Combustible Edison had its roots in the band Christmas, a rock outfit that contained four of Edison's five members. When the musicians played a one-off project as “the Combustible Edison Heliotropic Oriental Mambo & Foxtrot Orchestra,” accompanying a stage show entitled “The Tiki Wonder Hour” (written by the Christmas/Combustible Edison member known as “the Millionaire”), something clicked. The music, which encompassed lounge, cocktail jazz, torch ballads, and B-movie themes, struck a chord, and the group pursued the direction under the name Combustible Edison. Their debut, I, SWINGER, was released on Subpop in 1994. It was followed by SCHIZOPHONIC in 1996, and THE IMPOSSIBLE WORLD in 1998.