![\"failure\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/failure.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThough Failure<\/b>‘s third album, 1997’s Fantastic Planet<\/i> received good reviews and spawned a moderately-successful single (\u201cStuck on You\u201d), the band couldn’t capitalize or build on that success. Though the group had gotten off to a promising start, guitarist Ken Andrews<\/b> admits that Failure’s name would \u2013 for a long time, at least \u2013 turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n
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Does Andrews regret the band’s choice of a name? \u201cSure, all the time,\u201d he concedes. \u201cAt the beginning, I didn’t take it very seriously; it was a bit of a joke.\u201d Andrews notes that the execs at Slash Records absolutely loved it. \u201cIt was part of the reason they wanted to sign us!\u201d He says that there have been times when he thought, \u201cIt’s so ‘anti,’ such a crazy thing to name your band. And there have been times when I’ve thought, ‘What the fuck were we thinking?’\u201d<\/p>\n
After a pair of well-received albums \u2013 1992’s Comfort<\/i> and Magnified<\/i> from 1994 \u2013 Failure began work on what would become Fantastic Planet<\/i>. An ambitious work created as a complete work rather than a collection of tracks, Fantastic Planet<\/i> had the misfortune of being finished right as Slash Records neared collapse. The owners of the label were seeking a buyer, and didn’t have any interest in releasing Failure’s third album. Eventually Warner Brothers stepped in to buy Failure’s contract, but a year and a half had passed between Fantastic Planet<\/i>‘s completion and eventual release.<\/p>\n
Making matters worse \u2013 much<\/i> worse, in fact \u2013 the band members had descended into serious drug addiction. Failure \u201cceased to function in \u201997,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t play shows; we couldn\u2019t write a song. It wouldn\u2019t have surprised a lot of people if some of us would have turned up dead at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sixteen years passed after Failure’s unceremonious demise. During that time the former members \u2013 Andrews, bassist Greg Edwards<\/b> and drummer Kellii Scott<\/b> \u2013 all went on to other musical projects. Andrews became a sought-after producer and recording engineer. Edwards formed Autolux<\/b>, and Scott went on to play with Blinker the Star<\/b>, Veruca Salt<\/b> and Dr. Dre<\/b>. But more importantly, in the years following Failure’s breakup, the three musicians who made Fantastic Planet<\/i> got clean and sober.<\/p>\n