"Weird" major label bands

bjork

boredoms...

pop tari/chocolate synthesizer seriously have to be the two weirdest major label releases ever...

maybe two of the best as well!

robert wyatt

There are tons of examples from the distant past (Captain Beefheart) but obv. way fewer now.

Mr. Bungle and Warner Brothers were a strange combo.

that's pretty much cuz Patton held them for ransom on that one when he joined Faith No More.

Ween

man the early 90s!

Melvins, for that matter!

Geraldine Fibbers. I bought their second album, listened to it once and exclaimed "these guys are about to get dropped!". It was true within a month.

Fucking amazing records. Produced by John Goodmanson. No business being on Virgin.

Morbid Angel did two records for Giant too. Their two best IMO.

How cool is it that the best death metal band in the world got to spend 3 solid months in Morrisound studio? The results are so huge and so heavy.

royal trux on virgin!

Sigur Ros

Not sure how I forgot Foetus - Gash, but that.

PTV's first 2 albums were on WEA, if I remember rightly.

Daniel Johnston

Early Zappa was pretty bonkers

Cradle Of Filth and Satyricon = black metal on a major!

Pere Ubu's major label years ... Those records are kind of underrated, I think.

Shudder to Think / Epic

(especially because the singles that the label seemed to pick were usually really weird - "Hit Liquor" is an oddball song).

zaireeka on warner bros

The Pop Group's first was on Radar/Warners

all the good Sire stuff

The Mekons' debut was on Virgin, too.

weren't the Avalanches on Warner Bros for a while?

Stereolab

Butthole Surfers?

our matador lp says on the record label "mfd by atlantic records,dist by warner brothers"

Jesus Lizard - The Capital Years (or non-Albini production years, I guess - WTF?)

Butthole Surfers?-- woofwoofwoof, Friday, November 30, 2007 4:49 PM
Were all pretty sure they'll be smokin turds in hell for screwing the T&G right?

Sparklehorse are not really that weird. At least not compared to shit like the Buttholes or Mr. Bungle or Pere Ubu or any of the metal bands mentioned

(...or that good...)

I guess this also depends on what major label means. Isn't Thurston Moore's personal noise/avant label like a subset of Geffen?

Isn't Thurston Moore's personal noise/avant label like a subset of Geffen.............i tink Universal

Not so much weird as unlikely, but: Mudhoney.

OH OH ALSO

The Blood Brothers, wtf.

Daniel Johnston's deal was like 70% a result of "lookit, COBAIN likes him," right? I kind of like the grasping cluelessness of parts of the 1990s alternative rush, where it almost seems like labels just figured certain people had their fingers on the pulse, and so they'd rush for any band those people boosted, whether they understood the appeal or not.

(Actually there's a perfectly good reason a major label would go for Johnston beyond all that: the guy writes conventionally accessible pop songs, in the end, so you might start thinking, well, if you put him in a real studio, with a good backing band and high production values...)

It always blows my mind that Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments came out on a major.

I'd love to see DGC profit-and-loss summaries for some of their alt-rush bands: did St. Johnny just cover a couple personal assistant's salaries, or one haircut for Geffen, or what?

And lo, how many Christmas bonuses were lost over Loud Lucy?

Someone could make a really cool box set out of the best songs from all the above releases.

It would be the hardest box set to approve all the rights because everything's on a major label.

I do wish there was a website documenting all the alternarush majorlabel bands. It seems a shame that Fulflej and Super Deluxe don't get their nerd due.

Isn't Thurston Moore's personal noise/avant label like a subset of Geffen.............i tink Universal

-- danbunny, Friday, November 30, 2007 5:34 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Link

they distribute certain bands--the more accessible stuff like Be Your Own Pet. For stuff like Mouthus and even Wooden Wand, Thurston's on his own.