Failure, Fantastic Planet (1996)

by Joe Jamnitzky

Failure is a band that, while not widely remembered or recognized by a wide audience, has been a huge favorite of critics, popular artists, and adventurous music listeners, all of whom have a high level of respect for the band. Now, with their first new song in 17 years being released on Bandcamp less than an hour prior to my writing this, I felt it was time to go back to a hit album that never was, Fantastic Planet.

Prior to this album, the band had worked on building up a fan base, releasing two prior albums, as well as touring with Tool (who were good friends of them). Founding members Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards had recorded most of their second album, Magnified, on their own, adding drummer Kelli Scott after sessions were finished. Despite recording a video for the song “Undone”, the album made almost no impact; the video actually got little to no airplay at all.

Regardless, the album was noticed by critics and other musicians, receiving highly positive praise. Wanting to build on this, they started recording Fantastic Planet in 1995, again producing themselves. However, things would start to go bad before the album would even be released.

Slash Records, the band’s label, had a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records, which Warner Bros. decided not to renew. As a result, the album ended up in limbo, with the band stuck waiting to see if it would even get released. After almost a year, an agreement was reached with Warner Bros. to use the Slash imprint one last time for the release of Fantastic Planet in August 1996. Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen would join as a second guitarist, his first major exposure before joining A Perfect Circle and Queens Of The Stone Age.

So finally, the album was out. The first single, “Stuck On You”, was receiving decent airplay on the radio, fairly good rotation on MTV, and managed to chart at No. 31 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and No. 23 on the Modern Rock chart. It would end up being their best known song, though, as everything went wrong yet again.

The problem this time? Yet again, the label. With everything being such a mess, the album pretty much got little promotion. In spite of having a rather good setup for a follow-up single, it never happened. Two other songs, “Pitiful” and “Saturday Saviour”, were issued as promos to radio, but got little airplay outside of alt-rock stations that had no set “formats”. Basically, it was dead. Despite a tour that included a main stage slot on 1997’s Lollapalooza tour, the band would split, torn apart by Greg Edward’s increasing drug use.

As for Fantastic Planet, the album has felt over the years like a lost opportunity. It’s hard to pick individual tracks that stand out, which is a strength and weakness. What it lacks in singles and mainstream appeal, it makes up for in cohesion. This feels like an album in the truest sense of the word; it’s meant to be listened to as a whole, from start to finish, even beginning and ending the same exact way, allowing it to feel like a cycle. It’s not a concept album, but the themes of desolation, drugs, space, and emptiness run throughout all of the tracks, managing to tie them altogether. On headphones it’s absolutely gorgeous sounding, with guitar parts and effects slowly drifting back and forth over the drums and frequently distorted bass lines. This is an album where not just the music, but overall sound, compliments the lyrics perfectly.

In retrospect, this was an album that, in 1996, was probably both ahead of, and behind, the times. On one hand, it felt like a throwback to the darker space-rock albums of the 70s, which was not exactly popular at a time when Smashing Pumpkins were ruling all with “Tonite Tonite” and Korn was having a breakthrough with “A.D.I.D.A.S.”. On the other hand, the time would eventually come when rock radio was no longer quite relevant, and albums would be once again viewed as a whole, as this one was meant to be.

In the years since it’s release, the stature of the album has only grown. “Stuck On You”, that one single which everyone knows, would end up being covered by Paramore. “The Nurse Who Loved Me” would go on to be covered by A Perfect Circle. Seven of the songs show up on Failure’s greatest hits collection Essentials, and the bulk of the album would be covered on The Nurse Who Loved Me: A Tribute To Failure.

With the band having reunited and touring, and working on their first new album in 17 years, the time is perfect to revisit Fantastic Planet. What was supposed to be their breakthrough became their swan song; now, what was once their swan song has a second chance at life.