Cord (Band)

Cord is an American rock band founded in Litchfield, Illinois in 1952, it currently consists of Aidan Swick (Lead Singer, Songwriter, and rhythm guitar), Brad Adams (Guitar and songwriter), Trey Buren (Drums and backing vocalist), and Jett Recoin (Guitar and Bassist).

The band has currently sold 5 trillion albums, making them the first most band to sell the most albums in history.

=History= Early Years and Dancing EP (1952 - 1953)

Aidan Swick had idea of creating a band since he was the age of 6. His idea turned into reality when Aidan met Daniel Reckens (former member) in 1951. They discussed the idea of creating band for the whole 1st grade year. After talking to Jeffery Adams (former member) and Beck Doni (Former member), the band was created on September 5, 1952. The band named themselves “The Cords”. During the late 1952 the band did “kid gigs”, they would go to birthday parties and play popular songs at the time.

This lasted till June 1953 when Aidan had the idea of creating a self produced album in Aidan’s garage titled “Dancing”. The album was recorded between June - August 1953. The band recorded 5 songs during the time. The album was released in local shops, only 105 copies were sold and was positively reviewed by local citizens at the time. The band toured throughout Montgomery County and Macoupin County via Aidan’s mom believing him and his friends had birthday parties. The tour lasted 2 weeks at 5 locations with 200 people in total who saw the band play in September 1953.

Hiatus (1953 - 1954)

After the tour, the band planned on making another album. The album was supposed to be the “big one” and would make the band famous. The planning of the album lasted a month until Aidan left the band due to his comics, the band went on hiatus due to Aidan’s departure.

During the hiatus, Aidan talked to some of the band members and talk to them about regular things. In May 1954, the rest of the band heard about Aidan getting his own television show and got jealous of him and didn’t want to anything to do with him, The members did not talk to each other until November 1954 when Aidan told the band members he was rejoining the band. The reactions were mixed but all of them wanted the band back together.

Wonkers and Bonkers album (1954 - 1956) 

Aidan and his band met near a Ruby Tuesday’s in Litchfield, Illinois on December 3, 1954. Due to Aidan’s mass popularity, reporters and journlists were at the area, making them known through out the United States. Knowing they were now famous, the band started making the jazz/pop album “Wonkers and Bonkers” on December 10, 1954. The band recorded in Springfield Studios in Springfield, Illinois. The recording of the album took 4 months ending on April 11, 1955.

During the recording of the album, the band signed a 5 year contract with Outhouse Records to be their distributor for their albums. This would help boost popularity for the band.

The album was released on May 3, 1955 to stores across the United States. In the first week, 20 million albums were sold, making them the most popular band in recent history. Reviews were mixed about the album, some praising it to be “new music for a new and young generation“ while others thought the music was “the same happy time music we always get.” The band would started touring through out the United States on May 15, 1955 and would end the tour on July 17. By the time the tour ended, 500 million albums were sold.

Aidan’s television show had messed up the bands schedule which chased havoc between members. Jeffery Adams threatened to quit if Aidan had a schedule where he could preform with the band. The feud would end in 1956 when Aidan changed his schedule.

'''Experimental Rock Era, Name Change and Dang! Album (1956 - 1958)'''

In early 1956, Aidan had talked to the band members about changing band name. They all agreed they needed to change it, after some talking they decided to rename the band “The Cord”. During the same time, the band was experimenting with rock, a new trending music genre at the time. The band recorded a experimental rock album, copies were rare at the time of it’s release. The band didn’t do much during 1956.

On January 3, 1957, the band started to record the album “Dang!”, no one knew about the album until it’s sudden release on May 31, 1957, Aidan’s 13th birthday. The album was a success as in the first day, 10 million albums were sold. The album consisted of experimental rock. The album had positive reviews on it making it the best of album of 1957. The band was given Album of the Year award at the American Music Awards, The band started touring in September 1957, This was the first tour to tour the United States and the United Kingdom. The tour would end in February 1958.

Renewal Album and World Tour (1958 - 1960)

Between March 1958 to June 1958, plans were disscussed for a tour that would have locations in China, U.K., New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil. The band agreed to do the tour and on September 2, 1958, the band left the United States to start the tour that would last until December 1958. In January 1959, the band wanted to make another album, but developmeant didn‘t go far due to the filming of Aidan‘s 3rd movie, which was set to release in 1960.

The band went quiet until April, when Aidan decided the band would create an album, after a few weeks of planning the band started recording songs for the album “Renewal” on May 7, 1959 and would end in October 1959. The band didn’t release the album until January from complications with Aidan’s family. On January 3, 1960, the album was released 3 years after the previous album. The album was a mix of rock and early alternative rock, which at the time was called rack rock. This album was the last album that featured Beck Doni as drummer before she left the band. Jessie Conway would replace her in March 1960. The band signed a 15 year contract with Roadhouse Records.

