Dada probably didn’t think of themselves as a power pop band. But they experienced the same difficulties as any artist with that designation: they didn’t rock hard enough for the headbangers, and they rocked too hard for the pop crowd. Those people left in the middle would form a small, devoted cult, but cults don’t buy a lot of records and they don’t make record companies happy.

Michael and Joie met in high school in Saratoga, CA (a suburb of San Jose) in the mid-80s. They played in rival bands and after graduation each moved independently to Los Angeles to make it big in music. Eventually they reconnected and formed an acoustic duo, and when that went well, decided to rock it up by adding drummer Phil.

The trio called themselves dada (lowercase intentional, although sometimes you see it capitalized, forerunners of the lowercase boom of the 2020s) and soon after forming, I.R.S. Records, one of the biggest indie labels in the country, signed them to a deal. In a stroke of good luck, super engineer/producer Ken Scott (known for working with The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Supertramp, and countless others) caught one of the band’s shows and took them into the studio. Scott knew exactly what to do with them and produced a fantastic sounding record. Unfortunately, I.R.S. didn’t know what to do with them.

In the early 90s, the buzzword on everyone’s lips was grunge, and if you weren’t loud, dark, angsty and angry then you had an uphill road. dada were none of those things… and they were left looking at a steep incline.

Released in 1992, dada’s debut album, Puzzle, actually sold respectably, mostly due to its first single, titled “Dizz Knee Land” (a song which almost prevented the album from being released since both their A&R liaison and the owner of I.R.S. hated it) a catchy but immediately dated number which defied expectations and became a minor hit on college radio. Despite its airplay, however, even the band had mixed feelings about the song. Tensions within the group and with the record company made things difficult with their follow up albums and the cult success of their debut remains their only success.

We could play the hit but it’s divisive, and I’m all about unity, so instead, here’s the fourth single released from the album:

If I made you a mix in the 90s, there’s a 90% chance “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” is on that mix. If I made you a second mix there’s a very good chance the opening track of Puzzle is on there, so let’s also play “Dorina”: