The Verve Pipe (1999)

Consider the Verve Pipe's plucky hit single ''Hero'' their battle cry: Striving to be rock legends, the band agilely whip up grandiose mood pieces, frothy pop anthems, and sturdy rockers. The album feels formulaic at times (e.g., the boneheaded bluster of ''Headlines''), but these superheroes-in-training leap beyond commonplace commerciality, though not always in a single bound.