| Comedy rock | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Humorcore |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 1950s, US Mid-1950s – early 1960s, UK |
| Local scenes | |
| Sunset Strip inWest Hollywood, California, United States | |
Comedy rock is a genre of rock music that iscomedic in nature. It is often mixed withsatire orirony.[1]
Early American examples includeStan Freberg, who lampooned artists such asElvis Presley,Harry Belafonte andthe Platters, andSheb Wooley.[2] The latter's "Purple People Eater" reached No. 1 on theBillboard pop chart in 1958 and stayed there for six weeks.[3]
In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s, comedians such asCharlie Drake andthe Goons frequently appeared in the top ten with humorous rock 'n' roll records—the latter, along withLewis Carroll andEdward Lear, were to influence the word-play ofJohn Lennon's lyrics. Later British groups specialised in comedy: these includedthe Scaffold,the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band andAlberto 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 2012Breaking Strings album was critically acclaimed for its rock sensibility.[4]
AllMusic describedFrank Zappa as the "godfather" of comedy rock.[5] Thepop rock andfolk rock bandthe 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.[6] Two of its members,Howard Kaylan andMark Volman, later performed more explicitly comedic songs asFlo & Eddie with their own band and with Frank Zappa.
Several modern comedy rock bands have experienced mainstream commercial success. DuosTenacious D andFlight of the Conchords both released platinum-selling albums and starred in their own respective comedic television series.Dan Finnerty with histhe Dan Band has made comedy rock appearances in theTodd Phillips filmsOld School andThe Hangover spoofing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Candy Shop", as well as his live show, which parodies female cover songs and was filmed as a one-hour TV special directed byMcG and executive produced bySteven Spielberg.Stephen Lynch from New York developed a following with several Opie and Anthony appearances which led to two specials on Comedy Central. He performed on Broadway with the production ofGrease.
With over 12 million albums sold, song parodist"Weird Al" Yankovic remains the highest-selling comedy act in history, with his 2014 albumMandatory Fun having debuted at #1 on theBillboard 200, the first comedy album to do so sinceAllan Sherman'sMy Son, the Nut in 1963.[7] Rock has been the target of manyspoofs and several spoof bands have gone on to have hit records, for exampleSpinal Tap in the U.S., andthe Hee Bee Gee Bees andBad News in the UK. The bandSteel Panther has become a fixture on theLos AngelesSunset Strip with their parody of 80sglam metal,[8] and their success has opened the doors for other spoof bands such asthe Jimi Homeless Experience. Other spoof bands such asDread Zeppelin,Beatallica andThose Darn Accordions rely on unusual or intentionally contrasting genre-mixing for comic effect.The Residents are well-known for their unusual, heavily distorted covers of pop and rock songs. Comedy rock duoNinja Sex Party, who have collaborated with Steel Panther on occasion, blend rock andsynthpop and have produced songs that parody thedubstep and heavy metal genres. They have enjoyed success from their online popularity.[9] Another band,Primus, is known for their wacky lyrics and comedic music videos.Gorillaz is a Britishvirtual band whose fictional, animated members parody contemporary trends in popular music.
Geddy Lee ofRush did a guest appearance on the noveltyTake Off, supporting his grade school classmateRick Moranis. The song peaked at number 16 on theBillboard 100 singles chart in March 1982, higher than any of Rush's songs ever charted on the U.S. top 40. Despite selling 40 million albums worldwide, Rush's biggest hit on that chart, "New World Man", reached only number 21, and thus "Take Off" was Lee's biggest hit.
Many bands within thealternative rock andcollege rock spectrum are known for their incorporation of humorous and satirical songs, with bands such asBarenaked Ladies,Electric Six,Mindless Self Indulgence,They Might Be Giants,[10]the Presidents of the United States of America,Bloodhound Gang,System of a Down,Ween,Weezer,Wheatus andCamper Van Beethoven finding both mainstream and independent success in the United States, as well as successful foreign bands such asParokya ni Edgar andKnorkator.Punk rock andpop punk has made its contribution to the comedy rock ranks, with such bands asthe Aquabats,Blink-182,Bowling for Soup,Patent Pending,Dead Kennedys,the Dead Milkmen,Macc Lads,the Meatmen,the Radioactive Chicken Heads andthe Vandals.
Heavy metal has also produced many humor-oriented and satirical bands, includingGreen Jellÿ,Lawnmower Deth,Massacration,M.O.D.,Big Dumb Face,Electric Callboy,Primus,Nanowar of Steel,J.B.O.,Psychostick,Ludichrist,Bad News,Spinal Tap,Okilly Dokilly andScatterbrain, whose comedic shtick mostly revolves around parodying heavy metal clichés and ironically spoofing the seriousness of many traditional metal bands, while other bands such asGwar,Lordi,Knorkator andRosemary's Billygoat utilize outrageous costumes and over-the-top stage shows. Thevirtual bandDethklok is adeath metal spoof featured in theAdult Swim animated TV showMetalocalypse,[11] and their albumThe Dethalbum debuted at No. 21 on theBillboard Top 200 list.[12] "Pizza" byAttila has 3.2 million views onYouTube as of June 2023.
| Components | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genres by decade of origin (sub-subgenres not included) | |||||||||||||
| Regional scenes |
| ||||||||||||
| Radio formats | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||
