Anyone else think the Flaming Lips totally blow?

Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me

she's gotta be strong to fight them
so she's taking lots of vitamins

not sure what to make of that.

I say all this as a former stage kangaroo, of course.

Ah, yes. Furries onstage. The fun never stops.

You sure it wasn't just @nt0n N3wc0mb3?

except people have been singing like this forever. get with jerry man.

http://rateyourmusic.com/album_images/646.jpg

I don't find him anywhere near as annoying as the Postal Service/Death Cab dude. I am kinda creped by some of the current wave of fans regarding him as some sort of shaman, though.

http://www.debaser.it/resize.aspx?path=/files/2005/debaser_the_flaming_lips_oh_my_gawd_21.jpg&width=250

http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/9/6/3/6/386369_170x170.jpg http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/810/817002.jpg

TAHT SONG PWNS

I prefer The Yes Album.

but zaireeka was, is and will continue to be a total classic. it completely escapes the gimmick of the format and manages to achieve something quite magical.

god, mercury rev have always been awful though. aside from their shared past and high whiny voices, I have no idea why these two bands were always discussed in the same breath.

lol

That it is. And I hate to presume, but some of the comments above (and possibly this entire thread) seem to indicate a failure to have heard it.

Uh...

yeah it was fun. they were an actually fun live band then too, instead of an excruciatingly precious "look how much fun we're having being FUN" live band. i actually forgot all about the lips after college, but i didn't begrudge them their novelty hit a few years later. they only started to annoy me when they a.) didn't go away, b.) started somehow being taken "seriously" and c.) as became evident when i unwisely went to see them on the soft bulletin tour, started somehow taking themselves seriously. (which i guess the real tip-off was zaireeka, and also the way they started encouraging people to listen to their live shows on headphones, ugh.) the last coffin nail for me was that dave eggers thing, which helped me realize that what annoyed me about them was part of the same thing of what annoyed me about him.

What matters is that the Flaming Lips's new album is ravishing and I've listened to it a thousand times already, sometimes for days on end, and it enriches me and makes me want to save people. What matters is that it will stand forever, long after any narrow-hearted curmudgeons have forgotten their appearance on goddamn 90210. What matters is not the perception, nor the fashion, not who's up and who's down, but what someone has done and if they meant it.

yeah man.

(the one that winds up

Soft Bulletin is an extremely overrated record, Yoshimi and the latest are very spotty, with a handful of songs between them that are worth revisiting. I came to that conclusion recently, when I found they weren't bearing repeated listens.

I'm pretty partial to the 90s output up to Clouds Taste Metallic.

oops, cut off the ending: the one that winds up, "I say yes, and Wayne Coyne says yes, and if that makes us the enemy, then good, good, good."

it's not the saying "yes" that bugs me, and i don't think those guys are "the enemy," and i couldn't care less about "selling out" (the subject of that essay). it's really just the preening self-importance.

I don't think self-importance is a charge you can justifiably level at the lips...just because they've been experimenting with their sound and trying to make something that moves people in a very particular, joyous way (not always succeeding, at least not recently) does not equal self-importance. they've never been po-faced, or pretentious, or stuffed full of bogus concerns.

what keeps me coming back to them, despite the dodgy last two albums, is their emotional simplicity, directness and sense of wonder. if they ever managed to channel the experience of their live shows into an album, that'd be something to hear. that'll never happen though, because wayne's live vocals are far too inept to survive the recording process.

see i find them to be all of those things, swaddled in balloons, bubbles and furry masks.

Stick a form in 'em.

They're cutesy-wutesy pretentious (since TSB).

Earlier stuff seems OK at best.

big production is the worst, man. make it tinny!

I've heard it. Many, many times. I just like the songs on Hit To Death and Transmissions better.

bahahahahaha

http://www.lyricsvault.net/halloffame/Blowmonkeys.jpg

It seems like they have that 'striving to do something different for the sole purpose of being "different"' thing going on. Which, I don't know is good or bad, but I'm seeing them at this Virgin Fest thing, and I hope they'll at least entertain.

