Tokio Hotel Essentials

Formed when its members were still teens, Tokio Hotel exorcised teenage demons in the limelight with their take on alternative rock. As angst-filled as it is crammed with hooks, their sound won them a legion of loyal German fans by the mid-2000s. A switch to recording in English broadened their appeal, and the release of Scream in 2007 snared fans across Europe with a potent mix of glam pop hooks and pummelling riffs. More recently they ventured into electro-pop territory, scaling the grungey guitars of their youth back to embrace smoother synth textures and bursts of sunny melody.