ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Unbelievable" by EMF

[@nick-playercharacter8583]

This series has practically turned Smells Like Teen Spirit into a villain song for all the careers it cut short.

[@onlylettersand0to9]

@MizerisMoney "The only reason why they are considered to be iconic is because of Cobains death." That, and they changed the musical landscape dramatically. You can make an argument that Nirvana wasn't good--taste is subjective and I don't think their music has aged all that well. You cannot make an argument that they weren't *influential* without ignoring a massive amount of early 1990s history. The grunge craze was real and left a lot of record labels scrambling to find alternate rock acts to sign up.

[@nicke.424]

@Kairo Chambers you cant even compare those bands. I love pink floyd too but they're so different from nirvana genre wise. Besides you cant deny their influence on 90s rock and even arguably today

[@mj.l]

nirvana fucking changed everything. made pretty much all big rock acts of the day look like old farts over night. I'm guessing you weren't born yet, but their impact was huge. impossible to imagine in today's musical landscape

[@kentonkruger8333]

@@mj.l They killed not just bands but entire genres. Love them or hate them, they were powerful.

[@mj.l]

they were great. fuck those bands - nirvana made slick, sexist cock rock super uncool literally overnight.

[@jimmoriarty7732]

Got big with Unbelieveable crashed and burned with I'm a Believer. Perfect symmetry.

[@Meskarune]

That was beautiful and poetic

[@ajshell2]

Even better, they had "I Believe" right in the middle.

[@mikesimpson3207]

Like pottery.

[@jombones3324]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be

[@jedahn]

🤣

[@JohnZyski]

I can't imagine being in the music industry and watching Nirvana happen, and not being a part of it.

[@evandemers3753]

Must have been like watching your life flash before your eyes as you fall off a tall building. People say that Smells Like Teen Spirit didn't kill anything overnight but if you ask people who worked within the industry at the time, they'll tell you that entire fads and scenes became irrelevant in a matter of weeks.

[@ECL28E]

If not Nirvana, then something would've come an spoken to the counter-culture.

[@nate567987]

Or wounder wall

[@P715R]

@@ECL28E Wrong Not at their level There's before the Beatles and after the Beatles There's before Nirvana and after Nirvana

[@peterstangl8295]

are there any other bands/artists like that? Ones that change the game entirely within an incredibly short time? Not just gamechangers, but overnight sensations. I'd love to see Todd do a series on something like that.

[@annnee6818]

"Unbelievable" still has one of the best hooks of all time.

[@shawnfields2757]

You're Unbelieveable...OH!

[@EpicB]

The "oh" sample is what really sells the song.

[@cruelcumber5317]

"The 80s had been going on for 15 or 20 years now" you sir, are great at slipped in humor.

[@_Only_Zuul]

🤣😂🤣 always feel to me like the 80's and 90's were more like 20 years long!

[@irisaferg2524]

I don't get it.

[@thatkidwiththehoodie]

@@irisaferg2524 the 80s as a decade was, of course, 10 years. The “80s” as, like, a cultural era was a fair bit longer.

[@leonconnelly5303]

The 80s began with stars wars and lasted until nirvana.

[@DaveBob96]

@@thatkidwiththehoodie Unless you were in the Midwestern United States where the 70s went on till like 2002

[@bengalinsky4300]

I did a gig supporting Emf in the early 2000s, really really nice guys. The bassist gave us all valium at 4am cos he wanted to sleep and we were like 20 in a hotel room

[@DOSRetroGamer]

Lol. And you all took it it?

[@basedsouljah]

If Zac Foley gave me Valium I'd take that shit lmao RIP

[@ScottsGameAsylum]

The Nirvana punchline never gets old

[@afterdinnercreations936]

Clearly, this 70s disco band was built for bigger and better things! [Smash-cut to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"]

[@Nate-jy4li]

The Smells Like Teen Spirit jump scare is still my favorite running gag

[@andysee6996]

10:01 I would suggest Alanis Morissette. She was a lightweight Teen Pop star in Canada in the early 1990s, then reinvented herself with her third album Jagged Little Pill and became popular the world over.

[@FrankLightheart]

If you're only going to have one hit, you can at least be proud that it was "Unbelievable". Still love that fuckin' song.

[@andrewwebb7584]

You're the only American I've ever known to pronounce Gloucestershire correctly!

[@mr.mister873]

If I catch you around there I’ll give you the rifle

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

Glah-ses-ter-sher. Easy

[@violentaftervisions3849]

These goddamn yanks...

[@kylefish666]

Anyone from Massachusetts will. We have a Gloucester and a Worcester ourselves.

[@mydadshowering2978]

@@ninjabluefyre3815 Gloss-ter-sher. Nice try.

[@anarchistmugwump9137]

I'm no expert but I think the reason the rave scene ended was because laws were introduced that made the outdoor raves illegal, hence the Prodigy song "Their Law".

[@xKynOx]

Nothing stopped them they still happen all the time, Hardcore4life

[@patricklauer4452]

Anarchist Mugwump dude I fucking love The Prodigy they were second act that got me into electronic music weirdly enough thanks to my mum

[@BurnRoddy]

I don't know I think hip hop was kind of illegal too. Ever heard of House of Pain? They had their one hit wonder in the USA in Jump Around but in good ole' Britain they went for something a little more up beat: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWmYdq2Virp4iJY

[@medes5597]

My home town has raves in local fields all the time, I didn't know about this law. Damn, I grew up attending those things and having them shut down by cops like once a month.

