The Solids are an American

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

band from

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

. The band consists of

Carter Bays Carter Loard Bays (born August 12, 1975) is an American author, composer and television showrunner. Bays co-created the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' where he served as showrunner, writer and executive producer for all nine seasons. Bays ...

(vocals, guitar), Craig Thomas (drums), Patrick Butler (keyboards), Doug Derryberry (lead guitar) and Josh Suniewick (bass). They have been writing, recording, and performing music since 1996. The Solids first became popular for their song "The Future Is Now," which was the theme song for the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

television program ''

Oliver Beene ''Oliver Beene'' is an American sitcom that aired on Fox from March 9, 2003 to September 12, 2004. The show was created by Howard Gewirtz. Set in 1962 and 1963, the show chronicled the trials and tribulations of the 11-to-12-year-old Oliver Be ...

''. A 12-second clip from their song "Hey, Beautiful" is the theme song for another show, the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'' which was created by band members Bays and Thomas. The band was formed in the summer of 1996 by Bays and Thomas. They were joined by Patrick Butler and Nick Coleman and played their first show September 28, 1996, at the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...

chapter house located at 185 High Street, in Middletown, Connecticut, on the campus of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, where they all studied. Following the exposure ''Oliver Beene'' granted the band, the official website of The Solids became somewhat popular among alternative music fans. Along with "The Future Is Now", various mp3 files were offered for free, including demos and live performances. In 1999, their song "Clowns like Candy" charted as #10 in "Top Alternative Internet Downloads" for issue #825 of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine, as well as an "Editor's Pick" for Rolling Stone Online. In 2001, the song was featured on an episode of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's '' Ed'' about a fictionalized version of the Solids. The band released its self-titled album on January 24, 2008. Throughout the 9 seasons of ''How I Met Your Mother'', many original songs written by the band's founders appeared on the show and were turned into full-length music videos. Among these, CinemaBlend called "

Let's Go to the Mall "Let's Go to the Mall" is a song written by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS television series ''How I Met Your Mother''. The song was performed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders in the role of Robin Scherbat ...

", performed by

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS series ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in th ...

as her Robin Sparkles character "one of the best TV-created pop songs of all time", and " Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It is awarded to the best original song or score created specifically for a television program. The a ...

, charted at #50 in UK Singles Chart and peaked at 76 on the Canadian Top 100. Since 2019, the band has been regularly performing sold-out charity concerts for pediatric cardiology at

Rady Children's Hospital Rady Children's Hospital San Diego is a nonprofit pediatric care facility. Rady Children's provides services to the San Diego, southern Riverside and Imperial counties. The hospital has 511 beds and provides comprehensive pediatric specialties a ...

that have included guest performances by

Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). He made his writing and di ...

Cristin Milioti Cristin Milioti (born August 16, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for playing The Mother, The Mother (How I Met Your Mother), Tracy McConnell, in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' from 2013 to 2014, and Sofia Falcone in the HBO ...

, Ashley Williams,

Will Forte Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a cast member and writer on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons from 2002 to 2010. During his time on ...

Matthew Caws Matthew Rorison Caws (born August 5, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Nada Surf. Caws is also a member of the indie rock duo Minor Alps, alon ...

Nada Surf Nada Surf is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1992, consisting of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums), and Daniel Lorca (bass, backing vocals). After initially operating under the name Helicopter, Caw ...

, and other actors and musicians featured in ''How I Met Your Mother''.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solids, The American musical quartets American power pop groups Rock music groups from Connecticut Musical groups established in 1996 Wesleyan University alumni