Phoenix

Living up to their mythic name, Phoenix emerged as a bright, shiny beacon of guitar-pop pleasure amid an otherwise serious-minded era for alternative rock. Indeed, the quartet—who formed in 1997 in Versailles, France—had much less kinship with any grunge, punk, or garage contemporaries than with vanguard ‘70s pop acts like Electric Light Orchestra and 10cc. Likewise, the Gallic cool and youthful energy of early standouts like “Too Young” and “If I Ever Feel Better” pointed to Phoenix’s affinity with friends in the French scene like Daft Punk and Air: the guys from Daft Punk were in Darlin’, a pre-helmets band, with Phoenix guitarist/keyboardist Laurent Brancowitz, while Air enlisted Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars to sing on their score for The Virgin Suicides, a film directed by Mars’ future wife Sofia Coppola. After finding success in Europe with albums like 2004’s winsome Alphabetical, Phoenix broke through in the U.S. with 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, an irresistible collection of songs that brimmed with melody and melancholy yet matched the heady rush of EDM bangers, too. On 2017’s Ti Amo, Phoenix again showed their ability to add a rare effervescence to guitar-driven indie pop by embracing Italo disco and a more electronic sound without losing their breezy appeal.