2nd Hiatus (1961 - 1966)

Aidan couldn’t keep up with the band due to his schedule with his television show. The other band members had lives to tend to. On August 3, 1961, the band members held a public conference to announce their hiatus. The following years didn’t see much from the band. In 1963, Aidan was interviewed about the band. When Aidan was questioned if the band would get back together, he replied with “It depends, I haven’t talked to the band members since last September. the idea is in my head. But I am afraid, they will say “no” and the band will end.”

On November 25, 1964, Jeffery Adams was found dead in his apartment, after 12 years being on the band, due to a drug overdose with his girlfriend. This would ultimately lead to the band members to talk to each other again. They would continue to talk to each other as friends until October 1965, when it was decided that the band was going to get back together. John Adams, Jeffery’s younger brother, took Jeff’s former place. In February 1966, the band announced they were off of hiatus, thus ended the 5 year hiatus.

Unknown Album and Colors Album (1966 - 1969)

After the announcement, the band decided to make another album, they didn‘t know how the album was going to turn out. They randomly started to record random songs throughout 1966. On February 7, 1967, the album Unknown was released. The album was released in select locations, which caused riots and millions of dollars in damages to stores. The album was a experimental album, which had all kinf of genres of random songs. Critics praised the album for how they managed to create new genres by their songs which earned them a Grammy.

Due to the success of the Unknown album, the band decided to create another album called Colors, in which they only spent 1 month on. The album was not released until late 1968 due to the band fearing it was rushed. When it was released, the album recieved negative reviews due to how rushed the songs were. This made the band rethink some of the decisions they made with the album. No tour was commenced due to the hatred of the album.

Entering the Metal Genre and Rock Album (1969 - 1971)

The band started getting tired of the rock genre and wanted to try something new. Aidan started finding new genres to put into their songs. While looking at songs in a music store in June 1969, he heard a song he liked, this song would put the band into the metal genre. A experimental song was made in July 1969 and released in August 1969 titled “Man on the Moon”, this was made during the moon landing and Aidan wanted to make a song about it.

In October 1969, the band started creating the album “Rock”, the album took the whole year of 1970 due to problems with the band and remakes with the songs. The album was released in March 1971, this album made the band sell over 1 billion copies, making them the “band of the world”. The band would tour around the world and be the first to tour Soviet Russia. The album had sold 1 billion copies in 1971.

The Era and Redoings (1971 - 1975)

The band had recently finished the album “Rock” and during one of the conversations between the members, no one had an idea for an album. After the “Rock” tour, the band traveled to Thailand where they traveled around the country for 10 months.

The band came back to America and started recording songs they wrote down during the trip. The recordings took between 3 – 6 months to record. The band wanted to release the album but Aidan had the idea of making another album and merge it into the other album and make it a “double album” During late 1972 to mid 1973, the band recorded more songs for the double album. Once they were done with the album, they didn’t know what to name it. The album‘s name comes from a dream Aidan had during the final stages of producing the album. Once Aidan pitched the name idea to the band, they accepted it. The album was released on June 16, 1973 and contained 26 songs, making it the longest album of that era. The band would not tour until 1974 due to disputes with Outhouse Records. The tour would start on April 2, 1974 and would end on May 3, 1975. Making it one of the longest tours the band have ever done. The band decided to take a break from the music after the tour which would last 3 months.

Name change and Flags (1975 - 1977)

During the summer of 1975, the band took a break from touring and weren’t heard from until September 1975 when they announced that another album was in the works. The band would spend the rest of 1975 and early 1976 recording the album. During the early stages of making the album, Aidan suggested of making the album a ”heavy metal” album, which was still new at the time. The album was released titled Flags on March 23, 1976 with mixed reviews. The album sold 10 billion albums on the first week of the albums release. The band would tour the entire world from April to October 1976. For the rest of 1976, the band didn’t do much with the album. In a 1987 New York Times interview with Aidan he states “Since we toured so much during that year, we didn’t want to do anything. The tour wore us out.”

In January 1977, Aidan saw a news report of former drummer Beck Doni‘s departure. He hadn’t been informed by the band about Beck’s departure. In the 1987 interview he stated “I was pretty pissed because no one had told me about her departure. I found out, after some conversation, Beck caught some type of disease from that tour we had. I felt sorry for her and I let it go.“ Beck was replaced with Johnny Red. In a band meeting in March 1977, the band had a discussion about changing their name. After some votes by the public, the bands name was changed to Cord. All previous albums were re-released with the new band name.

Love Me album (1978 - 1979)

The band started recording a album for Valentine’s Day in April 1978. The album was recorded between April - June 1978 and December 1978 - January 1979. The album was released on February 14, 1979 out of nowhere. The album became famous for its sudden release. The band had a tour for the album in the United States from February 20, 1979 to March 4, 1979.

The Death of Us album (1979 - 1980)

The album began recording on May 17, 1979 and ended on January 5, 1980. During the recording of the album, Aidan was shot in the arm on December 7, 1979 while walking from one of his friend‘s house. He could still sing, but he couldn’t play the rhythm guitar. His producer, Joshua Saderns played the rhythm guitar for him. The album The Death of Us was released on January 29, 1980 with mass success. The album sold 50 billion copies in the first week. The band wouldn’t tour until April due to Aidan’s arm. The band would tour from April to May in the United States and the U.K.

