Cover Story: At the Corner of Hollywood and Heartbreak

Rock bands have been known to argue about almost anything. Maroon 5 are different. They argue about everything. Sometimes the debates are substantive. They had a heated battle over where their second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, should fall in the sonic spectrum between polished R&B and the chaos of energetic rock. (They compromised, and the record includes both -- part of why it debuted at Number One.) More often, their arguments are meaningless turf wars between five highly opinionated, stubborn men. "It's a high-ego band," says lead singer Adam Levine.

Among the disputes that continued on Maroon 5's tour bus for far too long (sometimes months): the pop-punk influence on Pink's first album; the prospects of Howard Dean before he screamed; whether the movie Wild Things had a sense of humor; whether psychedelic mushrooms provide an escape from reality or a different perspective on it.

The most epic quarrel, however, centered on Lenny Kravitz's "Where Are We Runnin?'" video. The band saw it on TV in a Brazil hotel; Levine and guitarist James Valentine proceeded to argue for hours about whether Kravitz sheds a tear in the final shot. "I have never seen two people get more into it about something so completely unimportant," says bassist Mickey Madden. The clash extended from the hotel lobby to the venue, paused long enough for an acoustic performance, and then continued through a meet-and-greet session, climaxing with the statement "Star Wars was not filmed in space."

Finally, Levine and Valentine bet $500; the wager wasn't settled until the group visited German MTV and got them to roll the video. No tears: Valentine won the bet, although Levine never actually paid up. "In my twisted mind, I am always right," Levine says.

To argue with that intensity, you need to be with your worst enemies or your closest pals. Maroon 5 are a group of best friends: Three of the five started playing together at age twelve. "Adam and I would talk on the phone all night about Pearl Jam and Nirvana," says keyboardist Jesse Carmichael. Fifteen years later, the band draws less on grunge and more on R&B, especially Prince, and on pop rock, especially the Police.

From a distance, Maroon 5's music can seem like it's all surface: catchy melodies and R&B production that lets the band fit on pop radio seamlessly between Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas. Up close, Levine's pained, yearning vocals give the music more emotional weight, as does the fact that the band is a gang of friends living childhood dreams. That makes the battles more intense, the victories sweeter, the celebrity encounters more surreal. And it made losing a founding member taste just like a mouthful of ashes.