Humor as a Weapon
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Anti-establishment artists have flocked to rock music since Day One. We look at some of the greats with music writer and professor Iain Ellis, author of the book "Rebels Wit Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists."
Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on one of his favorite rock humorists
Tell us: Do you have a favorite musician who uses humor subversively?
Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on one of his favorite rock humorists
Tell us: Do you have a favorite musician who uses humor subversively?
Comments [15]
Just finished reading "Rebels Wit Attitude". Excellent book. Very interesting, very well written, and also extremely funny. Ellis has a great pen, at times comparable to the great artists he writes about. Required reading for anyone who wants to dive deeper into the subversive elements of rock.
Brian Eno-Here Come the Warm Jets.The Jets are streams that occur after drinking much water or beer. Kevin Ayer's -one song in particular-I get my kicks from other people's feet. Robert Wyatt. Elvis Costello has very wry wit.
The Tubes are often quite funny.
bob dylan's love & theft has several laugh out loud moments.
Dan Bern!
And Flight of the Conchords, of course.
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
George Clinton - Parliament/Funkadelic
B52's Lyric "Why don't you dance with me I'm not no limberger..."
Rock Lobster
Blotto: I want to be a lifeguard. I want to save your life.
Nice spin on rock history. Got me to thinking...
So...let's hear where Ian finds the humoUr in:
Led Zep?
U2? (othe than Bono's aler ego of The Fly...)
A wonderful and subversive line from the Turtles classic "Elenore" is a direct quote from their record exec who wanted another big selling love song from them.
The song's chorus takes his suggestion word for word: "You're my pride and joy etcetera".
Randy Newman? I think he would be an obvious satirist in pop/rock.
Primus!!!!!!
What about John Lennon? He's the first name I think of when I think of rock humorists.
I know this will probably show up in his Brit book, but Rob Halford of Judas Priest was himself one big joke, or rather he pulled off a joke on all his testosterone, hetero gay-bashing fans by getting them to sing along with essentially gay sex anthems. Heavy metal, heavy irony.
I think the saddest thing about the music industry since the 1960's has been the dearth of humorous novelty music.
I'm not talking about subversive humor, just regular old funny.
From One Eyed Purple People Eater to Call Any Vegetable to Walk Like an Egyptian, these bits of fun are only a memory nowadays. It's a shame.
Novelty tunes are like classic sitcoms - cherished memories. I miss them.
i just want to thank soundcheck for once again helping me to turn off my radio. it's pointless, uninsightful, wasting of time is really helpful in breaking my npr addiction.
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