MAH GOD I SAW THES3 GUYS LAST NIGHT ON TEH LAST SHOW OF THEYRE 2UR!!!1!! OMG WTF LOL I THOUGHT I HAD SEN TEH BST LIEV SHOW OF MAH LIEF WIT 2L BUT IM PROUD 2 SAY DA FLMNG LIPS W3RE EVEN BTER

ANYWAYS!1111!1 OMG WTF LOL DA FLMNG LIPS PUT ON TEH MOST SPECTACULAR LIEV SHOW I HAEV AVAR SEN!!1!11!!! WTF LOL I SWEAR IT WAS LIEK A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY!1!!!!!1! WTF LOL THEY HAD A BIG SCREN WIT LIEV VIEDO AND R3CORDAD S3GMENTS AND A COUPLE DOZEN HUG3 BALONS BOUNCNG AROUND ON STAEG AND IN TEH CROWD AND BIG BLOW-UP ROBOT DOLS AND TEH BAND MEMBRS WARA DR3S3D IN ANIMAL COSTUMAS!1!11 OMG WTF LOL TEH DRUMAR WAS A PENGUIN AND TEH BASIST WAS A ZABRA AND I THINK DA GUITARIST WAS A BUNY AND TEH SNGAR WORE A SLIK TAN SUIT!1!11!!! OMG AND THEIR WARA ABOUT FIFTEN FANS WHO DRASAD UP IN ANIMAL SUITS 2 AND THAY JUMP3D AROUND TEH STAEG DURNG TEH SONGS WIT FLASHLIGHTS AND STROB LIGHTS!!1!!! OMG WTF AND THEN THEYRE WAS A BOXNG NUN WHO SANG FOR US AND A DOVE DURNG A HAPY SONG AND A VIAL OF FAEK BLOD FOR A TRIBUT3 2 DA GUITARIST B/C IT WAS ACTUALY HIS BIRTHDAY (SO WE AL SANG 2 HIM) AND A COUPLE OF HUG3 BOXNG FISTS AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF CONF3TI FOR DA CROWD!111!1111 OMG WTF AND B/C 2NIGHT WAS TEH LAST DAET OF THEYRE US 2UR TH3Y PLAEYD AN ENCORE (WHICH TH3Y HARDLEY EV3R DO) A VERY WEL-DONE COVER OF PINK FLOYDS SONG BREATHA!!1!!1 WTF LOL AND I CANT R3M3MBR WUT ALSE BUT I WAS SMILNG THROUGHOUT TEH ANTIER SHOW!!!!111!1 LOL DA VIEB I GOT FROM TEH AXPEREINCA AT TAHT SHOW WAS JUST UNRAAL!!11! OMG WTF LOL IVE NEV3R F3LT TAHT WAY AT A CONCERT 3V3R

IF!11!!!1! OMG LOL TEH FLMNG LIPS EVER COME 2 UR AERA DO NOT MIS THEM!111!11 OMG WTF U WIL HAEV DA TIEM OF UR LIEF!11!!!!!! WTF LOL

not to encourage this kind of thing...but...I went to the lips show last month cuz I really wanted to see Ariel Pink.
I saw the Lips like six times around the release of the Soft Bulletin. Haven't heard much since then.
The APHG set was fantastic. I was feeling restless and the between set music was "On the Corner" which didn't really help.
Then it started to rain (outdoor show) and I said to a friend "I think I may split before the Lips set" and a girl passing by was flabbergasted, even angered by my admission. I told her to keep walking.

It's funny, I keep buying tickets for Flaming Lips concerts based on the strength of their openers.

at this point, the most surprising thing the lips could do in a live context is just play it straight up without all the cutesy stuff.

15-20 years ago they were caught in a weird situation, kinda like a less-fortunate sonic youth or something and they were riding the cusp of this noisy altpop that the majors were "feelin", and I think they were a pretty great early 90s band! I was lucky to catch them on a small club tour shortly before "transmissions" and it was a lot of fun: strobes, glitter, balloons, goofy covers, maybe the most insanely loud drum sound i've ever heard. plus they were just happy to be playing on tour. i'm sure that lifetime career musician-life changes matters, especially now that they're all pushing 50 but I have fond memories, I haven't heard much after Zaireeka.

Would Mercury Rev be like a less-fortunate Flaming Lips?

i never heard those guys except for that one song...

see, it would be cool to show up to the 2010 flaming lips show and see something similar to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ78FP-fBtU

xpost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVxAQLtpMBA

high school xgf put it on a mixtape lol.

great band in their early years, one of the first to bridge the gaps between between sincere classic rock worship, post-punk noise & the emerging 80s "independent rock" sound. love the stretch from hear it is through priest driven ambulance and probably always will. continued to follow and occasionally enjoy their music throughout the 90s, though their pre-zaireeka string of warner brothers albums aren't as shaggy & charming as the indie stuff it grew out of. at their best they make up for it in eccentric ambition, experimental noise and solid tunes -- though something a bit gratingly "wacky" (and worse, saccharine) does begin to emerge from the margins. jumped ship at the soft bulletin and haven't looked back.

they were an amazing live band for a while there, though. some of the loudest, craziest, most overwhelming shows of that era. you know, this side of the butthole surfers or crash worship or whatever...

