Home Q News Music News Maroon 5 guitarist reveals secret to band’s mass appeal

Maroon 5 guitarist reveals secret to band’s mass appeal

663

Image Group LA/ABC

Maroon 5‘s recent hit, “Don’t Wanna Know,” is #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart, while their brand new single “Cold” is moving up the Adult Pop Songs chart and the Billboard Hot 100.  That means the band has fans across a number of different age groups — and according to Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine, that’s no accident.  

“That’s one of the appeals of the band and the way we approach music,” he tells ABC Radio about the fact that people of all ages seem to enjoy their songs. “You know, especially [singer] Adam [Levine] and [keyboardist Jesse [Carmichael], they were real fans of the Beatles, and [of] constructing really classic pop songs.  And I think those appeal to lots of different peoples across lots of different kinds of lines.”

James says this mass appeal is especially evident at Maroon 5 concerts, when they can see for themselves how many kinds of people are in the crowd.

“Our audience just runs the spectrum,” he says. “There’s just all different types of people, there’s not like a specific type of demographic, and that’s one of the great things that we get to experience…like, there are all ages.”

It’s a contrast, James says, from 2001, when Maroon 5 first got together in its current incarnation.  Back then, their fans were mostly of a certain age.

“When we started, I guess it was kinda more of a college-aged audience,” James laughs. “‘Cause that was the only place where you could download music illegally, back in the day, so they were quick to discover us!”

Maroon 5 is expected to release a new album in the coming months.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.