Talk:The Flaming Lips

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Contents

[edit] first person account

I think I've done pretty well in not stating my opinion on matters aesthetic round these parts so far - heck, I wrote an entire article on Paul Hindemith, whose music gives me about as much pleasure as repeatedly stabbing forks into my eyes (that's no pleasure at all, by the way). But I can't help myself on this one, sorry: I went to see the FLips a couple of years ago (they were touring The Soft Bulletin) and it was the best gig I've ever seen. There was a very small amount of artistically placed fake blood, and video footage of Herbert von Karajan conducting in a rather over the top way, and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" sung with fake snow, and I didn't have to go to work in the morning (I was a student, I didn't work)... ah, happy days.

Right, back to this sonata form article (with apologies for the waste of wikipedia's disk space...) --Camembert

Well, I managed to write an entire set of articles on Stephin Merritt / The Magnetic Fields without mentioning the clearly evident fact that he's the greatest genius ever to grace the face of the Earth. Ah, the sacrifices we make for NPOV. And yes, the FLips are rather spiffy. --AW
I shouldn't say this, but just after I wrote this above, I suffered a power cut and was left in complete darkness. Clearly, this was a message from some sort of wikipedia god, ordering me to not waffle irrelevantly on talk pages. And yet, here I am doing it again. Hmm. --Camembert


[edit] Logo

That FLips logo at the top right is a pretty nasty cut job. I don't suppose anyone can source a nicer one? Rob W 22:27, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Legendary my eye

Sonic Youth and Morrissey - no matter how "famous" they might be considered by some - are not legendary.

[edit] Verb

In the first line of the article shouldn't "The Flaming Lips is..." be changed to "The Flaming Lips are..."? Hoekenheef 12:21, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)


No, group nouns (such as band names), regardless of whether or not the words might otherwise be plural (such as "lips"), are singular and take a singular verb.

[edit] Grammar Problems

No, group nouns are not always treated as singular. A collective noun such as band, committee, or bunch takes a singular verb when the group acts as a SINGLE unit, and a plural verb when the members of the group act separately. For instance...

The herd of cattle is grazing in the field. (The whole herd is grazing.)

The herd of cattle are stampeding in all directions. (Individual cattle are running in various directions.)

In the Flaming Lips article, however, you can argue that the author is referring to each member of the band as a Flaming Lip; hence, he can be correct in writing that the Flaming Lips (all three of them) individually and collectively make up the band. Therefore, "are" is okay in this instance.

However, the lead sentence in the second paragraph is incorrectly phrased: "Although indie rock/post-punk approach to rock music, The Flaming Lips are known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic-ish arrangements and their spacey lyrics and bizarre song titles."

The opening phrase of that sentence should probably be refashioned into a subordinate clause.: "Although THEY TAKE AN indie rock/post-punk approach to rock music..." Actually the true intent of the sentence is difficult to decipher: Did the Lips ONCE take an indie approach? Do they NOW take an indie approach? Are they perceived to take an indie rock approach, when they actually don't? etc...

[edit] At War With the Mystics

I just recently checked the Lip's website and have heard no mention of a new album. I was wondering if anyone knew where this information was derived. Thank you. Hoekenheef 16:04, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Andrew Miller is God!

i don't seem to recall that being a Lips album. Could be vandalism. Hoekenheef 20:40, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The Car show?

Does anyone have any info about "The Flaming Lips Car Experience" they did at the 1999 Roskilde Festival? They hooked speakers up to a number of cars & broadcasted a "concert" on that system, much to some peoples dismay (ie. those who thought it would be a real concert). Was this replicated elsewhere & if/if not, would it be worth including on this page?

