Ongoing History Daily: Max Martin’s metal band

Before Sweden’s Karl Martin Sandberg changed his name to Max Martin and became a writer and producer of number one pop hits for Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Pink, the Backstreet Boys, and so many others, he was—wait for it—in a hair metal band.

Martin began in music in 1985 while still in high school when he was the lead singer of a glam metal band called It’s Alive. They eventually released a couple of albums and developed a sound that wasn’t unlike what we hear from Faith No More.

Unfortunately, things did not go well for It’s Alive and outside of a bit of bump in Sweden, the group went nowhere and the band broke up. Martin moved into writing and producing under the mentorship of a Swedish producer named Denniz Pop.

That worked and within a few years, he was cranking out some of the biggest pop songs the planet has ever seen. Talk about a career change, huh?