- Rock band from San Francisco California, formed in 1993. The primary members during the 90s were Stephan Jenkins (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriting), Kevin Cadogen (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, songwriting), Arion Salazar (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Brad Hargreaves (drums).
- Jenkins and Cadogen played in Bay Area bands as teenagers. They met one another at a concert in 1993, and discovered that they had similar interests in music. They started jamming together, and writing songs together – Jenkins writing lyrics and Cadogen co-writing melodies. They recruited a bass guitarist and drummer, and starting making demo recordings. By 1995, they started to be noticed by record companies, and in 1996, after opening for Oasis at a concert in San Francisco, several record companies began bidding to sign them. They signed with Elektra Records because they believed that they would have the most artistic freedom with the label.
- The origin of the name of the band is somewhat mysterious. Jenkins said in a radio interview that it is derived from the “metaphysical idea of a mind’s eye” – whatever that means!
- Their debut album, the self titled Third Eye Blind, was released in 1997. It was a huge hit – while the album peaked at only #25 on the Billboard 200 album chart, it remained on the chart for over 2 years. Three singles cracked the top 10 on the Hot 100 chart – Semi-Charmed Life, How’s It Going Be, and Jumper – and the album ultimately sold over 6 million copies in the U.S.
- Their follow-up album, Blue, was released in 1999. It was certified platinum, and the single Never Let You Go peaked at #14 in the U.S. and at #1 in Canada.
- In 2000, it was announced that guitarist and co-founded Cadogan had been fired from the band. Turns out that Jenkins secretly had arranged for the corporation named Third Eye Blind Inc. to be 100% owned by Jenkins, instead of including Cadogan as part owner. Cadogan became uncooperative after this, and was subsequently dispatched from the band. No surprise – lawsuits followed, and Cadogan settled out of court in 2002.
- With a new guitarist, the band’s released its third album in 2003 – Out of the Vein. Its sales were modest, and only 1 single, Blinded, charted in the middle of the Alternative Songs chart.
- Two other studio albums have been released – Ursa Major in 2009 and Dopamine in 2015. An EP, called We Are Drugs, also was released in 2016. Third Eye Blind fans purchased these releases, but not many others did.
- Third Eye Blind is a 90s alternative rock band that helped define the alt rock sound of the late 90s, but has not been able to maintain the magic they had with their first album. Oh well – it’s true of many artists. We can still enjoy the classics that they brought to us in 1997. My favorite is Jumper – stay and watch the video.