Artist · chart history
Failure
Band Los Angeles United States Formed 1990 US alternative rock band
Failure formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, United States. Failure has 7 chart appearances on 6 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1998–2004. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Enjoy the Silence”, which appears on 6 lists with a best position of #30. The station that charted Failure most often is 107.7 The End (Seattle, WA), with 4 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1998.
Failure came out of Los Angeles in 1990 around Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards, two players who swapped guitar and bass between them, with Andrews on lead vocals and Robert Gauss on drums. In 1992 they signed to Slash, the LA indie with Warner Bros. distribution, and went to Minnesota that summer to cut the debut, Comfort, with Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio. It came out that September, around the time they first went out on tour with Tool.
They weren't happy with how Comfort sounded, or with being left out of the mix. Albini's way was to capture a band raw, as it is, and Failure wanted something bigger and more sculpted, so for the next album Andrews and Edwards produced it themselves. Gauss left partway through, Edwards sat in on drums, and Kellii Scott took over the kit; Magnified came out in March 1994.
Then came Fantastic Planet in 1996, where the art rock and space rock ambitions take over: thick, droning guitars that hang in the air, songs that feel engineered as much as written, "Stuck on You" riding on top. Troy Van Leeuwen added guitar through 1996 and 1997, their "Enjoy the Silence" kept them on the countdowns in 1998, and after the band's run ended in 1997 they came back in 2014. The tally so far stands at seven albums and five EPs.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Failure on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enjoy the Silence | 6 | #30 | – | 1998 | |
| 2 | Stuck On You | 1 | #328 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Failure.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.