Skillet has been making music since 1996 and they've been getting award nominations and wins since 2005. Now, after going platinum with their 2009 release, Awake, and releasing Rise, they're finally getting some much-deserved mainstream notice. Carrie Antlfinger, a reporter with the AP, wrote an article about the hard rockers winning mainstream fans and they're turning up everywhere from ABC News and Salon to the Salt Lake Tribune and The Charlotte Observer.
While the coverage was a pleasant surprise, the band has been out in the mainstream world before. "Awake and Alive" appeared on the soundtrack for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It was also used for the November 2009 promo for the soap opera, One Life to Live. "Come on to the Future" and "Invincible" were featured on the soundtrack for the movie Extreme Days. "You Are My Hope" was featured in two episodes of the CBS show Joan of Arcadia and on the CW show America's Next Top Model. "A Little More" also was heard on Joan of Arcadia. "Hero" was heard all over the place. The song was used for the trailers of the 20th century Fox Film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, in TV commercials for the NFL on NBC, as the theme song for WWE Tribute to the Troops and Royal Rumble 2010 and it was played throughout the 2009 World Series (game 3). The popular song was also found on the official soundtrack for the WWE video game WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. So while people may not know the band, they know the music, or, as lead singer John Cooper said, "I like to tell people that Skillet is biggest selling band that you've never heard of."
With the release of their eighth studio album, that could all change. Rise debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 on the Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts. Awake, which went platinum in December 2012 after spawning the gold single "Awake and Alive" and the platinum single "Monster," only reached #2 in the charts.
