Once again…I’m the only doper that digs DEVO
Jocko Homo
Girl U Want
Gates Of Steel
Secret Agent Man
Satisfaction
ALL of it is great.
No you’re not. Devo kicks ass. Surprising that nobody mentioned them before you.
Though I’m also surprised nobody has mentioned Mojo Nixon or Tom Waits yet.
Alright Eve and Ike, when are we getting together to talk about old movies and other bits of arcane stuff.
Let’s hear it for the Nairobi Trio!
As to Stockhausen, someone once asked a more mainstream composer (Rubinstein maybe?) if he had listened to any Stockhausen and his reply was “No, I have not trod in any of his work of late.”
And Sealemon88 reminds me that I need to go out and actually buy some Mojo Nixon CDs.
Two words: Roger Miller.
“You can’t rollerskate in a buffalo herd/You can’t rollerskate in a buffalo herd/You can’t rollerskate in a buffalo herd/But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to!”
I had that written on my folder in high school. I was not popular.
I just reread the thread and have realized that a large % of my CD collection is listed here: Devo, Squirrel Nut Zippers, TMBG, Art of Noise,Aphex Twin, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys. What does that say about me?
Some other bands left out:
[list]
[li]Einsturzende Nuebauten (sp?)[/li][li]Gwar[/li][li]Kraftwerk[/li][li]Joolz[/li][li]Dead Milkmen[/li]
My Favorite weird song of all time is “Warm Leatherette” by The Normals.
Tricky
Not deliberately trying to hijack this thread but two of the aforementioned had two videos that always stuck out in my mind.
“Fish Heads” I remember seeing this video and thinking What in the Hell??? Years later when listening to Phantom of the Opera, I would swear that Andrew Lloyd Webber ripped off this tune for his “Music of the Night”.
“Art of Noise” anyone remember that truly bizarre video where they are taking chain saws to a grand piano? I remember it as being such a startling image but really cool nonetheless.
And to now segue back to the thread at hand, I submit They Might Be Giants for a weird rock band that can take some strange lyrics and put them to highly enjoyable music.
Just to be obnoxious, I have to point out that the tune from “The Night Santa Went Crazy” appears to be taken from Soul Asylum’s “Black Gold”. It might be coincidental, though. Either way, TNSWC is a great song.
Meat Puppets is about as weird as my tastes get. Lemme see if I can find some lyrics for the uninitiated…
OR…
[quote]
--Hot Pink--
Hot pink volcano in the heart of the tornado
Is shaking the lemonade tree
Hot pink forest is backed by a furnace
That boils the lemonade free
and it all went down
Tomorrow is a number
Hot pink apple with the sweet golden dimple
Has stuck its claim in me
Hot pink rubber comes in every color
And every style that you pleaseI’m surprised no-one has mentioned King Crimson.
I’ve heard albums by several different incarnations of this band, and not only are they all ‘weird’, they all sound totally different.
Still, I guess our perception of ‘weird’ depends on our perception of ‘normal’.
How many of you would reply to a thread called ‘Normal Music’.
“Everybody’s got to deviate from the norm”
“Rum titty- pinch titty bang nipple squeeze PING!”
Wow, I’m flashing back to my college roommates. Ween and Harry Partch passed for normal in my dorm room. Brian is still waiting for a CD reissue of Barstow.
Spike Jones, brilliant. Just a small step from there to P.D.Q. Bach.
The music “played” by the Nairobi Trio was Solfeggio by Robert Maxwell. The main theme to The Ernie Kovacs Show was called Oriental Blues although it bears a remarkable similarity to Rialto Ripples by George Gershwin.
