The Music of Matchbox Twenty Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Matchbox 20 burst onto the global rock scene in 1995 with their debut album "Yourself or Someone Like You", which went 12x Platinum as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It went Diamond in Australia (At least 10x Platinum) and 8x Platinum in Canada.

The debut single was "Long Day", which charted in Australia and Canada. "Push" and "3AM "were not released as singles in the US, so they could not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (This rule was revoked soon after), but went Platinum anyway based on airplay. They were released in other countries and were big hits in Canada and Australia. Two more tracks from the album, "Real World" and "Back 2 Good", were released as singles. Both went platinum in the US and top ten in Canada, but were more successful in other markets by pushing up album sales.

In 1995, three members, Rob Thomas, Brian Yale, and Paul Doucette, split from the moderately successful Orlando, Florida, band Tabitha's Secret. They recruited two guitarists, Kyle Cook and Adam Gaynor, and called themselves "Matchbox 20" when drummer Doucette noticed the combination seen on the softball shirt of a man when Doucette was waiting tables between gigs. The musicians were known well enough in the industry to earn a record contract from major label Atlantic. The label was surprised with how successful the debut album was. Their music was hard to classify, with various critics labelling it pop, rock, post-grunge, jangle-rock, or alternative. Whatever the label, Matchbox 20 had tapped into music that was both commercially and critically successful.

In 2000, they released their second album, "Mad Season", and adopted Matchbox Twenty as the new spelling of their name. The album, because it contained three successful singles, was certified 4× Platinum in the United States and went to number one on the Australian ARIA chart. Lead single "Bent" gave the group their first number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Second single "If You're Gone" was almost as successful, going platinum in the US and Australia and top five in other major markets. The third single, title track "Mad Season" was not as successful, reaching the lower half of the top 100 in most markets, and the fourth single, "Last Beautiful Girl" charted only in the UK, ironically the one market that they had not been commercially successful in, before the release of this single.

Despite their third album, "More Than You Think You Are" (2004), not being as successful as previous albums, it still went platinum in the US, Canada and Australia. There were distinct changes in this album: Lead singer Rob Thomas did not write all the songs as on previous albums, but other band members also contributed, and the overall sound was more of a pop-punk sound. Three singles were released. The first "Disease", written with Mick Jagger, was only a moderate hit by this group's standards, but the second single "Unwell" was a worldwide top ten hit. The third single, "Bright Lights", was successful in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The group took a break between late 2004 and 2007 as group members undertook side projects: Rob Thomas released a solo album, "...Something to Be" in 2005, which debuted in top position on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart; it spawned four hit singles. Paul Doucette formed a new band, The Break and Repair Method, and Adam Gaynor left the group.

The group reformed in 2007 and released a retrospective album, "Exile on Mainstream", a nod to the Rolling Stones' classic album, "Exile on Main Street". The album contained six new songs and the entire collection of all eleven of their previously released singles. Two new songs, "How Far We've Come" and "These Hard Times", with the first singles, reached the top twenty in most markets. The album reached number one on the US Albums chart and went platinum, and reached the top ten in Canada, the US and New Zealand.

Their fourth studio album, "North", released in 2012, was spearheaded by lead single "She's So Mean", which went Platinum in the US and Australia and Gold in Canada. The album was their most successful since 2002, when it reached the top spot on the US Billboard Albums Chart and reached number two in Australia, going platinum.

The group continued to tour for the next eleven years before they released their fifth studio album in 2023, "Where the Light Goes" concurrent with lead single "Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream)". Both of these were only moderately successful and did not repeat the mega-success of the previously released material.

All of the wrong answers were Santana songs. "Smooth" (1999) was particularly interesting, as many people thought this was a Matchbox Twenty song. Rob Thomas was asked to collaborate with Itaal Shur on writing this song for Carlos Santana's 1999 album, "Supernatural". Thomas sang on the demo submitted to Carlos Santana, but was never meant to be the vocalist on the actual recording. However, Santana liked Thomas' version and asked him to sing lead on the single, which, when released, had Thomas singing in his unique style, causing many to think that this was Matchbox Twenty. However, if you listened to the distinctive guitar work, there was no doubt this was a Santana song.