[@felixhenson9926]

Eh, they tried every which way to properly define a rave so they could enshrine it in law as illegal, one famous incident criminalised "loud, repetitive beats" and however way they try to criminalise it, rave just isn't gonna get killed off that way, they're still going. Besides, Madchester was centred around one nightclub called the Hacienda, the raves that were in that scene didn't take place outdoors.

[@Dave-hp4vh]

as far as the "dark followup album" goes, Radiohead pulled off "go darker" pretty damn beautifully, going from Pablo Honey and The Bends to OK Computer and Kid A and in the process cementing a legacy as one of the greatest bands of all time. It's not common, but it CAN be done.

[@leonconnelly5303]

Radiohead were already dark tho. If anything kid a is a lighter album

[@Dave-hp4vh]

@@leonconnelly5303 my good sir, you are objectively wrong. Kid A is as dark and dissonance as it gets. OK Computer had its moments of bright optimism. Kid A is a descent into madness and despair. The end is literally the "protagonist" dying after chugging wine and a large dose of sleeping pills, then it ends with an angelic chorus with angelic harps and shit as it's only moment of levity and final release of tension. How DARE you be wrong on the internet!?! Sickening. I will email Thom Yorke about this, btw.

[@ezraciagara9600]

@@Dave-hp4vh ...but he's not wrong though. Pablo Honey had Creep. That song was incredibly dark, being about a person who pines for a girl he knows he'll never win the affections of. Very moody single. The Bends has Fake Plastic Trees, another dark and moody single about two people crumbling under the pressure of a broken relationship (a lot more than that probably but thats the jist I got). OK Computer had No Surprises, yet another dark and moody single about wanting to kill yourself rather than face the pressures of the world. So moving from that to Kid A only felt shocking in the sense that Radiohead decided to go electronic. There wasn't much of a change thematically. According to Genius, Motion Picture Soundtrack was written during the Pablo Honey era. Radiohead had that dark and moody songwriting from the VERY beginning. Whether or not Paranoid Android is darker than Kid A is definitely up for debate (and definitely not OBJECTIVE lol) but there's not a doubt in my mind that EMF going from a big energetic single about dumping an ex triumphantly to a single like Inside where he's saying "I've lost all reason / I've got nothing to believe in / And it hurts to see you" is not even close to Radiohead's album trajectory. Radiohead had a much more consistent mood. EMF had a bipolar episode.

[@tommythecat]

I also thought about Slipknot, and they've also done alright since their second darker album

[@Dave-hp4vh]

@@ezraciagara9600 another person who is objectively wrong! I am reporting you to the internet police for the crime of disagreeing with my opinion on the internet. The gloves are off!

[@Piratejackyar]

The Madchester scene turned into the general rave scene. They stopped having bands and started having more DJs.

[@beemail6983]

The rave scene comes from homosexual parties in the 70's and 80's

[@brendanmccabe8373]

Bee Mail it’s called disco mate

[@thelastmotel]

@@beemail6983 Not in the UK, it didn't.

[@thelastmotel]

This. Most of the bands from that time were burned out anyway.

[@evandemers3753]

EMF were really dead in the water by 92-93. In the US, they were made irrelevant by Nirvana and Pearl Jam. In the UK, they were made irrelevant by Blur and Oasis. They started being perceived as too rock for the rave scene and too electronic for the rock scene, so they didn't have their hometown crowd to fall back on. They had nowhere to go but down. It's a fascinating tale, really. In the span of not even 18 months, they went from "future of rock music" to "embarrassing outdated fad".

[@valentinere4343]

I find it funny that EMF's career died when they covered I'm a Believer, given that... they're Unbelievable. OH!

[@alexandercaverly7489]

they even had a song called "i believe" in between. i guess the public didn't believe.

[@daniellelanglois7398]

What the fuck was that?

[@riahlexington]

Christopher H. Heck smash mouth did it

[@michaelhall5429]

Dice?

[@jedahn]

OH!

[@craven1927]

Here are the top 40 hits from 1990, for reference... 1 "Hold On" - Wilson Phillips 2 "It Must Have Been Love" - Roxette 3 "Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinéad O'Connor 4 "Poison" - Bell Biv DeVoe 5 "Vogue" - Madonna 6 "Vision of Love" - Mariah Carey 7 "Another Day in Paradise" - Phil Collins 8 "Hold On" - En Vogue 9 "Cradle of Love" - Billy Idol 10 "Blaze of Glory" - Jon Bon Jovi 11 "Do Me!" - Bell Biv DeVoe 12 "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" - Michael Bolton 13 "Pump Up the Jam" - Technotronic 14 "Opposites Attract" - Paula Abdul 15 "Escapade" - Janet Jackson 16 "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" - Heart 17 "Close to You" - Maxi Priest 18 "Black Velvet" - Alannah Myles 19 "Release Me" - Wilson Phillips 20 "Don't Know Much" - Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville 21 "All Around the World" - Lisa Stansfield 22 "I Wanna Be Rich" - Calloway 23 "Rub You the Right Way" - Johnny Gill 24 "She Ain't Worth It" - Glenn Medeiros and Bobby Brown 25 "If Wishes Came True" - Sweet Sensation 26 "The Power" - Snap! 27 "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" - Nelson 28 "Love Will Lead You Back" - Taylor Dayne 29 "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" - Jane Child 30 "Two to Make It Right" - Deduction 31 "Sending All My Love" - Linear 32 "Unskinny Bop" - Poison 33 "Step by Step" - New Kids on the Block 34 "Dangerous" - Roxette 35 "We Didn't Start the Fire" - Billy Joel 36 "I Don't Have the Heart" - James Ingram 37 "Downtown Train" - Rod Stewart 38 "Rhythm Nation" - Janet Jackson 39 "I'll Be Your Everything" - Tommy Page 40 "Roam" - The B-52s

[@HolyGoddessMotherAnne]

Mostly crap but there is some good.

