History Music / Switchfoot

They then recorded 4 albums worth of material. The first, ''Hello Hurricane'' was released in 2009 and was a refreshing return to their old sound. The second, ''Vice Verses'' was released in September of 2011. A remix album titled ''Vice Re-Verses'' was released soon after. Their most recent album, ''Fading West'', was released in 2014.

Formed in 1996, the Foreman brothers, sons of a local Baptist preacher, got fellow band-mate Chad Butler together and started recording music. They were then discovered by producer {{Charlie Peacock}} who signed them to his re:think indie label and produced their second and third albums. Their first three albums, ''The Legend Of Chin'' (1997), ''New Way To Be Human'' (1999), and ''Learning To Breathe'' (2000) helped the band gain some indie status, and also snagged them a few Grammy nominations for Christian music.

* SequelSong: "Your Love is a Song" from ''Hello Hurricane'' is said to be the third part of a song trilogy that began with "Let Your Love Be Strong" (from ''Oh! Gravity'') and also contains "Your Love is Strong" (from one of the solo EPs that Jon Foreman released between the two albums).

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Stay" by Safetysuit is this to "Meant to Live".

* NewSoundAlbum: ''The Beautiful Letdown'' for the change into their more pop-punk oriented sound, ''Hello Hurricane'' for their return to form, and now ''Fading West'' for their evolution into a poppier, more electronic sound.

* AllJustADream: "Faust, Midas, and Myself" from ''Oh! Gravity.'' Jon [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on the first line of the song. [[note]]Of course, that's before you find out that the song is about [[{{Inception}} dream within a dream within another dream.[[/note]]

They then recorded 4 albums worth of material. The first, ''Hello Hurricane'' was released in 2009 and was a refreshing return to their old sound. The second, ''Vice Verses'' was released in September of 2011. A remix album titled ''Vice Re-Verses'' was released soon after. Their newest album ''Fading West'' will be released sometime in 2013.

* NewSoundAlbum: ''The Beautiful Letdown'' for the change into their more pop-punk oriented sound, and then ''Hello Hurricane'' for their return to form.

* {{Post-Grunge}}: They're more this in name then in sound, though.

!Switchfoot contain examples of the following tropes:

Their next two albums, ''Nothing Is Sound'' (2005) and ''Oh! Gravity'' (2006) saw some commercial success, but lukewarm critical attention. The band slowly grew more and more tired of being pushed around by ExecutiveMeddling and left Capital in 2008 to start their own independent label known as Lowercase People.

* LongRunner: They released their first album in ''1997''.

* SignatureSong: "Dare You To Move" and "Meant to Live"
** Among the fanbase, "Gone" is also really popular, and during concerts will sometimes draw the loudest cheer of the night.

After re:think was bought by Sparrow Records, Switchfoot signed to Columbia Records in 2002 and released their breakthrough album, ''A Beautiful Letdown'' in 2003. They gained two radio hits from it, the epic "Meant To Live" and the heartwarming "Dare You To Move" (the latter had previously appeared on ''Learning To Breathe'', but was remixed and rerecorded for the new album). Their music started massively being used in TV commercials and shows, quickly growing them more recognition.

They then recorded 4 albums worth of material. The first, ''Hello Hurricane'' was released in 2009 and was a refreshing return to their old sound. The second, ''Vice Verses'' was scheduled for a summer release, but was pushed back an extra year and now is featuring a new song-list than originally planned.

** On another occasion, he randomly threw his guitar at Chad's drum set, breaking the guitar and denting the kick drum. This one was not planned in advance.

* StudioChatter: On several of their songs.

** On another occasion, he randomly threw his guitar at Chad's drum set, breaking the guitar and denting the kick drum. This one was not planned.

Formed in 1996, the Foreman brothers, sons of a local Baptist preacher, got fellow bandmate Chad Butler together and started recording music. They were then discovered by producer {{Charlie Peacock}} who signed them to his re:think indie label and produced their second and third albums. Their first three albums, ''The Legend Of Chin'' (1997), ''New Way To Be Human'' (1999), and ''Learning To Breathe'' (2000) helped the band gain some indie status, and also snagged them a few Grammy nominations for Christian music.

They then recorded 4 albums worth of material. The first, ''Hello Hurricane'' was released in 2009 and was a refreshing return to their old sound. The second, ''Vice Verses'' was scheduled for a summer release, but was pushed back an extra year and now is featuring a new songlist than originally planned.

