THE UNLIKELY LADS

THERAPY?

Troublegum

It wasn’t until three songs into their set at the 1994 Monsters Of Rock festival that Therapy? frontman Andy Cairns realised his band weren’t going to get crucified after all.

The Northern Irish trio’s second full-length album, Troublegum, had been an out-of-the-box hit when it was released earlier in the year. This genius-level mash-up of alt-rock agitation and gold-plated pop nous had united the tribes in a way that no one – not even Nirvana – had done. Metalheads, punks, indie kids – everyone was swept up in its wake.

But Monsters Of Rock was something else. Download’s illustrious forerunner was the last great bastion of metal at a time when the genre was under siege on all sides. For three short-haired 20-somethings from Ulster, sandwiched between Zakk Wylde’s Pride &