The original members of Yellow Number Five all attended college together in Portland, Oregon, at Portland State University. Colossus (who changed his name legally in 1993) got his doctorate in Geology in 1993, while Melissa Foster and "Big" Ed Stockman majored in Music. Colossus, who had been experimenting with creating music on his computer for several years, proposed the idea for Yellow Number Five (as yet unnamed) to Ed and Melissa towards the end of Ed's senior year, and Melissa's Junior year. Colossus' "grand plan" was to take classic "pop" songs and recreate them as "industrial" songs. Over the summer, the idea grew, and the band was formed and named. Ed did the majority of the actual creation of the music, with ideas and leadership from Colossus, who also performed lead vocals, and Melissa performed instrumental samples. While Melissa played guitar, drums, tamorines, and even a harp on one song, and Colossus performed vocals, and Ed did the mixing and finishing on the computer, the band is quick to point out that everyone in the band did a little bit of everything.
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In November of 1994, Dr. Colossus attempted to sell the band to his friend, Burton Simmons. Simmons declined the sale. The rest of the band laughingly refers to this as the "first time Colossus tried to sell out." Colossus, when the incident is mentioned, just glowers and mutters something about "the fool could have been rich."
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In February of 1995, Yellow Number Five's first album, Auto Life Fire, was released on local label Stinkfish records. The owner of Stinkfish knew Big Ed from high school, and after listening to a demo tape from the band, agreed to release an album for the band with no contract as a favor to get them in the door.
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Nearly a year after the release of Auto Life Fire, the band was contacted by international label Arrakis Records, and within a short time, they had a record deal! The band refers to this as the "second time Colossus tried to sell out." He responds, "It worked didn't it?"
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On May 2, 1996, Melissa was found dead at the site of a terrible accident, near the wreck of her Honda. The band was nearly finished recording their second album, and after lengthy discussions, decided to proceed on the album, using what they had from Melissa.
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Gas Food Lodging was released on Arrakis Records in July of 1996, meeting immediate infamy as their cover of the classic Cranberries song "Linger" was outlawed in all 50 states and the countries of Ireland and Great Britain. The band refused to remove the song from the album, and Arrakis was forced to release what has come to be called the "blackout" version of the album. The track was left blank on all blackout versions of the album, and the title was blacked out. The band voiced neither support nor disapproval over the company's action.
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The exact date of when Amy Johnson joined the band is undecided among the band, though when pressed, they grudgingly agreed on Halloween, 1996. Amy says she remembers Ed and Colossus (both drunk) approaching her that night and propositioning her. She opted to join the band instead. Ed points out that she had been attending the band's work sessions for some time, and had unofficially joined the band nearly two months before that. Colossus points out that it really doesn't matter anyways, but he doesn't remember getting drunk on Halloween that year. What the band does agree on is that Ed and Amy started dating sometime in the summer of 1996, and Amy showed immediate interest in the band, frequently attending not only their concerts but their work sessions. Amy played in several small time bands at her days at Portland Community College, and had experience with a wide variety of instruments. She would frequently experiment with Ed, and started playing with the band more and more at the work sessions, and was eventually asked by Big Ed to join the band.
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In June of 1997, Dr Colossus Must Die! was released on Arrakis Records. The album was met with astonishingly high sales, due to the infamy surrounding their last release. The album contained the band's first major release of a song they had written, titled Low Self Esteem. "It has my name on it. Of course it was sucessful!" commented Colossus on the album's sucess.
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While on tour for Dr Colossus Must Die!, the band aquired their latest member. David Meyers was hired on a temporary basis to help the band run the mixing board, so that Ed could concentrate on samples and keyboard. David proved to be such a help on the tour that when it ended, Ed offered him a permanent spot in the band. David says "I was overjoyed at the prospect. It was loads of fun to work with these guys on tour, and I was excited about becoming a contributing member of the group. Ed I already knew before the tour, and Amy too, sort of. Colossus took some getting used to, though." Colossus replied "Who the hell is David?"
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In December of 1997, following popular demand for more original Y5 material, the band released a single for the song "Sinner" along with a promise that a new full-length album, featuring more original songs. The album is tenativly titled Sex Symbols, and has a loose release date of Summer 1998.
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October 29, 1998. Dr. Colossus is found dead in his van due to four self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head.
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In early 1999, the band replaces Dr. Colossus with local Portlander Leo Beazly.
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April 1999 - planned release of new album, tentativly called "Woman of Steel."
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January 2000 - Dr. Colossus Returns From The Dead.
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Dr. Colossus Sues Former Bandmates in February 2000.
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March 2000 - Y5 Announces New Line-Up.
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July 2000. Travelling Without Moving promo CD released
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November 2000. Self-titled album released.
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