History Music / FlamingLips

* TruckDriversGearChange: In the ''middle'' of "Do You Realize??", [[TropesAreNotBad usually accompanied by very loud cheers at live shows.]]

** ''Yoshimi'' isn't really the best example of a concept album, because only the first four tracks have anything to do with one another. Their most recent album, ''Embryonic'', fits the description much more accurately, what with the recurring unnamed female protagonist, the subplot about the earth-visiting alien, the preoccupation with astrology and the cosmos (including several zodiac-named tracks), the perpetual themes of existentialism, the insignificance of humanity, and the search for meaning and morality, etc.

* CessationOfExistence: Wayne Coyne's [[UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} belief]] in this fuels some of their more [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming affecting]] [[TearJerker songs]] like "Do You Realize??", "Vein Of Stars", "All We Have Is Now" and "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate."

* 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"]], ''Transmissions from the Satellite Heart'' has a cover of Ed Cromarty and George Rush's "Plastic Jesus"[[note]]probably best known for appearing in ''Film/CoolHandLuke''[[/note]], ''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 Erykah Badu)... 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"]].

* NonActorVehicle: ''Christmas On Mars''

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: ''Oczy Mlody'' is titled in gratuitous Polish, as are several songs on the album, and additional Polish is used in some of the lyrics. Wayne Coyne visited a used book shop and found a copy of Erskine Caldwell's novel ''Close to Home'' as translated into Polish, and the band started incorporating phrases gleaned from the book in their songs, chosen more for their sound than their meaning. "Oczy mlody" itself means "eyes (of the) young".

** Early in their career, they had a tendency to reference or sample Music/TheBeatles - ''Oh My Gawd!!!'' has Beatles samples as {{Bookends}} ("Everything's Explodin'" begins with a sample of "Revolution 9", namely YokoOno saying "if... you become naked"; "Love Yer Brain" ends with a faint background loop of John Lennon singing "Turn off your mind, relax" from "Tomorrow Never Knows"), "Out For A Walk" seems to take it's clip of "La Marseillaise" straight from the intro of "All You Need Is Love", and "The Spontaneous Combustion Of John" quotes from "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" ("Like the first time Captain Marvel zapped him right between the eyes")

'''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 30 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 Creator/WarnerBrosRecords early in TheNineties, where they've remained since.[[note]]Their contract with Warners expired in 2011, which inspired the band to put out [=EPs=] of new material almost every month of that year. They re-signed their contract with the label in early 2012.[[/note]]

Amongst their most acclaimed work - both critically and commercially - is 1999's ''[[Music/TheSoftBulletin The Soft Bulletin]]'', which critics compared to ''[[Music/PetSounds Pet Sounds]]'' for its multi-layered, 'Wall of Sound' style production and poignant subject matter, as well as its 2002 follow-up ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'', which includes "Do You Realize??", the official State Rock Song of their home state of Oklahoma.

* ChristmasSpecial: Sort of.

* [[LesserStar Garfunkel]] / NobodyLovesTheBassist: despite being [[TheQuietOne the least visible member of the band]], and [[DreadfulMusician not being able to play during the band's inception]], Michael Ivins manages to somewhat avert this. He's since evolved in a competent instrumentist admired for his cool bass tones, mostly achieved through a vast array of pedals, and has a career as a sound engineer, both with the Lips and other bands.

*** Not to mention the 24 hour song that was packaged via usb inside an ACTUAL HUMAN SKULL.

Amongst their most acclaimed work - both critically and commercially - is 1999's ''[[Music/TheSoftBulletin The Soft Bulletin]]'', which critics compared to ''[[Music/PetSounds Pet Sounds]]'' for its multi-layered, 'Wall of Sound' style production and poignant subject matter, as well as its' 2002 follow-up ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'', which includes "Do You Realize??", the official State Rock Song of their home state of Oklahoma.

* ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'' (2002)

* LoudnessWar: Nearly everything from ''Zaireeka'' onwards is [[http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=flaming+lips badly brickwalled]], though ''At War with the Mystics'', ''The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends'', and their cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'' stand out as the worst full-length releases at [=DR4=]. The ''Peace Sword'' EP, at [=DR3=], is even worse. Even the "demastered" version of ''The Soft Bulletin'', which you might expect to be an aversion of this trope, is still affected ([=DR6=], and still badly clipped). Many of the vinyl editions also have clipped masters. On the plus side, the [=HDTracks=] version of ''Yoshimi'' is mostly unaffected at [=DR11=].

* LoudnessWar: Nearly everything from ''Zaireeka'' onwards is [[http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=flaming+lips badly brickwalled]], though ''At War with the Mystics'' and their cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'' stand out as the worst full-length releases at [=DR4=]. The ''Peace Sword'' EP, at [=DR3=], is even worse. Even the "demastered" version of ''The Soft Bulletin'', which you might expect to be an aversion of this trope, is still affected ([=DR6=], and still badly clipped). Many of the vinyl editions also have clipped masters. On the plus side, the [=HDTracks=] version of ''Yoshimi'' is mostly unaffected at [=DR11=].

* LoudnessWar: Nearly everything from ''Zaireeka'' onwards is [[http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=flaming+lips badly brickwalled]], though ''At War with the Mystics'' and their cover of ''Dark Side of the Moon'' stand out as the worst full-length releases at [=DR4=]. The ''Peace Sword'' EP, at [=DR3=], is even worse. Even the "demastered" version of ''The Soft Bulletin'', which you might expect to be an aversion of this trope, is still affected ([=DR6=], and still badly clipped). Many of the vinyl editions also have clipped masters.

* CreatorBreakdown: "Try to Explain" was written in response to Wayne Coyne separating with his partner of 25 years.
** ''The Terror'' as a whole was the result of this, further complicated by Steven Drozd's lifelong battle with substance abuse.

* OneHitWonder: Before "Do You Realize??" they were tagged as one of these for their goofy novelty single, "She Don't Use Jelly".

* ThePeteBest: There have been a few that would fit this bill, such as original vocalist Mark Coyne (who only appears on the band's debut EP), and the drummers the band went through prior to their first permanent drummer Richard English.

* ReclusiveArtist: Ronald Jones, who has since refused to say anything about his involvement with his former bandmates.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It's been noted by the band and other sources that ''Zaireeka'' was originally intended to be a ''10 CD box set'' as opposed to the four that they eventually ended up releasing.
** Some of the mystery of how the 10 CD version would have sounded has been answered, however, due to the band passing out special [=CDs=] containing a mixdown of what discs 5-10 would have included during special listening parties to commemorate ''Zaireeka's'' 10th anniversary.

* ''The Soft Bulletin'' (1999)

Amongst their most acclaimed work - both critically and commercially - is 1999's ''The Soft Bulletin'', which critics compared to ''[[Music/TheBeachBoys Pet Sounds]]'' for its multi-layered, 'Wall of Sound' style production and poignant subject matter, as well as its' 2002 follow-up ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'', which includes "Do You Realize??", the official State Rock Song of their home state of Oklahoma.

** "The Sun" slightly misquotes a line from CaroleKing's "So Far Away" ("It'd be so kind to see your face in my door", when in "So Far Away" it's "It'd be so ''fine'' to see your face in my door")

Amongst their most acclaimed work - both critically and commercially - is 1999's ''The Soft Bulletin'', which critics compared to ''[[Music/TheBeachBoys Pet Sounds]]'' for its multi-layered production and poignant subject matter, as well as its' 2002 follow-up ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'', which includes "Do You Realize??", the official State Rock Song of their home state of Oklahoma.

* RecordProducer: Dave Fridmann, who has produced nearly all of the band's albums since ''In a Priest Driven Ambulance''. "Nearly" because he was too busy with MercuryRev and was replaced by Keith Cleversley for ''Transmissions from the Satellite Heart''. Interestingly, this wasn't as big a change as it might seem since Cleversley had previously engineered ''Hit to Death in the Future Head'', and ''Satellite Heart'' itself doesn't sound significantly different.

* OneWordTitle: ''Embryonic''