A longtime fixture of the Chicago power-pop community, singer/guitarist Phil Angotti tenured with acts including the Fleas and the Scuffle before joining with singer Jay Goeppner in 1987 to form the long-running Beatle Brothers. (He also served with Graham and Brad Elvis in the like-minded Not the Beatles.) In 1991 Angotti formed his own group, the Idea, a year later releasing their debut LP Sideways Smile on the Lisabet label. It took Angotti three years to issue the Idea's sophomore effort, the Our House label release Afternoon Balloon; Flower Bomb followed on the Jam label in 2001, and in 2003 the group returned with G. Elvis Is Still Alive.