Twenty One Pilots

Twenty One Pilots is a hip hop and rock duo from Ohio, United States. The band is composed of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. The band was formed in 2009 with Tyler as lead vocalist and Dunn as the drummer. In their year of formation, the singers self-released an album titled Twenty One Pilots and another one in 2011 named Regional at Best.

In 2012, their remarkable success gained them a contract with the record label, Fueled by Ramen. They released their third album Vessel under that label. Determined to break barriers, the duo released their fourth album Blurryface in 2015. This album was loaded with a ton of popular hits, including “Stressed Out”. Their album was a big success as one of the singles (“Heathens”) was used as a soundtrack for the movie Suicide Squad.

The group continued to unceasingly feed their fans by dropping their fifth album Trench in October 2018. They went further and won a Grammy under the category Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

FYI, the band previously had two other members, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih. The two left the group in 2011 to continue their studies.

Meaning of the name Twenty One Pilots

According to Tyler Joseph the group’s leader, the name “twenty one pilots” came from an inspiration and lesson he derived from reading the 1947 play All My Sons. The said play was written by American playwright Arthur Miller while studying theater at Ohio State University.

In the play, the main character Joe Keller was a contract engineer who built aircraft parts for aircraft used in warfare. During one of his contracts, he discovered that some of the parts he had built were defective and would fail if used on airplanes. However, he had already spent all the money involved in the contract on the initial constructions and on his family. Although he wanted to do the right thing by fixing the faults, he goes ahead to send the faulty plane parts to his clients, due to the fact that he will lose a lot of money and may not be able to support his family.

The planes were used in Europe during World War II, and because of his decision, twenty one pilots lost their lives in terrible plane crashes. Joe Keller committed suicide after he had heard the news.

Tyler explained that the play’s demonstration of the consequences of choosing the right path over the easy path anytime a person is in a dilemma resonated with him and inspired him to choose the name “twenty one pilots” for the group.

More Interesting Facts

In 2011, Nick Thomas left the group to focus on his private work and Chris Salih left for educational purposes. The two posted farewell messages on the group’s official Facebook page before their departure.

Josh Dun, a drummer for House of Heroes, joined the group in the same year, following an invitation Chris Salih sent to replace him in the group, after his departure. From that time, the group included only Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun as members.

Twenty One Pilots is the first artist in history to have each song from two different albums (“Blurry face” and “Trench”) certified at least gold by the RIAA. Their singles titled “Ride” and “Stressed Out” from their fourth album BlurryFace, in 2015, made history. And why? It basically made them the third rock group, with two songs peaking in the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 charts at the same time. 

In 2017, they shocked the music industry by receiving their first Grammy award on stage in their underwear. The group received a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a group. Upon the receipt of the award in their underwear, they explained that before they became famous, they made a promise to themselves while watching television at home. The promise was that, if they ever win a Grammy, they would accept the award in their underwear, just as they were at the time. 

As of 2020, they had won 33 awards out of 112 nominations earned at the many major Award events across the world.

Famous Songs by Twenty One Pilots

• “Chlorine“
• “Jumpsuit”
• “Legend”
• “Morph”
•  “My Blood”
• “Neon Gravestones”
• “Nico and the Niners“
• “Pet Cheetah”
• “Smithereens”
• “Stressed Out“
• “Car Radio“
• “Ride“
• “The Hype”
• “Heathens”
• “Shy Away”
• “Choker“