Bands of brothers: Sibling sonics through the years

Mixing a love of classic soul and modern hip- and trip-hop, the English brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence have managed to reshape the modern electronica conversation in a very short amount of time, largely due to the massive critical success of their 2013 debut album "Settle." Frequently collaborating with their friend Sam Smith, the duo's tight song structures and colorful instrumentation has provided a more stately, refined form of dance music in these increasingly-EDM times, all of which may come from their parents, who were both musicians themselves.

For Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb, these brothers born from the Isle of Man had been trying various configurations of singing and performing together ever since they were teenagers. Initially starting as a folk group, their sound changed with the times, eventually producing that iconic soundtrack to the decade-defining disco film "Saturday Night Fever." They wrote and produced all of their mega-hits off of that 16-million seller, but also wrote and produced for other artists on the record like Tavares and Yvonne Elliman. That album eventually netted them the Album of the Year Grammy.

You can't have a talk about brothers in rock bands without mentioning the most infamous set in history. Working class lads with a deep Beatles obsession, Liam Gallagher was the sneering vocalist while Noel wrote all the iconic songs, eventually molding Liam and the rest of the band into standout songwriters themselves. Yet rampant egos, ill-advised pranks, and constant sniping at each other's talents lead to Oasis' untimely demise in 2009 after conquering much of the U.K. charts for nearly two decades.

Not only are Good Charlotte's founding members brothers Joel and Benji Madden, the siblings are actually identical twins. And although their time in the pop-punk spotlight was brief, netting in hits like "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous," "The Anthem," and the woe-is-fame number "I Just Wanna Live," their fan base was passionate. The songs eventually stopped charting, but the group developed quite the following in Australia, leading to the brothers to eventually put out a down-under album under their a new name: The Madden Brothers.

Arguably the most famous gathering of brothers in pop music history, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, Marlon, Randy, and some young guy named Michael ended up delivering Motown some bubblegum pop hits that helped put the label — and the whole family — in the pop culture spotlight. Some dismissed their songs as disposable, but so many of them have lasted to this day and will exist long after we have passed away. A majority of them went on to try out solo careers, and Michael may have scored a hit or two on his own.

The wonderful thing about The Most Important Working Rock Band Today is that although Thom Yorke is the frontman, the group works because every single member is a talented multi-instrumentalist in their own right, capable of pushing their songs into increasingly-challenging new territories. Part of that creative passion stems from the work of brothers Jonny and Colin Greenwood. Colin, the eldest, uses samplers and keyboards but is best known as the group's bassist. Jonny, meanwhile, is one of the most progressive guitarists of his generation, and also has taken his hand at scoring films as well, crafting the soundtracks for "There Will Be Blood" and "Phantom Thread" — the latter of which netted young Jonny his first-ever Oscar nomination.

While Arcade Fire remain the indie rock titans du jour, the whole reason their explosive, cathartic sound works is because every single member of the band sings and plays multiple instruments, the band often rotating stations during concerts. Win Butler is the vocalist and front man, while Will Butler, Win's younger brother, plays basically whatever instrument the band needs at the time. Will dropped his own solo album in 2015 but also, the year prior, netted an Oscar nomination for the score he helped compose for the Spike Jonze film "Her."

Well, it'd be odd to call yourself The Allman Brothers if there weren't two brothers named Allman in there. Thankfully, the fact that these Tennessee-born, Florida-bred virtuosi are brothers is the least interesting thing about them. Duane is worshiped as a jam band guitar god while Gregg sings and writes the hits. While both have now passed on to something greater, their legacy of Southern charm and memorable anthems lives on.

Long before Oasis' Gallagher brothers were considered the U.K.'s de-facto rock sibling collective, there was Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks. While the two took to fight each other on occasion, their entire life had been a series of surprising events and personal tragedies, with a young Ray getting the gift of a guitar from his sister Rene before she died the same night, and Dave got his underage girlfriend pregnant when they were both 15 — and that's before the two started getting at each other's throats when they became famous. Yet all that conflict ended up generating quite a considerable amount of bona fide pop-rock classics that we're still playing to this day.

When you think of The Beach Boys, you probably think of Brian Wilson (or, if you're a cynic, you think of Mike Love), and for good reason: Brian was the tortured genius and pop mastermind behind the group's legacy. Yet he had some familiar company in the band, with guitarist/keyboardist Carl Wilson and drummer Dennis Wilson joining in on the action. Dennis' 1977 solo album "Pacific Ocean Blue" got a vital re-release in 2008 which suddenly put it back into the cannon of great-but-forgotten solo records, while Carl left his mark by singing lead vocals on some of the most iconic Beach Boys' numbers, ranging from "God Only Knows" to "Good Vibrations" to (yes) even "Kokom.o"

The JoBros! You remember them: the Disney Channel twerps with purity rings and "Camp Rock" and that one song "Burnin' Up." Yeah, them! Well, Kevin, Joe, and Nick's collective sound matured as they got older, even if they were never able to fully break out of the "Disney box" they were put in — at least until they all went solo. Joe tried a few things before joining up with a group of weirdos to form the surprisingly-successful DNCE while Nick became a sexy Justin Timberlake-type, soon clocking solo hits all his own while also starring in everything from indie hazing dramas to big-budget action blockbusters. Kevin once starred on "The Celebrity Apprentice" — so there's that.

