Funniest albums made with serious intentions

[twentysixdollars]

In a (semi?)-recent exchange I discussed with my good buddy Runcible the justifiably legendary late-sixties psych group Vanilla Fudge. He opined that they were merely lousy, but that a member of the Heads (I think it was), though of the same mind, nonetheless admired a certain bass part of theirs. This led me to a few months of thought about unintentional amusement in other records. Hence this topic.

Talking of the Fudge, it seems no-one I've met or spoken to is familiar with their third (?) album, The Beat Goes On. It contains most of the qualifiers: outrageous pomposity (numerous arty recitations about, like, their, like, life philosophy), incredibly toothless covers of classical material, and the assertion that the title Sonny and Cher tune represents the Rosetta Stone of twentieth-century pop.

There's also the Status Quo's first album. Nuggets fans will know of Pictures of Matchstick Men, a tune that's not only a great psychedelic pop tune, but also a brilliant and completely unintentional parody of the whole movement. Their entire first release is consumed with blatant rewrites that reuse the same gimmicks (brittle, inept guitar noodling, excessive phase, nasal Ringo-like vocals, constant use of the word "mind") and melody (virtually all the choruses go IV-V-I, just like in Matchstick Men. Most of the verses consist of a variation on that tune's generic angly hard-rock riff.) My favorite of the rewrites is Technicolor Dreams, which I often find myself humming, and it also sports an intro that might be the unacknowledged basis for Sway. (You heard me). There's a few diversions into Bee Gees-like pop (they even cover them on the album highlight) that betray a lack of direction or songs at the time of their signing and are out of place, but there's definitely cohesion, since every single song is about a guy haunted by the face of his girl, as it flutters in and out of his Mind when he's awake or when he's sleeping. And yes, from now on Mind must be capitalized when discussing this album.

There's the first album by Godspeed offshoots A Silver Mount Zion was pretty absurd, whether on the one and a half vocal tracks making doleful references to 'Shoshana...dancin' the hora' (the sleeve notes featured an extreme closeup of Efrim's reprazentin' magen dovid) or all the prog maneuvers outlining a loose concept detailing the leader's apparently genuine anguish at having lost his dog, whom I believe was called Wanda. One man's pain shouldn't be so hilarious.

There too is the new record by Radiohead. I once thought they were merely detestable, but never found them particularly amusing; but "Hail to the Theif" is a sidesplitting collection that sees them - talented musicians though they are, I admit - degenerating into their own cover band, with uncharacteristically schmaltzy, unintentionally Elton-like ballads and faux new-wave rhythm guitar parts. Amnesiac was atrocious, but I never once cracked a smile.

There's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, its silliness made sort of poignant to those who watched Unsolved Mysteries when Robert Stack was alive; there's lots of straight-ahead prog rock, such as Tarkus, or Thick as a Brick. THere's more. Submit yours!

(One gauche track on an otherwise good or decent record doesn't count. So no mentions of "We Will Fall" or "Child of the Universe").

[Starfish]

I only recently found out that "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" was the singer of Iron Butterfly's attempt to say "In The Garden Of Eden" whilst stoned out of his mind.
Surely that casts doubts on the "made with serious intentions" remit?

[Leggy Mountbatten]

Just borrowed Curved Air's first album off someone here, so stand by.

In other news, The Ground Hogs are pretty funny, and you do get the impression they didn't mean to be. I can't quote lyrics I'm afraid, but thhe two lp's I was lent once ("Split" and "Black diamond") exhibit sexual politics which are ...well... confused enough to make me do the aural equivalent of rub my eyes.

[twentysixdollars]

The Doors of course were frequent offenders, usually due to Morrison ("I want to hear the Scream of the butterfly!!") but occasionally simply for their musical conceits; their claim to rootsiness a la LA Woman is even less sound than that of the Eagles, who, at the time, at least had the common courtesy to be commercially unsuccessful.

The Iron Butterfly poignancy I made reference to is the fact that one of the members evidently became some sort of high-tech scientist ostensibly studying the feasability teleportation (really), and by some accounts in cahoots with the government; his subsequent disappearance is blamed by conspiracy theorists on evildoers out to take advantage his expertise. I'm not making this up.

