Introducing: Waiting for Impact

In 1991, a boy band called Sudden Impact made a big debut in the music video for Boyz II Men’s “MotownPhilly,” and then... they disappeared. Dave Holmes has been obsessed with this story for decades, and now he’s going to find out what happened. The search for answers will take us into the recording industry of the ‘90s, into Michael Bivins’ East Coast Family, into what life was like before the internet ruined us, into the definition of success and the nature of ambition. And that search may just solve an even bigger mystery: why can’t he stop thinking about this?

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the summer of nineteen ninety one, the peak of
the monoculture. Everyone is watching and listening to, or at
least aware of the same TV shows, movies, and music.
The Internet hasn't had its way with us yet. A
song comes out that summer from the R and B
group Boys to Men. It's called Motown Philly. In the
music video, we meet Boys to Men and the other

(00:21):
groups in the East Coast family, another bad creation, bell
Biv Devou, and then two minutes and thirty eight seconds
into the video, we meet another group, five young guys
in matching white button down shirts, each with his own
unique necktie, their name and lights above them Sudden Impact.
They point at the camera. They point at you, like,

(00:43):
are you ready for sudden Impact? I was a young
guy in the Midwest at the time, glued to MTV,
dreaming of a life in the entertainment industry. I was
ready for sudden impact. The world was ready for sudden impact.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Botow Philly just came out. They're on NTV for the
first time, and the first question is who's those white
guys in the video?

Speaker 1 (01:05):
You know, like he's already promoting an act that doesn't
exist yet.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Here It is. You're going to love this. This is
my universe. These are this is my record label. Enjoy,
thank you or pardon me, You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
I couldn't wait to see what Sudden Impact was going
to do next. What they did next was disappear. I'm
Dave Holmes, and as a former MTVVJ and professional pop
culture obsessive, I've been thinking about Sudden Impact for thirty years.
I always wanted to know what happened, so I decided
to find out. And let me tell you. What happened

(01:39):
was a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
We actually got signed to Motown off of a poster
without them even hearing any music. Music. Probably saved his
butt from going to jail.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Wow, we could really make it.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
We could do this, We could do that. It ain't right, man,
keep playing god with me. Let me fucking go. If
you don't plan on doing something, let us fucking go.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Two grown meg just broke up, like two heterosexual males
just broke up.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Am I still holding on to that hope? Like, oh,
I can't wait to see this. I still have that
because I don't like thinking that it's over for anybody.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
I always suspected there was a story behind Sudden Impact.
I had no idea. I'm going to track these guys
down one by one and I'm going to find out
what happened. And I'm going to try to answer the
most bewildering question of them all, why can't I stop
thinking about them? This is a podcast about big swings,
about high hopes, about what happens when your best laid

(02:35):
plans go sideways. It's about the nineties and what we
left there. This is Waiting for Impact, a Dave Holmes
passion project. Be sure to listen to the show's premiere
on Tuesday, October twelfth ONNT exactly Right. New episodes drop
every Tuesday. Subscribe now on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you like to listen.