The duo achieved success during the early 1990s with their debut album After the Rain, that included "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection".

[6] After the success of their first album, Nelson claimed conflicts with their record label, lack of support from the media, and the shift in music towards grunge and alternative rock.

Despite this, the duo has continued to produce and release albums independently under their own label, Stone Canyon Records.

A year after the death of their father in a plane crash, Lorne Michaels agreed to have the Nelsons as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, at the request of their manager at the time.

As they returned home from the show, Gunnar claims he had what he called "an epiphany", which he shared with his brother.

According to Gunnar, they met with Kalodner "every month for a year", during which he filtered the songs they brought him until they had enough for an album.

[7] During this time, Nelson was also approached to contribute a song to the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Since the band was in the process of being signed up to Geffen, Kalodner recommended them not to use their names for the song, so they were billed as Power Tool instead.

[7][10] After a year of meeting with Kalodner without being signed, Matthew and Gunnar met with him, against the wishes of their managers, and played an acoustic version of "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection".

They met drummer Bobby Rock at the MTV Music Awards, when he was still with Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and kept in touch.

Joey Cathcart had played guitar with the brothers in high school so they decided to approach him.

Their first single, "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

The band started with a headlining club tour before heading out in April/May opening arenas for Cinderella & Lynch Mob.

They performed "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" on the inaugural Billboard Music Awards as it was the number 1 song on the Hot 100 the week of the show.

[citation needed] The show's producer, Paul Flattery, and director, Jim Yukich, had also made the music video for the song.

[9] In 1998, Matthew and Gunnar started compiling a collection of demos with the purpose of doing a joint venture deal in Nashville.

Singer/guitarist Mark Slaughter joined Nelson for the tour, which began at the Firefest in Nottingham, England.