Comedy rock

Comedy rock is rock music mixed with comedy, often satire and parody.^[1]

History

Early bands and songs

Early American examples include Stan Freberg, who lampooned artists such as Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte and The Platters, and Sheb Wooley. Freberg's "Purple People Eater" reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart in 1958 and stayed there 6 weeks.^[2]

In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s comedians such as Charlie Drake and The Goons frequently appeared in the top ten with humorous rock 'n' roll records—the latter, along with Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, were to influence the word-play of John Lennon's lyrics. Later British groups specialised in comedy: these included The Scaffold, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. Later in Britain, in the 2000s, Mitch Benn released several studio albums that satirised current affairs using various musical genres, but mainly rock. His 2012 Breaking Strings album was critically acclaimed for its rock sensibility.^[3]

Allmusic described Frank Zappa as the "godfather" of comedy rock.^[4] The pop rock and folk rock band The Turtles released a comedy rock album, The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, in 1968, though the band had previously incorporated humor into their songs.^[5] Two of its members, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman later performed more explicitly comedic songs as Flo & Eddie with their own band and with Frank Zappa.

Contemporary bands

Several modern comedy rock bands have experienced mainstream commercial success. Acoustic-based duos Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords both released platinum-selling albums and starred in their own respective comedic television series. Dan Finnerty with his The Dan Band has made legendary comedy rock appearances in the Todd Phillips films Old School and The Hangover spoofing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Candy Shop", as well as his cult hit live show, which parodies female cover songs and was filmed as a one-hour TV special directed by McG and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

With over 12 million albums sold, song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic remains the highest-selling comedy act in history, with his 2014 album Mandatory Fun having debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, the first comedy album to do so since Allan Sherman's My Son, the Nut in 1963.^[6] Rock has been the target of many spoofs and several spoof bands have gone on to have hit records, for example Spinal Tap in the U.S., and The Hee Bee Gee Bees and Bad News in the U.K. The band Steel Panther has become a fixture on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip with their parody of 80s glam metal^[7] and their success has opened the doors for other spoof bands such as The Jimi Homeless Experience. Other spoof bands such as Dread Zeppelin, Beatallica and Those Darn Accordions rely on unusual or intentionally contrasting genre-mixing for comic effect. Comedy rock duo Ninja Sex Party, who have collaborated with Steel Panther on occasion, blend rock and synthpop and have produced songs that parody the dubstep and heavy metal genres. They have enjoyed success from their online popularity.^[8]

Many bands within the alternative rock and college rock spectrum are known for their incorporation of humorous and satirical songs, with bands such as They Might Be Giants, The Presidents of the United States of America, Bloodhound Gang, Those Pretty Boys, System Of A Down, Ween, and Camper Van Beethoven finding both mainstream and independent success in the United States, as well as successful foreign bands such as Parokya ni Edgar and Knorkator.

Punk rock and pop punk has made its contribution to the comedy rock ranks, with such bands as The Aquabats, Blink-182, Bowling For Soup, Patent Pending, Dead Kennedys, The Dead Milkmen, The Meatmen, and The Radioactive Chicken Heads. Heavy metal has also produced many humor-oriented and satirical bands, including Green Jellÿ, Lawnmower Deth, Massacration, M.O.D., Psychostick, and Scatterbrain, while other bands like Gwar and Rosemary's Billygoat utilize outrageous costumes and over-the-top stage shows. The virtual band Dethklok is death metal spoof featured in the Adult Swim animated TV Show Metalocalypse^[9] and their album entitled The Dethalbum debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard Top 200 list.^[10]

References