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Label stories like this demand that you don't refer to them as "the label" and instead name them. Alan Meltzer didn't think this band would succeed, Alan Meltzer demanded that the singer lose weight and show more skin. Think about the uncountable bands who he treated this badly or worse.

Amy Lee has such a unique singing voice. You only need to hear one line and you can say "Yeah, that's Amy".

"denying the fast food rockers the top spot" thank you evanescence; the world will never know the magnitude of the horror you saved us all from.

The Open Door will always be one of the most important albums to me personally, I'm so happy they got the chance to shine despite all the pushback.

Can we just talk about for a moment how fucking AMAZING Amy Lee's outfits are? Like fr..

With these videos, some could say that one man's trash theory is another man's treasure

This is one of the best music channels on KZfaq. No contest.

I was 12 years old when Evanescence blew up in Europe. Every single one of my classmates was obsessed with them and every girl wanted to be like Amy Lee, myself included.

Genuinely such an underrated band just because of this song. Stuff like Hello, Like You, Whisper, Taking Over Me, Imaginary, and Call Me When You're Sober are all absolute fucking gems of songwriting. They really capture the angst and ache of grief that isn't really the most palpable thing, but is felt by all. Especially those first two songs. Chills

Amy Lee is and will always be a goddess in my eyes and ears.

Depriving the Fast Food Rockers of a number one... tragic

So that "friend of a friend" who asked her if she was happy, that spawned the song bring me to life - is now her husband. Josh. He is a Therapist. As far as the Christian thing is concerned - it wasn't long after fallen came out that Amy and Ben both said the band wants nothing to do with Christian rock, please stop calling us that and that got them pulled from all christian stores. That was a band decision not so much of a label one.

I knew Amy was special when she broke away from her group and did that song with Seether. I till this day I cannot get over how raw and real that song is. i cant even talk about it the way I get so emotional... ugh

thank you so much for covering artists like evanescence the absolute bashing they faced for their entire careers and the way that media and critics dug into Amy’s voice, image, weight and love life is horrendous. I fully believe that most of the hate came from the fact that evanescence is led by a woman and that if they had been fronted by a man they wouldn’t have received the level of hate that they did

I’m surprised everyone thought Evanescence was just “Bring me to life” they were more that even before Fallen came out. They’re still going strong and it’s abundantly clear Amy Lee is and was always the talent. I suggest people take a look at all of their albums.

This totally makes sense. I always thought that guy on Bring Me To Life sounded out of place.

It's not at all a stretch to say that if the label(s) got what they wanted, Evanescence would never have existed. That makes me incredibly frustrated with the entire industry.

My mom was Amy Lee’s music teacher in Little Rock!

This was my first "dark" album I ever bought (complete with shocked parents, 2003 was wild) and led me down a very fun and interesting path in music. To hear how personal the lyrics were is really really touching to me. also, sure, Bring me to Life was what brought me in back then but I sure loved the whole album. *"you need a dude"* my ass. I'm glad we got over that

When the very first clip is of Weird Al, you know it's gonna be good.

I love Amy Lee and Evanescence. They took me to Lacuna Coil, Nughtwish and Within Temptation. I dressed like her for 4 years of high school 🤣

Who would want to listen to female fronted gothic symphonic metal? You mean all the fans that fill up arenas to see Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil and so many other bands?

Coming up next on New British Canon: Fast Food Rockers

Please do something about the great PJ Harvey! Thank you.

This video really highlighted the difference in Lee's vocal between Fallen and Synthesis. I have always enjoyed her voice and I think in either version, Bring Me to Life holds up. I'm glad she chose to revisit it though; two very different experiences of a great song.

Evanescence is by fast one of the most important alternative rock bands of the last decades. Unique sound, powerful deep lyrics and Amy Lee with her unique and haunting voice. Many of us have certainly grown with the band. I treasure Amy Lee and evanescence in my heart.

