If you hated the lounge revival of the 1990s, Combustible Edison is probably Public Enemy #1. They’re responsible for “Vertigogo,” one of the most memorable lounge revival tracks of the era (or, at least, anything not including Mike Flowers’ cover of “Wonderwall”). And it all started with the end of Christmas.

Back in the late 80s, Michael Cudahy and Liz Cox were two-thirds of an eclectic rock band called Christmas. Another semi-famous alum of Christmas is James McNew, who went on to join Yo La Tengo. In any case, Christmas put out two records and slowly built up steam. But upon the recording of their third album, Vortex, Christmas ran into some trouble; the album was recorded in 1990 and rejected by their label at the time, IRS. While the band struggled to secure a release for the album, Cudahy and Cox tried their hand at other pursuits. At some point near the beginning of the 90s, the remnants of Christmas and other like-minded musicians mounted the Tiki Wonder Hour, a cocktail night dedicated to the days of the Rat Pack and Nancy Sinatra. The 14-piece band, decked out in white polyester tuxedoes, played only three shows—two in their hometown of Providence, RI and one at Boston’s Paradise Club. But the nights were enough of a success that Cudahy and Cox saw an opportunity. By the time Vortex finally saw a release on Matador in 1993, Christmas was no more. Its members abandoned ship, changed identities (Cudahy became The Millionaire and Cox became Miss Lily Banquette) and created a slimmed-down version of the Tiki Wonder Hour house band. Combustible Edison would release its first album, I, Swinger, a year after Christmas’s last release.

“Vertigogo” was undoubtedly the band’s critical peak and the only reason why people haven’t completely forgotten about Combustible Edison. Really, it’s the track that anchors them to the 1990s; as the theme song to the cool directors’ revue Four Rooms, “Vertigogo” was a perfect fit for the quirky exercise in mid-90s hipster slapstick. Combustible Edison, as the provider of all but two of the songs on the soundtrack, suddenly found themselves in the company of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, and it was on their rising stars and the success of the movie itself that the band found its ticket to success. “Vertigogo” itself is bubbly and insanely catchy, and was submitted for consideration as Best Original Song at the Oscars—except that the Academy declared the song ineligible because the lyrics were unintelligible.

The band and their label, Sub Pop, were slightly miffed, so they posted a response. Sadly, it did nothing to sway the Academy, who gave the award to Vanessa Williams for “Colours Of The Wind.” Surely, whatever you might think of lounge or Combustible Edison, we can all agree that they were robbed.