fun
Fun. is an American pop-rock band formed in 2008, featuring vocalist Nate Ruess, guitarist Jack Antonoff, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost. The band gained mainstream success with their 2011 hit single "We Are Young," which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2013. Initially assembled after Ruess sought new musical partners following the breakup of his previous band, the Format, fun. quickly gained a following with their debut album, *Aim and Ignite*, released in 2009. Their sophomore album, *Some Nights*, released in 2012, further solidified their status, featuring the chart-topping single "We Are Young" and achieving multi-platinum certification. Fun.'s sound combines traditional rock elements with catchy pop melodies, appealing to a wide audience across various genres. The band is known for its impactful use of media to promote their music, including notable television appearances and commercials. After winning multiple Grammy Awards, fun. entered an indefinite hiatus, with members pursuing individual projects, yet they have expressed intent to collaborate again in the future.
Subject Terms
fun.
Music group
Nate Ruess
- Born: February 26, 1982
- Place of Birth: Iowa City, Iowa
Jack Antonoff
- Born: March 31, 1984
- Place of Birth: Bergenfield, New Jersey
Andrew Dost
- Born: April 10, 1983
- Place of Birth: Frankfort, Michigan
- Andrew Dost
- Multi-instrumentalist
- Jack Antonoff
- Guitarist and drummer
- Nate Ruess
- Vocalist
Contribution: Fun. is an American pop-rock band established in 2008. The band’s 2011 single “We Are Young,” featuring vocalist Janelle Monáe, won Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
Background
Fun. was formed in early 2008 as a collaboration between three established musicians who had already embarked on successful careers with three disparate yet well-known bands that had toured together in the past. Vocalist Nate Ruess was in search of new musical collaborators after the dissolution of his Arizona-based band the Format, which had achieved critical success with the 2003 album Interventions and Lullabies.
Ruess took his conception for a new band to guitarist Jack Antonoff of the New Jersey–based Steel Train and to multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost, who had worked primarily with the Michigan-based group Anathallo. The three began working together a week after the Format’s February 2008 breakup, when Ruess flew out to New York City. The group would eventually adopt the name fun., utilizing the lowercase f and a period in their moniker as a tribute to the trio’s mutual admiration for a Los Angeles–based rock group, that dog.
In August 2008 the band released a demo single, “Benson Hedges,” on their MySpace page and on the website of Spin magazine, before launching a tour in support of the band Jack’s Mannequin. Following a string of performances throughout the United States, they began work on their debut album in a Los Angeles recording studio in September 2008.
Career
Fun.’s debut album, Aim and Ignite, was released on Nettwerk Records in August 2009. The record was a huge underground success, garnering the band a significant cult following and receiving several positive reviews on popular music criticism websites. The album would reach the year’s Billboard 200 chart, topping out at seventy-one shortly after its release.
The band supported their debut with performances in late 2009 throughout 2010, primarily in support of acts such as Taking Back Sunday and Paramore. That same year the trio would sign with venerated indie-rock label Fueled By Ramen, a subsidy of the Warner Music Group, before beginning work on their next album. Fun. collaborated with Panic! at the Disco, a fellow Fueled By Ramen band, to create the single “C’mon,” released in May 2011. The two bands toured together at that time as well, in support of Panic’s Vices & Virtues album released that March.
Fun.’s sophomore record, Some Nights, was preempted by the September 2011 release of the single “We Are Young,” featuring Janelle Monáe. The song is a triumphant, thumping, marchlike anthem in honor of the exuberance of youth that immediately connected with both old and young audiences alike with its liveliness and melodic catchiness.
The song received nationwide attention after a cover version appeared on NBC’s hit primetime program Glee that December, marking the first time a new single had been popularized by the show. The song gained even more notoriety after its use in a Chevrolet television commercial during the 2012 Super Bowl. “We Are Young” reached the Billboard Hot 100 list in December 2011; after the Super Bowl, the song would climb the chart, attaining the number one spot on March 7, 2012—the first rock band to do so in more than a decade. The song remained at the top for seven consecutive weeks and set a record by becoming the first song ever to sell more than 300,000 digital copies a week for six weeks straight; its total sales would reach three million copies by April 2012 and ten million by mid-2019.
