10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs is a rock and roll band from the 1980s and 1990s. The band was formed in 1981 in Jamestown, New York, by Natalie Merchant (vocals), John Lombardo (guitar), Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboards), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums). The name comes from 2,000 Maniacs, a low-budget horror movie.

10,000 Maniacs signed to Elektra Records in 1985 and released The Wishing Chair. Lombardo left the band on July 14, 1986, and the remaining five members released In My Tribe (1987), which hit the charts and established a large audience for the group which was expanded by Blind Man's Zoo (1989). In 1992, Our Time in Eden was released and Merchant revealed she would be leaving for a solo career soon after recording on MTV Unplugged. The remaining quartet added Mary Ramsey (violin, vocals) and regained Lombardo; the pair had been performing as John & Mary, a folk act. The first album of the new line-up was Love Among the Ruins, which sold respectably. In 2000, Robert Buck, the band's guitarist and songwriter, died of alcohol related liver failure at 37.