FAILURE: The Volatile History of the Band Behind 'Fantastic Planet' & 'Stuck on You'

The volatile history of the band Failure, best known for the cult classic 'Fantastic Planet.'
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The LA Band failure would have their first run in the early to mid 90’s and while they didn’t sell millions of albums, they soon developed a cult following long after their breakup. Failure’s third album has been regarded as one of the greatest and underappreciated albums of the 90’s. Part of the Failure’s cult following could alspo be attributed to their fellow musicians including Tool, Paramore, Deftones who’ve paid their respects to the band. They’ve been labeled as alternative metal, grunge, grunge lite and space rock.
Today, because you guys, my subscribers had requested it, lets talk about the history of the band Failure.
Failure’s origins dated back to los angeles to 1987. Living in San Diego at the time Drummer Robert Gauss and frontman and guitarist Ken Andrews had moved to LA and were roomates while attending arts school. Andrews was a late bloomer when it came to music picking up guitar, starting at the age of 18 and taking lessons from his brother who had already been playing for several years. One of the first records he played along to, would be the first cars record.
Andrews and Gauss discussed putting a band together, but it took them two years to find a bass player. Not really feeling an attachment or affinity for the music scene in LA they put an ad in the recycler that read ‘‘moody trio seeks fretless bass player parallels with early cure, bahaus and joy divison. Not having luck, they dropped the fretless requirement to cast a bigger net. They only fielded 8 or 10 responses and none of the calls were promising enough to get into a room with anyone, except one person but it was now 1989. .It would be an Encino native a call from Encino native and bassist and multiinstrumentalist Greg Edwards. Edwards would tel bandcamp “Ken was by far the most serious musician I had met at that point,” “and more importantly, he was very good at charting practical steps on the way to a goal. We had artistic respect for each other immediately, but it wasn’t like we were natural born friends. Our friendship was really peripheral to our working relationship
As for Edwards he was largely influenced by somber and melancholy music rather than material taht was light and upbeat.
With the band’s lineup now assembled, Gauss already had some song ideas on his 4 track recorder., including t“Pro-Catastrophe.”, Screen Man and Count My Eyes. The band soon started playing shows around LA at venue’s like Al’s Bar, and Club Lingerie. They would meet another musician, Maynard James Keenan who shared a similar sentiment as the members of Failure on LA’s music scene. Maynard also wasn’t happy with who promoters were putting tool on the same bill with. It was a few month’s later they were playing together at the club Raji’s.
Failure soon spent about $800 to press 500 copies of its first single, Pro-Catastrophe. It would be mailed to college radio stations across America and got some airplay on local station KXLU. They credited the radio station with helping boost audience numbers from a handful of people to nearly 400-500 people per show playing venue’s like Al’s bar, raji’s and club lingerie.. Soon enough record label people started showing up and by the time the band only played 19-20 live shows they signed a deal with Slash Records, which was an indie label, but they had distribution through major labels. . Much to Fialure’s surprise they thought the label would hate their name, but they actually liked it.
First Album - Steve Albini
Soon after signing with Slash, attention turned to the group’s first album. Producer Steve albini’s name soon came up and the band sent their demo to albini who was in chicago. The members of Failure would cite jesus lizard’s goat album and pod by the breeders in terms of where there heads were. Albini would admit that at the time those were his two best records.’ In 92 failure headed to pachyderm studios in rural minnesota to record their first record. If the studio name sounds familiar, Nirvana would record In-Utero in the ame studio a year later.
By the band’s own admission their first album was more punk influenced largely due to their drummer Robert gauss who apart from coming up with the drum parts, had a hand in songwriting to

[@rompofotters]

Failure is the band your favorite bands listen to.

[@nt1331tn]

Hahahaha what????

[@munafo13]

This is true!

[@mrtricksterofficial]

So true 🤤🤤

[@dsfafshjgh9349]

Failure is my favorite band!

[@Tubsalts]

Like MF DOOM: Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper

[@sianspherica]

Failure is the most under-appreciated band in alt rock history. Period. It's baffling to me that they don't have a much much bigger following. Even their newer post-reunion albums are really genuinely excellent. The last one Wild Type Droid is their best album since Fantastic Planet.

