Buckcherry

Buckcherry is a hard rock band that started in Anaheim, California, in 1995. They put out two albums—their self-titled debut in 1999 and *Time Bomb* in 2001—before splitting up in 2002. Their first album was the first gold record for DreamWorks. In 2005, singer Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson got the band back together with a new lineup, and in 2006 they released *15*. That album gave them their biggest crossover song, "Crazy Bitch," and their first top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Sorry." After that, Buckcherry kept making albums, putting out seven more between 2008 and 2023: *Black Butterfly* (2008), *All Night Long* (2010), *Confessions* (2013), *Rock 'n' Roll* (2015), *Warpaint* (2019), *Hellbound* (2021), and *Vol. 10* (2023). Their eleventh album, *Roar Like Thunder*, came out in June 2025.

Josh Todd grew up in Anaheim Hills and later Lake Forest, California. He first fronted the glam rock band Slamhound. He met Keith Nelson through their tattoo artist, Kevin Quinn. The two made demos, then added bassist Jonathan Brightman and drummer Devon Glenn, calling themselves Sparrow. They built a local following in Hollywood clubs with their old-school rock sound and signed with DreamWorks Records. They changed their name to Buckcherry after a cease-and-desist from a label called Sparrow. The name is a spoonerism of Chuck Berry, but the band said it came from a drag queen acquaintance named Buck Cherry.

Their self-titled debut came out in 1999, produced by Terry Date, and went gold. It had the singles "Lit Up," "For the Movies," "Dead Again," and "Check Your Head." After adding rhythm guitarist Yogi Lonich in 1999, they toured heavily, opening for Lenny Kravitz and playing Woodstock 99. They recorded *Time Bomb* in 2000, released in 2001, but critics found it disappointing and jaded. They opened for AC/DC in spring 2000. Between August 2001 and January 2002, Brightman, Lonich, and Glenn left, replaced by Dave Markasky, Josh Fleeger, and Matt Lawrence. Todd and Nelson started writing a third album but never finished it, and the band went on hiatus in July 2002.

Todd and Nelson later played with ex–Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum at a tribute concert. Todd spent a month recording ten songs with that group, but Slash dropped him, saying he didn't like how Todd's voice sounded on playback.