[The Breeze]

The Doors of course were frequent offenders, usually due to Morrison ("I want to hear the Scream of the butterfly!!") but occasionally simply for their musical conceits; their claim to rootsiness a la LA Woman is even less sound than that of the Eagles,

I can confirm that the books 'Wilderness,''The New Creatures' and whatever else I bought with my vouchers at age 18 were even more pompous than the records.

Last week my parents did their first trip over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter and said that as you approach the first ridge whereapon you see the undoubted splendor, the pilot plays Aaron Coplands 'Fanfare for the Common Man' in your headphones. All I could think of was ELP in that big empty stadium with shades and flying-jackets.

[ORBITAL]

I quite like a couple of the Delgados records. I can remember I once read an article on them and they mentioned a band that was an influence on them so I decided to check them out and blindly bough some of thier stuff. Asn usual i coulndt wait to gvet home and stick it on. even better when its somthin youve never heard anything of at all.

The band.......The (not so increadible) string band.


The result was dissapointing. What a steaming Load of pish.

Anyone saw the new king arthur film yet?

[twentysixdollars]

I'm actually fond of the Incredible String Band, not to be confused with the other ISB, International Submarine Band. But I don't think they pass the 'serious intentions' test.

[TheWarmth]

There too is the new record by Radiohead. I once thought they were merely detestable, but never found them particularly amusing; but "Hail to the Theif" is a sidesplitting collection that sees them - talented musicians though they are, I admit - degenerating into their own cover band, with uncharacteristically schmaltzy, unintentionally Elton-like ballads and faux new-wave rhythm guitar parts. Amnesiac was atrocious, but I never once cracked a smile.

Yay! Just what we need! More completely unjustified slagging of Radiohead. If you were so inclined, you could easily argue that Ladies & Gentlemen WAFIS is a hilarious album, too! Maybe we should try that!!! $26, I want to hear your most recent album. Where can I hear it?

[twentysixdollars]

You could have at least been mature Warmth and attacked me for misspelling "Thief".

I'm eager to hear your appraisal of LAGWAFIS. Let's start with the acronym.

Why was my reference to the record 'completely unjustified'? It's rotten. That's fair-to-middling justification.

[Horrorflick]

Geez, I wish I was a professional music snob. Did you guys piss in your mom's face while she was singing you a lullaby that was "devoid of any merit, melodic or otherwise"? I'm almost afraid to ask, but is there anything out there that's "cool" enough to actually get you guys to admit liking it?

[spzretent]

I'm sure I did pee in my moms face when I was a baby. More coincidence than a statement of her singing ability. Now that you mention it it mave been my first stab at music criticism.
Sorry Mom.

[twentysixdollars]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but is there anything out there that's "cool" enough to actually get you guys to admit liking it?

Oh yeah, but where's the fun in that? Besides, you guys know what I like. It's much more entertaining airing what I dislike. Incidentally this thread is more or less a condensation of records I _do_ like, if perhaps not on the level the creators of said works would have wished.

I suppose most of this bile is because of my continued refusal to recognize Radiohead as anything but a middling prog-pop group at their best and 'eclectic' carpetbaggers at their worst. I find them ridiculous. A lot of critics do. A lot of listeners do. A lot of very serious people, from their mid-teens to mid-twenties, mostly with thick black plastic bifocals, disagree and think they're not only the best pop group of the nineties, they're the best pop group ever, and what the hell is that asshole twentysixdollars calling the prophets of the new post-modern music a pop group. Asshole. He really is an asshole. And he pissed on his mommy too.

Not that Amnesiac is all that much worse than Amazing Grace. In fact I think Kid A is better.

[twentysixdollars]

I also forgot to mention one thing that really distinguishes that hilarious first Status Quo record, and it's these huge, thick, tremendously overplayed Jamerson-by-way-of-Macca-circa-"Rain" basslines. They honestly lift every song up since he was evidently the one player in the band that was a good musician. I don't know who it was but I suppose he's still with them.

