Dandelion was a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

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Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

formed in 1989 by vocalist/guitarist Kevin Morpurgo, bassist Mike Morpurgo, guitarist Carl Hinds, and drummer Dante Cimino. Bayen Butler was also a member in 1993-1994. Due to their sound and image, Dandelion is often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

History

The band was originally going to be called Cat Food but instead chose Dandelion due to the guitarist Carl Hinds reading Ray Bradbury's novel "Dandelion Wine". In 1990, Dandelion recorded a demo tape called ''Silver'' that was reviewed by ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' magazine and received a Jackpot pick, being only the second demo to receive that honor. The tape attracted the attention of

Ruffhouse Records Ruffhouse Records is an American record label founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe Nicolo as a joint venture with Columbia Records. In 1999, Schwartz and Nicolo closed the label, and Schwartz and Kevon Glickman continued with RuffNation ...

, a label based in nearby

Conshohocken Conshohocken ( ; Lenape: ''Kanshihàkink'') is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry in ...

and home to various hip-hop groups like

The Goats The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The group (whose name, according to Swayzack, was chosen to join the word "scapegoats" and the saying "Don't get my goat," concluding that they felt t ...

, Cypress Hill,

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

, and

The Fugees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. The song "Waiting for a Ride" was released as a single the following year. They also released two full-length albums: ''

I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick ''I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick'' is the debut album by the Philadelphia grunge band Dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific a ...

'' ( Columbia/ Ruffhouse) in 1993, and '' Dyslexicon'' (

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) in 1995. Bayen Butler left the band before the release of ''Dyslexicon'' and formed the band Shag. Dandelion's music was featured on MTV, as videos for the songs "Waiting for a Ride", "Under My Skin", and "Weird-Out" entered late night rotation. The band's music was also featured on MTV shows ''

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'' and '' Beavis & Butt-head'', as well as the Edward Furlong movie ''

Brainscan ''Brainscan'' is a 1994 American science fiction slasher film directed by John Flynn and written by Brian Owens and Andrew Kevin Walker. The film stars Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, Amy Hargreaves, Jamie Marsh, and T. Ryder Smith. The sound ...

''. However, national fame eluded the band as their albums were released during the time of grunge's decline in popularity. Dandelion disbanded in 1996 after drummer Dante Cimino left the band because he disliked touring. In 1997, Kevin Morpurgo joined other Philadelphia band, Latimer, on second guitar, and Gel Caps, on bass. In 2000, he moved to

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

to form bassless noise/blues power trio The Hells. In 2010 he joined London noise behemoths Dethscalator. Mike Morpurgo, after working on the soundtrack of Abel Ferrara's 1998 film ''New Rose Hotel'', played bass for The Cobbs and Loog. He formed his own band Laguardia in 2000 and is also the owner of three franchises of School of Rock in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Carl Hinds moved to

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and formed the bands Blackheart Whitenoise and The Hell Yeahs. Dante Cimino formed a project called Rudy & Blitz with Chad Ginsburg of

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, which recorded an unreleased album. Cimino has also recorded three albums with the surf/rockabilly band Custom D. The former band members still keep in contact. Both the Morpurgo brothers graduated from Neshaminy High School in

Langhorne, PA Langhorne Borough is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,622 at the time of the 2010 census. The mailing address "Langhorne" is used for Langhorne Borough, but it is also used broadly to describe the majority of surrou ...

. Most likely in 1986 or 1987. Kevin Morpurgo passed away on August 15, 2023.

Discography

* ''Silver'' (demo) (1991) * ''Waiting for a Ride'' (single) (1992) * ''Diggin' a Hole'' (single) (1993) * ''

'' (1993) * ''Under My Skin'' (single) (1993) * '' Dyslexicon'' (1995)

Charted songs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandelion Alternative rock groups from Pennsylvania American grunge groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups from Philadelphia