‘Waiting For Impact’ is hunting down a boy band that vanished in 1991
“Waiting For Impact” is a passion project like no other. For three decades, David Holmes’ thoughts have been entirely preoccupied by Sudden Impact, the R&B boy band whose arrival was announced in Boyz II Men’s “MotownPhilly” video. They made a huge debut and then…nothing. The disappearance of Sudden Impact is something that has haunted pop-culture fans (solely David Holmes) since 1991. So, he is on the hunt for them.
With all the intensity of your favorite true crime podcast with absolutely none of the stakes, “Waiting For Impact” will suddenly have you caring about this non-existent boy band. With just a few chapters so far, you have to start from the beginning, like with any good narrative podcast. Each 45-minute episode will have you sinking deeper and deeper in the mystery that is Sudden Impact, until your Wikipedia-spiraling leads you right back to this Exactly Right podcast, as there is truly no one better (and no one else) looking into this mystery.
Holmes is tracking down this elusive group, speaking with his contacts in entertainment (okay, friends who are actors and comedians and such) about what has happened to them in the 30 years since Sudden Impact up and vanished. Joined by talents like Yvette Nicole Brown, Karen Kilgariff, and Joey McIntyre, he explores the year 1991 and what it meant to all of them. From chasing down Michael Bivins, being pop culture obsessed and working in retail stores doing stand up on the side, to basically retiring at 21 after being in the world’s biggest boy band, “Waiting For Impact” is an all encompassing look at those worlds.
Besides his satirical intensity, “Waiting For Impact” actually does make an impact. Holmes moves from his central mystery into other discussions of fleeting fame, the ’90s, the music industry, and his relationship to it all. It’s conversations about finding fame before you’re an adult and losing it just as quickly. It’s about slogging your way through the sticky entertainment industry and what it means to find your calling.
Each person leads him down an unexpected path, getting him closer and closer to his mystery’s end. And, shockingly, he does in fact make contact. He finds Aaron Kane, the man who was supposed to be Sudden Impact’s lead singer. From Kane, he finally learns the story of how they came together, got Bivins’ attention, and subsequently fell apart.
And from Sudden Impact’s producer, Tim Byrd, he hears more to the story, about the trials and tribulations of the music industry, record label mishaps, and the quickly moving music scene of the ’90s.
“Waiting For Impact” is the only way to spend your Tuesday mornings. Hear an overly-serious podcast about a completely overblown musical act that actually delves into something kind of serious. It’s a deeper look at ’90s culture and the evolution of the “Sudden Impact years.” It’s nostalgic, funny, and bizarre tour through the rise and fall of boy bands, and what that says about American culture.
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