Musical Oddities

In the mid to late 80's and most of the 90's there were an abundance of these sorts of acts...

mostly cool and somewhat innovative...smetimes sloppy and mindless...

These are bands that mishmashed and blurred the genre lines...pummeled style barriers and left MTV with no idea when the hell to play their videos...

bands like:

FISHBONE, PRIMUS, JANE'S ADDICTION, LAST CRACK, MOTHER LOVE BONE, FAITH NO MORE, DRIVIN' N' CRYIN', KING'S X, NYMPHS, PIGMY LOVE CIRCUS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS (before they became the way the are now), LIQUID JESUS, MR BUNGLE, ELECTRIC LOVE HOGS, LOUDHOUSE, DROWN, DECRY.....and loads more I can'think of at the moment...

Anyone have any faves that fall within these parameters?

King's X are one of the greatest bands ever IMO. Also Faith No More, Fishbone and Primus are awesome.

The Electric Hellfire Club

They would fit in here...a bit o' goth/indutrial dance glam....of the satanic variety.....

painkiller2142 wrote:

King's X are one of the greatest bands ever IMO. Also Faith No More, Fishbone and Primus are awesome.

King's X are, indeed, awesome! They just can't seem to write that really catchy hook. "Black Flag" and "Dogman" were their only hits, and "Dogman" was just a minor hit coming off the success of "Black Flag," which is possibly their catchiest song. If they could just write one song like that per album, just a catchy-as-hell chorus, then they wouldn't be on the brink of breaking up—like they have been for years now.

Anyway, I think System Of A Down falls into this category, though somehow they managed mainstream success. This is all in part to System's great music and their manager, Beno, who created the street team. Yeah, promotion like this was done in the past, but not on the same level. Streat teaming today is annoying, but in 1997 when he started doing this for System Of A Down it was a totally different deal. System released their third demo in 1997 and quickly sold out of it. Their drummer left, and with the addition of their new drummer, Beno financed a re-pressing of that demo tape in a simple cardboard slipcase. Instead of selling them, he gave them away for free.

I had heard System Of A Down on the release of their second demo, so I already had the third when it was originally released, and as a fan I was all about helping them out. So Beno sent me a box of 200 tapes! Retarded. And when I gave those away, he'd send more. I gave away thousands of those tapes. He was hyperactive and totally into music. He'd call me all the time to just talk music, talk about System, and he'd play me rough mixes over the phone. The dude is totally cool. Anyway, that sort of promotion landed System a record deal, and a slot at Ozzfest in 1998 and they hadn't even gotten a record out yet, just three demos. Pretty unbelievable. They gave away over 100,000 copies of that re-pressed demo!

But now the street team is ridiculous, and doesn't have nearly the same effect. Anyway, I rant. Haha. But yeah, I think System, despite their success, fit this category. I'd also throw Dog Fashion Disco up there, too.

DOG FASHION DISCO..... always thought of them as FAITH NO MORE satanic cousin who lives in the attic....I mean that in the good way....

SYSTEM OF A DOWN are cool...I hear enough of them on the radio to keep me from owning any of their cds but they're cool...

Not a huge fan of "political" minded bands like them, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE or INCUBUS (recently)

Shiney wrote:

DOG FASHION DISCO..... always thought of them as FAITH NO MORE satanic cousin who lives in the attic....I mean that in the good way....

SYSTEM OF A DOWN are cool...I hear enough of them on the radio to keep me from owning any of their cds but they're cool...

Not a huge fan of "political" minded bands like them, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE or INCUBUS (recently)

I've always thought of Dog Fashion Disco as Mr. Bungle without tourettes and Attention Deficit Disorder. Haha. Sadly they've broken up, but their new band picks up right where they left off. Check them out: http://www.myspace.com/polkadotcadaver. Sounds awesome. Have you heard Adultery? Killer concept album.

And there is a misconception about System of a Down being political. Serj is a politically-motivated person, but System have very few political songs. Serj's lyrics are really poetic and weird, but they only have about six or seven political songs.

Ever heard the band IDIOT FLESH? Very odd band....the stuff is impossible to find...sort of MR BUNGLE meets DOG FASION DISCO by way of THE RESIDENTS....

I'll have to check that POLKADOTCADAVER band out....


listeneing to DAISY CHAINSAW at the moment...another odd duck band....

Eyesore wrote:

And there is a misconception about System of a Down being political. Serj is a politically-motivated person, but System have very few political songs. Serj's lyrics are really poetic and weird, but they only have about six or seven political songs.

Don't forget Daron's lyrics. Usually pot-inspired surrealist rambles about things that don't really make sense. Anyway, that's pretty awesome that you were a purveyor of System demos. I'd love to have done something like that.

there is a band from Canada called F*ck The Facts. they play a meld of grindcore, metalcore, punk, ambient, & noise. they also throw in elements of jazz & disco & they even did a rap song as a joke.

hard as hell to describe this band when people ask "who would you compare them to?"

Smindas wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

And there is a misconception about System of a Down being political. Serj is a politically-motivated person, but System have very few political songs. Serj's lyrics are really poetic and weird, but they only have about six or seven political songs.

Don't forget Daron's lyrics. Usually pot-inspired surrealist rambles about things that don't really make sense. Anyway, that's pretty awesome that you were a purveyor of System demos. I'd love to have done something like that.

Yeah, Daron writes more like Kurt Cobain. His lyrics are more rambling, nonsensical rhymes. Luckily he never wrote lyrics to many songs before Mezmerize/Hypnotize.

