Taproot rose to commercial glory in 2002 with the release of their sophomore long-player, Welcome, which housed the massive hit "Poem" and cemented the Ann Arbor, Michigan group's status at the forefront of the 2000s mainstream rock scene. The band continued to sharpen their introspective blend of nu-metal and post-grunge-leaning alternative rock on 2005's Billboard-charting Blue-Sky Research, but Atlantic dropped the group the following year. Undeterred by label woes and personnel changes, Taproot issued three more moderately successful albums before going on a studio hiatus after the release of 2012's The Episodes. Continuing as a live entity, the band returned to the recording studio in 2023 and released their first album in 11 years, SC\SSRS.