"that's great, but you keep forgetting to say 'away' at the end"

Never liked them much except for She Don't Use Jelly

MAH GOD I SAW THES3 GUYS LAST NIGHT ON TEH LAST SHOW OF THEYRE 2UR!!!1!! OMG WTF LOL I THOUGHT I HAD SEN TEH BST LIEV SHOW OF MAH LIEF WIT 2L BUT IM PROUD 2 SAY DA FLMNG LIPS W3RE EVEN BTER

ANYWAYS!1111!1 OMG WTF LOL DA FLMNG LIPS PUT ON TEH MOST SPECTACULAR LIEV SHOW I HAEV AVAR SEN!!1!11!!! WTF LOL I SWEAR IT WAS LIEK A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY!1!!!!!1! WTF LOL THEY HAD A BIG SCREN WIT LIEV VIEDO AND R3CORDAD S3GMENTS AND A COUPLE DOZEN HUG3 BALONS BOUNCNG AROUND ON STAEG AND IN TEH CROWD AND BIG BLOW-UP ROBOT DOLS AND TEH BAND MEMBRS WARA DR3S3D IN ANIMAL COSTUMAS!1!11 OMG WTF LOL TEH DRUMAR WAS A PENGUIN AND TEH BASIST WAS A ZABRA AND I THINK DA GUITARIST WAS A BUNY AND TEH SNGAR WORE A SLIK TAN SUIT!1!11!!! OMG AND THEIR WARA ABOUT FIFTEN FANS WHO DRASAD UP IN ANIMAL SUITS 2 AND THAY JUMP3D AROUND TEH STAEG DURNG TEH SONGS WIT FLASHLIGHTS AND STROB LIGHTS!!1!!! OMG WTF AND THEN THEYRE WAS A BOXNG NUN WHO SANG FOR US AND A DOVE DURNG A HAPY SONG AND A VIAL OF FAEK BLOD FOR A TRIBUT3 2 DA GUITARIST B/C IT WAS ACTUALY HIS BIRTHDAY (SO WE AL SANG 2 HIM) AND A COUPLE OF HUG3 BOXNG FISTS AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF CONF3TI FOR DA CROWD!111!1111 OMG WTF AND B/C 2NIGHT WAS TEH LAST DAET OF THEYRE US 2UR TH3Y PLAEYD AN ENCORE (WHICH TH3Y HARDLEY EV3R DO) A VERY WEL-DONE COVER OF PINK FLOYDS SONG BREATHA!!1!!1 WTF LOL AND I CANT R3M3MBR WUT ALSE BUT I WAS SMILNG THROUGHOUT TEH ANTIER SHOW!!!!111!1 LOL DA VIEB I GOT FROM TEH AXPEREINCA AT TAHT SHOW WAS JUST UNRAAL!!11! OMG WTF LOL IVE NEV3R F3LT TAHT WAY AT A CONCERT 3V3R

IF!11!!!1! OMG LOL TEH FLMNG LIPS EVER COME 2 UR AERA DO NOT MIS THEM!111!11 OMG WTF U WIL HAEV DA TIEM OF UR LIEF!11!!!!!! WTF LOL

― more than ever convinced ilxor is a sock (ilxor), Monday, October 11, 2010 11:39 PM (Yesterday)

fuckin new low for this dude

That ilxor post reminds me that I haven't seen kelpolaris since around the time he did that fucher of white people!!! thread.

see, it would be cool to show up to the 2010 flaming lips show and see something similar to this

or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTqFzvloPh0

^^^ "god walks among us now" <3<3<3

I think Ronald Jones was a pretty cool dude from a different planet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOz9HBzlB_o

those reverse reverb slide licks is pretty great in the choruses as is the extended ring modulation intro

^ yeah, so nice. was the last flaming lips song i really & truly LOVED, and i love it still. the music's brute physicality makes the bleeding heart poet stuff palatable. when that balance was lost, they became kind of intolerable.

"Would Mercury Rev be like a less-fortunate Flaming Lips"
Like Skeet Ulrich and Johnny Depp

completing the priest-driven triumvirate of pummeling psych epics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2C0eQ71KJk

I really like THe Flaming Lips, at least in terms of their 1999 onwards material. But they'd still benefit from turning down their amps a little when they record them, to avoid instruments getting distorted in the final mix. They were worse at this earlier on, but still have a lot to learn.

fuckin new low for this dude

― avoyoungdro's number (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 04:55 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

pretty sure it's just some nitwit's post put through a l33tspeak translator

also alert to the possibility that you realise this and are just making a roundabout observation that ilxor needs to reduce his posting volume by 80% or so

MAH GOD I SAW THES3 GUYS LAST NIGHT ON TEH LAST SHOW OF THEYRE 2UR!!!1!! OMG WTF LOL I THOUGHT I HAD SEN TEH BST LIEV SHOW OF MAH LIEF WIT 2L BUT IM PROUD 2 SAY DA FLMNG LIPS W3RE EVEN BTER

