AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jellyfish

Artist:Jellyfish

Song:Joining a Fan Club

Album:Spilt Milk

Jellyfish was a power pop band that recorded two unsuccessful albums in the early 90s. Since they split up, they have developed a cult following and have been influential on other similar bands. The leaders of Jellyfish were Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning. They met while attending Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, CA. Sturmer was lead singer and drummer. Manning played keyboards. They wrote all the songs. Sturmer wrote the lyrics. Sturmer and Manning joined Chris Ketner's San Francisco based band Beatnik Beatch. They released a 1988 album on Atlantic. When it went nowhere, Beatnik Beatch split up. Sturmer and Manning planned to start a new band at Atlantic. Manning brought in former The Three O'Clock guitarist Jason Falkner and his brother Chris Manning on bass. Manning promised Falkner that he would contribute to the songwriting. But he didn't tell Sturmer so there was tension over that. An Atlantic exec suggested the band name Jellyfish. When Sturmer couldn't think of anything better, he decided to go with that. The 1990 album Bellybutton was produced by Albhy Galuten who produced The Bee Gees. While they were recording the album, they shopped for a new label and signed with Virgin's Charisma label. Bellybutton was released July 1990. The album was favorably reviewed but it didn't sell. The problem was hair metal was popular at the time. It's hard to buck a trend when Jellyfish sounded like a 60s band. They toured wearing fancy costumes. When reviewers concentrated on that, they stopped wearing them. After the tour, Falkner was unhappy and left the band. Chris Manning left to become a chef. Sturmer and Manning appeared on Ringo Starr's 1992 album Time Takes Time. They also had a songwriting session with Brian Wilson but nothing came from that. Their 1992 album Spilt Milk was again produced by Galuten. Tim Smith was brought in to play bass. They used several guitarists. By the time Spilt Milk was released, grunge had taken over the music business. And critics bemoaned that Jellyfish sounded like the 70s band The Raspberries. Guitarist Eric Dover was brought in to tour. When this album didn't sell, Jellyfish split up. Sturmer and Manning weren't getting along anyway. Spilt Milk is available on CD. Manning formed the bands The Moog Cookbook and Imperial Drag. Sturmer wrote songs for the Japanese duo Puffy. And that led to writing songs for Cartoon Network shows like Teen Titans and these days, he works a lot for Disney. Manning has recorded solo in recent years. His latest album was released in 2023. Attempts to reunite Jellyfish have been unsuccessful as Sturmer won't do it. That's what he said in a 2015 interview. He seems to prefer the studio work that he's doing now. Here's Jellyfish performing Joining a Fan Club in Munich, Germany 1993.