* AllJustADream: "Faust, Midas, and Myself" from ''Oh! Gravity.'' Jon [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on the first line of the song. [[hottip:*:Of course, that's before you find out that the song is about [[{{Inception}} dream within a dream within another dream.]]

* GratuitousPanning: The intro to "Meant To Live". If you're listening in headphones, it's a very quick way to find out if your headphones are on backwards. [[hottip:*:The intro guitar riff starts panned all the way to the left speaker.]] Ditto "Mess of Me".

* AllJustADream: "Faust, Midas, and Myself" from ''Oh! Gravity.'' Jon [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on the first line of the song. [[hottip:*:Of course, that's before you find out that the song is about [[MindScrew dream within a dream within another dream.]]]]

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Averted pretty soundly. In fact, when Sony placed a Copy Protection on ''Nothing Is Sound'', Tim posted [[TrueArtSticksItToTheMan a way to get around it.]]

Switchfoot contain examples of the following tropes:

* ChewingTheScenery: [[YourMilageMayVary Arguably,]] Jon on ''Oh! Gravity,'' which might have led to some of the lukewarm reception for the album. Just listen to the title track or "Amateur Lovers". Oh, dear sweet whoever you happen to pray to, "Amateur Lovers"...

* TheRival: For some reason they are always considered rivals of the Music/{{Newsboys}} and Music/DCTalk.

* AlbumTitleDrop -- ''Nothing Is Sound'' is the only album not to have a title track on a Switchfoot album. Instead it's a line repeated in "Happy Is A Yuppie Word". [[{{Anvilicious}} Seven times very loudly, if the first time didn't suffice.]]
* AllJustADream -- "Faust, Midas, and Myself" from ''Oh! Gravity.'' Jon [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on the first line of the song. [[hottip:*:Of course, that's before you find out that the song is about [[MindScrew dream within a dream within another dream.]]]]
* ChewingTheScenery -- [[YourMilageMayVary Arguably,]] Jon on ''Oh! Gravity,'' which might have led to some of the lukewarm reception for the album. Just listen to the title track or "Amateur Lovers". Oh, dear sweet whoever you happen to pray to, "Amateur Lovers"...
* ChristianRock -- Though not a blatant example.
** NotChristianRock -- They are this if they aren't Christian Rock. Pretty much any discussion of how "Christian Rock" should be defined ''will'' eventually mention Switchfoot.
* ExecutiveMeddling -- The possible reason why their 5th and 6th albums sound so generic to some.
* FollowTheLeader -- {{U2}} are a ''big'' influence on the band. So is BobDylan.
* GodIsLoveSongs -- "Only Hope", "On Fire", and oh so many more.

* GratuitousPanning -- The intro to "Meant To Live". If you're listening in headphones, it's a very quick way to find out if your headphones are on backwards. [[hottip:*:The intro guitar riff starts panned all the way to the left speaker.]] Ditto "Mess of Me".
* IAmNotShazam -- When Jerome first joined the band, a lot of the fanbase thought that he was "Chin", the Asian guy in the liner notes of the band's first album. He isn't.
* LatexPerfection -- Used at the very end of the "New Way To Be Human" music video.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg -- Jerome is jokingly treated like this during live shows, as his official position is somewhat vague compared to the other members. Jon once introduced him as Switchfoot's "keyboardist, accordionist, dj, and life coach."
* NewSoundAlbum -- ''The Beautiful Letdown'' for the change into their more pop-punk oriented sound, and then ''Hello Hurricane'' for their return to form.
* ThePhilosopher -- A ''lot'' of Jon's lyrics are inspired by philosophy; the album ''New Way To Be Human'' name-drops both [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo Augustine]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soren_Kierkegaard Kierkegaard]].
* PissTakeRap -- Jon on "Dirty Second Hands". It's actually pretty cool.

* {{Post-Grunge}} -- They're more this in name then in sound, though.
* TheRival -- For some reason they are always considered rivals of the {{Newsboys}} and DCTalk.

*** They'd probably be more likely to be rivals to Anberlin, or P.O.D.
* RockTrio -- Switchfoot started like this for their first three albums, adding Jerome Fontamillas right before getting big.
* SignatureSong -- "Dare You To Move" and "Meant to Live"

* UncommonTime -- they have been known to play around with this quite a bit.