Professor of Rock

Today we’re returning to a show that we haven’t done in a long time. It’s a variation on our Bottled Lightning series called One and Done… stories about bands who should have been so much bigger, but for them, lightning only struck once. And after one big album or a short time in the spotlight, they faded back into the shadows forever. For this edition, we’re counting down 6 bands that made their mark and disappeared, including Eric Clapton's supergroup Derek and The Dominoes who created one of the most legendary classic rock albums Layla, that was actually a secret love letter from Clapton to his close friend George Harrison’s wife.Then there’s the band EMF that embedded an F-bomb into the hook of their biggest hit, Unbelievable uttering the profanity 17 times, which would add up to FCC fines of over 36 trillion dollars, enough to pay off our national debt… And finally… the frontman form the band Tonic, wrote the song that would define his entire career on the night his own mother disowned him for getting married. And the line he shot back at her in that final phone call became one of the most recognizable hooks of the decade. Let’s get into it. Tonic' Lemon Parade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spXXmHqf76Y&list=PLrnz4iRZQNlf7rQHdWKz9tfE2CUtseT-A ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Robert Taylor, Missy D, Stan Summay, MG, David Fritz ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast Apple: https://apple.co/445fVov Spotify: https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU Amazon: https://amzn.to/44b5D6m iHeartRadio: https://bit.ly/444h8MO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan Merch Store: https://professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock #classicrock #80smusic #vinylstory #onehitwonder Hey music Junkies it’s time to get into a show we haven’t done in a while… Bottled Lightning our One and Done series. 6 bands who are all that and a bag of chips for a short period of time because their album was massive but they they completely vanished Hitting the start button on this One and Done countdown, at #6 it’s band that pulled of a major coup…They managed to plainly drop the F bomb 17 times in their #1 smash and get it played 100s of millions of times without anyone making a fuss. it’s the Gloucestershire indie-dance-rock band called “Epsom Mad Funkers,” better known to most as EMF… EMF came together in in late 1989, comprised of vocalist James Atkin, guitarist Ian Dench, keyboardist Derry Brownson, bassist Zac Foley, and drummer Mark de Cloedt. Their sound smashed together the dance rhythms of Madchester, aggressive guitar pop, and hip-hop break-beats. And their catchy hooks and a larger than life stage presence made them a live draw in the United Kingdom from the get-go. EMF released their debut album Shubert Dip in May 1991. But before that, they dropped the song that would make them world-famous… “Unbelievable.” Released in October 1990, their signature track was primarily written by Ian Dench, though the rest of the band is credited on the song. Apparently, Ian was riding his bike home one day, obsessing over a girl who had dumped him, when the idea for Unbelievable popped into his head… “The things you say / Your purple prose just gives you away.” Does anybody know what purple prose is? According to Dench, Unbelievable was written about a demanding, exasperating romantic relationship. It captures the frustration of dealing with a partner whose behavior makes you feel crazy, like you can't do anything right… leaving you in state of shock and disbelief. The song’s signature vocal sample was built through spontaneous trial-and-error process. Keyboardist Derry Brownson sampled loud, bombastic audio clips—most famously American comedian Andrew Dice Clay shouting "What the [frick]!” and "Oh!"—and dropped them onto the track. Something radio programmer would miss when the song started getting radioplay. But the band liked how the aggressive samples matched the rest of the song’s chaotic energy, so they integrated them into the mix. After Unbelievable was released as a single, it started blowing up around the world. Here in the US it ascended to #1 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the US Modern Rock Charts. Globally, it went Top 10 in at least 12 different countries. And the album Schubert Dip peaked at #3 on the UK Albums Chart and #12 on the Billboard 200, helping bring British alternative dance into mainstream American pop. Said Dench about Unbelievable, “We thought it would be a taster single to set the scene, but when it came out, it went crazy.” It was perfect timing.