[@starmanda88]

Thank you for reminding me of Roam. That’s a bop.

[@gemfyre855]

In 1990 I was 10 years old. We holidayed at my favourite place on earth (no, not Disneyland, Broome in North-western Australia), AND I moved house for the first time. It was a huge year for me, so despite a lot of these songs being objectively crap, they hold a special place in my heart.

[@fluffysheap]

It's 1990. Most of the songs are bad, but even the bad songs are good

[@calmbbaer]

I'd gladly listen to that top 10 ad infinitum, as long as I was able to replace one "Hold On" with the other.

[@Jaceblue04]

I heard this on a commercial for Kraft's Cheese Crumbles somewhere during the 2000's, so now, that's all I can think of whenever I hear this song.

[@XxXAlexXxX101]

"Your crumb-believable ... OOH!" XD

[@kobalt_ren01]

+Jaceblue04 I heard it on an advert for Aero Bubbles.

[@ManOutofTime913]

Same here. It really sounds like a commercial jingle, doesn't it?

[@xandertrejo]

+ManOutofTime913 It is the same song. The band made a cover of Unbelievable about the crumbles.

[@ManOutofTime913]

xander trejo I knew that already. I'm saying the song sounded a lot like a commercial jingle to begin with.

[@heyo49]

Alanis Morisette became better when she went more adult/darker.

[@andysee6996]

Unfortunately, those first two albums didn't even get American releases so most Americans who know her think Jagged Little Pill was her first album.

[@ladiorange]

Jagged little pill was her third album

[@ConvincingPeople]

Notable exceptions to the "lightweight band makes 'dark' album and botches it horribly" trend tend to be bands that did it early and stuck with that darker sound from there on out-Depeche Mode, Ministry, arguably even The Cure. But those are kind of their own breed.

[@gabe_s_videos]

+ConvincingPeople Todd actually mentioned once that he can't stand Depeche Mode, but holds his tongue because he knows how dedicated their fanbase is. I would imagine that he chose to ignore them for that reason.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Oh, I know that he loathes them. I'm just pointing out that even if you find them irritating, their later stuff is, at a bare minimum, more interesting than their early work. And my other two examples still stand.

[@VanielDeeform]

Bleached are a group on the rise with an undeniably darker, heavier 2nd album, but still catchy as hell

[@dentistguba]

Depeche modes dark songs are damn good, shriekback had a couple of good dark tracks (used on the manhunter film) but when i listened to the rest it was disappointingly light and airy.

[@Digglesisdead]

The Manhunter sound track rocks! Love This Big Hush!

[@chapter_black3234]

A band who's dark sound made them more popular than before? Depeche Mode...even in the same era as EMF

[@robbiehughes8382]

Don't forget pantera

[@Logan912]

Primus with Pork Soda although that's probably a stretch.

[@leekalba]

Also Ministry, which started off as new wave, complete with Al putting on a fake British accent, before introducing more industrial sounds on the second album. Though, to be fair, I don't know how many people even think about the first two albums.

[@kingpin1331]

@@leekalba welp i love ministry and somehow my uncle had and gave me a poster of them from the first album so counting you that's a grand total of 3 people lol

[@MrRhys666]

As a huge DM fan, I also love EMF's second album. Heck, their first album does have some rather dark tracks too.

[@mr.seanburk200]

I wonder if todd can see me binge watching 10 years of his shit because i found him 4 days ago?

[@starmanda88]

>me doing this 2 years later 😮

[@hardnewstakenharder]

@@starmanda88 Me doing this in July 2024.

[@JusAnIdea]

​@@hardnewstakenharder Me doing this three weeks after you

[@jasonnorman-hodges3471]

I cannot imagine why like almost nobody has ever noticed that they use the f-bomb over a dozen times in the song, very audibly. That Andrew Dice Clay "Oh!" is then followed by "What the f*** WAS that?" It's in the lyric sheet of the album. "Unbelievable" is the song responsible for more profanity on the airwaves than literally any other source in the history of history. It is NEVER bleeped.

[@hiimemily]

"Poker Face" by Lady Gaga might lay claim to that title now. The official lyrics are "p-p-p-poker face, f-f-fuck her face".

[@JTHMSqueeMrEffDBoy]

In terms of the "dark albums that succeeded," I tend to think of Primus's Pork Soda. That was their highest charting album in America and definitely had a darker feel than the ones before it. Though they weren't ever lightweights, truthfully, just oddball and quirky, and serious songs weren't foreign to them, but most tend to see them in a goofier light, so I figured it was a decent example.

[@christophervan9634]

Pantera is the perfect example of a band that achieved success with a "darker" album. They started off as a hair metal band.

[@Djarra]

I'd also go with Beastie Boys, who started off Jock Hop and derided yet their darkest album was one of the biggest selling of the 90s.

[@christophervan9634]

@@Djarra I would not call the Beasties "dark". NIN is another example, I mean PHM is has it's dark moments, but Broken is a much darker harder record.

