Arriving in the late '90s during the dying days of dour post-grunge and the rise of aggro nu-metal, Buckcherry proudly kept the torch of hard rock sleaze burning. The band styled themselves as deliberate throwbacks to the glory days of the '80s Sunset Strip, acting as if their peers were Mötley Crüe instead of Limp Bizkit. For a while, this defiance of contemporary rock norms was wildly successful for the band. Their eponymous 1999 debut generated the number one mainstream rock hit "Lit Up," which was enough to keep the band afloat until they had an unexpected hit in 2006 with their third album, 15. Boasting the sordid rocker "Crazy Bitch" and "Sorry" (a power ballad that cracked the Top Ten), the album was certified platinum, a success that buoyed the band for two decades and numerous lineup changes, always anchored by singer Josh Todd.
Buckcherry formed in mid-1995, when Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson were introduced through a mutual tattoo artist. After cutting several demos, the duo recruited a rhythm section (bassist Jonathan "J.B." Brightman plus drummer Devon Glenn) and began performing live, quickly earning a local fan base for their swaggering, grunge-flavored music. Following the addition of guitarist Yogi Lonich, Buckcherry signed with DreamWorks Records and issued their self-titled debut LP in 1999. Singles such as "Check Your Head" and "For the Movies" were modern rock hits, raising Buckcherry's profile by the summer of 2000.
The following year, AC/DC recruited the band as an opening act for a series of shows, and Buckcherry's audience grew accordingly. In July 2002, founding member Joshua Todd unexpectedly quit the group. After a multi-year hiatus, they eventually regrouped in 2005 and hit the studio to record 15, which was released in early 2006 and yielded the band's first Top Ten pop single, "Sorry." 15 went platinum on the strength of its crossover appeal, and Buckcherry quickly returned in 2008 with a fourth album, Black Butterfly. The concert album Live & Loud 2009 was released the following year, as the band prepared to hit the road as Kiss' opening act.
In 2021, Buckcherry released their ninth album, Hellbound, which was written and recorded during 2020's pandemic lockdown. It was produced by Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith, Def Leppard), with whom Buckcherry had previously worked on Black Butterfly.