Twenty One Pilots is a pop-punk band with an electro mix in their sound, from Columbus, Ohio. The band is consists of two men, 26-year-old Tyler Joseph, the singer and pianist, and 28-year-old Joshua Dun, the drummer. The band, Twenty One Pilots was formed in 2009, but Dun didn’t sign on until 2011. Originally, the band was made of three, including Joseph, but the other two members, Chris Salih and Nick Thomas, left to pursue other things.
The name, “Twenty One Pilots" was created by Joseph, who was studying the play, “All My Sons,” by Arthur Miller in college. The story centers around a man who sells airplane parts during World War II, who realizes that his airplane parts are faulty. He can either send out his faulty parts and the twenty one pilots, one of whom is his son, will die, or keep the parts and his family and business will suffer. He decides to send out the parts, which led to the death of all the twenty one pilots. The reason Joseph thought this name worked because he constantly wanted to be reminded that you have to not only choose for the good of yourself, but the good of others. The two claim that they always want to make the best choices for the ones that love their music and got them to where they are. They never want to do the selfish thing when it comes to their art, which is why they rejected suspicious signing contracts, in which they would have no creative control.
The band has come out with several albums, including their self titled album, “Twenty One Pilots” as well as “Regional At Best”, “Vessel”, and most recently, “Blurryface," which has two radio hits: “Stressed Out” and “Ride”. The band was signed by Fueled by Ramen in 2012, and since then, their following has grown significantly. In the beginning of their journey, Dun would wear a Gorilla costume and Joseph wore a skeleton mask during their gigs. Eventually, he abandoned the gorilla suit, but the skeleton mask became their symbol, forming their fan base called “The Skeleton Clique”.
As of right now, the duo are on their Emotional Roadshow Tour, in which they are playing songs from their “Blurryface” album, named after a fictional character that Joseph created. It is the representation of his fears and insecurities, as well as the insecurities of others. While performing, he coats his neck and hands with a black paint, in order for it to represent his highlighted fear, suffocation, along with his highlighted insecurity, his hands, because he worries about the quality of the things he creates. Here are 10 songs by the band listed below.2. "Johnny Boy"
3. "Forest"
5. "Ruby"
6. "Slowtown"
8. "Trees"
10. "Goner"
