Does Humor Belong In Music?

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John A Arkansawyer
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Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

And vice versa:

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LBRod
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by LBRod »

I was expecting this
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tinnitus photography
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by tinnitus photography »

humor has kind of faded away from music... are there any contemporary bands that rely on it?

in the past, there were several:

Frank Zappa
Dead Milkmen
King Missile
Ween
maybe Cake?

who else?

beantownbubba
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by beantownbubba »

tinnitus photography wrote:who else?


I assume Weird Al doesn't count, though he should.
The Pursuit of Happiness - "I'm an Adult Now" is one of the great "seriously funny" songs ever and there's a lot of humors throughout their stuff.
Dylan can be pretty funny from time to time though it's not always easy to recognize on first listen
Then there's the whole tradition in blues and r&b of getting references to sex and sexual acts past the "censors." "Rock n roll" anyone?
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John A Arkansawyer
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

beantownbubba wrote:I assume Weird Al doesn't count, though he should.


Only to ten, Mudhead.

beantownbubba wrote:Dylan can be pretty funny from time to time though it's not always easy to recognize on first listen


I'd love to find my Dylan bootleg Western Electric of the Hollywood Bowl show some time before Highway 61 came out. People laugh at the funny parts of Desolation Row. Apparently, no one had told them yet that song was heavy and serious. And there's a guy up in the stands who blows an air horn a time or two. Dylan asks him, "What are you trying to say, man? What do you mean?" The crowd eats it up. He's having a lot of fun on stage.
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tinnitus photography
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by tinnitus photography »

as far as stage banter goes, i would say the funniest musicians i've seen are Neko Case and Jeff Tweedy.

King Buzzo too, if he ever spoke from stage that much. his interviews are gold.

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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

They Might Be Giants were plenty funny while simultaneously writing some pretty subversive songs disguised as humor or beautiful love songs masquerading as jokes.

As far as stage banter the funniest I've heard in a long time came from Amanda Shires. She's a natural storyteller with a sweet vibe and a biting wit. Lots of laughs that night.
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

They Might Be Giants were plenty funny while simultaneously writing some pretty subversive songs disguised as humor or beautiful love songs masquerading as jokes.

As far as stage banter the funniest I've heard in a long time came from Amanda Shires. She's a natural storyteller with a sweet vibe and a biting wit. Lots of laughs that night.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved

LBRod
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by LBRod »

Don't hurt people, and don't take their stuff.

Iowan
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Iowan »

tinnitus photography wrote:humor has kind of faded away from music... are there any contemporary bands that rely on it?

in the past, there were several:

Frank Zappa
Dead Milkmen
King Missile
Ween
maybe Cake?

who else?


It's pretty crucial for Todd Snider.

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Clams
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Clams »

To me, a sense of humor in my music, while not critical, is pretty damn important. Some of the best and funniest: Hayes Carll, Ray Wylie Hubbard, DBT, the Bottle Rockets, Springsteen, McMurtry, Todd Snider.

Put another way, artists who take themselves too seriously are a turn off.
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straightshot
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by straightshot »

Iowan beat me to the Todd Snider shout out. He cracks me up. I discovered him a couple of years ago when searching for solo Patterson Hood shows. Y'all check this out if you haven't...this is an awesome show:

http://southernshelter.com/category/todd-snider/

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Jimmy Buffett, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe. While they may all not be known as "humorists", I'd say several (if not all) were huge influences on Todd Snider. I'd say the Shel Silverstein strain also runs pretty heavily through the work of each artist.

David Lindley sort of reminds me of Zappa in that both are/were extremely accomplished on their instruments of choice but rarely perform serious material.


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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by RolanK »

I have no idea, really, if this was meant to be funny or to be taken seriously.
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Zip City »

Reverend Horton Heat has a ton of humor in his music. Same with Split Lip Rayfield and Hank III
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by tinnitus photography »

Supersuckers.
Gwar.

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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Hud »

THE KING......Unknown Hinson
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Southern Culture On the Skids


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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Flea »

Don't forget Mojo Nixon or the Beat Farmers.
Now it's dark.

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tinnitus photography
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by tinnitus photography »

Thelonious Monster!

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PeterJ
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by PeterJ »

Cooley's RSD releases, Grandpa Rock City, and even some of the earlier DBT stuff has some humor in it.
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straightshot
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by straightshot »

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Jimmy Buffett, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe. While they may all not be known as "humorists", I'd say several (if not all) were huge influences on Todd Snider. I'd say the Shel Silverstein strain also runs pretty heavily through the work of each artist.


That's another thing I dig about Snider, he's always giving props to his influences. He turned me on to Prine and Walker, who I'd never heard of before.

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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Rocky »

See Heavy Metal in general and Steel Panther specifically.

Seriously go to You Tube and search for Steel Panther. If you watch any one of their videos and don't laugh the next time I see you I'll buy you a beer. (Cause you need it. :mrgreen: )
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

straightshot wrote:
Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Jimmy Buffett, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe. While they may all not be known as "humorists", I'd say several (if not all) were huge influences on Todd Snider. I'd say the Shel Silverstein strain also runs pretty heavily through the work of each artist.


That's another thing I dig about Snider, he's always giving props to his influences. He turned me on to Prine and Walker, who I'd never heard of before.


I've also heard him credit Buffett as the one that taught him how to keep the attention of an audience when you're just one man with a guitar (and a harmonica). There's also this.


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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Iowan »

Rocky wrote:See Heavy Metal in general and Steel Panther specifically.

Seriously go to You Tube and search for Steel Panther. If you watch any one of their videos and don't laugh the next time I see you I'll buy you a beer. (Cause you need it. :mrgreen: )


Steel Panther is fucking hilarious.

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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by tinnitus photography »

hair metal was always a "laugh at/not with" proposition for me.

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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by 4sooner »

Dr Hook

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Rocky
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Rocky »

tinnitus photography wrote:hair metal was always a "laugh at/not with" proposition for me.

Works for me. How could you not laugh at a band like Poison?
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by Beebs »

Leo Kottke is a side splitting storyteller but it happens in between the music. (almost everything he plays is instrumental)
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Re: Does Humor Belong In Music?

Post by hanklow »

I would hate to think of the Bottle Rockets without Brian's humor.

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