History Music / Ludo

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Averted in the unofficial "Whipped Cream" video. The things they put whipped cream on become increasingly ridiculous, and its done with with such seriousness, that by the time they're putting whipped cream in passerby's and each other's mouths you're too busy laughing to be reminded of anything.

* HeartbrokenBadass: The traveler in "Broken Bride". His character is quickly established as that of a brilliant scientist and {{Determinator}} on a long-standing quest to prevent the death of his beloved wife.

* VillainousBSOD: "Rotten Town" is from the point of view of a pirate who's wallowing in horror and guilt over becoming the kind of man he has after watching his crewmates drunkenly, wantonly mass-slaughter their way through a town they sacked.

* {{Yandere}}: "The Horror of Our Love" describes himself as such - ''"I'll fill the graveyards until I have you."''

* LoveHurts: All over the place. Ludo's catalogue of songs pertaining to love include everything from grieving the loss of one's true love ("Broken Bride") to missing past flames ("Laundry Girl", "I'll Never Be Lonely Again") to bitter uneven breakups ("Good Will Hunting By Myself", "Drunken Lament") to toxic romance ("Love Me Dead") to self-hatingly pining ("Air-Conditioned Love", "Overdone") to how even the emotional intensity behind being ''in'' an active, reciprocated relationship can feel overpowering and scary in itself ("The Horror of Our Love"). While a good number of examples are presented with some humor or at least {{Camp}}, especially at the expense of more pathetic or petty characters, others are played quite straight.

** To a small degree, ''Skeletons on Parade''. It initially sounds like a group of undead laughing at Halloween and planning a nice parade, but later the shift from jazzlike to metal makes it darker as they talk about overwhelming the living in a small town. It finally reaches creepy with the line ''"NO ONE GETS AWAY"''. Then in comes the last chorus, which is nice and serene.

* PlayingWithATrope: A lot of their songs are hard to classify due to their penchant for untwisting, [[ZigZagged zig-zagging between]], [[{{Subverted}} subverting]], [[PlayedForLaughs playing for laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]] (often in the same song), and [[{{Exaggerated}} exaggerating]] tropes. For example, is "Love Me Dead" an AntiLoveSong, a [[SillyLoveSong Silly Love Song]], a BreakUpSong, an ObsessionSong, or an ObligatoryBondageSong? Is [[RousingSpeech "Battle Cry"]] a parody, a reconstruction, or a played straight?

* RousingSpeech: From "Save Our City":
--> ''"[[PrayerIsALastResort There's a time to pray]] [[DoNotGoGentle and there's a time to fight]]''
--> ''[[ImprovisedWeapon Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right]]''
--> ''[[LastStand Defend what is yours]]''
--> ''[[ZombieApocalypse They will not take our souls]]''
--> ''[[LetsGetDangerous It's time now to rise and fight!]]''"
** Another great is example is "Battle Cry." And, boy is it awesome.

* YouCantFightFate: [[spoiler:The ''Broken Bride'' album ends with the Traveler realizing that every time he's tried to stop his wife from dying, the time machine malfunctions. Rather than try to save her life and fail once more, he chooses to die in the crash alongside her]].

!!Ludo provides examples of:

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Songs like "Roxy" and "Hum Along" sure make us feel this way.

* OneHitWonder: "Love Me Dead" was their only top 40 alternative hit.

''[[InLoveWithYourCarnage When you say, "Let's hit it one more time."''

* PlayingWithATrope: A lot of their songs are hard to classify due to their penchant for [[{{TheUntwist}} untwisting]], [[ZigZagged zig-zagging between]], [[{{Subverted}} subverting]], [[PlayedForLaughs playing for laughs]] and [[PlayedForDrama drama]], often in the same song, and [[{{Exaggerated}} exaggerating]] tropes. For example, is "Love Me Dead" an AntiLoveSong, a [[SillyLoveSongs Silly Love Song]], a BreakUpSong, an ObsessionSong, or an ObligatoryBondageSong? Is [[RousingSpeech "Battle Cry"]] a parody, a reconstruction, or a played straight?

* SillyLoveSongs: Even Ludo's played-straight love songs tend to be quite silly, and are maybe all the sweeter for it. Examples include "Anything for You", in which the narrator lists off a multitude of tall-tale adventures they've been on to their love only to claim that none compare to being with them; and "Manta Rays", which compares falling in love to sinking deep into a sea full of beautiful creatures or rising into space.

** The narrator of "The Horror of Our Love" describes himself in a way deliberately meant to evoke this in keeping with the theme of obsessively intense love.

* TogetherInDeath: "Morning in May". The Traveler is finally allowed to return to his wife in the past after accepting he can't save her from her car accident. Once he does, the choice he makes instead is to tell her:

** The verses of "Whipped Cream" are a HurricaneOfEuphemisms opening with the titular "I want it with Whipped Cream on it..."

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: "Roxy". To a lesser extent in "All The Stars in Texas".
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: songs like "Roxy" and "Hum Along" sure make us feel this way.
* BadFuture: Broken Bride, namely the songs [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "Save Our City"]] and [[ApocalypseHow "The Lamb and the Dragon"]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: the Broken Bride album]]

* CoolVsAwesome: "Cyborgs Versus Robots".

