History Music / FlamingLips

The band line-up has [[RevolvingDoorBand changed several times over the years]], but since 1993 it's more or less been the lineup of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Wayne Coyne, bassist/keyboardist Michael Ivins - the two of whom founded the band - and longtime drummer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd.[[hottip:*:They had an additional guitarist, Ronald Jones, between 1991-1996.]] Recently, Drozd moved mainly to guitar duties, with Kliph Scurlock joining as a drummer starting with ''Embryonic'', and live guitarist/keyboardist Derek Brown was also promoted to full band member.

The band had a RevolvingDoorBand for years, but since 1993 it's more or less been the lineup of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Wayne Coyne, bassist/keyboardist Michael Ivins - the two of whom founded the band - and longtime drummer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd.[[hottip:*:They had an additional guitarist, Ronald Jones, between 1991-1996.]] Recently, Drozd moved mainly to guitar duties, with Kliph Scurlock joining as a drummer starting with ''Embryonic'', and live guitarist/keyboardist Derek Brown was also promoted to full band member.

* FromACertainPointOfView: "...the sun doesn't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round"

The Flaming Lips are an AlternativeRock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They formed in 1983 and have become one of the most well known cult bands of the past 25 years. They began as a Punk band but became more and more eclectic and [[PsychedelicRock psychedelic]] with the passing years. They also moved from indie labels to Warner Bros Records early in TheNineties, where they've remained since.

* SerialEscalation: If you thought ''Zaireeka'' was crazy for being an album that requires four CDs to all be played simultaneously, the band released a free song via their YouTube channel called "Two Blobs Fucking." This one's split into ''twelve'' separate videos intended to be played simultaneously. Hope you have 11 friends with smart phones handy!

The Flaming Lips are an AlternativeRock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They formed in 1983 and have become one of the most well known cult bands of the past 25 years. They began as a punk band but became more and more eclectic and [[PsychedelicRock psychedelic]] with the passing years. They also moved from indie labels to Warner Bros Records early in TheNineties, where they've remained since.

The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They formed in 1983 and have become one of the most well known cult bands of the past 25 years. They began as a punk band but became more and more eclectic and psychedelic with the passing years. They also moved from indie labels to Warner Bros Records early in TheNineties, where they've remained since.

* FanDisservice: The music video for "Watching the Planets". Wayne Coyne, you're almost 50 years old. Enough said.

* {{Sampling}}: Some of the band's early songs had this, such as "Can't Stop the Spring" and "Love Yer Brain" from ''Oh My Gawd!!'', and "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory" from ''Telepathic Surgery''

* SerialEscalation: If you thought ''Zaireeka'' was crazy for being an album that requires four [=CDs=] to all be played simultaneously, the band recently released a free song via their YouTube channel called "Two Blobs Fucking." This one's split into ''twelve'' separate videos intended to be played simultaneously. Hope you have 11 friends with smart phones handy!
** Another of the band's releases for this year was the song "I Found a Star on the Ground," which is 6 hours long. If that isn't enough, the band is currently working on another song that's slated to be ''24 hours long''.
* SesameStreetCred: They've appeared on YoGabbaGabba, doing a version of the ''Embryonic'' song "I Can Be a Frog"
* SomethingBlues: "Charlie Manson Blues" from ''Hear It Is'', "Talkin' 'bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)" from ''Hit to Death in the Future Head''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flipssmall.JPG
[[caption-width:901:Michael Ivins, Wayne Coyne, and Steven Drozd]]

* ''The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends'' [[hottip:*:A collaborative album featuring {{Music/Kesha}}, BonIver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, Jim James (from My Morning Jacket), NickCave, Lightning Bolt, [[YokoOno Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band]], Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes, and Chris Martin (from {{Music/Coldplay}}). Released exclusively on vinyl for Record Store Day.]] (2012)

* {{Crossover}}: They once did a crossover performance with {{Beck}}. Can be seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcfS-tiYHkE here.]]

* ''TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' [[hottip:* :With Stardeath and White Dwarfs, plus {{Music/Peaches}} and HenryRollins. Cover of the PinkFloyd album.]] (2009)
* ''The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends'' [[hottip:* :A collaborative album featuring {{Music/Kesha}}, BonIver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, Jim James (from My Morning Jacket), NickCave, Lightning Bolt, [[YokoOno Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band]], Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes, and Chris Martin (from {{Music/Coldplay}}). Released exclusively on vinyl for Record Store Day.]] (2012)

** MGMT providing additional instrumentation on ''Embryonic's'' "Worm Mountain"
** Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs providing vocals for ''Embryonic'' tracks "I Can Be a Frog" and "Watching the Planets"
** And in a rather bizarre note, German mathematician Dr. Thorsten Wörmann provides spoken word bits to "Gemini Syringes"

The band had a RevolvingDoorBand for years, but for the past decade its more or less been the lineup of singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne, bassist/keyboardist Michael Ivins - the two of whom founded the band - and longtime drummer/guitarist Steven Drozd. Recently, Drozd moved mainly to guitar duties, with Kliph Scurlock joining as a drummer starting with ''Embryonic'', and live guitarist/keyboardist Derek Brown was also promoted to full band member.

