{"id":22655,"date":"2025-12-14T10:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T10:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=22655"},"modified":"2025-12-14T10:14:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T10:14:58","slug":"five-years-dozens-of-lies-josh-and-tyler-fooled-the-world-with-fake-meet-cute-stories-when-the-real-origin-dropped-reporters-realized-theyd-been-played","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=22655","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFive Years. Dozens of Lies.\u201d Josh and Tyler Fooled the World With Fake Meet-Cute Stories\u2014When the Real Origin Dropped, Reporters Realized They\u2019d Been Played."},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"1\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">For the better part of five years, the musical duo Twenty One Pilots\u2014comprised of drummer Josh Dun and lead singer Tyler Joseph\u2014spun a complex web of bizarre, theatrical lies regarding the story of how they met. The band, known for their unique blend of music and cryptic narratives, consistently gave reporters wildly different and often unbelievable tales of their first encounter. When the simple truth was finally revealed, the media and fans alike were shocked to realize they had been fooled by the duo\u2019s commitment to absurdist storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Ever-Changing Origin Stories<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">As their popularity grew with albums like <i>Vessel<\/i> (2013) and <i>Blurryface<\/i> (2015), the question of the band\u2019s formation became a staple in every interview. However, Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph, finding the actual story &#8220;too boring,&#8221; turned the question into a running joke and a piece of performance art.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Among the most imaginative and ridiculous tales they told reporters were:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"5\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5,0,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Fire\/Accident:<\/b> That one saved the other from a house fire, or they met during a train derailment or car crash.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5,1,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The App:<\/b> That they met on a dating app (specifically Tinder).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5,2,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Mission\/Jail:<\/b> That they met on a religious mission in Africa, or even while in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5,3,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>E-commerce:<\/b> That they met because Tyler sold Josh a matchbox car on eBay.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5,4,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Concert:<\/b> That Tyler, working as security, kicked Josh out of a concert, then threw his shoe at him and introduced himself.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Reporters, often quoting the stories in earnest, were frequently left confused by the conflicting accounts, but few suspected that all the stories were fabricated for the sheer fun of misleading the press.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Simple, Boring Truth Revealed<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The duo maintained their elaborate hoax for roughly five years before finally relenting and confirming the mundane, simple reality. The actual formation of the band involved Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih in 2009. The duo fans know today formed when Thomas and Salih left in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The truth of how Tyler and Josh met, which Josh Dun has recounted, was far less cinematic than their fictional tales:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\" data-path-to-node=\"10\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Connection:<\/b> Josh Dun worked at a Guitar Center with the band&#8217;s original drummer, Chris Salih.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The First Meeting:<\/b> Josh went to see Twenty One Pilots play at a venue (like the Newport Music Hall) and was instantly impressed by Tyler&#8217;s unique and fresh music.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,2,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Spark:<\/b> Josh went up to Tyler after the show, and Tyler (who somehow already knew who Josh was) invited him to hang out.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,3,0\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>The Click:<\/b> They stayed up until 7 in the morning just talking about their shared dreams and musical visions, realizing they wanted to play music together.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Josh joined the band in 2011 after Salih left, upon Salih&#8217;s recommendation. The simple reality\u2014that they met through a mutual friend and had an instant, organic connection\u2014was deemed &#8220;too boring&#8221; for the media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">When the truth came out, reporters and major music outlets were collectively shocked and amused to have been so thoroughly and consistently pranked. The admission was a lighthearted expos\u00e9 of how easily the media can be manipulated when presented with a captivating narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><b>Performance Art Beyond the Stage<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"14\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The years-long deception perfectly encapsulates the band&#8217;s identity, which is built on theatricality, self-aware humor, and a refusal to adhere to convention. Their insistence on creating a fictional mythology around their meeting reflects the intricate, conceptual storytelling present in their music, which often explores complex themes of anxiety, faith, and mental health. By turning their personal history into a constantly evolving series of fictional narratives, Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph didn&#8217;t just fool the press\u2014they transformed their own origin story into a meta-commentary on fame and the public&#8217;s thirst for sensationalism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"26 Different Stories of How Tyler and Josh Met\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2FsdVTb84wY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the better part of five years, the musical duo Twenty One Pilots\u2014comprised of drummer Josh Dun and lead singer Tyler Joseph\u2014spun a complex web of bizarre, theatrical lies regarding the story of how they met. The band, known for their unique blend of music and cryptic narratives, consistently gave reporters wildly different and often&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}