(Credits: Far Out / Ben Collins / Steven Aguilar)
Sun 4 January 2026 18:30, UK
In the 21st century, rock and roll music changed. Thanks to the impacts of increased digital distribution, the sound of the underground experienced a greater reach. From there, the genre exploded.
This shift in music consumption meant that rock and roll was democratised, allowing instant reach to communities who were less likely to have come across the thrash of guitars or the slam of the hi-hats. Rock merged with other genres, such as pop, electronic, and hip-hop. Indie rock was brought into the mainstream by bands like Arctic Monkeys, while subgenres became diversified and distinguishable; shoegaze, emo, nu-metal, the list goes on.
Additionally, rock had always been a male-dominated genre. Think of Mick Jagger, the charismatic frontman of The Rolling Stones, who would swagger across the stage, gyrating with boundless spirit and a rebellious energy. Don’t take my word for it: Simply give the words “rock legends” a Google, and that horrid, industry-threatening AI Overview function will list ten bands, all of which consist entirely of men.
With the turn of the new century, the genre finally benefited from an increase in diversity, as more women, LGBTQIA+, and non-Western artists were platformed by labels. It’s not to say they weren’t always there (the list of female rock icons, on Far Out’s side, is endless), but they finally experienced a similar level of appreciation to the sweating, smirking archetype of a frontman.
Thanks to this paradigm shift, one female-fronted band enjoyed one of the most explosive debut album releases of all time. Evanescence, founded in 1995 by a 13-year-old Amy Lee and a 14-year-old Ben Moody, finally released their debut album in 2003. It spent an incredible 43 weeks in the top ten. This meant that it became one of only a handful of albums to spend an entire year in the Billboard top 50.
It’s not hard to see why. On Fallen, Evanescence doesn’t come to mess around. Fallen is an extremely incredible project, especially considering it was their debut album. The gothic-rock project opened with dark, gritty, mercurial guitar chords. Of course, Amy Lee’s vocals sweep in, accompanied by the melodic counterpart to her soft, glass-like voice. “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” she whispers on the track. It may as well have been her utterance at the unprecedented success of the record.
The band shows an incredible range across the 12-track album, from the sweeping tragedy of the piano ballad ‘My Immortal’, to the infinitely covered ‘Bring Me to Life’. In the latter, Lee sputters propulsively back and forth with a voice that shouts “Wake me up!” and “Can’t wake up!” like some nightmarish child, revealing the beating heart at the centre of the solid track: Lee has pretended to be happy for so long she’s forgotten what it really feels like.
But what about other best-sellers?
The best-selling rock album of the 21st century lands at number seven on the all-time list for the century.
Right at the top is Adele’s 21, followed by The Eminem Show, Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me, and Adele again with 25. Then you’ve got Amy Winehouse’s legendary Back to Black in fifth, and Lady Gaga’s The Fame in sixth – all leading up to Evanescence, who’ve racked up around 17 million sales worldwide.
A moment, also, for the cover image of the album, which has definitely contributed to the success nobody could have seen coming. On it, Amy Lee celebrated her 21st birthday with photographer Frank Veronsky. Together, their photoshoot gave the goth, scene, and emo subcultures a blueprint; a deep, dramatic, full-frontal stare frozen in a cold, icy, blue. Name a cooler album cover. I’ll wait.
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