[@evandemers3753]

Yeah but Pantera weren't famous for their hair metal sound. They became famous when they changed their sound and look. Acts that become famous as lightweights and then try to go "darker" and "more mature" almost always fail, because their usual fanbase is not interested in darker and more mature sounds while the audience they're trying to conquer generally still doesn't believe in them, so it's almost always a lose-lose. They get caught in no man's land, between two very different target audiences.

[@christophervan9634]

@@evandemers3753 Well kind of, they were fairly large in the underground before "Cowboys" but even still the jump in heaviness from "Cowboys" to "Vulgar" is pretty staggering and "Vulgar" is what really put them into rotation on MTV. I saw them in a small club about a month before "Vulgar" came out and it was packed, but no where near the size of the venue they would play after.

[@evandemers3753]

@@christophervan9634 But still, we're talking about acts that got huge specifically with light stuff and then tried to go dark and mature. Pantera definitely weren't huge as a hair metal band, although they might've been underground sweethearts. They got super famous as a really heavy band. It's not like they sold millions of records as a hair metal band and then tried to prove to the world that they could be as heavy and tough as the trendier bands that came about after their rise to fame. In fact, it's more like they set a trend after their change in sound and look. It's definitely not a MC Hammer, NKOTB or EMF type of scenario.

[@atomwatt77]

EMI signed the Beatles too...but yeah, EMF was definitely their best signing. 🙄

[@joshhale9355]

“Purple prose” means too elaborate or ornate, so basically it means you’re try to hard to lie, so “you’re purple prose just gives you away” means “you’re trying to too hard to lie and I can tell”. That’s actually a great line IMO.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

Just like Bonzu Pippinpaddlopsicopolis

[@donweatherwax9318]

The only other time I've seen someone use the term "purple prose" was Infocom in the instructions for their text-based adventure game, _Zork._

[@DokkaChapman]

Wanna know something funny about that Shamen track? It got to number one the same week the BBC were doing their drug awareness week..... They played it live on TV on BBC 1! XD Strange thing is all the stuff the band were doing before that track sounded more floaty and their 80's stuff was more indie based. It's strange what drugs can do.

[@johnny5805]

I'll always remember from am interview , that the dead bass player could fit X amount of 10p coins under his foreskin. (This was before he was dead, obviously).

[@LukeLeonettiYouTube]

You think he still can?

[@SeanStrife]

I will say... this video did one good thing; it introduced me to Baggy music. I kinda dig the blend of rock and electronic music, not gonna lie and kinda hope this kind of music can get a fair shake these days.

[@TheManWithNoNickname13]

I was that way with Pop Will Eat Itself.

[@kentonkruger8333]

Utah Saints is another act that falls into a very similar sound to EMF. Their only hit, which is also called Utah Saints, is very good. I have not looked into them at all to find out anything about them.

[@the-craig]

@@kentonkruger8333 they did a decent remix of the Mortal Kombat theme

[@kentonkruger8333]

@@the-craig Thanks, I'll have to look that up.

[@TheCinemaniac]

So in the end EMF was Eh, Meh and... Fuck it, I can't come up with anything either.

[@w1q2e3r4t5]

That's a long series of words for just F.

[@bullmonty764]

w1q2e3r4t5 Obviously it has to be Feh

[@Romax-pg2is]

Fast forward 9 years, and EMF is now back to releasing new material. They put out their comeback album just a few months ago.

[@Thomasmemoryscentral]

As a teenager, I loved following up singing You're Unbelievable and Oh with I'm A Goofy Goober yeah! For sone reason, those mashed up well

[@valmarsiglia]

DON'T lump Siouxsie and the Banshees in with Jesus Jones and those other one-trick ponies. They were punk pioneers and were around for a long, long time with a consistenly big following. They didn't "just disappear."

[@taylor21136]

I think he's talking about in regards to US chart success. Siouxsie and the Banshees only ever had one song in the US top 40.

[@Mirokuofnite]

It's something he's come to realize as this series goes on. 1 hit wonder is a strange term especially with international acts. The Banshees probably had one top 40 hit in the us but they got tons of play on college radio and alternative stations. As for being pioneers that is true in the sense that they were at the heart of the early days of the London punk scene as the Bromley Contingent (along with Billy Idol). Then went off to do their own thing. An American example would be the members of the Go-Go's. They were basically at day 1 ground zero of the LA punk scene. But listening to their music you would assume the band started in a mall in Reseda and not the dirty basement of a porn theater that became LA's first punk venue the Masque.

[@ultraorange1]

True, they shouldn’t have been mentioned.

[@PopeSalty1]

Folks, there is a difference between success as a band, and purely success on the pop singles chart. As successful as the Banshees were, if you got your music purely from pop radio, you only knew them for one song. "Kiss them for me" was their only top-40 hit.

[@zevaronxz7288]

Made investor

[@acidstrummer]

Can we get a Smashmouth retrospective?

[@rubberwoody]

+acidstrummer not a one hit wonder

[@CharizardMaster69]

Which song would he do?

[@uztre6789]

+acidstrummer Not really a On Hit Wonder.

[@petergrnbech3125]

He doesn't just review one hit wonders guys.

[@rubberwoody]

Peter Grønbech either that or a top ten list or a recent pop song...

[@this_connor_guy]

This video actually got me into EMF back when it came out and just had to watch it again, haha. I do like their first two albums. Also dig them sampling "3AM Eternal" by The KLF in their song "They're Here."

