3 Doors Down

Faster chart climbing success than a speeding bullet. Able to leap onto MTV in a single song. Up on the Billboard Music awards ... it's not Tracy Byrd! It's not Jefferson Airplane! It's 3 Doors Down!

If you don't get the Man of Steel reference, you probably aren't a 3 Doors Down fan or you didn't turn on a television or radio in 2000, as their single "Kryptonite" oozed from all things Top 40. Add two more Superman similarities: The alt.radio pop band hailed from a real-life Smallville - Escatawpa, Miss. - before being catapulted into stardom in New York's CBGB. Likewise, Smallville-native Clark Kent skyrocketed to pop culture icon from the fictionalized New York City dubbed Metropolis.

For 3 Doors Down, the rise didn't start by saving a crashing rocket, but when Biloxi's WCPR put "Kryptonite" on heavy rotation, and the local fans went batty. 3 Doors Down shows then drew increasingly larger crowds, eventually fueling regional status and a gig at CBGB, where they were noticed by a subsidiary of Universal Records. In early 2000, the label dropped The Better Life. The debut disc, "Kryptonite," and a sophomore release, Away From the Sun, which debuted on Billboard's Top 200 at No. 8 (largely based on the equally inescapable "When I'm Gone") propelled the band to major success. All in all, they have walked away with four No. 1 singles, major award nominations, 6 million albums sold and Billboard Group of the Year and Hot 100 Group honors.