Speaker 1: It's the summer of nineteen ninety one, the peak of
Speaker 1: the monoculture. Everyone is watching and listening to, or at
Speaker 1: least aware of the same TV shows, movies, and music.
Speaker 1: The Internet hasn't had its way with us yet. A
Speaker 1: song comes out that summer from the R and B
Speaker 1: group Boys to Men. It's called Motown Philly. In the
Speaker 1: music video, we meet Boys to Men and the other
Speaker 1: groups in the East Coast family, another bad creation, bell
Speaker 1: Biv Devou, and then two minutes and thirty eight seconds
Speaker 1: into the video, we meet another group, five young guys
Speaker 1: in matching white button down shirts, each with his own
Speaker 1: unique necktie, their name and lights above them Sudden Impact.
Speaker 1: They point at the camera. They point at you, like,
Speaker 1: are you ready for sudden Impact? I was a young
Speaker 1: guy in the Midwest at the time, glued to MTV,
Speaker 1: dreaming of a life in the entertainment industry. I was
Speaker 1: ready for sudden impact. The world was ready for sudden impact.
Speaker 2: Botow Philly just came out. They're on NTV for the
Speaker 2: first time, and the first question is who's those white
Speaker 2: guys in the video?
Speaker 1: You know, like he's already promoting an act that doesn't
Speaker 1: exist yet.
Speaker 2: Here It is. You're going to love this. This is
Speaker 2: my universe. These are this is my record label. Enjoy,
Speaker 2: thank you or pardon me, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: I couldn't wait to see what Sudden Impact was going
Speaker 1: to do next. What they did next was disappear. I'm
Speaker 1: Dave Holmes, and as a former MTVVJ and professional pop
Speaker 1: culture obsessive, I've been thinking about Sudden Impact for thirty years.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to know what happened, so I decided
Speaker 1: to find out. And let me tell you. What happened
Speaker 1: was a lot.
Speaker 2: We actually got signed to Motown off of a poster
Speaker 2: without them even hearing any music. Music. Probably saved his
Speaker 2: butt from going to jail.
Speaker 1: Wow, we could really make it.
Speaker 2: We could do this, We could do that. It ain't right, man,
Speaker 2: keep playing god with me. Let me fucking go. If
Speaker 2: you don't plan on doing something, let us fucking go.
Speaker 1: Two grown meg just broke up, like two heterosexual males
Speaker 1: just broke up.
Speaker 2: Am I still holding on to that hope? Like, oh,
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see this. I still have that
Speaker 2: because I don't like thinking that it's over for anybody.
Speaker 1: I always suspected there was a story behind Sudden Impact.
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I'm going to track these guys
Speaker 1: down one by one and I'm going to find out
Speaker 1: what happened. And I'm going to try to answer the
Speaker 1: most bewildering question of them all, why can't I stop
Speaker 1: thinking about them? This is a podcast about big swings,
Speaker 1: about high hopes, about what happens when your best laid
Speaker 1: plans go sideways. It's about the nineties and what we
Speaker 1: left there. This is Waiting for Impact, a Dave Holmes
Speaker 1: passion project. Be sure to listen to the show's premiere
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, October twelfth ONNT exactly Right. New episodes drop
Speaker 1: every Tuesday. Subscribe now on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you like to listen.