The “weirdest songs to ever hit the top 40” thread inspired this.
What is some music that you really love, but that most people would probably find really weird? Can be an artist/group or a single song or album.
I’ll launch it off by saying pretty much anything by Laurie Anderson. I love almost all of it, have several VHS tapes, and have seen her live… but it’s definitely weird stuff. Of her stuff that actually gets (albeit rare) radio play, I am particularly attached to “Oh Superman” but really, I have all of her albums and love all of it. “My Eyes” and “The Day the Devil” are two other favorites.
I’ll have more but let me throw it out to the masses.
Yat-Kha (Tuvinian Throat Singing Rock Group) - or just Albert Kuvezin, the band leader. Awesome Joy Division cover. Einsturtzende Neubauten can get pretty weird. Ditto Laibach.
I’m sort of ordinary: the weirdest music I like is Dead Can Dance, and Dread Zeppelin*. Now, Dread Zeppelin covering Dead Can Dance tunes, would be weird
*For those that might not know: Reggae band covering Led Zeppelin tunes whose lead singer sings as an Elvis impersonator.
Sandra Boynton’s Grunt, a parody of the Gregorian chant album Chant. It’s in pig Latin, and in some real latin, with puns (“Gloria in egg shells Deo”), but if you don’t listen closely, it sounds like for-real Gregorian chant. Big Daddy’s ouevre. I wish more of their stuff was available. They do contemporary songs in 1950’s Doo Wop style (and in the styles of various 1950s and 1960s songs). My favorite is “My Heart Will go On” from Titanic done as an upbeat Elvis Presley tune.
And the usual Tom Lehrer, Al Yankovic, and Allen Sherman stuff.
For me, the obvious nominee here would be Finntroll. They combine elements of extreme black metal with humppa, a tradditional form of polka that originates in Finland. The band is Finnish, as the name would suggest, but their lyrics are in Swedish, because it sounds so Trollish.
The mix of elements works amazingly well IMHO, being both intesely heavy and silly fun at the same time. I love all of their albums, but would recommend their latest release Nattfodd for first-time listeners. They’re in the studio recording a new album now, I can’t wait!
Where do I start? I used to do a radio show of nothing but weird music, but some of my favorites are:
“The Into and the Outro” by the Bonzo Dog Band
“The Sound of Music” by the Bonzo Dog Band
“Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold” by the Bonzo Dog Band (I’ll stop the Bonzos now; just listen to any of their music)
“Mother’s Lament” by Cream
“You Know My Name, Look Up the Number” by the Beatles
“On the Amazon” by Don McClean
“Lumpy Gravy” by Frank Zappa
“Alive and Well in Argentina” by Zal Yanovsky
“Mabel” by Procol Harum
“Cobwebs and Strange” by the Who
“Leader of the Laundromat” by the Detergents
Phil Ochs was great in many ways, but some of his stuff was pretty weird in its own way.
I don’t have anything really oddball to add - except that when I play from my collection of Hammered Dulcimer music or Brazilian folk music, my friends think it’s weird. (Like Mariah Carey was ever normal).
I adore the Who’s ‘Heinz Baked Beans’ and Neil Young’s vocoder-fueled ‘Transformer Man.’ People have told me Pinback was weird, but I assumed it was because they were philistines.
I guess I misread the title as weirdest music you love, since I wouldn’t consider them weird in an objective sense, just the second weirdest band that I like. Weirder than Weird Al, at least. Most of the times when groups borrow shamelessly from so many musical traditions in an unironic way it comes across to me as muddled crap, but not that band.
Not exactly the same, but you might enjoy the music of The Bobs as well. Check out the “multimedia” page for a couple of samples. Their a capella version of “Helter Skelter” still makes me laugh.
Yep, the Republic of Tuva. I heard an example of Tuvan throat-singing on TV once- almost sounds like Popeye making nonsensical noises. Actually, Billy West, the current voice of Popeye, says he was able to figure out how to do Popeye’s voice after watching Genghis Blues, a documentary about Tuvan throat-singing.
While I’m here I really should mention Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, an album that almost no-one listens to more than once, but is one of my favourite albums when I’m in a weird kind of mood. Also James “Blood” Ulmer, who sounds like a cross between Muddy Waters and Ornette Coleman and is, in my opinion, one of the best guitarists on Earth
