Early years (1991–1998) In 1990, Spider One recorded the 12" single "Much Evil" with producer Lamar Lowder. Building on local success, including winning the Boston Phoenix/WFNX 1990 Readers' Poll "Best Rap Act" category and getting nominated for a Boston Music Award, he founded Powerman 5000 in 1991. Drummer Al Pahanish Jr., bassist
Dorian Heartsong, guitarist Adam 12, and percussionist Jordan Cohen joined in 1991 to solidify the early lineup (a turntablist, Brian Collymoore, was also briefly a member until 1993). In 1993, the band released an independent EP titled
A Private Little War, which was limited to 500 copies and only sold at shows. In 1994 and 1995, Powerman 5000 released two more independent records, the
True Force EP and the full-length album
The Blood-Splat Rating System. Both albums were local successes. In 1996, they performed on the second stage of
Ozzfest and appeared in
an episode of
Beverly Hills, 90210, where David and Donna filmed a music video for their song "Strike the Match". In 1996, the band signed to
DreamWorks Records and released a remastered edition of
The Blood-Splat Rating System titled
Mega!! Kung Fu Radio. His percussionist position was not replaced; however, the band instead added a second guitarist to the lineup when M.33 (
Mike Tempesta) joined the band in 1998.
Tonight the Stars Revolt! and Anyone for Doomsday? (1999-2002) Creating an atypical fusion of
science fiction and "Action Rock", Powerman 5000 released
Tonight the Stars Revolt!, produced by
Sylvia Massy, which contained the hit singles "When Worlds Collide", "Nobody's Real", and "
Supernova Goes Pop". The album sold over one million copies, achieved platinum status, and won a nomination from the
Boston Music Awards for "Album of the Year", becoming the group's most successful release. The band was also nominated by the Boston Music Awards for "Best Rock Band" and won the "Rising Star Award". The band would go on to tour worldwide, performing in shows and festivals such as
Farmclub.com and
Endfest and become a support act for
Metallica's
Summer Sanitarium Tour along with
Korn,
Kid Rock and
System of a Down. A follow-up album to
Tonight the Stars Revolt! was recorded in 2001 titled
Anyone for Doomsday?, and a single, "
Bombshell", had been released to radio stations. Additionally, a variant of the "Bombshell" single contained the song "Danger Is Go!". The album was canceled just before its scheduled release, but was later released under Spider's own new label, Megatronic Records, finally going out of print due to legal issues. However, DreamWorks Records was bought out by
Interscope Records, which stopped promoting the band and declined to take over their DreamWorks contract. Undeterred, Spider continued with his own offshoot label, Megatronic Records. In 2004, new music was released, under Spider's new label, in the form of a rarities album titled
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Vol. 1. A new tour was also started, but M.33 had left the band, with Spider stating "[n]o big scandal involved, just evolution" in response to his departure. Adam 12 left the band on good terms to focus on other interests including sound producing and recording with Argon 40. Former
Alien Ant Farm guitarist Terry Corso and former
Halfcocked (the first band on Spider's label) guitarist Johnny Rock Heatley were brought in to round out the live show. In August 2005, Powerman 5000 performed at the sixth annual
Gathering of the Juggalos on the main stage. The band then signed to
DRT Entertainment, who released the album entitled
Destroy What You Enjoy on August 1, 2006. The song "Wild World" was the first and only single on the album, with the band also filming a music video for the song. The band would go on to tour through the U.S., including a live appearance on
G4tv's
Attack of the Show!, where they performed the song "Return to the City of the Dead" from
Destroy What You Enjoy. In 2007, Evan Rodaniche, singer and guitarist of Los Angeles band
Cage9 (originally from
Panama City, Panama), joined the band through his acquaintance with Adrian Ost. He toured as the band's sole guitarist until later that year, when Dave Pino was added to the mix. Pino had just moved to Los Angeles and heard about the open slot through his friendship with
Piggy D (bassist for Rob Zombie). Upon the departure of Siggy from the band in 2008, Gustavo Aued was brought in to replace him on bass, and later that year, drummer Gordon Heckaman joined the band (both originally from Cage9 as well), solidifying the lineup for the next album.
Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere (2007–2011) On May 21, 2007, Powerman 5000 claimed via a
Myspace blog post that they will be releasing a new studio album in 2007. The following is taken directly from said post: ''"Considering the bands track record of putting out CDs once every three years it seems hard to believe that, yes we will put out a new disc in 2007!! It's all just beginning to develop and the wheres, whos and whats are to be determined but new rock is on the way!!"'' However, talk about the record soon simmered, and no new information was released. Finally, in December 2008, the new track "Super Villain" premiered on the band's Myspace page, showcasing their return to their platinum-selling sound of the late 1990s. On January 28, 2009, a preview of tracks from their upcoming sixth studio album were posted on the group's Myspace page, containing clips from the songs "Super Villain", "V Is for Vampire", and "Horror Show". Powerman 5000 posted that "Super Villain" would become available for digital purchase on February 10, 2009, on
iTunes and
Amazon. On April 7, 2009, Powerman 5000 released a blog on their Myspace page stating that
Anyone for Doomsday? has officially been re-released. The legal battle ended and the album was released under the SKG Music License. The album is available on iTunes as a digital download. On April 21, 2009, the band released "V Is for Vampire", the second single from their album, which is planned for a summer release. On July 7, 2009, Powerman 5000 released a blog on their Myspace page stating that the new album has been finished, and that a release date, track listing, artwork, and additional tour dates was coming soon. On July 27, 2009, Powerman 5000 appeared on
Rockline, announcing the title of the new album as
Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere. A tentative release date of October 6, 2009, was also announced. Three new songs were also premiered on the show, including "Timebomb, Baby", "Make Us Insane", and "Show Me What You've Got". On Myspace, Spider posted a blog talking about the three new songs filled with comments of the fans liking the music. On September 6, 2009, Powerman 5000 released the album cover design along with the promotion of their tour starting on October 24, 2009. They also released two new promotional videos on
YouTube for their new album, confirming its release date as October 6, 2009. On October 1, 2009, the full track "Do Your Thing" was leaked onto YouTube. The song was apparently taken from the Megatronic Records Forum, which frontman
Spider One currently owns. The CD
Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere was officially released on October 6, 2009, in the U.S. and was available in Canada on October 20, 2009, two weeks after the reported release date. The band embarked on a national tour in support of the album. On December 7, 2009, Spider, the band's lead singer posted links on his
Twitter page linking to FearNET.com which is hosting the band's music video for their first single "Super Villain". The video is also available on YouTube and stars
Johnathon Schaech as the infamous Super Villain. Powerman 5000 played at the U-Fest in
Phoenix, Arizona, on April 23, 2011, playing alongside
Accept,
Papa Roach,
Drowning Pool,
Nonpoint,
All That Remains, and
Hollywood Undead. This was the band's third consecutive appearance at the yearly show.
Copies, Clones & Replicants Builders of the Future (2011–2016) The band announced on May 23, 2011, that they had started work on a new album. On July 24, 2011, Powerman 5000 released a cover of
Devo's "
Whip It", a cover of "
Space Oddity" by
David Bowie on July 28, 2011, and a cover of Van Halen's "
Jump" on July 31, 2011, on their website. Released by
Cleopatra Records,
Copies, Clones & Replicants included covers of other
new wave songs such as
The Fixx's "
One Thing Leads to Another" and
Eddy Grant's "
Electric Avenue". On July 11, 2012, Spider began teasing a new song by posting on his Twitter that "Someone sneaked a camera in the studio tonight and filmed the speaker while it blasted a new Powerman 5000 tune!". Their album
Builders of the Future was released on May 27, 2014, and was co-produced/co-written by guitarist Nick Quijano Sci55ors, as well as engineered and co-produced by Evan Rodaniche (Evan9), both former guitarists. The band was set to play a co-headlining tour in the US with
Wayne Static in November with
American Head Charge supporting them until Wayne's death in November 2014.
New Wave and The Noble Rot and Abandon Ship (2016–present) On May 15, 2016, the band announced that they plan to release new music before the end of that year. By October 21 that same year, the band released a short snippet of the track "Die on Your Feet" from the new album onto their official Facebook page. By June 2017, the title of the 11th album was revealed as
New Wave. It was released on October 27, 2017, with the music video of the album's first official single "Sid Vicious in a Dress" released by September 5 that same year. In support of the album, the band began touring in the U.S. in October of the same year, and would last through the end of 2018. On June 4, 2018, the band announced they would be taking part of the "Summer of Screams" Tour in September, along with
Mushroomhead and
The Browning. However, on August 23, it was announced the band had to cancel their performances for the tour for medical reasons involving Spider's vocals. In March 2020, it was announced the band has been signed to
Cleopatra Records (whom had previously released the cover album
Copies, Clones & Replicants), with their new album titled
The Noble Rot set to have a release for August 28, accompanied by a new tour overseas. The lead single "Black Lipstick" was released on June 3 and a video for the song, directed by Spider One, was released on the same day. This album also included a remixed version of the band's 1999 single "When Worlds Collide," which Spider described as "a weird process of trying to emulate myself." On May 10, 2024,
Abandon Ship was released, garnering favorable to mixed reception. Physical copies featured a remixed release of the 2001 single "Bombshell" as a bonus track, much like how the previous album,
The Noble Rot, had included a remix of "When Worlds Collide." This re-recording saw relatively favorable reception, with even mixed-to-negative coverage noting the track as "worth listening to." In February 2026, the band was confirmed to be on the roster for the
Louder Than Life festival taking place in
Louisville in September. == Musical style ==