* CoverVersion: Apart from the ''Dark Side of the Moon'' album, these are quite rare on their albums. The reissue of ''Hear It Is'' has a cover of "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran, ''In a Priest Driven Ambulance'' has a cover of [[Music/LouisArmstrong "What a Wonderful World"]], ''At War With the Mystics''' [=iTunes=] release has a cover of [[Music/{{Queen}} "Killer Queen"]] (originally recorded for a tribute album) among the bonus tracks, ''Heady Fwends'' has a cover of Ewan [=MacColl=]'s "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" (in collaboration with Music/ErykahBadu)... and oh yeah, the ''A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording...By Amateurs'' compilation also brings up covers of "Strychnine" by The Sonics (mashed with Music/ElvisCostello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding"), [[Music/SonicYouth "Death Valley '69"]], [[Music/LedZeppelin "Thank You"]] and [[Music/NeilYoung "After the Gold Rush"]].

* ThisTropeIsBleep: Likely as a joke, the ''Satellite Heart'' back cover and linter rotes print the title of "Plastic Jesus" as "★★★★★★★".

** Also leaks into the titles of the band's albums and [=EPs=] from time to time, including ''Due to High Expectations, The Flaming Lips Are Providing Needles for Your Balloons'' and ''The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon''

* RecordProducer: Dave Fridmann, who has produced nearly all of the band's albums since ''In a Priest Driven Ambulance'' (he was too busy with MercuryRev and was replaced by Keith Cleversley for ''Transmissions from the Satellite Heart'').

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Other than Steve Drozd's heroin (which he recently kicked), the band has been sober for years now.

* AndStarring: Their full length cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'', which is jointly credited to The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs (a band founded by one of Wayne Coyne's nephews), along with [[Music/HenryRollins Henry Rollins and {{Music/Peaches}}.

* ''The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends'' [[hottip:* :A collaborative album featuring {{Music/Kesha}}, BonIver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, Jim James (from My Morning Jacket), NickCave, Lightning Bolt, [[YokoOno Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band]], Neon Indian, Erykah Badu, New Fumes, and Chris Martin (from {{Music/Coldplay}}). Released exclusively on vinyl for Record Store Day 2012.]]

* BeyondTheImpossible: If you thought ''Zaireeka'' was crazy for being an album that requires four [=CDs=] to all be played simultaneously, the band recently released a free song via their YouTube channel called "Two Blobs Fucking." This one's split into ''twelve'' separate videos intended to be played simultaneously. Hope you have 11 friends with smart phones handy!
** Another of the band's releases for this year was the song "I Found a Star on the Ground," which is 6 hours long. If that isn't enough, the band is currently working on another song that's slated to be ''24 hours long''.

* EpicRocking: "7 Skies H3", which is [[BeyondTheImpossible 24 hours long.]] This following on from "Found a Star on the Ground", at six hours. There's also a noise loop on ''Hit To Death In The Future Head'' that's almost half an hour long.

* AndStarring: Their full length cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'', which is jointly credited to The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs (a band founded by one of Wayne Coyne's nephews), along with Henry Rollins and Peaches.

* EpicRocking: The band are currently working on a ''[[BeyondTheImpossible 6 hour long]]'' song. There's also a noise loop on ''Hit To Death In The Future Head'' that's almost half an hour long.

* ''The Flaming Lips [[AndStarring and Stardeath and White Dwarfs]] with [[BlackFlag Henry Rollins]] and Peaches Doing TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (2009)

* AndStarring: Their full length cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'', which is jointly credited to The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs (a band founded by one of Wayne Coyne's nephews), along with Henry Rollins and Peaches

* MagnumOpus: ''The Soft Bulletin'' is often considered this by critics.

The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They formed in 1983 and have become one of the most well known cult bands of the past 25 years. They began as a punk band but became more and more eclectic and psychedelic with the passing years.

The Flaming Lips are an alternative rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They formed in 1983 and have become one of the most well known cult bands of the past 25 years. They began as a punk band but became more and more eclectic with the passing years.

The band had a RevolvingDoorBand for years, but for the past decade its more or less been the lineup of singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne, bassist/keyboardist Michael Ivins - the two of whom founded the band - and longtime drummer/guitarist Steven Drozd. Recently, Drozd moved mainly to guitar duties, with Kliph Scurlock recruited as a drummer starting with ''Embryonic''.