Q5 was formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1983 by guitar innovator Floyd Rose and vocalist Jonathan Scott Palmerton aka Jonathan K, they were soon joined by Rick Pierce on guitar, Evan Sheeley on bass and drummer Gary Thompson, all of whom had deserted fellow Seattle band “TKO” to complete the line up. Q5 released two albums: Steel The Light (1984) and When The Mirror Cracks (1986) before disbanding in 1987. Jonathan Scott K., Rick Pierce and Evan Sheeley went on to form Nightshade.

Floyd Rose is also the inventor of the "Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo", or simply "Floyd Rose", a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. The "Floyd Rose" gained popularity in the 1980s through guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Neal Schon, Brad Gillis, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, who used its ability to stay in tune even with extreme changes in pitch. Its tuning stability comes through the double-locking design that has been widely regarded as revolutionary; the design has been listed on Guitar World's "10 Most Earth Shaking Guitar Innovations" and Guitar Player's "101 Greatest Moments in Guitar History 1979–1983". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.