ANYWAYS!1111!1 OMG WTF LOL DA FLMNG LIPS PUT ON TEH MOST SPECTACULAR LIEV SHOW I HAEV AVAR SEN!!1!11!!! WTF LOL I SWEAR IT WAS LIEK A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY!1!!!!!1! WTF LOL THEY HAD A BIG SCREN WIT LIEV VIEDO AND R3CORDAD S3GMENTS AND A COUPLE DOZEN HUG3 BALONS BOUNCNG AROUND ON STAEG AND IN TEH CROWD AND BIG BLOW-UP ROBOT DOLS AND TEH BAND MEMBRS WARA DR3S3D IN ANIMAL COSTUMAS!1!11 OMG WTF LOL TEH DRUMAR WAS A PENGUIN AND TEH BASIST WAS A ZABRA AND I THINK DA GUITARIST WAS A BUNY AND TEH SNGAR WORE A SLIK TAN SUIT!1!11!!! OMG AND THEIR WARA ABOUT FIFTEN FANS WHO DRASAD UP IN ANIMAL SUITS 2 AND THAY JUMP3D AROUND TEH STAEG DURNG TEH SONGS WIT FLASHLIGHTS AND STROB LIGHTS!!1!!! OMG WTF AND THEN THEYRE WAS A BOXNG NUN WHO SANG FOR US AND A DOVE DURNG A HAPY SONG AND A VIAL OF FAEK BLOD FOR A TRIBUT3 2 DA GUITARIST B/C IT WAS ACTUALY HIS BIRTHDAY (SO WE AL SANG 2 HIM) AND A COUPLE OF HUG3 BOXNG FISTS AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF CONF3TI FOR DA CROWD!111!1111 OMG WTF AND B/C 2NIGHT WAS TEH LAST DAET OF THEYRE US 2UR TH3Y PLAEYD AN ENCORE (WHICH TH3Y HARDLEY EV3R DO) A VERY WEL-DONE COVER OF PINK FLOYDS SONG BREATHA!!1!!1 WTF LOL AND I CANT R3M3MBR WUT ALSE BUT I WAS SMILNG THROUGHOUT TEH ANTIER SHOW!!!!111!1 LOL DA VIEB I GOT FROM TEH AXPEREINCA AT TAHT SHOW WAS JUST UNRAAL!!11! OMG WTF LOL IVE NEV3R F3LT TAHT WAY AT A CONCERT 3V3R

IF!11!!!1! OMG LOL TEH FLMNG LIPS EVER COME 2 UR AERA DO NOT MIS THEM!111!11 OMG WTF U WIL HAEV DA TIEM OF UR LIEF!11!!!!!! WTF LOL

Hey! This is not SMS!

and why the hell do you repost that shit, geir?

saw them this August when they were headlining a festival I attended and say what you want - in terms of show they're good, it was fun to see all these baloons and confetti and psychedelic vaginas extravaganza, fun in a way you expect from, say, a rollercoaster ride or circus
and the songs ain't bad, I see why they sound annoying and stupid to so many ilxors, but that doesn't really hurt me

I counted about 1,000 RONG statements in this thread. In any case, both Soft Bulletin, and to a lesser degree, Yoshimi are masterpieces, Embryonic=wau, and I love that in the 21st century discussions around rock bands still revolve around "I like era A OR era B", as if you can't like both!

for the record though I'm more into the proggy-pop stuff that came later mostly because while I like the earlier stuff, I have a lot more of it in my collection already via other similar acts.

pretty sure it's just some nitwit's post put through a l33tspeak translator

^^

Geir walks among us now

the music's brute physicality makes the bleeding heart poet stuff palatable. when that balance was lost, they became kind of intolerable.

You should probably give "Embryonic" a chance then, it's pretty brutal and awesome in an old-school Lips way.

Also, to this day they haven't topped "Riding to Work in the Year 2025". Get the original Zaireeka; those surround sound synths are incredible, and the extended jazz ending is my top Lips moment of all time, next to the instrumental coda to "There You Are".

You should probably give "Embryonic" a chance then, it's pretty brutal and awesome in an old-school Lips way.

― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, October 12, 2010 11:40 AM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah, no, i slighted embryonic, which i really do like quite a bit. was thinking the same thing after posting my curmudgeon gripes about "the new stuff." the reservation i do have about embryonic is that while i was blown away on initial listens, i got the hang of it and moved on fairly quickly. maybe this is due to its being more of a noises record than a tunes record? i dunno...

Whenever I see Wayne in a picture or on tv, I can't but help think that he should retire the Matlock attire.

had no interest in this band for years (thought of them as the she don't use jelly novelty band). i gave them a shot when they arrived on emusic, and i'm hooked.