Maroon 5

When the video for Maroon 5’s “This Love” hit MTV in 2004, the network censored two words: coming, as in “keep her coming every night,” and sinking, as in “sinking my fingertips into every inch of you.” It’s not that the words were dirty, of course, but the context—well, even as euphemism, they felt a little too R for a song so universally catchy, so G. The incident was, in a way, a precedent: Even as they ascended to mega-stardom, Maroon 5 has managed to retain a sense of edge and sexuality that seems incomparable with how huge they are, bringing the boudoir to the grocery store while simultaneously remaining one of the 21st century’s few mainstream bands—as in, that old-timey concoction of guitar, bass, drums and a singer—able to keep pace with the innovations of electronic music and hip-hop. Made up primarily of old high-school friends, the band formed in Los Angeles in the early 2000s after an earlier—and musically unrelated—incarnation called Kara’s Flowers failed to launch. Influenced by singer Adam Levine’s then-recent baptism in hip-hop music and culture, 2002’s Songs About Jane was a slow burn, taking about two years to reach the upper end of the charts. The band toured relentlessly, venturing further into soul and Prince-style pop-rock for 2007’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, adding both polish and power for 2010’s Hands All Over. In 2011, Levine started serving as a coach on The Voice, launching his own celebrity while expanding the band’s reach even further.