Bless her. She shaped girls like us more than she'll ever know.

It was wierd hearing you say there were no female fronted rock bands in the mainstream at that time, I remember hearing Evanescence for the first time and it fit right in with pre-existing and very successful bands like The Gathering and Lacuna Coil that had gotten popular in the 90s, but then I realize you mean North America, and American labels do tend to think that the US is the world.

This was wonderful. I really feel for Amy, she's been through some shit. I saw Evanescence on tour with Lindsey Stirling not too long ago and I'm happy I got to experience them in a way Amy would've wanted to be heard.

13:23 "operatic yet vulnerable" probably a big reason the song hits me so hard.. it doesn't matter how much power or strength you have, there will always be a level of vulnerability no one can escape.. and no matter how much you try to make it looks like you don't need it on the outside, not having anyone there to help with that vulnerability... it just multiplies whatever pain you could experience exponentially.. and for me, knowing what that's like and seeing someone else in that situation..knowing that there's little... If anything.. I can do to help....puts that multiplication on an endless feedback loop that just destroys me..(and the longer they've dealt with it the worse it gets 😞)

Amy is one of *_THE MOST_* underrated singer - ever. Her voice always gives me chills. When I saw her with Dre & MnM, I went crazy!

Hearing Fast food rockers for the first time in 18 years hit me like a baseball bat round the face and I ended up laughing in my bed just now. I was obsessed with this song when I was 6. Funnily enough that's when I heard Evanescence for the first time too. That album ended up defining my teenage years.

Such a rare opportunity to get into the comment section early. Such purity.

I'm so so proud of Evanescence and Amy Lee

I remember back when it came out, I was in those awkward pre-teen/almost teen years. I used to listen to Fallen and Hyrid Theory a lot, alongside The Eminem Show and Gorillaz (their first album by the same name of the band). Couple of years later, I might have been 15 maybe, I still listened to all of them a lot (altough branchin out into more classical old school heavy metal, trash metal and even some death metal), but one specific day I happened to put Fallen in the CD player on the car, driving back from the countryside to the city after a lake-camping weekend. Maybe three or four hours drive. My dad was driving, and when he heard Going Under his eyes widened and he looked like he couldn't believe what he was listening. Then Bring Me To Life came, and he literally stopped the car, just intently listening. After that, he DEMANDED that we listen to those two songs on repeat the entire four hour drive XD By that time, I had listened the entire album more times than I can remember, and I was more into songs like Torniquet and Taking Over Me (The Open Door hadn't still been released). Even though he would just fix on the first two songs, not even wanting to go further, I was pretty happy to oblige XD To this day, when we get together, sometimes we re-listen to those songs, maybe while sharing a beer or something.

Having once been a 13-year-old boy, when Evanescence came out with "Bring Me To Life," I was completely blown away. The juxtaposition of traditionally masculine metal and Amy's powerful but feminine vocals captured me immediately, and I begged my mom to buy me the whole album. I listened to it through and through for hours every day. And to think, I never would have been exposed to it if record companies had refused to touch it because the band is fronted by a chick.

The open door is my favorite evanescence album. The fact that it got a 15 year anniversary repress (on colored vinyl, black and white splatter, for the first time) for record store day makes me soooo happy.

When I was young, I first heard them on the daredevil soundtrack. Then my uncle gave me his copy of fallen and I instantly became a huge fan. Still love Evanescence 15 years later!

This song came out, litterally, right when I needed it. After my grandpa's death is 2005, I was so depressed and had been feeling so alone and music like this saved me in a way. I know it saved a lot of others; it showed them they weren't alone, that others felt that darkness around them too and that it was okay to express it. Not only that, but that it was GOOD to express it. I'll always be thankful to the alt scene, emo, punk, metal & all the other variations of rock and music as a whole. The ones who aren't packaged by the cold unfeeling Corp & have real meat in their lyrics, something to relate to & to feel, well always do well in my book.