The band was featured on the Rolling Stone from the album and was given a Grammy in September 1980 for Musical Achievement. On October 23, 1980, The original copy of the album was stolen, the album was later recovered 30 miles from the recording studio in November 1980.

3rd Hiatus and I Can’t (1981 - 1987)

The band had wanted to create another album, but due to the ideas of the album, the album was never made. The band didn’t know what to do after the cancellaction, due to the a death in Aidan’s family the band went on hiatus. The hiatus would last for 6 years, the public was very confused on why the hiatus lasted 6 years. The public only knew there was a death in Aidan’s family and that was it. On October 20, 1987, the band released a album titled I Can’t. The public was very confused on why album was released during a hiatus. The album consisted of 35 songs, most of the songs were alternative rock and hard rock, with some metal and early grunge. The New York Times released an interview dating November 3, 1987 on November 16, 1987. The interview shedded some light on the hiatus and sudden release of “I Can’t”

Aidan stated “Well when the hiatus began, I went to Hawaii for the funeral. I think I was in Hawaii for a month and when I came back, the band was not in a good state. Johnny had started doing cocaine and Daniel apperantly left. Johnny went to a rebhiliation center while it was only me and John. We recorded a song in 1982 but we never released it. During 1983, Daniel came back and apologized for leaving the band. He had go back to his home in Montana because his grandmother was dying. We recorded two more songs during 1983. Johnny came back to the band after being released from the center and during 1984, we recorded 3 more songs. On May 13, 1985, we started to record the album which would end on June 17, 1987. We released the album 2 weeks ago to signal our hiatus was over.”

How and Who Album (1988 - 1989)

In early 1988, after meeting a fan who had a request for a song to be made, the band decided to make an album based on the fan’s song. When the band received the song by letter, the band was surprised due to the letter being the first one to request a song to be made. The band recorded the album during a period of 4 months, spanning from Feburary to June 1988. The band released the album to the fan who had requested a song to the band.

The album was released on July 18, 1988. The album had positive reviews with one being “I’m surprised the band listened to a fan and made a song from his request.” The album sold 30 billion albums in one month. The band would start touring in September 1988 and would end in January 1989.

'''Can I Stand Up? Album and Earthquake (1989 - 1991)'''

After the tour, the band wanted to create the album ”for the hell of it” Aidan said once in an interview. The band moved to a recording studio in San Francisco where they would start recording their album in April 1989. The recording of the album took longer than usual and due to this, recording went up to October 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the studio, damaging most of the recordings. Due to this, recording lasted the whole year of 1990. During the recording, band members threatened to quit the band, no one quit the band however.

On March 3, 1991, the album Can I Stand Up? was released to the public after many delays. The band would tour for the rest of 1991.

4th Hiatus (1992 - 1993)

The band announced they were going on hiatus on February 25, 1992. The band wanted a break from making albums after the production of Can I Stand Up? During the hiatus, the band members came up for new songs for a possible new album when the hiatus ends. The hiatus was sort lived when on January 2, 1993, the band announced the end of their hiatus.

Holding Back Album (1993 - 1994)

The album was created after Aidan had a discussion with John Adams, who left the band shortly after and was replaced with Brad Adams, John’s son. Recording took place between March and May 1993. Holding Back was released on June 3, 1993. The album contains post-grunge, heavy metal, hard rock, and alternative rock. This would start being (and still is) the bands main genres.

The band would tour for the rest of 1993 and onto 1994.

The Hiatus album (1995 - 1996)

Due to the publics view on how many hiatus’ the band has had, the band wanted to create an album from ideas the band members had for songs during their hiatus‘. After some discussion with the record labels and the bands producers, the band started creating the album on May 15, 1995. The recording lasted 4 months, lasting between May - August 1995. As a special gift to the fans, one of the songs from the album was released early as a single. The song was titled “Honesty”. The album was released on October 3, 1995. The album was praised for how it finally had closure on the hiatus’ the band had.

The band went on a tour across the United States with the name “Welcome Back”. The tour would last 3 months. The tour had a total of 300 million people show up to the concerts in total. Due to the high attendance rate, riots would occur due to fights in the crowd. This caused a total of 15 riots and 145 million in damages. The final concert for the tour would be on January 21, 1996.

1, 2, 3.. Album (1998 - 2000)

Not a lot is known about the production of 1, 2, 3.. The recording of the album started in 1998 and ended in August 1999. According to Aidan himself, Johnny Red and Daniel Reckens left the band before the album was made due to the desire to not play in the band anymore. They were replaced with Trey Buren and Jett Recoin. The album 1, 2, 3.. was released on November 7, 1999. The album contains 17 songs and 3 EPs. The tour would begin two days after the album was released. It would last until February 2000. The tour is most recognized for the December 31, 1999 - January 1, 2000 concer when the band played at near midnight on December 31, 1999 and onto midnight to January 1, 2000.