[@davebollon1306]

They still tour, club sized venues. I saw them in January. James is a high school teacher now, has been for years.

[@TripperGetem]

LEN - STEAL MY SUNSHINE!!!!!!

[@sephyfan]

scotcheggable nah man, the canadian brother/sister duo

[@druffner]

scotcheggable exactly lmao

[@SunburntHands]

13 minutes about EMF and no mention of the rumour about the lime?

[@daniellemhall1358]

I love that song

[@TripperGetem]

@@daniellemhall1358 classic !

[@kyliepollert8341]

This song was used in commercials for Kraft Cheese Crumbles in 2005-2006, with the lyrics rewritten as "They're crumbelievable!"

[@fehzorz]

Alanis Morisette's career took off when she went dark instead of doing upbeat 80s pop (in the early 90s) Pantera's breakthrough album was also the album where they stopped being a hair metal band. Those are two examples off the top of my head where the pivot to darker was what helped the band become successful.

[@-0-getliffe476]

Ministery & Faith No More are 2 bands that come to mind when going from light to dark.

[@paulhilton6426]

Ministry and FNM were light, when, exactly?

[@-0-getliffe476]

@@paulhilton6426 check out both bands 'true debut' albums Ministry - With Sympathy. FNM - We Care A Lot.

[@zyxaqc]

Say what you want but (band name not found)'s second album is massively underrated.

[@andrewbowman4611]

But not as good as ?'s second...

[@shawnfields2757]

What about (Band name not found's) third and fourth albums? Not as good as their next 3 albums, but still pretty good, right?

[@nerdztv2107]

@@andrewbowman4611 true, Band Name Not Found kinda stagnated after their second album, but "?" Really hit a groove after theirs, they're one of my favorites

[@herbalgerbil]

@@nerdztv2107 My brother had an uncle that roadied for Band Name Not Found.

[@JC42023]

Pantera can be considered a band that found success by going darker. After three Glam Metal albums-and a lead singer change-they started moving towards the thrash/groove metal sound that made them big

[@Jaspertine]

Nirvana killed a lot of careers, but they kickstarted just as many. I do hope people keep that in mind.

[@chapter_black3234]

Probably more

[@tomborosa1328]

Kurt killed his own career

[@scottmcscott3490]

Yeah true.... but you had to sit through alot of shit as a result.... days of the new, local h and creed all the grunge backwash

[@xSwordLilyx]

Nirvana signaled the start of a beautiful wave of my favorite genre; alt rock. Delicious, delicious alternative rock. And as much as I hate Smells Like Teen Spirit, and love them singing The Man Who Sold the World in thrift store sweaters, I thank them for that.

[@Jaspertine]

If your mind goes directly from Nirvana to Simple Plan, that says more about you than about the band, methinks.

[@redcitadel9123]

Honestly British raves back when everyone was on ecstasy where wild . My mum was around then (hence why I know and love all of this music!!) and she quote ' wish she had taken more drugs'

[@gr8kat1]

They're crumb-believable!

[@shawnfields2757]

OH!

[@lwzeis]

Cheese is good

[@mariaquiet6211]

I loved their "dark" album Stigma. Absolutely blew their first album away. It was dense, relentless, claustrophobic, probably a reflection of how they felt about overnight success. Kinda their In Utero, not that anyone would care to recognize it that way.

[@DrammenSk8]

LEN - STEAL MY SUNSHINE!!!!!! "Unbelievable" still has one of the best hooks of all time.

[@sycastells1212]

"I bet his girlfriend doesn't even know she's being insulted". Isn't that a reddit?

[@TakeMeOffYourMailingList]

Under the chorus and intro you'll hear a sample of "What the fuck?", this usually gets played unedited on TV and radio, etc. It's hard to hear if you don't know, but once you hear it you'll never un-hear it.

[@DokkaChapman]

I could name one band that got bigger due to getting darker... Pop Will Eat Itself! After Trent Reznor got hold of them they went all industrial rock, however the fan ended up being their downfall cause Trent wanted them to break the US with his help, but most of the band had families so all but Clint Mansell went back to the UK. They did reform a few years ago with a slightly different line up (getting the vocalist from Greebo band Gaye Bykers On Acid to be on the mic) and now have a firm nostalgic fanbase in Blighty. :)

[@Sammie1053]

Wait wait wait... _Reeves and Mortimer?_ Bob Mortimer is freaking hilarious, I was not expecting to see his spaced out grin in this video. Awesome.

[@JonathanLedbetter]

8:29 I'll tell you what killed alternative rock on the Hot 100: Around 1992, the rise of both gangsta rap and grunge made a LOT of Top 40 radio programmers nervous. Those were both genres that were immensely popular with young people, aged 12-24. Unfortunately, at the time they were both anathema to two groups: People aged 25-54, and advertisers. The first group of people wanted to listen to their Mariah Careys, Amy Grants and Michael Boltons... but more importantly, they had money and young people did not. Advertisers want to sell their things to people with money, and they didn't want the people with money changing stations. The result? Anything with even a remotely hard edge was culled from playlists. As mentioned, gangsta rap and grunge were hard hit - so no more Dr. Dre, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, etc. But a *lot* of music got caught in the crossfire. Def Leppard got forced out. Sir Mix-a-Lot got backed out. Even R&B groups like TLC put Left-Eye on time out for YEARS on the radio to the point she's missing from all of her group's biggest hits whenever they're on the radio to this day. EMF sounds like one of those bands that didn't make the cut on the radio after 1992. They were too hard for top 40 radio, too soft for rock radio, and alternative radio was really in its naissance at the time. By the time radio started bringing those genres back in around 1994-95, alternative rock had changed. But also, the British music scene changed - the big fight in 1995 was Blur vs. Oasis, both of whom would make American impacts in the following years (Damon Albarn ended up the big winner overall since then). Radiohead and others had their own followings as well. There just wasn't room for EMF or the Madchester scene anymore on American radio 😢

