Not quite grunge, not quite soul-rock, The Afghan Whigs formed in 1986 as an alt-power pop band from Cincinnati, Ohio, that evolved into “one of indie rock’s juggernauts” in the 1990s.

Greg Dulli and Rick McCollum met in an Ohio jail cell on Halloween 1986 and decided to start a band, naming it after the white Muslim motorcycle club Afghan Whigs. Word of mouth landed their indie debut album Big Top Halloween into the hands of the pre-Nirvana Sub Pop record label, who tested the waters with a single before releasing two albums and an EP that attracted a number of major labels.

The Afghan Whigs chose to sign with Elektra Records, who released the band’s most remembered albums Gentlemen and Black Love – the former giving the band its biggest MTV and radio airplay single “Debonair”, and the latter reaching #79 in the US. Despite their success, frontman Greg Dulli was suffering through a depression so bad it resulted in nerve damage.

The Afghan Whigs moved to Columbia Records for 1998’s 1965. On December 11, 1998, Dulli was beaten into a coma by a bouncer during a meet and greet after performing at a Texas club. However he was able to recover and return to touring in just two months. Bassist John Curley shared:

We played almost three hours to a sold-out house and it was great. You go from having the time of your life to being in an emergency room watching your best friend fight for his life. That kind of extreme contrast is going to give me a lot to think about for a long time. I think for all of us.

The band broke up in 2001 due to two of the three members settling down back in Cincinnati while Dulli stayed in LA, making efforts to create new music difficult. Dulli then began to focus on his side projects – The Twilight Singers and Gutter Twins. In 2006, Afghan Whigs reunited to record two new songs for the compilation Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990–2006.

In 2010, Dulli performed some Afghan Whigs songs while touring solo with Whigs' bassist John Curley. The following year Dulli told The Dallas Observer an Afghan Whigs reunion was “not going to happen”, but after accepting two 2012 reunion gig offers that were scheduled out five months apart of each other at festivals in London and New Jersey, the band filled those months with additional Europe and US tour dates.

It was then rumored that a December 31, 2012 hometown New Years Eve gig may be the end of the reunion, but a March 2013 performance at SXSW where the band was joined by R&B artist Usher for the second half of their set reignited their desire to continue on.

They have since released two albums that reached the top 10 on Billboard’s Independent Albums Chart – 2014’s Do To The Beast (also reaching #32 on the main Albums Chart) and 2017’s In Spades. Guitarist Dave Rosser succumbed to cancer in the summer of 2017. How Do You Burn followed in 2022.