Taxi are a Romanian pop-rock band. Their sound is an eclectic mix of rock and contemporary pop, occasionally introducing other influences such as hot Nashville-style guitar licks. The band was founded March 13, 1999 in Bucharest. Dan Teodorescu, songwriter, lead vocalist and the band's leader, first recruited Adrian Bortun, with whom he had previously played in Altceva. Bortun recruited his former bandmate Andrei Bărbulescu from Sarmalele Reci ; Dan recruited Georgică Pătrănoiu with whom he had also played before. Their first Romanian hit was "Criogenia salvează România", which gained them fans even among the members of the Romanian Parliament with its ironic political lyrics. It was followed by an EP Jumătate de album, after which drummer Andrei Bărbulescu left and was replaced by Lucian Cioargă. Shortly after their song "Luna" became the Romanian nominee to the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest. They came in seventeenth, a higher rank than any other Romanian band ever had, but disappointing nonetheless. A few months after the Festival in Stockholm, they debuted an English-language song called "E.B.U - European Broadcasting Union": "We played poker by their rules... But in the end, they told us that four jacks are stronger than four aces." The song continues on, using an obscene expletive to express their disregard for the contest. Taxi welcomed the 2000 millennium with a song "Doi zero zero zero". Jumătate de album was expanded in July 2000 to a full album Trag un claxon. A succession of Romanian hist included "Comunitaru", which addresses Bucharest's plan of spaying and euthanizing ownerless dogs from the point of view of one of the dogs. The song describes, ironically, the state of the Romanian economy and society, then goes on to a chorus: This appeared on their 2001 album Americanofonia, the title track of which is a song about the flood of English-language expressions entering Romanian: Teodorescu was married for four years to Melania Medeleanu; the autumn 2006 divorce was amicable, and Medeleanu sings on one track of the 2007 Taxi album Romantica. There are several other collaborators on the album, including Cheloo of Paraziții. In late 2010, they released the single "Cele două cuvinte". The video featured more than two dozen male Romanian celebrities explaining men's inability to say "I LOVE YOU" and became a YouTube hit, receiving more than 1,500,000 views in less than 2 months.