[@Kochiha]

I know this is a TREMENDOUSLY small point, but The Shamen (around 3:49) weren't part of the Manchester scene, they were actually from Scotland and were major figures in the same London acid house scene that made Aphex Twin big. They also made a song in 1989 called "Synergy" with the lines "M-D-M-Azing" and "We are together in ecstasy", so...I dunno, Ebeneezer Goode sounds kinda clever at that point.

[@SeanStrife]

I think they get lumped in because they did share SOME similar influences to the Madchester scene (namely, the psychedelia and electronic music... ESPECIALLY the psychedelia; this is a band with an entire track that's literally just Terrence McKenna rambling throughout the whole track). Hell, I was actually listening to Spotify's "The Sound of Madchester" playlist and, sure enough, The Shamen showed up on it... "Move Any Mountain", to be exact.

[@corox914]

K

[@daviddyer3543]

Synergy also samples some stuff from Star Trek: The Original Series.

[@thediscostu4127]

I'm 36 and I owned a Jesus Jones CD from back in the day (the one that contains "Right Here, Right Now" which would be another good song for your One Hit Wonder series) and these guys sound a lot like them, except for Unbelievable, which doesn't sound like a lot of their other stuff that you played.

[@MartijnterHaar]

That album is Doubt. Then just like EMF, they released an album after that that is darker, more aggressive and got better reviews, but contained no big hits (I think 'Zeroes and Ones' might have been a minor one). That second album is called Perverse and it has held up very well. Check out 'Your Crusade' kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHvKaoyOh7R4Z5Y

[@devenscience8894]

There was a trend then for British bands to sing in a breathy, whispery way that was common enough for me to notice. Jesus Jones, Suede, EMF. I called that sub-genre "asthma pop."

[@thelastmotel]

@@devenscience8894 It's called 'art rock' / 'art pop'

[@KDPhilosophy]

I grew up in a town where the loca gang is called EMF...this band will never cease to make me feel uncomfortable.

[@juanbahama8718]

You're uncomfortable.......OH!

[@petsch6787]

Before I watch this video, I just want to say, I love this song. I danced to it at weddings when I was a small child.

[@kinneysk]

"Plenty of allegedly lightweight acts have achieved greater success when they made a darker album such as...?...and..." Ministry comes immediately to mind.

[@mamajodylynn5585]

Nine Inch Nails? Pretty Hate Machine was fairly light compared to Broken and esp Downward Spiral. One could even make an argument that Marilyn Manson would qualify. The Spooky Kids stuff was silly and much much lighter than what he actually became known for in the late 90s.

[@wkrick]

Their first album is really good. It's one of those few albums that I completely enjoy start to finish.

[@WordsofHeresy]

Up and coming band in '90: we just had an amazing single! We're gonna be big! Nirvana: imma ruin this man's career

[@anarchodolly]

The Prodigy seems like an obvious example of switching tone: "Experience" to "Music For The Jilted Generation" - totally turned their critical reputation upside down and made people take them seriously. Speaking of "...Jilted Generation", Pop Will Eat Itself (who co-wrote "Their Law") also had a kind of similar sound and trajectory to EMF I think, going from goofy mash-ups of hip-hop and indie on stuff like "Can You Dig It?" to industrial anti-fascist tracks like "Ich Bin Ein Auslander". I just find that whole era of late-80s to mid-90s in the UK music scene endlessly fascinating for the way artists smashed together different styles and genres to produce whole new sounds. Class. :-)

[@jaredpopelar5614]

Is it strange that, as a physics major, my mind immediately translated EMF into "electromotive force"?

[@Hermititis]

Jared Popelar, I thought of electromagnetic field.

[@beckyginger3432]

Hey me too!

[@Djarra]

How an electric guitar works.

[@NPGLAMB]

Hahahahaha you probably just accidentally decoded their name.

[@weavehole]

Yeah, I always thought electromagnetic frequency..

[@nomine4027]

David Bowie signed with EMI in 1983. It was a huge deal at the time and one can watch the press coverage online. The "Scary Monsters" album was his most commercially successful venture, so that kinda speaks for itself. I do like several songs off that record, but it is definitely his cash machine apex, too.

[@cremetangerine82]

That album was most likely “Let’s Dance”.

[@Zeupater]

8:12 Actually, my experience at the time, I would contend it almost literally happened overnight. I remember the first time I heard it on a jukebox. I think people knew things had just changed.

[@mr.pavone9719]

NOt gonna lie, I loved that Manchester shit. The Soup Dragons, EMF, Teenage Fanclub. All that shit. And at 9:55, the band that managed to change its image from dance-pop fun to GODDAMMNED DARK AND HEAVY was Ministry. Uncle Al went from doing disco to standardizing the sound of industrial metal.

[@raygunromance772]

Their second album "Stigma" is an underrated gem. Deserves way more praise.

