Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.

Sean Ross, editor of Billboard Airplay Monitor, described active rock in the late 1990s as album rock "with a greater emphasis on the harder end of the spectrum".

An active rock station may include songs by "classic" artists in its playlist such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, whereas a modern rock station would not. Conversely, unlike classic rock stations, an active rock station also plays music by popular current and new rock artists such as Three Days Grace, Staind, Linkin Park, Puddle of Mudd, Seether, Chevelle, Godsmack, Hinder, Crossfade, Saving Abel, Slipknot, Cavo, System of a Down, and 10 Years. They are also known for playing mainstream heavy metal music such as Metallica, Pantera, Tool, Korn, Hatebreed, Mastodon and Five Finger Death Punch. Some stations focus less on mainstream heavy metal music into their rotation, even during their overnight hours.

David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-American musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He performs mainly with acoustic guitar and favors rhythm rather than solos in his playing.

David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM.

In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977. Biographer Nevin Martell argues that Dave's father's death may be an impetus for his "carpe diem" lyrics. At some point while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, when his mother took him to a performance by Pete Seeger. The family moved back to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1977.

Upon Matthews' graduation from St Stithians College high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. A Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.

Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) sometimes known by the number 8, is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of Slipknot and Stone Sour.

Corey Taylor is a founding member of Stone Sour, and has released three studio albums with that band. Taylor joined Slipknot in 1997 to replace their original singer Anders Colsefni. He has released four studio albums with them. Taylor constantly alternates between bands, since 2001, after the release of Iowa, where he reformed Stone Sour immediately after touring. He has worked with several bands, including Junk Beer Kidnap Band, Apocalyptica, Anthrax, Aaron Lewis of Staind, and Soulfly. Taylor writes and sings in styles that vary by genre. Taylor was ranked number 86 in Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time.

Corey Taylor was born in Des Moines, Iowa on December 8, 1973, the first of three children. He lived in Orlando briefly with his uncle, George Robson though Taylor was mostly raised by his mother in Waterloo, Iowa, a place described by Taylor as a "hole in the ground with buildings around it." He is of Belgian, Polish and Danish background from his father's side.

David Eric "Dave" Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and founder of the Foo Fighters, prior to which he was the drummer in the grunge band Nirvana. He is also the drummer and co-founder of the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. Grohl has additionally written all the music and performed all the instruments for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot, as well as being involved with Queens of the Stone Age numerous times throughout the past decade. He has performed session work (as a drummer) for a variety of musicians, including Garbage, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Slash, Juliette Lewis, Tenacious D, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Lemmy Kilmister.

As a child, Grohl's family relocated from Warren, Ohio, to Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Three years later, when Grohl was six, his parents divorced, and Grohl grew up living with his mother.