[appledelphy]

about half of the 1974 Quo album is excellent!

and I love the two first vanilla fudge although you have to develop a deaf spot in your eardrum to ignore the goofy 5 %..

anyone know of any contemporary "intellectually" goofy bands?

[spzretent]

anyone know of any contemporary "intellectually" goofy bands?

Ween. Wheat- that new is hilariously bad. Frank Zappa. XTC. Funkadelic and all the offshoots. The Beatles- see Ringo.

[TheWarmth]

You could have at least been mature Warmth and attacked me for misspelling "Thief".

I'm eager to hear your appraisal of LAGWAFIS. Let's start with the acronym.

Why was my reference to the record 'completely unjustified'? It's rotten. That's fair-to-middling justification.

Relax, I'm not attacking anyone. I just find it irritating when people constantly state their opinions as if they are facts. Surely you can agree with me that there are hundreds of bands that are far worse than Radiohead. I don't understand why you and others on this board find it necessary to constantly criticize them. Obviously you're an intelligent person and if you really feel that Hail to the Thief is a "rotten" album, that's fine. Just give the slagging a rest, it's getting really tiresome.

[spzretent]

[quote="TheWarmth"] Surely you can agree with me that there are hundreds of bands that are far worse than Radiohead. I don't understand why you and others on this board find it necessary to constantly criticize them. [quote]

Erm...opinions are just that, opinions. You have been on this board long enough to know some of us are outspoken. That doesn't mean we are right. If you disagree, so be it.

The reason some of us find Radiohead easy prey are:
1. They could be the most overrated, overhyped band EVER!
2. They had 1 1/2 good albums. The Bends being the full good lp. Half of OK Computer is good. Blasphemy!
3. Their fans are hypersensitive.
4. They smack of self rightousness.
5. They suck.

Keep Trade Fair!

Of course this is just my opinion.

[twentysixdollars]

I couldn't have said it better myself, spzretent. Your exegesis effectively nails down every facet of my dislike for Radiohead, except I think their good record was Kid A and their halfgood one was The Bends. I also don't think they're the most overrated pop group ever - that would be the Beatles, for no matter how good they might have been, and they were very good indeed, they're certainly not the Best, as they're so often called, possibly by default as they've been heard more than any other performers in the history of recorded sound. Radiohead have certainly become a close second, though. Pink Floyd is up there. And as much as I like the Rolling Stones they're definitely in the top 10.

As Spzretent indicated it's the sensitivity and self-seriousness of Radiohead fans that makes them so much fun to twit. They're just about the only band for which every single fan seems to harbour the same system of opinions, namely:

-Pablo Honey is the only record of theirs of which I'm allowed to publically be disdainful; it's lousy but demonstrates their genius in its formative stages. And Creep sucks. But Lurgee rocks.
-The Bends is the best possible example of 90s 'alternative' rock, if it's that at all. The second best album of all time.
-OK Computer is the best album of all time unless The Bends is. And it's not pop, or rock. Oh no.
-Kid A is an underappreciated masterpiece that I don't like but won't say so because everyone will say it's because I hate dance music when in fact I really do.
-Amnesic is an eclectic masterwork that's a bit like their White Album (except so much better), or possibly their Houses of the Holy because there's so much guitar and catchy melodies. "Hunting Bears" is a brilliant collision of avant-garde classical music and guitar rock. I actually skip it every time, but I won't say so. "Life In A Glass House" is brilliant too, and the first time a popular group (not that Radiohead is) has ever used Dixieland horns except for that boring Van Morrison folk bullshit. When Radiohead do folk ("Exit Music", man!) it's much more real and not at all like James Taylor with a fuzz pedal.
-Hail to the Thief? Well, um, it's a return to form. I don't really remember the tunes, but they're really strong, and I'm going to call it a mature masterwork and go back and listen to OK Computer, the only Radiohead album I really like.
-Thom Yorke is cute.
-As far as I know the band doesn't pee.

Don't forget the Radiohead fan-community doublethink that has them believing they're a small group. It's doublethink because when somebody criticizes OK Computer the exasperated response is often, "it's changed millions of lives." It's certainly changed mine.