[@JossBenyon]

That's a really interesting look at the scene. My favourite thing about this song is that it's played everywhere, and nobody hears the sample "what the f**k was that" littered through the song. But more importantly I didn't realise how much the Seattle scene affected for the British indi scene. Hacienda (the famous club that the stone roses played) closing, grunge invading, probably spelled the death knell to a band you all should look up - Carter the unstoppable sex machine.

[@acertainanimetheorymakingg3875]

Repent Motherfuckers! Anyway, I love that guitar riff.

[@LydCal999]

Panty? Is that you?

[@LydCal999]

Panty? Is that you?

[@acertainanimetheorymakingg3875]

Nah, my personality is closer to Stocking's.

[@andrewbowman4611]

My cousin occasionally played (proper) football with them in early- to mid-eighties. They were from the Forest of Dean, which wasn't too far away from where he lived.

[@misterepicpantsyo8687]

That one guy from the I'm A Believer looks way too much like Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy

[@ibtaba]

"The 80's had been going on for 15 or 20 years" I'm dead!

[@logicn.reasoning9744]

Groups that went from light to darker with great success: Ministry and Depeche Mode.

[@youdoofus]

Electro Magnetic Field. Happens in everything amplified. Big electronic group that threw raves in the middle of nowhere. There used to be EMF warnings on amps

[@knightwing5169]

Obviously, EMF stands for "Eat My Fuc". Yes, that was indeed a reference to GG Allin.

[@glennaldosf]

it's funny but one of my favorite albums growing up was Stigma by the EMF, used to listen to it all of the time. Absolutely loved that record. Wasn't even aware they were the ones who also sung Unbelievable... was shocked and somewhat saddened when I realized it was them singing that. But I can see their problems... the kids who would've liked unbelievable would not have liked Stigma and vice-versa..

[@roddorfj]

Sum 41's "darkest" album Chuck was also their highest charting in a lot of countries, including Canada and the US.

[@RumchugMusic]

And DC Talk's Jesus Freak, where they went dark and gritty.

[@evandemers3753]

Those were the emo years, so it probably explains why that album was so popular despite being Sum 41's darkest material.

[@tayloreh]

I find it hard to consider I pop punk parody like Sum 41 dark at all in any context.

[@fehzorz]

@@tayloreh Listen to Chuck again - there's a song that directly rips off "Battery" by Metallica. Or "Scream Bloody Murder". Or their last 2 albums. Their first 2 albums were nu metal tinged pop punk, but they generally skew heavier.

[@OscarManners]

@@fehzorz People really don't give Sum 41 the credit they deserve with Chuck. People who criticise them are normally average joes who hear In Too Deep or Fat Lip on some nostalgia rock cable tv channel and instantly paint their discography in very large strokes. In reality Chuck is a very well written and smart modern rock album in that has something for everyone from punk and emo all the way to full blown metal. Not to mention they named the album after a UN Peacekeeper who helped them escape when a full blown war broke out around them while they were in the Congo filming a documentary about god damn child soldiers. That's more punk than most of the 70s and 80s "real punk" fans and artists who constantly shit on them are willing to go.

[@camilaibarra1929]

Teen Spirit: *exist* Every artist before 1991: Why do I hear boss music?

[@sirekumasutra7022]

Now I can imagine remaking the Sephiroth Smash Ultimate trailer with Cobain dressed as Sephiroth with a grunge cover of One Winged Angel playing lol

[@Aquatarkus96]

Todd you have to do an episode over The KLF. 3 am eternal got to #1 on the US dance charts and #5 on the US the top 100. They were basically designed to be a one hit wonder.

[@gemfyre855]

Interesting, in Australia they had more success - I can think of 3 or 4 KLF hits here.

[@ROOKTABULA]

Radio station wouldn't play one of my songs because I sang "dickweed" once before the solo but they played this with the lyric "What the fuck?" all the fucking time!!!

[@Bi_scotti_5]

I'm surprised that you didn't mention Blur when you were talking about "dance stuff with guitars".

[@SamAronow]

+Watchman5 Meh. Blur in 1991 was a shoegaze band. When they came to Britpop it was 1993 and the whole situation had mellowed. Hell, they even kickstarted the Garage revival at the end of the 90s, so even though they went into the odd audio experiment, their singles were always on the more traditional "rock" end of the Britpop spectrum.

[@Bi_scotti_5]

+Sam Huddy I'm not talking about 1991 I mean 1989 when they made their debut with stuff like There's No Other Way

[@HectorGonzalez-qx9nk]

+Watchman5 Leisure came out in 1991. In 89, they were being their art punk sound when they were known as Seymour. There was the essence of the whole baggy thing in what they were doing when Leisure was released, but it was more really shoegazing than anything else.

[@Bi_scotti_5]

Hector Gonzalez Ah crap I didn't realize the album came out in 1991 :/

[@mcbrodz1663]

New order are more dance stuff with guitars too

[@ZJohnnyBGood]

Bands that became successful after releasing a darker album - the first name that comes to mind is Pantera. But I would also argue that RHCP, the Prodigy, Alanis Morissette to name but a few became a lot more successful after droping a darker album

[@bendover9663]

The detail you put into your vids is so well researched mate, i mean wow, you mentioned Reeves and Mortimer👌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

[@direcircumstances]

As soon as you said "1991," I knew we'd be seeing that Nirvana clip soon.