[@celladoor_uk]

I adored 'The Heart Is A monster' more than 'Wild Type Droid' but they never miss regardless of what I think. You have great taste! Greetings from sunny Rochdale. 🖤

[@nicolas.grisanti]

Fantastic Planet is a masterpiece. They don't have a bad record, also Wild Type Droid, Heart is a Monster, they two LP after the reunion, are incredible.

[@VerryBonne]

There's three albums after the reunion. The other is "In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind"

[@DeadpoolX9]

@@VerryBonnei love that album

[@dyskelia]

It’s like the Velvet Underground phenomenon. They weren’t successful by traditional standards but all the successful people respect them. It’s an enchanting project. I forget about Failure but I’m always glad to be reminded and put them back on my playlist rotation.

[@joebob2311productions]

Absolute gamechangers in the alt metal landscape. Failure, Hum, Deftones are some of my favourite bands ever and they revolutionized music as a whole

[@aberuiz4445]

Same I have all three bands playing in heavy rotation

[@joebob2311productions]

@aberuiz4445 I'm huge on some of the newer wave bands too like Narrow Head, Teenage Wrist, cursetheknife, modern colour and Heavenward (technically a solo project)

[@celladoor_uk]

You have great taste man. I adore 'Failure' and the other bands you have on heavy rotation. They have all influenced my own music greatly. 🖤

[@joebob2311productions]

@celladoor_uk Ive got an ever growing Spotify playlist of countless more. Will check you out. Don't be surprised I show up in your comments

[@Wolfdragon92584]

It's funny you mentioned those particular 3 bands; those are my 3 on heavy rotation for the past month about.

[@MedalionDS9]

I've never heard of these guys until pretty recently during of all things, a Rick Beato video when talking about great sounding albums... and he pointed out how great their album Fantastic Planet sounded for the 90's for such a small band.

[@rnrtruestories]

Yeah I saw that episode too!

[@boomer3150]

I heard about them on a space rock documentary.

[@celladoor_uk]

It was a great episode!

[@MorgueOfficialMusic]

I randomly discovered them about 5 years ago. Fantastic band with no bad album ❤

[@Nyarlahotep]

Ive been a fan since 96 and to see them live to promote a new record almost 25 years later was incredible. I got to meet the guys during sound check and they were genuinely thrilled that their music resonated with so many people over the years they were inactive.

[@alevandet5377]

I saw Failure back in 2022 and their performance was so amazing. My gf and I got front row, and the experience was like no other. Such an intimate and powerful performance. I was even handed a pick by Greg which I still have.

[@stevedietlein4189]

Man I literally yelled out YES when I saw you put up a Failure video. My favorite band.

[@joebob2311productions]

Ken Andrews did some fantastic production work for artists after the band went on the long hiatus. One of my favorite of his solo projects during that period was the song Rabbit Hole by Year of the rabbit, which he fronted.

[@kriskenmonroe1]

I remember being at the Lalapalooza show in Wisconsin. They were set to head the second stage, but someone in Korn had broken their leg and had cancelled, so they got bumped up to opening the main stage and sounded better than anyone else playing that day. They've been my favorite band ever since, and the three newest albums (The Heart is a Monster, In the Future..., and Wild Type Droid) are fantastic follow ups to Fantastic Planet. I hope we get more albums from them.

[@celladoor_uk]

I envy the fact you were at that show in Wisconsin...

[@shoegazer93]

These guys are great and have made themselves a legacy in alt - rock circles. 'Another Space Song' is so good. They toured with Swervedriver. Quite similar to HUM.

[@jmiddlefinger]

These guys have been my favorites since I first heard them back in the 90s.

[@zmarko]

I wanted to listen to Failure the other day, and the music streaming service in my car couldn't locate any music from them. I was shocked. I love this album.

[@rnrtruestories]

They pulled their music off Spotify over low royalties and the whole controversy over Joe Rogan

[@TheGorillafoot]

They don't / won't use Spotify.

