Finding great music (not good but great music) does not happen very often for most of us and when you realize it was right under your nose for so many years, you can’t help but laugh. Actually I think puke is a better word. The Flaming Lips were that band for me and I’m embarrassed it took 15 years for me to figure out what I was missing.
My first experience with The Flaming Lips (which is probably the same for many others) was the single “She Don’t Use Jelly” off the album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart” (1993). This was the bands first (and really only) hit single and it was all over MTV. I absolutely hated it. I think Wayne’s red hair bugged me more than the music. This was a long time ago but I’m fairly positive I thought it was his real hair color and it really irked me.
Once the buzz of that single died down, I can’t say that I gave them another thought. Unless you kept up with the college rock scene, they might as well have broken up and fallen off the face of the earth. There were so many crap alternative bands that would come and go so fast back then, I simply lumped them in with all of that garbage. Keep in mind I was a huge metal head so all of it was garbage to me, but in my defense I was only 14 or 15 at the time. Being closed minded at that age is semi acceptable, right?
Fast forward 10 years and I start hearing the name The Flaming Lips again. I’m thinking wait, the Carrot Top band is back together. I don’t give it much thought but the name keeps popping up more and more. For a band that had one hit years ago, the amount of buzz was enough for me to find out what was going on. The band had released “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” and they were suddenly in my line of view again. Keep in mind during the ten years that have passed, I had went from worshiping bands like Carcass, Pantera, and Death to massive fans of Radiohead, Failure, Kent etc.
So I check it out and I like it. I don’t buy the record but I like what I see (no more red hair, just kidding…not really) and realize I had these guys pinned all wrong. When they are in my view, I pay attention. When they are talked about, they are given two thumbs up. I really liked the experimental stuff I was hearing and Wayne’s awesome white suit more than made up for his red hair that possibly traumatized me as a kid. However, for whatever reason, they became a band that you know you should pay more attention to, but simply do not. When they are in your line of sight you watch and listen with great love, but when they fall back out, it’s like they don’t exist again.
Fast forward six more years and I watch “The Flaming Lips: The Fearless Freaks” documentary which came out in 2005. My first reaction after watching is Damn It! Why the hell did it take me 15 years to figure out that I should have paid more attention. The film blew me away and have since gone back and purchased the earlier releases and caught up on what I had ignored for whatever reason, for so many years.
While all of our mystery bands will be different and some will be realized and a lot will not, I ask all of you only slightly familiar with The Flaming Lips to watch the documentary below in hopes that a familiarity with an artist can be turned into music that is now filed under great.
