Primarily the project of singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Linkous, Sparklehorse blossomed into the quirky dream pop group of the ‘90s. Album and song titles like Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and "850 Double Pumper Holley" exhibit Linkous' loopy tendencies, and the spacey arrangements on all of Sparklehorse's releases accentuate the project's indie rock bliss.First a founding member of the 1980s indie rock group Dancing Hoods (which he saved from humiliation by quitting while the band was slightly ahead) Linkous moved on to create music for the Johnson Family (later called Salt Chunk Mary) before returning to Virginia to found Sparklehorse in 1995. Pushing the indie parameters and initial sound of the Dancing Hoods to the limit, Linkous' Sparklehorse became a largely eclectic and edgier version of his previous bands. Alternative radio stations quickly picked up Sparklehorse's 1995 hit single "Someday I Will Treat You Good," off the debut album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, and the peculiar band named Sparklehorse thus generated an incredible amount of buzz in the ensuing months and years.Before Sparklehorse's next album, however, frontman Linkous had a run-in with a near-death situation when he mixed Valium with prescription antidepressants, passing out unconscious on his hotel's bathroom floor with his legs pinned under the rest of his body, crippling him from loss of blood circulation. This heartbreaking misfortune left Linkous' legs injured for a long period of time, and it took countless surgeries for the musician to be able to stand again. Eventually getting back up on his feet (literally), Linkous' learned-from experience filled him with inspiration to create the 1998 album Good Morning Spider, and thereafter Sparklehorse was back in action. Linkous joined up with PJ Harvey and the Cardigans' Nina Persson for the 2001 album It's a Wonderful Life, and in between Linkous' next album Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain he recorded songs for the film Laurel Canyon.