The New York City-based rock trio the Beautiful formed in 1988 from the remnants of the group Nasty Habits, and comprised vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Lacey, bassist Perry Bottke and drummer Frank Ferrer. After debuting with the cassette-only EP Pandemonium, the Beautiful signed to the Warner Bros. imprint Giant before issuing the follow-up, an eponymously titled five-song effort from 1990. Their full-length debut, Storybook, appeared a year later, but legal hassles and label battles prompted the Beautiful to disband in 1993; by 1996, however, the trio had re-formed and returned to the studio. ~ Jason Ankeny