramore first hit the scene with debut album All We Know Is Falling in 2005; they have since released two further albums in 2007 (Riot!) and 2009 (brand new eyes; note that the official album title has no capitalization).

Save for the addition of York, Paramore's main lineup has remained unchanged since the first album; however, Davis left for five months just after the band was signed and his departure formed the basis for much of the first album including the cover artwork and the album-naming All We Know. Over the course of the next year, three singles were released from the first album - Pressure, Emergency and the aforementioned All We Know - but none charted at the time of release. However, a constant stream of touring, including the renowned Warped Tour, brought the band a devoted fanbase and by the time Riot! was released in 2007 the media and people as a whole were beginning to recognize Paramore as a definite band to watch.

This new awareness was reflected in the success of the band's sophomore offering; although the album didn't exactly set the charts ablaze, it did enjoy some chart success largely off the back of leading single Misery Business (which also went platinum), and later went platinum in the US and gold across the globe. Hallelujah, crushcrushcrush and That's What You Get, while not quite hitting the same success, cemented the band's reputation.

In 2008, Paramore contributed two songs to the Twilight soundtrack: I Caught Myself and lead single Decode. In early 2009 they began writing and recording their third album, brand new eyes, which was released at the end of September on the back of lead single Ignorance.


 * All We Know Is Falling (2005)
 * Riot! (2007)
 * Brand New Eyes (2009)


 * Anachronic Order: crushcrushcrush, to an extreme (the song has a narrative, but it's completely shattered)
 * Audience Participation Song: My Heart and Where The Lines Overlap.
 * Attention Whore: Where The Lines Overlap begins with the line "Give me attention, I need it now."
 * Black Sheep Hit: The Only Exception is becoming their biggest hit.
 * Creator Breakdown: Narrowly averted; they canceled a series of concerts in February 2008 to deal with "personal issues" mostly stemming from, as with No Doubt in the 1990's, the rest of the band's resentment at the media focusing on Hayley Williams as the most important member of the group .They seem to have gotten past this quite handily, and even lampshaded it in the lyrics to Looking Up from brand new eyes: "God knows the world doesn't need another band/But what a waste it would have been/I can't believe we almost hung it up/We're just getting started."
 * Until December 2010, at least.
 * "Decode" seemed like a Wasted Song at first for the Twilight movie, considering it was at the credits. And as you all know: no one stays for the credits. And if you're not listening you can miss the Title Drop.
 * Downer Ending: The end of That's What You Get‘ may count as one depending on who you are, but its alternate ending would definitely count.
 * Dye Hard: Think of Hayley Williams and you'll probably think of the hair first.
 * Follow the Leader: Any similar-style rock band with a female vocalist will inevitably get compared to Paramore, two examples being Versaemerge and Hey Monday. This even applies to bands like Damone, who were active before Paramore ever recorded an album. (The fact that Hayley's voice sounds remarkably similar to that of Damone frontwoman Noelle LeBlanc does not help matters.)
 * Fractured Fairy Tale: Brick By Boring Brick probably counts.
 * Green-Eyed Epiphany: Discussed in "Misery Business"
 * I Am the Band: It turns out that Hayley is the only signed member of Paramore, and the others are just a glorified backing band. Hayley appears not to like this setup, but it led to the schism in the band.
 * Jealousy Gambit: Invoked in "Misery Business".
 * Lighter and Softer: The third album, could arguably be this, especially with songs such as The Only Exception and Misguided Ghosts.
 * Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition: for both Riot! and brand new eyes.
 * Metal Scream: The end of "My Heart".
 * Nipple-and-Dimed: A topless picture of Hayley ended up online in 2009. Oddly, after the initial reaction, people generally turned a blind eye to it.
 * Not Christian Rock: Hayley at least is a Christian, but the music isn't necessarily what you'd call christian music.
 * Surprisingly Gentle Song: The heck did Misguided Ghosts come from?
 * Also, The Only Exception.
 * Title-Only Chorus: Used a few times in brand new eyes.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "Ignorance" and "Playing God"
 * Traumatic Haircut: The mean girl in the Misery Business video inflicts this on one of her unfortunate classmates.
 * Video Full of Film Clips: Decode, although there is also a band-only version available.