History Trivia / FlamingLips

* DoingItForTheArt: The ''Christmas on Mars'' film; eight years in production with a very low budget, and sets created in Wayne Coyne's backyard. The film itself is [[DeliberatelyMonochrome black and white,]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment with short shots of]] [[SplashOfColor vivid colour,]] and is overall [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible very incomprehensible]] and certainly not meant for casual viewers.

** There's the famous case of ''Lip$ha'', a planned collaborative album between the Flaming Lips and [[Music/{{Kesha}} Kesha]]. The two had already collaborated several times, with the former contributing a production credit on Kesha's "Past Lives", and Kesha appearing as a guest artist on the Flaming Lips' "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" and "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)". ''Lip$ha'' was due to be released sometime in 2014, but Kesha's infamous legal battle with Dr. Luke which prevented her from releasing new music led to it being shelved. On top of the three aforementioned tracks, seven more songs[[note]]"Futuristic Sex Toys", "You Control My Heart", "Powerful", "Beach Boys", "You're the Reason Why Our Kids Are Ugly", "Club Love" and "Made of Stone"[[/note]] are known to exist to varying degrees of listenability.

** 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.

* ArchivePanic: As of May 2022, the band has released 16 studio albums, 18 [=EPs=], 2 soundtrack albums, and 7 collaborative releases, as well as 4 video albums and appearing on 1 album by Music/MileyCyrus.

** Taken to extremes with new songs the band has been releasing as of 2011. So far, all of them have been released in small-run, extremely limited quantities batches, including a split 10" with Neon Indian pressed to hand-colored vinyl, four songs released on a USB stick stuck inside a life-size replica of a human skull made out of gummi candy, and a 24 hour song that was packaged via usb inside an ''actual'' human skull.

** Taken to extremes with new songs the band has been releasing as of 2011. So far, all of them have been released in small-run, extremely limited quantities batches, including a split 10" with Neon Indian pressed to hand-colored vinyl, and four songs released on a USB stick stuck inside a life-size replica of a human skull made out of gummi candy.
*** Not to mention the 24 hour song that was packaged via usb inside an '''ACTUAL HUMAN SKULL'''.

** Certain songs originally meant for ''Zaireeka'' were included on ''The Soft Bulletin'' instead, because it was felt they'd work better on that album. This is significant because ''Zaireeka''[='=]s format of four discs meant to be played simultaneously probably would have left those songs sounding very different. "Race for the Prize" is one example, and as an artifact of its origins as a ''Zaireeka'' song, the David Fridmann mix includes two overdubbed drum tracks.

* HeyItsThatVoice: {{Music/MGMT}} providing vocals for "Worm Mountain", and [[Music/YeahYeahYeahs Karen O]] doing animal impressions in "I Can Be a Frog".

** 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.

* ThePeteBest: Wayne Coyne's brother Mark sang lead for their first EP (and some demos), left the band after getting married, and was never involved in music again.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Certain songs originally meant for ''Zaireeka'' were included on ''The Soft Bulletin'' instead, because it was felt they'd work better on that album - This is significant because ''Zaireeka'''s format of four discs meant to be played simultaneously probably would have left those songs sounding very different. "Race For The Prize" is one example, and as an artifact of its origins as a ''Zaireeka'' song, the David Fridmann mix includes two overdubbed drum tracks.

* ThePeteBest: Wayne Coyne's brother Mark sang lead for their first EP (and some demos), left the band after getting married, and was never involved in music again.

* NoExportForYou: The original American and UK/Australian CD releases for ''The Soft Bulletin'' each featured one song the other territory didn't get: "The Spiderbite Song" was exclusively on American copies, while "Slow Motion" was exclusively on copies in the UK and Australia. The 2006 American reissue included both songs, as did the US vinyl version. This still leaves fans from the UK or Australia having to get an imported version to own "The Spiderbite Song" on CD or vinyl.

* HeyItsThatVoice: {{Music/MGMT}} providing vocals for "Worm Mountain", and [[Music/YeahYeahYeahs Karen O]] doing animal impressions in "I Can Be a Frog".