Black Keys

The Black Keys’ intoxicating brew of blues-powered, psychedelic-tinged grit and grime has helped keep rock ’n’ roll as alive as ever in the 21st century.

Raised in Akron, OH, guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first struck up a high school friendship, bonding over classic soul, Stax Records, and the hip-hop that sampled both.

In 2001, they ditched college and began recording scrappy yet muscular lo-fi rock songs using an eight-track tape recorder from Carney’s basement.