Are You Ready For The Fallout?

Album: Make Your Mama Proud (1996)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Fastball were signed to a major label, Hollywood Records, which released "Are You Ready For The Fallout?" as their debut single, but did little to promote it. The song and its album, Make Your Mama Proud, got decent reviews, but the sales numbers wouldn't budge. The band likely would have been dropped, but Hollywood was in turmoil, so there was nobody to drop them. They got to make another album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, which contained the single "The Way." That one took off, leading some fans to discover "Are You Ready For The Fallout?" in their back catalog, but the song remains relatively obscure.
  • This was written and sung by Tony Scalzo, who along with Miles Zuniga, fronted Fastball and handled the songwriting. It's from the perspective of someone telling a loved one to get his act together, warning there will be fallout if he stays on this path. Scalzo, though, was the one with the issues.

    "Growing up, I had a lot of problems," he explained in a Songfacts interview. "I was kind of a f--k-up. Wanted to be a rock-n-roller, didn't know what that really meant. And I remember my little brother telling me, 'I wish I could look up to you. I wish that you could be the role model that I would expect from an older brother.'

    That's where the incentive or the subject matter of that song is coming from, and I turned it around - it's me giving advice."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Rock Stars of Horror

Rock Stars of HorrorMusic Quiz

Rock Stars - especially those in the metal realm - are often enlisted for horror movies. See if you know can match the rocker to the role.

Frankie Valli

Frankie ValliSong Writing

An interview with Frankie Valli, who talks about why his songs - both solo and with The Four Seasons - have endured, and reflects on his time as Rusty Millio on The Sopranos.

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Kip Winger

Kip WingerSongwriter Interviews

The Winger frontman reveals the Led Zeppelin song he cribbed for "Seventeen," and explains how his passion for orchestra music informs his songwriting.

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.