What the hell has happened to the moderators here? Spzretent likes Coldplay, $26 is more of an asshole than ever, and Runcible and Stevie seem to have vanished off the face of the earth.

[spzretent]

after many glasses od spanish red wine and a few single malts i think i have found the answer.

Bands like Spiritualized and...Radiohead...and fill in the blank hit people on a level bands like Coldplay, Oasis, Sonic Youth, Embrace, Keane-though I have never heard them and whomever dont. People tend to take certain bands way more serioulsy than others.

That is each and every fans cross to bear. Warmth, I understand you are a big Radiohead fan and that is cool. I am a huge Stones fan. i am also a HUGE Soundtrack Of Our Lives fan. I will defend them ad nauseum. But they never affected me the way Spiritualized have. Thats why I am here on this board and dont bother even visiting any other message boards except Bloemfontein's. But thats another story.

[asd2112]

tell us the story of bloemfontein spzretent.

not an album but the movie "Amateur" by Hal Hartley fits the comic/serious thing if you listen to hal talk about the movie.

this is one of my most pointless posts.

[spzretent]

i like to monitor what people are saying on their message board. We ask all those who buy it to either email us or hopefully post a message. It kind of makes all the time and effort worthwhile.

They played in someones living room Friday night and beamed it across the internet. It was pretty nice. many a nice beer was consumed as well as a fabulous barbeque spread.

[Leggy Mountbatten]

I also forgot to mention one thing that really distinguishes that hilarious first Status Quo record, and it's these huge, thick, tremendously overplayed Jamerson-by-way-of-Macca-circa-"Rain" basslines. They honestly lift every song up since he was evidently the one player in the band that was a good musician. I don't know who it was but I suppose he's still with them.

Alan Lancaster was the original bassist with "Ver Quo". He left the band (and the country...) about 20 years ago.

If you want "unintentionally hilarious" try this interview with the current Quo bassist: http://www.livedaily.com/news/1745.html, or google for the lyrics of "In the army now" by the band they call the British ZZ Top.

Pop fact supplement: "Pictures of Matchstick Men" was used as chimes for the Rossi families fleet of ice cream vans in and around Southend on Sea in 1967, to celebrate their lad's chart success with the tune.

[Leggy Mountbatten]

I also don't think they're the most overrated pop group ever - that would be the Beatles...,

You seem to have obained an unauthorised copy of my forthcoming research paper on what I have termed Ratedness Coefficients. I am seeking representation on the matter; in the meantime, you will cease and desist.

[runcible]

I'll stir the shit pot as little by adding every note ever played by the Manic Street Preachers.

On a more humourous note check out the Enid's catalogue. I spent an evening once giggling hysterically with some friends at what is regarded as their classic 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. Best comedy record ever.

And a mention for Marillion too.

As far as Vanilla Fudge goes it was The Heads singer, Simon Price, who played me some of their live stuff, describing it as the worst, most self-indulgent music ever played, adding 'that's what too much coke does for a band'. Yet one fuzz bass solo had Simon in raptures, and he felt owning the record was worth it for that two minute passage alone. It made me realise there are higher levels of musical appreciation than the one I occupy.

[TheWarmth]

$26 ~ Regarding "James Taylor with a fuzz pedal" ... that actually sounds like a very interesting idea. Maybe I should listen to Exit Music again.

[twentysixdollars]

$26 ~ Regarding "James Taylor with a fuzz pedal" ... that actually sounds like a very interesting idea. Maybe I should listen to Exit Music again.

This by the way was also more or less my description of My Bloody Valentine's "Sometimes", a description which I've seen appropriated in some quarters of the WRC, which gives me the warm fuzzy feeling that at least somebody is still reading me. However I've always enjoyed that song a great deal more despite my general dislike of late for Loveless which I overrated wildly in the early nineties.

[appledelphy]

i am also a HUGE Soundtrack Of Our Lives fan. I will defend them ad nauseum. But they never affected me the way Spiritualized have.

I don´t really know ebbot/tobbe but I´m a little proud that he has heard me play both live and in the studio, even if I don´t think he was too impressed or even remember it now.. He is a very nice guy - no jason tendencies..


myself like unioncarbideprod. a little more than SOOL.