Interesting that a band formed at a Christian event would be boycotted by Christians. I guess they weren't specifically a Christian band, but there's certainly an element of that in there.

brillant video! Why doesn't this channel have a million subs yet??

16:59 ... "Their success opened the doors for other bands" ... erm ... not to put too fine a point on it, but Within Temptation predates Evanescence by almost a decade. Their breakout hit, Ice Queen predates Evanescence by almost 4 years. Same goes for Nightwish ... In fact, when Evanescence popped up, Europe was like, "oh, the Americans finally caught on, have they?"

I can't believe this song is 18 years old. Damn

It's interesting how the male vocalist wasn't a part of the band, I always thought he was lmao

When you going through some inner struggles or depression, Evanescence's music hits harder than you expect! That Lithium song, gawd!😩

I remember hearing this song for the first time and thinking the band was a joke because of that male vocalist and how unfortunate he was.

“How can you see into my eyes…” the first line in a song written for a movie about a blind superhero. And to continue this theme: Daredevil, a movie no one saw…

12 Stones were also on Wind Up Records. Paul is a really good singer and 12 Stones have some really good songs.

I have always thought that the male voice on this song was somewhat wrong and badly mixed with Amy Lee, and now I discover these difficult backstories

evanescence had such an influence on me growing into my teens. their music was always on repeat. i loved to try and recreate amy's outfits and tried to do her ribbon braids at one point. i had to be very creative because i couldn't find anything that looked like her clothing or just alternative at all. it was fun. i got some bad looks at school for it but i didn't care. evanescence will forever have a place in my heart

Where's the rest of my "I Look Just Like Amy Lee!!!" 2003 fam? 🤣

I loved Amy Lee since 2011 and I’m still a big fan of evanescence, I even went to an evanescence concert in 2016! She is absolutely amazing singing live 🥺

"You're a girl singing in a rock band. There's nothing else like that out there..." Was that studio exec 12 years old??? Ever hear of HEART???? VIXEN??? Aye aye aye...

god, i remember the Daredevil movie and the hype around this band.

I love your videos not only, but mostly, because I get to discover a whole bunch of artists influenced by artists that I like. your work is precious and seriously underappreciated

I totally remember this album blowing up, it was never my jam but I didn't dislike it. You know though, I would love to see an episode on the insanely influential British band Killing Joke or the underrated but also technically important Godflesh ;D

Omggggg Amy Lee has the most angelic voice in Rock ♡

I had this video on my recommended feed for a couple days, and I'm pretty sure older videos by the channel too, but I never really sat down and watched one, partly because the length being higher than most videos I consume and many of the covered themes and artists not entirely hitting home for me. Evanescence's Bring Me To Life was the right song for me at the right time, as I was starting to grow out of teen angst nu metal like Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit (though I grew to appreciate them again since) and was looking for something bolder and bigger. Evanescence proved to be that gateway for me, as they combined the simple yet heavy basslines, catchy choruses of the nu-metal wave, with a much more grand and epic production value that eventually led me to spend a great whole of time on bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation or Epica, other than the other facets of "actual metal" that nu-metal was a simplified version of. Funnily enough, I loved their singles like this and Going Under, but then I was initially disappointed by the full album, which I rushed to buy a CD of as soon as possible. This video really shed a light on how that happened. They simply pulled a catchy, memorable and iconic single that did sell their album for sure... but one that was also nothing like any of their songs before or after, thanks to their label. It surely cemented their name in the scene, but also gave a wrong impression to many. Excellent video and channel btw, I've hit the Subscribe button as soon as the video was over. If I may just point out a slight error in an otherwise excellent video: on one of the TV footage parts, you cited as source "Mediaset 1" for the performance, based on the logo. That's not the channel's name: Mediaset is the media group's name, while the actual channel's name is Italia 1. It's no big deal, but I figured I'd point it out. Keep up the great work, now off to watch several other videos!

