One Hit Wondering – Elastica

One Hit Wondering is a series of columns where I listen to the album of a one hit wonder, and find three songs, other than the hit, that people should hear. 

When the ‘90s Britpop explosion made its way to America, bands like Oasis, and Blur competed for attention, but for a moment in time, it was the female-fronted alt-rockers Elastica who had the song that made the biggest “Connection” with listeners.

Released in October of 1994, and a mainstay on MTV throughout 1995, “Connection” had a power to it that was due in part to one of the best guitar riffs of the ‘90s, and in part to the special kind of cool presented by frontwoman Justine Frischmann.

Surprisingly, for a song that’s considered representative of the era, it didn’t even crack the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #53. On the Modern Rock Tracks chart, however, it climbed up to #2, and the video was so big it was given the honor of receiving the Beavis & Butt-Head treatment. In the clip, Beavis accidentally breaks down the music industry sexism the band was alluding to with the video, and almost gets the point that they’re flipping the script with the naked men.

Unfortunately, “Connection” led to some legal trouble for Elastica, because it turned out the killer guitar riff was borrowed from the song “Three Girl Rhumba” by the band Wire.

A judgment resulted in an out-of-court settlement, and the credits for “Connection” were rewritten.

Wire, however, didn’t seem to mind the use of the riff. Speaking to The Independent in 1995, Wire’s Colin Newman said he had no personal issue with the band, noting, “Pop is self-referencing,” and adding that when it came to Elastica, “They’re genuine fans who probably see themselves as bringing the music they love to a wider audience.”

That wider audience continued to love “Connection.” Legal issues, however, continued to plague the band, as another one of their songs, “Waking Up,” was found to resemble a song by The Stranglers titled “No More Heroes.” Complete Music, who were the publishers of The Stranglers, took Elastica to court for plagiarism. The case, much like the Wire case, was eventually settled out-of-court. This time Elastica agreed to fork over 40% of the royalties from their debut album to Complete Music, and add The Stranglers as co-writers on the song.

The Stranglers, however, were actually on Elastica’s side.

In the aforementioned feature in The Independent, The Stranglers’ Jean-Jacques Burnel said, “Yes, it sounds like us, but so what?” adding, “Of course there’s plagiarism, but unless you live in a vacuum there’s always going to be. It’s the first thing our publishers have done for us in 20 years, but if it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

In an interview with Melody Maker, another member of The Stranglers, Jet Black, went as far as thanking Elastica for bringing attention to the band.

After the settlement, Elastica finally released their self-titled album in March of 1995.

The eponymous affair is the only Elastica album to feature the original lineup of the band, and it entered the UK Albums Chart at #1.

The album was also big in America, achieving gold status in the States (selling 500k copies) by the end of ’95.

Before the gold record, however, and before “Connection” made them a household name, Elastica was a band that were formed in 1992 by guitarist/singer Justine Frischmann, and drummer Justin Welch after they left the band Suede.

Originally named Onk before deciding on Elastica, the band was rounded out by bassist Annie Holland, and guitarist Donna Matthews, although the lineup would change a number of times over the years.

They were signed to Deceptive Records in the UK, and later inked a deal with Geffen Records in the U.S. and Europe.

Unfortunately, after “Connection” made them huge, they had trouble following up their hit. This was due, in large part, to drug addition rearing its ugly head. According to The Guardian, by the end of 1996 there were rumors that some, or perhaps all, of Elastica were using heroin.

Frischmann would later admit that between 1996 and 1998 she was using, even going as far as saying she was living the life of a “sad junkie.”

Once clean, Elastica, with a rotating cast of members, released a six-track EP in 1999 titled 6 Track EP (clearly wasting no time on that title). The project featured songs culled from a variety of recording sessions, and was followed by their second, and final, full-length album, The Menace, which came out in April of 2000.

Neither the EP, nor the album, matched the success of “Connection,” and the band disbanded over Christmas in 2000, but didn’t make an announcement until September of 2021.

At that point the announcement was almost unnecessary, as in February of 2021 Deceptive Records closed down due to financial issues, and the band’s U.S. label had dropped the band.

A farewell single titled “The Bitch Don’t Work” was released by Wichita Recordings in November of 2001.

Justine Frischmann, however, still had plenty of work to do … just not necessarily in the limelight.

In the final years of Elastica Frischmann met a woman named Maya who was heavily involved in the arts, and would become her roommate. Frischmann commissioned her to create the cover art for The Menace, and began co-writing demos with her, as Maya hoped to make a mark in music.

Maya would go on to take the stage name M.I.A., and one of the demos they wrote together was “Galang,” which was the song that launched M.I.A.’s career back in 2003.

Yes, Elastica’s Justine Frischmann discovered, and mentored M.I.A.

While Frischmann could’ve stayed behind the scenes in the music world, her interest in it waned.

Having experienced being tabloid fodder in the U.K. due to dating her Suede bandmate Brett Anderson, and Blur’s Damon Albarn, and having her love life become the inspiration for songs, including Blur’s “No Distance Left to Run,” and “Tender,” Frischmann was finding that while she loved being creative, she truly disliked fame.

With a desire to lead a more “normal” life, she moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2005, and enrolled in a masters program in visual arts at Naropa University, a small, Buddhist-inspired liberal arts college.

In 2008 she married a man who’s a professor of meteorology at UC Davis, and the two currently reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Frischmann now creates visual art. In 2012 her work was shortlisted for the UK’s Marmite Prize for painting, and she’s also been included in The Amsterdam List of 1000 Living Painters.

Even with Frischmann being done with music, “Connection” was given a new life in 2019 when it was included in the movie Captain Marvel, and featured in the trailer for the film, as well.

Of course, for some of us, we never stopped playing the song, and with that in mind I popped my copy of Elastica into my CD player, and found three songs, other than “Connection,” that you should hear.

“S.O.F.T.”

 

“S.O.F.T.” is anything but soft. An abbreviation for “Same Old Fucking Thing,” “S.O.F.T.” kicks some serious ass, and personally I feel it would’ve been the perfect follow up to “Connection.” The chorus is ridiculously catchy, and the song manages to somehow inhabit both the Britpop and grunge worlds perfectly.

“S.O.F.T.” absolutely could’ve been a mega-hit.

“Never Here”

 

I love the initial build of “Never Here.” Starting with just the drums, then adding the bass, then the first guitar, and finally both guitars, you’re nearly a full minute in before you get the full sound of the song. It’s like a fuse that continues to burn, getting closer and closer to igniting the bomb that ultimately explodes in the form of a killer rock song.

“See That Animal”

 

The B-side to the UK cassette, and 7-inch version of “Connection,” and included on the UK CD, and 12-inch version of “Connection,” “See That Animal” features a killer riff that gets stuck in your head, and a phenomenal bass line. Maybe it isn’t the type of song that gets released as a single, but it’s an absolute gem of an album cut (and yet another reminder of why albums are awesome).

Until next time, here’s to discovering more great music from one hit wonders!