[@vegetablelomein1111]

I just pulled them up on spotify with no issues. Did they literally just go back on? Or maybe it's by country? I'm in USA for context.

[@liamkatsos8481]

Original 3 albums are still up. Post reunion albums which I believe are independent releases have been pulled.@@vegetablelomein1111

[@rnrtruestories]

⁠@@vegetablelomein1111maybe it’s their newer albums since maybe the label controls distribution of their old albums

[@johnk.7058]

One of my all time favorite bands glad to see them get any kind of recognition

[@frigidpony]

Thanks for featuring this underrated band! The only band that I could compare them to would be Hum, but both bands had their own style. Huge (acknowledged) influence on Deftones as well.

[@aberuiz4445]

Yess I love both of them!!

[@Truckngirl]

I heard them on KROQ. I bought their CD, which I still have to this day. Not just Stuck on You, but Tiny Red Balloons! That's pretty much a quintessential heroin song.

[@thedefamationleague]

* Dirty Blue Balloons

[@thedefamationleague]

Kellii Scott played drums on our first track! We had plans to hire him for the full album we were working on (I say "were" because we aren't a band anymore...the album we were working on is now being worked on by some of our band members' new band, The Bonus Holes), but then Failure jumped on Neil Young's anti-free speech bandwagon, so our plans changed, but seeing this video with Ken Andrews in a jamspace with a Che Guevara poster, it doesn't shock me in the slightest that his band opposes free speech. Too bad. Failure is a great band. But yeah, I can't respect any artist that supports censorship. I grew up in the 90's seeing all my favorite bands pushing against censorship, now it's like they all abandoned the rebelliousness of rock and roll and became part of the establishment, and it's extremely pathetic.

[@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094]

Blah, blah, blah.

[@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094]

What is Neil Young's anti-free speech bandwagon? You mean how he doesn't like Joe Rogan? Yeah that's dumb, but he's an OG Boomer and the rules don't apply. He's prolly never even listened to JRE. He's an old P.O.S. with fewer brain cells than he had at his peak. Gotta give him a pass.

[@thedefamationleague]

@@mydogslikeboiledeggs7094 No one asked you.

[@Rocker6969]

Okay I don't get it. How are they anti-free speech ?

[@nicholassimon1419]

@@Rocker6969 they took their music off Spotify, the monsters!!

[@danihellz]

Love seeing you covering Failure 😍😍😍

[@robwalsh9843]

I literally picked Magnified up the record store by the cover alone. I was there to get Nirvana's Bleach when that weird frog caught my eye. It's definitely something I miss about the pre-internet days of music shopping. You'd see an album cover and think "WTF?" and just pick it up out of curiosity.

[@warneverchanges709]

I can't tell you how many incredible albums I've found for exactly this reason!

[@NapoleonBlownapartMMA]

Im happy to be able to say I discovered these guys back in 96, and they've been one of my favourites ever since

[@AaronSwan]

Their 3 latest albums are absolutely incredible.

[@dylan0wn5]

Also it's pretty rad that Troy Van Leeuwen (QOTSA, A perfect Circle) joined them and toured with them around 1997.

[@robertefurd4637]

Thanks for covering this! Keep up the great content!

[@zacklauden2414]

THANK YOU!!! I’ve been waiting for this and this made my night!

[@wesleysteeleiv]

They do a great version of "enjoy the silence" by DM.

[@beltranator]

I’ve been obsessed with this band for a few years. Amazing to see a video essay about them!

[@purplebladder]

Randomly found fantastic planet skating listening to music on spotify… so awsome

[@arizona444]

Please do a video about the Melvins and their 12 different bass players in 40 years!!!

[@roberthernandez5083]

🤘Great band! Great sound!🤘

[@vladplasmius2854]

Fantastic Planet is my favorite album of the 90s. Amazing band.

[@stephendoyle3542]

I am so happy to say these were literally one of the first bands I got into at aged 14. I was listening to these alongside nirvana. I just assumed they were going to blow up and in a selfish sense glad that they didn’t.