I really can’t explain the way that song made me feel when I heard it for the first time. Evanescence was the band that followed me through my teen years and they always spoke to my heart. To this day, these songs still touch me. I think that I feel them even deeper right now that I am an adult.

I love Evanescence. They've pretty much introduced me to symphonic metal. Pretty formative. To hear how much of an uphill battle Amy Lees Story is is inspiring.

I used to think, and still like to believe, that this song was #1 in the US the week I was born 16 weeks premature lol. EDIT: So I was apparently somewhat right.

Thank you for this beautifully created documentary, bits of history normally shoved under the carpet. Explains a lot, makes us love it more, the way they connect, avoiding the boring "Radio pop". She really opened doors both for other artists and helping with emotional torment for her fans.

one of my favorite things about evanescence that i don't see people mention: they made their demos & eps FREE with zip files publicly available! that is and always has been a huge deal to me, i love hearing the creative process behind making music. it was something i had never heard before when i was just a kid with a MP3 player. it means so much to hear your favorite band making the very first version of songs that sound totally different now. "our very first songs were not that great, but we kept trying and trying, look at us now!"

Holy forking shirtballs, I just put this on as background while getting some speakers set up and you've definitely for a new fan! Fallen was among my first albums. Also, as a film lover and a Marvel lover I'm glad something good came out of Daredevil/Electra

For some reason this hit way harder than I expected. Thanks for giving the band and the song the spotlight it deserves!

So inspiring how you are able to speak with such love about a wide variety of bands an genres

Legit fantastic video. This was my introduction to this channel and already finna binge it all.

I feel like though Fallen was a fantastic album, Evanescence just got better over time. The Open Door is a fantastic follow up that completely blew fallen out of the water and I wish more people would listen to Evanescence’s later stuff. And though the self titled album didn’t quite top the open door in my opinion it was still soooooo good.

OK, I just wanted to mention what an absolute Lovecraftian nightmare "The Fast Food Song" is. Thank you.

The absolute nostalgia I feel just from seeing her in the thumbnail, they were my childhood, hearing the opening notes of Where Will You Go literally smacked me across the room

Wow, I’ve had this song stuck in my head and here is this video in my feed! Awesome video!

That's sad story for that lady. I'd be curious to know more about the inner tensions that led to Ben's leaving.

I always loved Bring Me To Life. When it was released I was forever hiding behind the coolness of Dischord Records or the San Diego hardcore scene but it hit me so hard I just couldn't deny it's power!

Thank you so much for this! I have found a new appreciation of the people behind the songs. Your videos are so good and I am always excited for new ones, no matter who it's about!!

I totally missed out on Evanescence. I was a a kid (~10-11 years old), was into nu metal, and Daredevil definitely gave me the wrong first impression - I had not yet developed my interest in gothic rock and metal. After seeing them get immensely popular and not finding other songs I was liked as a preteen boy, I just wrote them off as a one-hit wonder. Decades later, I'm finding all my favourite musicians have immense respect for Amy Lee, but because I got the wrong impression all those years ago, I found this perplexing. When I saw Trash Theory video essay on Evanescence I knew there would be no better opportunity to rediscover Amy Lee and Evanescence as a purveyor of gothic metal. Now I see why she is such an inspiration, and I thank you for giving this opportunity Trash Theory. [tips hat]

why am i tearing over this omg… Thanks for sharing the history behind such an iconic song My mom is a big fan of Evanescence

Love the channel you should Make a video about the stone roses and their 2nd album

Thank you so much for bringing this contents in 2021🖤

They were my first 'band'...the first one I discovered on my own and was different from my parent's country music habits. They helped me discover myself as a teenager graduating high school back in '03. Hearing this single can instantly take me back to driving down the freeway and my sister and I just feeling free and head banging away like crazy people...they were our freedom.

Keep this top notch content coming!