Anyway, yeah, it was kind of cool being a part of System's beginning. I was able to become friends with the band and meet a ton of people. I saw them open for Incubus back in 1998 in a little club in Memphis called Barrister's. They had an old camper van with a U-Haul trailer on the back. Haha. Incubus had a tour bus. Less than a year later, System Of A Down had a tour bus, too. It was really cool. They're great people, too.

But anyway, it was definitely cool being a part of that. It wasn't like the streat teams of today, where they send you 10 stickers and 5 sampler tapes. System Of A Down and Beno (and two other dudes, Styles and Braden) at Velvet Hammer where a big part of the whole thing. They appreciated it, and you knew it. It was definitely cool.

mc666 wrote:

there is a band from Canada called F*ck The Facts. they play a meld of grindcore, metalcore, punk, ambient, & noise. they also throw in elements of jazz & disco & they even did a rap song as a joke.

hard as hell to describe this band when people ask "who would you compare them to?"

Sounds like one of those annoying mathcore screamo bands. Any good?

I've heard F***THE FACTS....reminded me an eency bit of a band called GENGHIS TRON....

what about MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE? I digtheir Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy" disc...

MSI is excellent. First song I heard by them was "Bring The Pain" (a Method Man cover). Haha. I was like, "Why is this chick shouting about the Wu-Tang Clan?" Haha. Of course, it's a cover, and it's not a chick singer.

Great band, though.

Eyesore wrote:

mc666 wrote:

there is a band from Canada called F*ck The Facts. they play a meld of grindcore, metalcore, punk, ambient, & noise. they also throw in elements of jazz & disco & they even did a rap song as a joke.

hard as hell to describe this band when people ask "who would you compare them to?"

Sounds like one of those annoying mathcore screamo bands. Any good?

well, they are no Def Leppard...

Eyesore wrote:

Anyway, I think System Of A Down falls into this category, though somehow they managed mainstream success.

Great story, man. But yeah, I agree. System gets lumped into nu-metal, but they are way more unique than anything else that has transpired in that scene, as far as I know. I haven't heard much from that scene, but I know much of it is pretty boring. But System rules! They have often reminded me of Oingo Boingo, another genius band that really didn't fit squarely into the category given to them (new wave). Not that the two bands sound the same, but there are moments where I would swear SoaD are old fans of OB.

ack

I thought I was the only one who thoughtthat about SYSTEM and OINGO....

Shiney wrote:

I thought I was the only one who thoughtthat about SYSTEM and OINGO....

Nope, I have thought that for a while! We belong to a small elite group who knows stuff!

:face:

ack

mc666 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

mc666 wrote:

there is a band from Canada called F*ck The Facts. they play a meld of grindcore, metalcore, punk, ambient, & noise. they also throw in elements of jazz & disco & they even did a rap song as a joke.

hard as hell to describe this band when people ask "who would you compare them to?"

Sounds like one of those annoying mathcore screamo bands. Any good?

well, they are no Def Leppard...

Well, that's a given.

AchrisK wrote:

Shiney wrote:

I thought I was the only one who thoughtthat about SYSTEM and OINGO....

Nope, I have thought that for a while! We belong to a small elite group who knows stuff!

:face:

ack

It wouldn't shock me. Daron is a big fan of weird 80s music.

Hey Eyesore, I got to be a part of the "Chop Suey" video with System back in 2001 and all four guys were awesome and very friendly, just as you remember them, no rockstar BS whatsoever. In fact, the bass player approached me and gave me his pick, which was pretty cool, considering there were like 300 extras at the video shoot.

Shiney, I used to work at a video store in Hollywood and the lead singer of Pigmy Love Circus (Michael Savage) used to come in all the time. The guy literally had over 2000 video rentals!!! Very cool guy, about 6'5" and he used to work as a bouncer at some club on Hollywood and drive an old 1970's Cadillac convertible and was tattooed all over. One time he brought in the album The Power of Beef as a gift, which was nice. Still don't know how to exactly categorize the music.

Since there is talk of System here, how would you categorize Buckethead? How about Bad Acid Trip? Anyone familiar

Also, this is long shot, but does anyone remember retro-rockers Kula Shaker? Their second album Peasants, Pigs, and Astronauts used to be trip to listen to.

How about "Life,Sex and Death" (not to be confused with another good band, Sex, Love and Money). LSD was the one off fronted by a supposedly homeless man called Stanley; who by the sound of his voice I always suspected of being Jim Dandy Mangrum in disguise. I guess he was an actual person called Chris Stanley though. I'm not sure what it was all actually about; but they had several interesting and/or jammin songs on their CD.

GrandNational wrote:

Hey Eyesore, I got to be a part of the "Chop Suey" video with System back in 2001 and all four guys were awesome and very friendly, just as you remember them, no rockstar BS whatsoever. In fact, the bass player approached me and gave me his pick, which was pretty cool, considering there were like 300 extras at the video shoot.

Awesome. That's cool. A guy I knew in the Air Force was in the front row of the show that Testament recorded for the Between The Lines home video. He was all over the thing! Haha.

I got to sing "War?" with SOAD once live. It was cool as hell.

Quote :

How about Bad Acid Trip? Anyone familiar

Bad Acid Trip are a lot like Bungle. Great moments, but not really a great band.

Eyesore wrote:

Quote :

How about Bad Acid Trip? Anyone familiar

Bad Acid Trip are a lot like Bungle. Great moments, but not really a great band.

the same can be said about SOAD. minus the "great moments" part.

mc666 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Quote :

How about Bad Acid Trip? Anyone familiar

Bad Acid Trip are a lot like Bungle. Great moments, but not really a great band.

the same can be said about SOAD. minus the "great moments" part.

Ouch! But that's cool. You have the right to be wrong :geek:

ack