You're thinking of the Parking Lot Experiments, and later, the Boombox Experiments. Short overview of what these were (from my own memory of various interviews etc): prerecorded tapes of various noises and instruments were played out of car stereos/boomboxes arranged in a specific way, conducted by the band. This way each tape player is an 'instrument' in an 'orchestra'... wayne would occasionally shout instructions over a megaphone, asking certain people to turn their tapes up, start or stop theirs, etc. to create an ongoing composition...
And yes, they're worthy of addition to this page, the band place emphasis on these 'experiments' as critical learning experiences, esp. in the creation of Zaireeka, blah blah blah, and of course they were a bloody cool idea. "Much to some people's dismay"? I would have loved to be there... direct interaction with the band, the chance to make a piece of music with a whole bunch of strangers in what sounds like an entirely original way? I'll add something when I get around to writing it... (see: info on official website) - mrkpwnz 07:52, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Which version is true?

Could someone please find another source to back up one of these two stories? --taestell 17:18, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

It should be in the documentary The Fearless Freaks. Unfortunately, my copy of the DVD is at home while at am at college. But of the top of my head I don't remember any mention of instruments being stolen from a church.

The wonderful thing is that the stories are equally plausible. Sirnickdon 10:35, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

The Flaming Lips first gog was at a place called Blue Note and their second gig was at a transvestite bar. It says so on the commentary on the Frearless Freaks DVD.Gregholden 00:05, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What about Spongebob

They did a song for the soundtrack, didn't they?

Yes. Yes, they did. CaptHayfever 04:33, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
It's called 'Sponge Bob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy' I love all. 20:16, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Itunes exclusive/Can't get you out of my head

I am by no means a Flaming Lips expert (in fact I only started listening starting with Yoshimi) but I seem to recall an album with 4 or 5 songs, one of which had a cover of a Kylie Menogue song called "Can't Get You Out of My Head". It may or may not have been an itunes exclusive but I know I definitely bought it from itunes. Anyone have any info on this? I will leave it to more informed people to edit the article.

It's on the Yoshimi EP "Fight Test", I think. There's a Radiohead cover on that one too. maxcap 03:55, 24 January 2006 (UTC)
It's also on the promo EP 'Yoshimi Wins: Live Radio Sessions' which may have turned up on iTunes. 203.166.249.50 04:21, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

I think there's also cover of the white stripes, 7 nation army.

No the 7 nation army cover was released on the Flaming Lips Late Night Tales compilation album.

[edit] Cat Stevens?

There was a spat between Cat Stevens and the Lips over the song Fight Test and it's similarities... anyone know any details that wants to put it in here?

I'm 90% sure Cat/Yusef tried to take them to court and got a settlement, but I lack the proper sources & details to add it myself. CaptHayfever 04:33, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
if you do a google, you'll find an interview where wayne gives all the details. he admits he realised the similarities to "father and son" soon after recording it but didn't sort out the publishing problems, and cat stevens' publishing company came after them for royalties. apparently cat stevens himself was cool about it.

[edit] Gettin' messy

Do we need all those tour dates at the end of the mystics section? maxcap 18:21, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Charts

Are there any tracks that made the Modern Rock charts? Surely "She Don't Use Jelly" would have. WesleyDodds 22:58, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lispacey?

the band is known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements and their Lispacey lyrics and bizarre song titles

What on Earth is "Lispacey"? GeeJo (t)⁄(c) • 13:56, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

Does anyone have a better pic? All you can really see is Wayne Coyne, and all the other junk in the pic is really distracting. --Patinthehat1 02:26, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

All that junk is the Flaming Lips.  : D Stop the War in Uganda! 23:18, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

I added a nicer one from flickr—enjoy! Bannus 20:01, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of cover songs

I really think that needs to go. Does it really matter what songs they've covered in concert? --Rajah 03:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Agreed.maxcap 02:06, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

I've trimmed it down to a more manageable list of songs they've covered and recorded/released. I'm not sure as to the complete accuracy of my trimmed list though. --Rajah 05:42, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date wrong

In October 2005, The Flaming Lips recorded a cover of "If I Only Had a Brain" for the soundtrack of the video game Stubbs the Zombie, which features modern rock bands covering songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

That song is from The Wizard of Oz, which came out in 1939. It's not from the 1950s or the 1960s.Jondaris 19:10, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

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