Nu Metal was very male dominated. This video gave me a new perspective on that scene

I stumbled across their geocities site back in the day and bought the Origin CD. It quickly became one of my favourite albums of all time. Little did I know a few years later Fallen would come along and launch them into the sensation they deserved to be. This led to the unique experience of taking my friends aside and playing them the earlier versions of the songs and everyone agreed it was better without all the additional noise added in. Ended up having to rip it for a bunch of them (since it was long sold out/unavailable at that point). Only time in my life I "discovered" a band before anyone in my circles did.

I just discovered your channel, guess I will binge it all evening, fascinating stuff.

Oh, I'd say you'd get great fun out of looking into Horslips and The Stunning. Two classics of Irish Rock!

You gotta show the clip of 50 Cent interrupting their Grammy speech for Best New Artist.

Great video! I could watch videos on the history of Evanescence 24/7. I'm so glad they're still doing so well after all these years.

I remember Mike Shinoda releasing a sound bite in which he talks about actually having been asked to do the rap parts for "Bring Me to Life." When Mike refused, some other guy stepped in; and I later found out that Paul McCoy doesn't even rap in his own band, so that's hilarious. I'm happy with how Evanescence later reworked the song to sound more the way it was intended.

Woah, just found this channel 7 hours ago and this vid is only 16 minutes old

Thank you for letting us know things that were difficult to discover back in those days without full internet access. Although the video is not about who came first or who was more popular, it is kind of misleading the idea that Evanescence's success "opened the door" for other similar bands. I believe in any case that Evanescence opened the door of symphonic metal for those who didn't know the genre. Other bands were already successful in both Europe & America & continued being successful without Evanescence. Many of us (30+) were already listening & supporting bands like Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Theatre of Tragedy & Within Temptation when Evanescence came out. I consider they were already successful, mainstream or not. I understand Evanescence has their niche because they exposed symphonic metal to a wider population that began spreading their music in ways older bands couldn't when they appeared.

The song "My immortal" was the first song that reminded me that I wasn't alone.... and it also made me realize that the person I was in love with was a narcissist back when no one really knew the meaning of that word.

This evokes the brilliance of Trash Theory's early vids. Great work

She was my early teen crush, loved her voice as well. Pity i didnt heard anything from her pretty much after the few songs that hit the top charts

Evanescence is one great band! Amy was really nice to my wife and I at a fan meet. Bring Me to Life was more memorable than the Daredevil movie for sure.

ANother great episode, thanks. Loved this song ever since it came out but wasn't aware of all the little intricacies behind it. But that's what this channel's so good at, keep on doing it.

This honestly one of the best youtube channels of all time: informative, entertaining and full of passion. Please never stop making videos

Never got into this band ...but I respect the journey

It’s pretty much documented that on the back of Hybrid Theory’s massive success, Warner Brothers really wanted evanescence to sound like Linkin Park and ride that wave(who Linkin Park were also signed to) according to Mike Shinoda himself, they initially asked HIM to do the rapping vocals on Bring To Me Life and he declined. In 2017 after Chester Bennington passed away Amy Lee said in an interview that she remembers meeting Chester for the first time while recording Fallen and venting to him about how frustrating it was having the label constantly pressuring them to sound like them(Linkin park) with Chester saying in return that she should absolutely tell them to “go fuck themselves” 😂 It’s also worth noting the irony of Warner insisting on having a rapper be a part of Evanescence on the back LP’s success is that initially they were in fact notoriously documented for being absolutely against Mike Shinoda rapping on Hybrid Theory and even went as far trying to have him kicked out of the band entirely.

I always watch your videos even though I don't know or like the groups you talk about, and always discover great new music. Thank you very much!!

As another die hard fan, thanks for this amazing essay! I know everything you've mentioned, and I'll add this to my expanding list of sources! Saw them live twice, both amazing! Love from Pittsburgh PA dude!