[@grimsleyswitch]

Oughhh yes! A Failure video! Absolutely love these guys and it's always a pleasure whenever someone talks about them! I have been a huge fan of theirs for about three years now! Favourite albums are Fantastic Planet and Wild Type Droid + my most favourite song is Solaris! Also love to mention another thing about Greg Edwards: He's also the guitarist for the band Autolux, a much smaller band that's totally worth a listen! Do warn though because even they're not safe from some...interesting history to say the least (cough Eugene cough)! But they have such a great sound that I think most fellow Failure fans would enjoy!

[@Meat-suit]

Great stuff dude. Thanks for giving me a history lesson

[@cusso1138]

Everyone has seemed to forget about Ken and Greg’s fantastic album REPLICANTS that they made in 1995 , a cover album .

[@allistar420]

Great Video! Love this band!

[@tek_soup]

ive been following since the 90's Still in my top 10.

[@giselletorres4156]

Honestly I've never heard of them until Hum released their album Inlet during the pandemic and the youtube algorithm recommended me both Failure and Nemo for that 90's "Space Rock" vibe that I, and a good chunk of social media, got hooked on.

[@bobertcholesto2808]

Inlet is such a masterpiece, waiting for the follow up record....

[@outdoorinwithzach]

Got to see them live in Portland last year! Definitely one of the best bands of the '90s.

[@bigd5080]

So I just discovered Failure a couple months ago. Stick on you got me into them. Great song! So i checked out the album Fanatic planet. It’s ok. I was a little disappointed. I can see why they never blew up. I think they’re right where the should be.

[@turdferguson353]

Fantastic planet is such a beautiful album, crushingly depressing, moody and spacey. I still listen to it at least once a month since I bought it in 97

[@constancemerryweather525]

Got to see em open for Tool in 92 and again at Lolla 97 at the Gorge!

[@michaelpacinus242]

I love how quickly you get out of there at the end

[@areamusicale]

Failure was one my favourite band but all my friends hated them. The second album, Magnified, is a very good listening. Since I'm writing, let me suggest a really fun band to listen: Baby Gopal "Fearless". I swear, it is good music.

[@damianedwards8827]

Oh, you’re showing your face now Rock n roll true stories

[@tjb096]

i can’t even remember when i got into failure but i found out about hum right around the same time. great bands.

[@rnrtruestories]

I’ve done a history on hum as well. Another great band!

[@Brigand231]

Never heard of them before, I always thought "Stuck on You" was by Huey Lewis and the News.

[@claymccoy]

The Huey Lewis song is actually “Stuck With You.”

[@steveschu]

Fantastic Planet was my first experience and it’s still in my rotation.

[@ghost_to_a_ghost]

amazing group

[@hammalammadingdong6244]

Outstanding band, and amazing live.

[@youngbloody567]

I need them to put their demos on streaming platforms. The Essentials tape NEEDS to be on there

[@michelem226]

Love this band. Also love Ken's other projects.

[@cmeza1985]

Love their sound

[@mk2727]

Saw them last year. Great band! They even opened the show with a Ren and Stimpy cartoon

[@spoonysmalls]

so so good

[@ruination775]

Such an awesome Band..

[@JustinCoyote]

I saw them in 97, fantastic band, and have been a fan since. Now if they can reschedule their show they canceled on in San Antonio

[@Aiur]

One of the greatest

[@robertkeith9620]

A lot of big memories with Fantastic Planet playing in the background in my 20's. Underrated? I guess but not with me.

[@cattameme]

My friend from Diablo 2 showed me Failure. I wish someone would upload the albums in Slowed + Reverb on YT.

[@NBF1865]

That brings back some memories 👍 I saw Failure open for Tool in Orlando. What a badass show !

[@Jimmyjamsays....]

Damn I would've LOVED to have went to that. What year was that?

[@NBF1865]

@@Jimmyjamsays.... It was 1995

[@Jimmyjamsays....]

@@NBF1865 So they hadn't released aneima yet. That would've been a dream show. Still to have heard them in their prime with Faliure opening....one hell of a show man

[@turbomustang84]

Failure is absolutely one of the greatest bands ever. I think their three albums they have released since getting back together are as good as anything they ever did

[@jasonarmstrong5750]

Best band that never got the recognition they deserved

[@patrickwoods2213]

If anyone truly wants to know about the volatile history of actual failure, then a short documentary about my life is all you need.