[@noideac]

Technically Ministry is a good case of a light act going darker and heavier and achieving success (though they weren't big when they were light and the heavy part was most of their career). Gary Numan also achieved success when he went darker, but that wasn't the pop success he had in 1980.

[@LicoriceLain]

It wasn't pop success, but it stabilized Numan's career. Before Sacrifice, his career was swiftly circling the toilet.

[@unkindestcut]

Numan was never “light.” Down in the Park, for instance

[@Wabsirba]

Remember the first time I saw this air on MTV. It was Spring Break. Went back to college and had no idea this song was being played on popular radio. Hit #1 that summer.

[@ConvincingPeople]

There are certainly "lightweight" bands who successfully pivoted to a much darker sound; Ministry is a particularly extreme example, but Depeche Mode, The Cure and Gary Numan's early career are classic examples as well. The difference is, typically this happens organically fairly early in a band's career, and tends to follow from darker tendencies which were there all along, either in the music itself or in the artist's personal tastes finally coming to the fore. These also tend to be moves made with no expectation of commercial success which worked out because those artists essentially created an entirely new audience for what they were doing which was actually larger than their original one. EMF, sadly, chose the wrong time to make that pivot for several reasons, and no shade to the band at all, but Ian Dench is not Al Jourgenson or Robert Smith. He made out a lot better in Whistler (a smaller but healthier band to all appearances) and behind the scenes as a songwriter and A&R guy.

[@jrmarcus]

I hung out with EMF at a bar after a show in Chicago. I think Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine opened for them. That whole album was good.

[@rileyscherer129]

Gorillaz is a good examples of a band that had a big hit on their first light hearted album then did I much darker album for their sophomore effort that blew the first out of the water in terms of success

[@starmanda88]

Damn this brings me back. My mom LOVED and still LOVES this song 😂 she had good taste. No adult contemporary in our house.

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

I want, nay I NEED that Tom Jones cover! >___

[@rpgaholic8202]

If I remember right, it was on a Sandra Bernhard comedy special, and while Tom Jones' performance was great, hers part of it was... lacking.

[@13AndreFalcao666]

I could never get the chance to see mr. Big live, but I did see winery dogs back in 2016 and is one of the top 10 concerts of my life

[@lutfimakarim8258]

EMF has a new album in 2024.

[@ogami1972]

I was in my early 20's then, and there was a new "alternative" radio station here that played all the follow-ups. "Lies" was pretty good.

[@Luraldir_Original]

Damn, I'm only just realising the huge impact of Nirvana through this series (forgive me, I wasn't alive in the 90's).

[@wesleywelch6090]

yeah watching Nirvana happen in real time as a teen was insane.... nothing has replicated it for me since

[@cremetangerine82]

@@wesleywelch6090 I was 9 in 1991, and it’s the closest to seeing a musical and cultural sea change virtually overnight as I have ever witnessed. The only real change (certainly larger in terms of cultural impact) would be the Beatles in 1964.

[@wesleywelch6090]

@@cremetangerine82 I can't argue with that

[@cremetangerine82]

@@wesleywelch6090 My mom, who was old enough to remember the Beatles, has a distinct memory of seeing more boys trying to comb their hair to look longer or stop getting haircuts.

[@wesleywelch6090]

@@cremetangerine82 I saw a documentary that were talking about how afraid parents were of the influence they had on their kids lol... stuff like their kids growing out their hair, they thought would result in the end of society

[@EdPlays1997]

9:35-10:07 Weezer or Iron Maiden perhaps?

[@maureenhoward9770]

Got big with Unbelieveable crashed and burned with I'm a Believer. Perfect symmetry. LEN - STEAL MY SUNSHINE!!!!!!

[@gregorsamsa9264]

The Beach Boys did well with a dark album.

[@d.b.cooper5766]

Surf’s Up!

[@469ka37]

That music video needs an epilepsy warning or at least an irritation warning because MY EYES!

[@ThatFanBoyGuy]

FUN FACT: That cover of "I'm a Believer" is actually a holdover for the Smash Mouth cover for the Shrek movie. At the time, Dreamworks was still waiting to hear back from Smash Mouth on whether on not they would cover "I'm A Believer" for the Shrek movie. Just in case they said no, Dreamworks commissioned EMF to do the cover. Once Smash did their cover, Dreamworks for the most part trashed the EMF cover for the Shrek part. The only remaining part from the EMF cover is the "Oi!" because Smash Mouth never says "Oi!" in their album version of the song. Now ironically, "Unbelievable" seems to be the cover that does so many bands in. I have heard so many bands cover "Unbelievable," and I hardly hear about those bands anymore.

[@evandemers3753]

"The darker and more adult album" is usually music industry lingo for "band whose career is almost over trying desperately to get some credibility".

[@RandJohnson]

Two things: Ian Dench, The guitarist, lived in the building with serial killer couple Fred and Rose West who brutally murdered at least 12 prople (psycho-sexual serial killers, at that). Also, baggy was a double entendre: it could refer to the clothes or the parcels the drugs were disseminated in.

[@riahlexington]

Can u talk about Blur? Idk when or how but please. I’d love to see your opinion on them. Especially after the Oasis episode I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[@Missjunebugfreak]

Same. I love Blur. It would be fascinating to hear what Todd thinks of their musical shift from Brit Pop to Alternative Rock in 1997.

[@vita1ogy.]

He should do Think Tank as a Trainwreckords episode. Graham Coxon quit early on and is only featured on one track.