Allow me to add:
Big Daddy. Current songs (as of 1991, anyway) recorded in the style of the 1950s. Memory from “Cats” done in the old Blue Moon, doo-wop style. Welcome to the Jungle to the tune of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
The Squirrels. Another band I remember for their mix-and-match tinkering. The Hawaii Five-O Theme as it would sound from Dave Brubeck. The lyrics from Deck the Halls to the tune of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Try it yourself, it works “Deck the halls with boughs of holly…”
Uncle Bonsai. The most literate, satiric folk music I’ve ever heard. Guitar and three voices perfectly matched to the material and each other. If you want to poke fun at something, you have to be even more talented than people who play it straight
The Bobs. New wave a cappella. I got hooked on them when a friend put their cover of Psycho Killer on a mix tape, and the first time I saw them in concert, they ended with Particle Man. Their original songs can be wonderfully satirical or silly, like UB, and they also have the vocal chops to back up anything they want to try. When Janie Bob used to sing lead on White Room, it could lay waste to entire villages.
Laurie Anderson. Surprised I’m the first to mention her. A guy I used to work with couldn’t believe it when I told him that I probably didn’t have a single record from Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 most signifigant albums. He brought in the list and sure enough, I did have one, Big Science. Seeing Home of the Brave on video opened my ears to everything I have heard since.
I’ll second the Bobs and Big Daddy.
Uncle Bonsai is out of business - but the main songwriter did at least one album as The Electric Bonsai Band, which still shows much of the same sense of humor in the lyrics.
My most bizarre album, however, is probably by the New International Trio - a group from Minneapolis with instrumentalists playing:
[ul]
[li]Piano/Keyboards[/li][li]Northumbrian small pipes/Recorder[/li][li]Several different traditional Cambodian instruments[/li][/ul]
The music they choose was equally eclectic, ranging from 16th century English barouque to traditional Cambodian to swing era classics. A version of “In the Mood” played with tro u (a traditional Cambodian violin), small pipes and harpsichord is an experience not to be missed.
Steeleye Span wasn’t really all THAT original. For one, Fairport Convention was doing electric folk before them. With Richard Thompson. And there were many other members of the genre.
The Incredible String Band did their own songs in an electric folk fashion. They Might Be Giants reminds me of them, plus accordian.
I have already expressed my displeasure with the recording industry since the introduction of the electronic microphone, so I needn’t go into that here.
The Fugs, The Godz, Bonzo Dog, Amun Düül I & II, Can, The Velvet Underground, Stooges, doo-wop, surf instrumentals, folk, old blues, hillbilly. Basically, if I put it on in the car it’s too wierd for my kids. Although my daughter turned me on to a local techno program, so she has some potential.
Brute Force was a strange guy from the sixties.
Been going through a Sparks period lately.
Robot Arm, is your Big Daddy the same one I listen to from the seventies? Aussie band?
A friend just demanded that I download a few songs by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. They do punk remakes of a lot of songs from the 70’s and other songs one would not think would sound good punk, for instance, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Seasons in the Sun, and The Boxer. The Boxer is one of my all-time favorite songs, so I was hesitant, but damn…I like it.
And before anyone gets all pissy with me for using Napster, I actually got onto to CDNOW and bought both their CDs. 
But yeah, they seem pretty weird to me…
Three songs:
“Nellie the Elephant”, by The Toy Dolls
“Ya Gotta Move”, by The Rolling Stones
“Detachable Penis”, by Green Jelly (formerly Green Jello)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by lunasea *
**I just reread the thread and have realized that a large % of my CD collection is listed here **
[QUOTE]
Well yeah. I though we were talking about WEIRD music.
A tear of petrol
is in your eye.
the hand brake
penetrates your thigh.
on warm
leatherette
join
the car crash set
Einsturzende Neubauten
The Residents
Foetus Inc.
Syd Barrett
The Fall
Negativeland
Perfectly normal as far as I know.
dorkbro, Uncle Bonsai is not completely defunct. They’ve done a few reunion concerts over the last couple years, and released two new CDs, Doug and Sponge Boy. Andrew Ratchin still performs and records as The Elecrtic Bonsai Band, and he also has a group called Mel Cooleys, which now includes Arni Adler from UB. Check out http://www.yellowtailrecords.com
dropzone, I don’t think we’re talking about the same Big Daddy.