Referring to themselves in 1960 as "an American skiffle group," the brothers Everly walked a fine line between country and pop, which back in the 1950s was actually a bit more radical than it sounds. Although Elvis was working in similar veins, he was a crooner, while Don and Phil were just sweethearts: earnest and honest. They songs bordered on the saccharine but were also unabashedly catchy, which is why they were signed to songwriting deals in tandem. The result? Iconic hits like "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," and "All I Have to Do is Dream."

For some bands, the familial connection between band members is sometimes a point of pride, much less a point of advertising, because as you can see from this list, it's a rare and elite company to be found in. Not in Pantera's case. For the Texas-bred thrash iconoclasts, a glance at the members' names yield no obvious connections, because why would drummer Vinnie Paul have anything to do with Dimebag Darrell aside from sharing a love of pummeling rock power and speed? Well, they're actually brothers — surname Abbott — and they are the founding members. While Dimebag's on-stage murder shook the music world to its very core, the band's albums are mosh-ready tentpoles for the genre, and are still celebrated to this day.

While shoegaze artists tend to be very self-serious as they drown their guitar chords in waves of distortion, The Jesus and Mary Chain were just noisy — and playfully so. A partnership between the Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid, The Jesus and Mary Chain have a slew of offbeat, noisy, and quirky singles which endeared them to the U.K. alternative set in the '80s, but it was their 1985 debut full-length "Psychocandy" which guaranteed their place in rock history. Even more amazing is how they are still performing to this very day, putting out a new album as recently as 2017.

And now, for a different pair of Scottish Reid brothers. While The Jesus and Mary Chain sported the oddball noise-pop sounds of brothers Jim and William, it was Craig and Charlie that found success all the way back in the late 1980's on the radio charts. They had U.K. hits with the likes of "Letter From America" and "King of the Road," but it wasn't until a 1988 single of theirs showed up in the film "Benny & Joon" when things truly took off, and before long, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" became a generational calling card — and the group's international breakthrough. While nothing outshone its success in the States, the brothers kept plugging away at their craft, even releasing the album "Let's Hear It for the Dogs" as recently as 2015.

Back in the day, the young and talented Australian high schooler Andrew Farriss convinced his friend and vocalist Michael Hutchence to join his band. It didn't make a lot of noise in the industry, but before long, Andrew's older brother Tim ended up looping in Andrew and Hutchence in his own musical makings. Shortly after that, yet another Farriss — the younger Jon — also ended up in the orbit of a force that would later be known as INXS. The group found moderate success in the '80s, but by the time 1987's album "Kick" hit — powered by slick mega-hits like "Need You Tonight" and "New Sensation" — the group hit icon status. While the band never truly recovered from the 1997 suıcide of  Hutchence, they eventually regrouped and found a new vocalist, putting out new music until they apparently called it a day in 2012.

Founded as a partnership between vocalist Scott Weiland and bassist Robert DeLeo, the Stone Temple Pilots (then called Mighty Joe Young) were in a tricky bind, trying to find a guitarist to complete their lineup. Robert managed to convince the group to hear his brother Dean work his six-string magic (although he swore it was just a hobby), and soon thereafter, the original Stone Temple Pilots was born.

They became alternative-rock kingpins, crafting songs that were simultaneously sleazy, surreal, and classic-sounding all at once. While the death of Weiland shocked many, the group managed to get together to release music with new singer Jeff Gutt, putting out a new self-titled album in 2018.

Not even teenagers, the young trio of Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson shared a genuine love of music, recording a cappella renditions of their favorite songs before transitioning into learning real instruments. The three were joint songwriters, and wrote their biggest hit, "MMMBop," all by themselves. Of course, their sudden teenage popularity was no doubt overwhelming, which is why the trio waited a few years before issuing a more mature-sounding (but less well-received) followup. Even without the same multi-platinum fan base they once had, the brothers all manage to put out a new record every three to four years or so, now all on their own label to boot.

It took awhile for them to find their artistic voice, but Ohio's The National have absolutely captured our attention, with their lean and gritty indie rock songs pairing perfectly with the lived-in voice of vocalist Matt Berninger. However, Berninger is actually the odd man out here, as The National is comprised by not one but two sets of brothers: Aaron & Bryce Dessner and Bryan & Scott Devendorf. Together, the quintet has managed to do a-few-whiskeys-in rock on their own terms, all while running a small record label and lending their talents to numerous charity compilations.

While there have been many brothers that have come and gone during the Isley Brothers' existence, it's frontman Ronald Isley who's been there since their very first single came out in 1957, guiding the group through decades of hits. The more you dig into their massive catalog of chart entries, the more impressive it is: "Shout" landed in 1959,  while "That Lady" was the generation-defining song that became a chart-buster in 1973. The group was unafraid to change with the times, which is why in 2003, their R&B-ready set "Body Kiss" pulled off a seemingly-impossible feat of topping the U.S. Album charts, making for their second leader in a career full classic singles.