History Music / Sparks

* MinimalisticCoverArt: ''Kimono My House'' is a picture of two GeishaGirls against a green background. The cover also didn't have text in its first pressing.

* {{Mr Seahorse}}: "(She Got Me) Pregnant"

* {{Mr. Seahorse}}: "(She Got Me) Pregnant"

* MrSeahorse: "(She Got Me) Pregnant"

* CreatorBacklash: The band were unhappy with how ToddRundgren produced their first album.
** They also considered their attempts at a West Coast sound with ''Big Beat'' and ''Introducing Sparks'' to be failures.

* CoverAlbum: ''Plagiarism'', a cover album of their own songs. Was recorded after the success of ''Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins'' to introduce their new German fanbase to their older music. It didn't exactly work.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: They were always more popular in Europe - especially the UK - than their native USA.

* {{Deconstruction}}: ''Lil' Beethoven'' is this to the Pop music format

* AntiLoveSong: "Throw Her Away (And Get a New One)", "Confusion", "Eaten by the Monster of Love", ''Pulling Rabbits out of a Hat'' and ''Hello Young Lovers'' alternates between this and SillyLoveSongs. See also AntiChristmasSong above.

* "Lighten Up, [[TheSmiths Morrissey]]" is actually a tribute to the eponymous singer. The song's narrator is being brushed off by his girlfriend because Morrissey is so much cooler than him.

* TheQuietOne: Ron. It's made for some funny moments in [[NeverMindTheBuzzcocks television appearances]].
** Ron made two spoken-word appearances ("Under the Table with Her" and "Senseless Violins") before making his singing debut in ''The Seduction of Ingmar Burgman'' as a cab driver and a tour guide.

* TheQuietOne: Ron. It's made for some funny moments in [[NeverMindTheBuzzcocks television appearances]].
** Ron made two spoken-word appearances ("Under the Table with Her" and "Senseless Violins") before making his singing debut in ''The Seduction of Ingmar Burgman'' as a cab driver and a tour guide.

** Every other song on ''Big Beat'' is a charged Protopunk Rock song about something depressing, cynical, or just outright

* TheCameo: Director Tsui Hark appears in, fittingly enough, "Tsui Hark".

* TheQuietOne: Ron. It's made for some funny moments in [[NeverMindTheBuzzcocks television appearances]].

** "Tryouts for the Human Race" takes it a step further: it's from the point of view of ''the sperm themselves''.

** Every other song on ''Big Beat'' is a charged Protopunk Rock song about something depressing or outright
* NewSoundAlbum: ''Kimono Hy House'' began their GlamRock era; ''No. 1 in Heaven'' began their SynthPop period, which also frequently included Electronic Dance music; ''Lil' Beethoven'' began a GenreBusting era which mixed ChamberPop

* CoverAlbum: ''Plagiarism'', a cover album of their own music. Was recorded after the success of ''Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins'' to introduce their new German fanbase to their older music. It didn't exactly work.

* CoverAlbum: ''Plagiarism'', a cover album of their own work. Was recorded after the success of ''Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins'' to introduce their new German fanbase to their older works. It didn't exactly work.

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Despite being overlooked during much of their career, the duo are very highly regarded ([[TheSmiths Morrissey]], TheyMightBeGiants and FranzFerdinand are some of their most notable admirers) and their music was crucial to the development of PunkRock, NewWave and SynthPop.

Sparks are an American band who formed in 1970 in Los Angeles and is notably still active today. The band officially consists of only brothers Ron (keyboards, songwriting, scary Hitler mustache) and Russell Mael (vocals), but over the years they have accumulated a large amount of ex-members and session musicians. The duo's style is characterized by their whimsical songwriting, their funny, witty lyrics, and a quirky stage presence which plays with the contrast between Russell's hyperactive FaceOfTheBand attitude and Ron's stiff, robotic movements.

Although they enjoyed a brief resurgence of popularity (especially in Europe) with 1994's Europop-tastic ''Graititous Sax and Senseless Violins'', it wasn't until the release of the NewSoundAlbum ''Lil' Beethoven'' in 2002, of whose genre is indescribable but can best be explained as a combination of house repetition, BaroquePop and straight-up classical music, that the duo truly returned to form. This led to renewed interest in the dying band and the more rock-oriented follow-ups, ''Hello Young Lovers'' and ''Exotic Creatures of the Deep''. Their latest work, ''[[TheMusical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman]]'', is a musical Ron and Russell composed for a Swedish radio station, and are currently planning a movie adaptation.