Toad The Wet Sprocket: Whatever happened to the band behind Fear, All I Want & Walk on the Ocean

Toad the Wet Sprocket: Whatever happend to the band behind all i want and Walk on the Ocean Live: Whatever Happened to the band? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcS-K4tj_VM&t=186s Henry Rollins Tonight Show Feud with Kathy Ireland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiWSv2MiqAA&t=1s Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Fill out our google form! https://bit.ly/3stnXlN -----GET A SECRET VIDEO PLAYLIST----- Sign up for email news and get a link to my secret playlist with 10 of my best stories. https://bit.ly/3emyloM -----CONNECT ON SOCIAL----- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocknrolltruestories Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RNRTrueStories Twitter: https://twitter.com/rocktruestories Blog: www.rockandrolltruestories.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RNRTrueStories #toadthewetsprocket #alliwant I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos. The LA Times perfectly summarized the band’s outlook on music saying they are and i quote “more likely to chase ideals than the trappings of fame. Hailing from Santa Barbara the band had a pretty drama free family life unlike their contemporaries. They came from white collar backgrounds and the members attended Saint Marco’s high school meeting in drama class before forming in 1986, Their lineup was made of up singer/rhythm guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols bassist, Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss . Another alumni of their high school was model kathy ireland. I’ve done a whol video on how punk rocker Henry Rollins was so irritated by kathy ireland got himself banned from the tonight show. Link is in the bio. The quartet’s name would be influenced by a Monty Python Skit. named "Rock Notes" from their Contractual Obligation Album. The skit would see a newscaster reading news about fictional band names. One of the band names was Toad the Wet Sprocket and by the band’s own admission the name was supposed to be temporary and while the members didn’t seem too crazy about the name, it endured during their entire career. Eric Idle, who performed the sketch, reflected on the band’s name saying "I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians, and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it, or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words 'Toad the Wet Sprocket.' And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in LA, and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, 'that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket,' and I nearly drove off the freeway." The band even made rolling stone magazine’s list of worst band names. Toad the Wet Sprockets influences would include REM, U2 and the Waterboys. They were sometimes labeled a thinking man’s band similar to other 90’s rockers like Live, which I’ve done a pretty extensive video on. The link is down below. Toad the Wet Sprocket’s first gig would take place in September of 1986 at an open mic talent contest at a local restaurant, which they lost. But that loss would spur the band to improve and play more gigs. By the time the band started gigging around Santa Barbara a lot of other bands were paid in beer but since quartet were below the legal drinking age, according to an interview they did wit hVH1 they were paid in free peanuts and sometimes an occasional frozen burrito. Much of Toad’s early success was due to friend Brad Nack, Guitarist Todd Nichols would tell the LA Times “He used to be in a band called The Tan,”“and he came to see us one night He liked us and introduced us to a friend of his, Chris Blake, who was looking for a band to manage. They helped us record the demos that became our first release, ‘Bread & Circus.’ We did the whole thing for $650 at the end of last summer.” Their self produced record was put out on their own label Abe’s Records, but it wasn’t until they began work on their second album Pale that a bidding war between labels happened. MCA was so enthralled with the band they offered them a 1 million advance. The members knew that 1 million was a loan and it would have to be paid back in record sales. They knew they were unproven and likely weren’t going to be able to recoup the advance. Instead they wanted to work their way up gradually and signed a four album deal with Columbia Records. Columbia would re-release Bread and Circus at the band’s request to have no alterations or remixing done on the record.. The band in the meantime finished their second record Pale, which was done on a shoe string budget of about $6,000. Pale would also result in the single Come Back Down which peaked at number 27 on the rock charts in america and the band shot a music video for it which got some airplay on MTV’s show 120 minutes. The minor success with the single wouldn’t result in the labum becoming a hue seller. The band seemed to be ignor

Added 7 Jun 2026