684 Hello EMF - Unbelievable

Chart  entered : 3  November  1990

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 10

There  was  a  brief  period  between  the  demise  of  Bros  and  the  emergence  of  Barlow's  outfit  when  these  guys  seemed  the  most  likely  challengers  for  the  teenybop  pound.

EMF  originated  in  the  Gloucestershire  town  of  Cinderford  in  October  1989. They  were  all  reasonably  well  known  on  the  local  music  scene.  Keyboardist  Derry  Brownson  had  been  in  a  band  called  Flowerdrum  but  left  them  to  join  James  Atkin  ( vocals )  Zac  Foley  (bass )  and  Mark  Decloedt  ( drums )  in  EMF.  The  last  to  join  was  their  musical  lynchpin, guitarist  and  programmer  Ian  Dench. He  was  five  years  older  than  the  rest  of  the  band  and  had  a  brief  taste  of  moderate  success  with  a  band  called  Apple  Mosaic , a  guitar  pop  trio   who  released  a  couple  of  singles , "Velvet  Avenue"  and  "Honey  If"   on  MDM   in  1987 . The  latter  is  very  good , sounding  much  like  The  La's , certainly  more  appealing  to  me  than  any  of  EMF's  recordings. They  didn't  do  anything  in  the  UK  where  the  band  only  became  notable  when  they  were  prosecuted  for  counterfeiting  after  a  publicity  stunt  involving   photocopied  bank  notes. In  France  and  Spain,  they  were  better  received  and  got  to  release  another   good  single "Under  The  Spell"  and  album  "Hole"  in  1988.

The  band  were  joined  by  on  stage  by  local  DJ  Gareth  Milford  but  he  did  not  appear  in  the  band's  promotional  material  or  do  interviews . As  usual  with  "hidden" members,  this  was  interpreted   as   image  management  and  with  the  band  having  been  signed  by  Parlophone  after  only  four  gigs , they  were  viewed  in  some  quarters  with  suspicion  as  pretty  boy  johnny-come-latelys.

They  needed  a  strong  debut  single  and  delivered  the  goods  with  "Unbelievable" , an  energetic  pop  dance  combination  of  The  Wonder  Stuff  and  Jesus  Jones  with  a  brattish   put  down  vocal  from  James  and  an  unsubtle  but  effective  stop-start  chorus  hook. The  single  includes  samples  from  racist  American  comedian  Andrew  Dice  Clay  and  a  rap  section  from James  to  cover  all  bases . I  don't  really  like  it  but  as  an  effective commercial    distillation  of  what  was  current  at  the  time  it  can't  really  be  faulted . The  following  year  it  reached  number  one  in  the  US  where  they  are   regarded  ( not  with  strict  accuracy )  as  classic  one  hit  wonders.