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The spastic Utah quartet The Used have quickly risen to the top of rock fans playlists, based on the strength of their anarchic blasts of wailing punk and their intensely visceral live show. After years of practicing their set on the road, it seems like The Used share one collective mind, and live they completely blow the mohawks off of their fans and any other bands unfortunate enough to play after them. In the late 1990's, guitarist Quinn Allman, bassist Jeph Howard and drummer Brandon Steineckert had already been playing together around Orem, Utah's local house-party scene under various band names (Strange Itch, Dumb Luck) for several years. At one point, the group of friends found themselves with some great music but no vocalist. Auditions went nowhere, but Quinn had gone to school with the unpredictable and talented Bert McCracken, who he called on the off-chance that Bert might join the band. Not only was McCracken impressed by the music, he was also eager to write lyrics for the band. Today, McCracken's unearthly screaming and powerful, intelligible lyrical delivery have become trademarks of The Used's sounds. The story has it that The Used got their biggest break when John Feldman from the legendary hardcore ska-punk band Goldfinger received their demo CD. Feldman thought The Used were "the best band in years" and he would go on to tirelessly champion their music in front of record execs and to play their demo for anyone who would listen. Finally, in 2001, The Used signed up with Reprise Records. The band released their self-titled debut album, The Used, in 2002, and the album's simple, passionate songs and cutting lyrics lead to the success of singles like "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" and "Buried Myself Alive." On the strength of their album, The Used secured spots on both the Warped Tour and Ozzfest, and the heavy live exposure brought them a whole new set of fans. The Used had a commercial break-through when their duet with My Chemical Romance, a hard-edged cover of David Bowie and Queen's hit "Under Pressure" that made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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