Some Nights was produced by venerated hip-hop producer Jeff Bhasker, who had worked previously with artists such Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé Knowles. The entire album was released worldwide in February 2012 to widespread commercial and critical success. The successive singles “Some Nights,” released that June, and “Carry On,” released that October, further established fun. as one of the world’s premier indie-pop bands. “Some Nights” was certified platinum within six months of its release and, by early 2019, had sold seven million digital copies. The album itself, meanwhile, sold three million copies by mid-2016.
Fun. earned six nominations at the 2013 Grammy Awards. Producer Jeff Bhasker also earned a nomination for his work with them. “We Are Young” won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, and fun. won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. The band was on hand at the show to perform the seminal hit live for an international television audience.
Following their Grammy win, fun. went on an indefinite hiatus. The members said they simply were focused on other projects. Fun. asserted in early 2015 that the band had not split up and would collaborate again when they were inspired to do so. Ruess released his first solo album, Grand Romantic, in June 2015; much of that album had originally been slated for an anticipated third fun. record. Antonoff continued his Bleachers side project, launched in 2012, while Dost composed the soundtrack for the 2015 film The D Train.
Impact
Fun. was one of the most prominent and perhaps one of the most influential bands to rise to fame from the New York/New Jersey indie rock scene in the early 2010s. The band’s work typifies all of the major characteristics of the drama—notably, the incorporation of traditional rock instruments to create catchy, danceable pop songs that appeal to listeners of music across disparate genres.
The band is also an apt example of the decade’s trend of artists and musical groups achieving success by presenting their work through a bevy of varying media—notably, network television and television advertising—illuminating the performance of cross-promotion in the efforts of musical artists to gain national recognition.
Antonoff collaborated with award-winning actor-writer Lena Dunham, creator of the popular HBO series Girls, on a video for the New Yorker and on the soundtrack for Girls, which was released in January 2013 and includes a song by fun.
Ruess collaborated with English indie-pop singer Ellie Goulding on her album Halcyon Days, released in August 2013. The two have covered each other’s popular songs: Goulding covered fun.’s “Some Nights” in October 2012 and fun. covered Goulding’s “Anything Could Happen” in February 2013. Ruess received the 2015 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Dost moved from California back to northern Michigan during the COVID-19 global pandemic and began working as a singer-songwriter instructor. He reported in 2022 that he had started a new band, Metal Bubble Trio, and was recording an album.
Personal Life
Ruess has two children with fashion designer Charlotte Ronson.
Antonoff married actress and producer Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell, on August 19, 2023.
Bibliography
"Andrew Dost Brings Christmas Mischief, Fun to Leland's Old Art Building." Glen Arbor Sun, 16 Dec. 2022, glenarborsun.com/andrew-dost-brings-christmas-mischief-fun-to-lelands-old-art-building/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
"Biography." AllMusic, 2024, www.allmusic.com/artist/fun-mn0002129441#biography. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Gibson, Kelsie. "Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff Relationship Timeline." People, 12 Sept. 2024, people.com/tv/margaret-qualley-and-jack-antonoff-relationship-timeline/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Kiser, Matt. “Members of the Format, Steel Train, Anathallo Unite as Fun.” Spin. SpinMedia, 20 Aug 2008. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
Lynch, Joe. "Is Fun. Done?." Billboard, 5 Feb. 2015, www.billboard.com/articles/news/6458539/is-fun-done. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.
McKinley, James C., Jr. “That ’70s Style, Reinvented.” New York Times, 10 Mar. 2012: C1. Print.
"News." Fun. Official Website, ournameisfun.com/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
Rothman, Lily. “Fun.: The Band behind ‘We Are Young’ Talks about Their Newest Hit.” Time. Time Inc., 18 June 2012. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
Ruess, Nate. “All in Good Fun.” Interview by Ilana Kaplan. Interview. Interview, Inc., n.d. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
Ruess, Nate. Interview by Jon Ableson. Alter the Press! SpinMedia, 23 May 2009. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
Lipshutz, Jason. “Fun.’s Grammy Wins Cap off Incredible Year.” Billboard. Billboard, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
Zemler, Emily. “Fun.: The Billboard Cover Story.” Billboard. Billboard, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.