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Though Everclear's Northwestern grunge-punk style was hardly revolutionary when the band rose to popularity in 1995, the trio's hook-ridden songs and Art Alexakis' "us against them" lyrics were taken to heart by bored Gen-X teens. Everclear's sound reflected the rock, post-punk, and singer/songwriter influences of frontman Alexakis, including acts like X, the Replacements, the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Elvis Costello. Also instrumental to Everclear's success was the group's obsessive touring schedule and aggressive self-promotion tactics. Art Alexakis (born Apr. 12, 1962, West Los Angeles, California) was raised in a lower-middle-class household by his single mother. His father left the family during Alexakis' childhood, an incident that would later pepper many of Everclear's most popular songs. The dual deaths of his brother and girlfriend (his brother by heroin overdose; his girlfriend by suicide) convinced him to kick his own cocaine habit in the mid-'80s, and he la...