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Averted in the unofficial "Whipped Cream" video. The things they put whipped cream on become increasingly ridiculous, and its done with with such seriousness, that by the time they're putting whipped cream in passerby's mouths and each other you're too busy laughing to be reminded of anything.

* HeartbrokenBadass: The traveler in "Broken Bride".
* HopelessSuitor: "Roxy".

* LoveBeforeFirstSight: "Hum Along".
* LoveNostalgiaSong: "I'll Never Be Lonely Again".

* LoveHurts: all over the place.
* MadScientist: The traveler in Broken Bride. Mad is debatable... unstable, not debatable at all.
* MaleGaze: Quite likely the entire point of "Girls on Trampolines."
* TheMasochismTango: "Love Me Dead."
* MoodWhiplash: The Broken Bride Album, period. Mainly "The Lamb and the Dragon". Its starts in a hard-rock metal-like solo, then turns western-ish. With whistling. And then the western tune gets [[BuffySpeak hard-rock-ified]]. Then a depressing solo by the Traveler. It's awesome.
** To a small degree, ''Skeletons on Parade''. It initially sounds like a group of undead laughing at Halloween and planning a nice parade, but later the shift from jazzlike to metal makes it darker as they talk about overwhelming the living in a small town. It finally reaches creepy with the line ''NO ONE GETS AWAY''. Then in comes the last chorus which is nice and serene.
* TheMourningAfter: the traveler in "Broken Bride" has a bit of a problem letting go of his late wife.
* NamelessNarrative: "Girls on Trampolines".
* NerdsAreSexy

* OutlawCouple: "All the Stars in Texas".

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: the basis of the Broken Bride rock opera is the story of an [[LoveMartyr unstable but brilliant man]] building a time machine to go back and stop his wife from dying.

** In "The Horror of Our Love" - "I'm your servant, [[Music/{{Evanescence}} My Immortal]].."
** "[[Film/GoodWillHunting Good Will Hunting]] By Myself"
** "Ode to [[Series/TheWonderYears Kevin Arnold]]"
* SillyLoveSongs: Even the played straight love songs are quite silly, and maybe all the sweeter for it. Straight examples (i.e. not StalkerWithACrush songs, for example) include "Anything for You", "Manta Rays"

** Go-Getter Greg. "Haven't seen you at the pool since the barbeque! Not that I've been checking..."
** "The Horror of Our Love"

* TakeThat : The speech in "Film/GoodWillHunting By Myself"

* TogetherInDeath: Morning in May
--> [[{{TearJerker}} Baby, I thought I'd come along for the ride...]]
* {{Troperiffic}}: One review of ''You're Awful, I Love You'' pointed out that Andrew (who writes most of the lyrics) seems to write from the point of view of someone who learned everything they know about relationships from watching TV (if anyone recognizes this and knows a link to the review, please provide)

** While it's not necessarily meant to be taken literally, "The Horror of Our Love" is a love song reimagined as this, the narrator describing his character, feelings, and actions as those of a StalkerWithACrush SerialKiller.
** Depending on one's interpretaion, "Lake Pontchartrain" could certainly count. Is the narrator telling the truth, or is the whole song a ploy to get off the hook for murdering his friends?

* [[WomanScorned Man Scorned]]: "Good Will Hunting By Myself".

* UnusualEuphemism: "I want it with Whipped Cream on it..."

* UrbanLegend: Lake Pontchartrain, a 'first-hand telling' of a supernatural experience at the eponymous lake.
* VillainSong "Skeletons on Parade" counts, being about a gleeful army of the undead and going from lighthearted parody to creepy in the span of about a minute.

** Depending on one's interpretaion, "Lake Pontchartrain" could certainly count

* AbusiveParents: The main character of "All the Stars in Texas" mentions that his tagalong girl had a crooked father who was both this and TheAlcoholic. The main character shot him dead in disgust and took her along.

* CasanovaWannabe: "Go-Getter Greg"; according to WordOfGod, "Whipped Cream".

* DrowningMySorrows: "Drunken Lament".

** "The Horror of Our Love" is about a StalkerWithACrush SerialKiller.

%%* {{Yandere}}: "The Horror of Our Love".
%%** Also, StalkerWithACrush.

'''Ludo''' are an AlternativeRock[=/=]PowerPop[=/=]'geek rock' group from St. Louis, and practitioners of NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly and good old-fashioned RockOpera.

* {{Adorkable}}: Part of the band's appeal.

* {{Bishonen}}: Andrew, Tim F., Matt.

* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Tim Ferrell (far left in the page image), who evolves into long hair [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Hm5f1v0w when he proves via]] [[MundaneMadeAwesome thumb wrestling]] that he is the better Tim.

* StalkerWithACrush: Go-Getter Greg. "Haven't seen you at the pool since the barbeque! Not that I've been checking..."
** Arguably, the narrator in "Hum Along", and for a much ''much'' darker example, "The Horror of Our Love"

* {{Yandere}}: "The Horror of Our Love".
** Also, StalkerWithACrush.

* LargeHam: Definitely Andrew, most likely the other three as well. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Not that this is a bad thing, as "Love Me Dead's" video proves...]]