[@brandonleidel]

Finally getting these boys some respect!

[@P5YCH0D3L1C]

Kinda wish Autolux and their other projects got a quick mention

[@TallisLizzy]

I thoughts that thumbnail was Zach bagans.

[@ats2099]

I really wish these guys had broken stronger back in the day- where so many rock acts of the day were accused of being derivative (and often were) these guys were always doing something really unique. I have been lucky enough to see them play live twice; once on their return tour for Heart is a Monster and then again for the 20th anniversary tour of Fantastic Planet. I thought before I would see a three piece "There's no way they can play this album live" and walked away having seen some true musical talent. Greg played guitar and keys at the same time in a way that I have not seen since. No backing tracks, no road musicians to fill out the tracks... just the three of them. There's a reason why they were so influential among musicians.

[@nichande]

I found them on spotify not that long ago

[@srvuk]

I had never heard of them but gave the Fantastic Planet album a whirl. Grunge was never my thing but on first listen they sounded like an alternative to Nirvana, which for fans, might well be a great bonus.

[@megaflux7144]

when you look at the entirety of an album and not just a couple singles NOTHING comes close to fantastic planet. i would say loveless is next closest to the top.

[@annakiss268]

I found out about the movie fantastic planet because of this band

[@user-df1vc5eg6g]

I loved Magnify when it came out

[@photonfartsqueeze6694]

One of the best bands of all time.

[@damonschultz4006]

When they first showed Maynard I thought it was tiny Tim

[@onurozuvar6299]

Hopelessly waiting for a video of W.A.S.P.

[@Negative.mrb1]

Ken Andrews produced Molly McGuire Lime it’s sooo good!!!!!

[@nothingimportant4504]

Kind of like the Velvet Underground, where not very many people bought the records, but everyone that did buy one started a band.

[@arthurperez4884]

I see no new albums on Spotify

[@SilverImmortal3633]

You should do one on the nu metal band 3rd strike thats a fd up story

[@mercurirgo]

This will only take a while

[@Rocker6969]

Absolutely top-notch band. Are you sick and tired of formulaic BS ? Then check out failure.

[@Jakew9]

YES FAILURE LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

[@unghh]

io love them yay yay yay

[@smathfury]

This is the best band in the world (imo lol). Seriously, they’re responsible for an entire genre of alt-rock. Most people have no idea about this amazing group!! Cue the other nerds in the comments.. 😂

[@coreydee-el-oh]

Fantastic planet is a fuckin classic

[@Exaltation-heliacal]

Maybe get a lav mic. Headphones and desk dynamic or condenser is silly.

[@drewbocop]

To say Comfort isn't a grunge album is silly especially paired with depression and heroin use. 😂 Album rules though. As does Fantastic Planet.

[@haveagocommentator983]

All their albums have songs about heroin

[@drewbocop]

@@haveagocommentator983 How grunge of them

[@zerozipper4299]

Greg wrote some very Mick Karn sounding fretless bass parts for the Comfort demos imo

[@robkmusic4158]

Love the content but come on, do some Canadian content that isn't so negative. Happy thoughts!!

[@chrisconny2285]

Never heard of them

[@edgaradrianza5287]

You should...

[@steveort2105]

"Soon got a cult following long after their breakup" - Wut

[@blackphillip8486]

Speaking of failure, you should do a video on the odd trajectory of Jared Leto's band 30 Seconds to Mars Sid. Talk about the rare instance of an actor's band having alot of promise and then just completely tanking it into some weird, cult type shxt... 😂

[@cattameme]

Good video, however I found looking at the narrators face was off putting. That's a face only a mother could love. Ughh, so off putting. look at whats on TOP OF HIS HEAAAADDD.

[@_zoinks2554]

Forgettable album, overrated 90's indie/college rock sound.

[@Voidliife]

Man I really liked Failure. I was very impressed with there music when browsing through there albums. They had a lot of great songs that had a raw, dark, and deep sound. A very uniquely creative sound 🤘🏻