The band built its reputation playing in university campuses and underground rock music concerts held in different parts of the country, before being noticed by PTV performing art section director Shoaib Mansoor. The band initially gained national prominence and popularity from their music video of their single ""Dil Dil Pakistan"" first aired on PTV. Written by Shaoib Mansoor, the song became a big commercial hit and critically acclaimed in the public; it was voted, in an unscientific poll as the third most popular song of all time by BBC World. By the early 1990s, the band members had become public celebrities and international stars in the midst of the 1990s. From the 1980s to the 1990s, they produced many of their highly successful and critically praised albums, what many cultural critics consider their finest material including the innovative and widely influential albums, "Vital Signs 1" (1989), "Vital Signs 2" (1991), "Aitebar" (1993) and "Hum Tum" (1995). The success of their second album marked the international prominence of the band, first traveling to the United States to perform, becoming the first Pakistani music act to go abroad on a tour.