ไอดอล

History

   

     Bodyslam was originally called La-On (Thai: ละอ่อน)which means kids or younger people in Northern dialect of Thai language. In 1996, the band entered a band competition for high school students called "Hot Wave Music Awards" and won top prize beaten out nearly a hundred other bands. La-on was quickly signed a record deal with Music Bugs, a record company, and released self-titled pop-rockalbum in 1997 with Dai Rue Plao (ได้หรือเปล่า) became the most recognized song. The band members portrayed roles of themselves in lakorn (Thai TV series) Thep Niyai Nai Sano (เทพนิยายนายเสนาะ) and later released the series' soundtrack in the same year.

The band returned in 2002 with the new name Bodyslam shifting to heavier rock music with only three of the original six members remaining. The first self-titled album under the new name as a three-pieced band was successful. The second album Drive had followed in 2003 earning an equal success to the previous one. They won Channel [V] Thailand Music Video Awards for "Favorite Group" for the music video Plai Thang.^[1]

After the second album, the band went through many changes. They left Music Bugs and later signed a deal with Genie Records, subsidiary of GMM Grammy, Thailand's largest records company. Ratthapol "Pao" Pannachet left the band for a solo career (with an album in November 2005). Bodyslam then became a four-piece band. Bodylsam's long-time supporting drummer, Chad, was finally announced as an official member and had appeared in MV, posters and album covers. The fourth member was Thanachai "Yod" Tantrakul, the new guitarist who was brought to replace Pao.

Bodyslam's third album Believe was launched in April 2005 and made them one of GMM Grammy's premier bands. The success of this album rocketed the band to stardom and took them on a long national tour taking up most of 2005 and some parts of 2006. They won 4th Fat Awards for "Favorite Album" and Khwam Chuea became "Song of The Year".^[2]

On 15 September 2007, Bodyslam released the fourth album "Save my life" with a major concert in Bangkok followed in early October the same year.

The success of the new album had brought them a bigger fan base. They became one of the most popular bands in Thailand. "Save My Life" won Season Awards for "Best Rock Group", "Best Rock Album" and "Best Rock Song" for Yahpid in March 2008.^[3]