Line #25 Main/OutsiderMusic


1	[[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/songs_in_the_key_of_z_4652.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:245: Book cover of Irwin Chusid's book ''Songs In The Key Of Z'' about the genre.]]
3
4	Ever heard music that is SoBadItsGood? Well, some amateurs happen to be quite interesting musicians.
5
6	"Outsider music" (the name is a variation on the concept of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art "outsider art"]]) is music "sung" and "played" by amateurs who obviously are far removed from being professional talents. They sing off-key, can't carry a tune, can't play their instruments, are unable to read music or write bizarre, sometimes PainfulRhyme lyrics without any sense of song structure. To most people these musicians are basically something to laugh at, but fans of outsider music look beyond the cheap and easy laugh. As it so happens many of these ''bad'' musicians have a [[AccidentalArt refreshing unconventional sound]], far removed from the monotone, sterile and corporate controlled hits you hear in the Top 40. If they were musicians who consciously wrote cacophonic or otherwise bizarre music they would probably be hailed as innovators. The thing however is that these amateur musicians are actually more genuine and heartfelt in making creative and original music than professional musicians who try to sound different, but consciously never go so far that they would alienate their audience completely.
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8	The genre itself has been around for a long time, with predecessors such as The Cherry Sisters and Florence Foster Jenkins. The rise of {{Camp}} in TheSixties led to interest in these types of performers. Music/TheShaggs and Music/WildManFischer managed to gain some attention, and one unquestionable outsider managed to get an actual hit single and some genuine stardom: Music/TinyTim.
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10	The "outsider music" concept was codified in TheNineties by Irwin Chusid, a longtime DJ on New Jersey-based non-commercial radio station WFMU and aficionado of non-mainstream music. Chusid began featuring outsider artists on his regular radio show, and even started a spinoff show devoted entirely to them, called ''Incorrect Music'', which ran from 1997 to 2002. In 2000 Chusid published ''Songs In The Key Of "Z": The Curious Universe of Outsider Music'', where he devoted several chapters to artists deemed outsider musicians. Some of them are [[MadArtist mentally unstable]], some [[CloudCuckoolander plain eccentric]], others merely [[ManChild naïve and innocent]], some very social like Tiny Tim, [[ReclusiveArtist others don't want to see anyone]], like Jandek, but they all share an adventurous, authentic and unusual style of music. Chusid also went to great lengths to differentiate between self-consciously odd professional artists like Music/FrankZappa, Music/VelvetUnderground and/or Music/TheSexPistols and musicians who are clearly not aware how eccentric and unique they sound, like Music/TinyTim, Music/DanielJohnston and Music/WesleyWillis. The latter category are the real "outsiders". Chusid notes that the line between those two groupings can sometimes be quite thin, and he included Music/SydBarrett and Music/CaptainBeefheart in the book, even though they're famous CultClassic musicians; Barrett in fact started in the "self-consciously odd" category (being the original frontman of Music/PinkFloyd) before his declining mental health thrust him into outsider status. Even legitimate ClassicalMusic composers like Music/CharlesIves (an insurance executive who composed experimental music on the side) and Music/ErikSatie (an eccentric loner who largely avoided established serious music circles) can fit in this category.
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12	Chusid's book is still the best introduction to the genre. He's also put together some [[GreatestHitsAlbum compilation albums]] with music by these artists than can be ordered online.
13
14	!! List of outsider musicians:
15	[[index]]
16	* Farrah Abraham
17	** 2012 - ''Music/MyTeenageDreamEnded''
18	* Music/GGAllin -- A very prominent example
19	* Music/SydBarrett
20	** 1970 - ''Music/TheMadcapLaughs''
21	** 1970 - ''Music/{{Barrett}}''
22	* Music/CatPower (her early stuff)
23	* The Cherry Sisters
24	* Roky Erickson: His solo work, though his earlier band Music/The13thFloorElevators, which featured one member who played "electric jug", had moments that also qualified.
25	* Creator/CoreyFeldman
26	** 2016 - ''Music/AngelicToTheCore''
27	* Music/WildManFischer
28	* Creator/CrispinGlover
29	** 1988 - ''[[Music/TheBigProblem The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be]]''
30	* Music/BruceHaack
31	* Louis "Moondog" Hardin
32	* William Hung
33	* Music/CharlesIves
34	* Music/{{Jandek}}
35	* Florence Foster Jenkins: The worst opera singer of all time! She gathered a following just from people who couldn't stop laughing at her voice.
36	* Music/DanielJohnston
37	** 1983 - ''Music/HiHowAreYou''
38	** 1983 - ''Music/YipJumpMusic''
39	* Rodd Keith: An authentically talented but supremely troubled man who gained attention long after his 1974 suicide as the most masterful performer in the genre of "song poem" music, i.e. the music version of VanityPublishing.
40	* The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
41	* Music/TendonLevey
42	* Shamus M'Cool[[labelnote:*]]A comedian[=/=]actor (real name Richard Doyle) whose {{Narm}}tastic 1981 VanityProject song "American Memories" managed to hit #80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 despite having only 20 or so copies printed, which has led to copies of the 45 selling for thousands of dollars among collectors. In 1973, under the name Dingo, Doyle released a bizarre Christmas novelty song called "Santa's Little Helper, Dingo", which also somehow made ''Billboard'''s Christmas chart.[[/labelnote]]
43	* Joe Meek: Basically the British Music/PhilSpector, but arguably ''crazier'', if you can imagine.
44	* Mrs. Miller
45	* R. Stevie Moore
46	* Creator/TheMostEverCompany
47	* Music/OnkelKonkelAndHisKonkelbar
48	* Lucia Pamela
49	* Harry Partch: Avant-garde pioneer who devised his own tonal scale and invented new instruments to accommodate it.
50	* Music/EdnaldoPereira
51	* Ariel Pink
52	* Sondra Prill
53	* Music/EmilyPukisAndTheVagrants [[note]]They are/began as a GG Allin cover band, so it's only natural they would be Outsider as well.[[/note]]
54	* Music/TheResidents
55	* Music/ErikSatie
56	* Music/TheShaggs: Possibly the most uncoordinated band to ever record.
57	* Creator/WilliamShatner: His singing career is basically SpokenWordInMusic.
58	** 1968 - ''Music/TheTransformedMan''
59	* B.J. Snowden
60	* Skip Spence: Basically the Canadian-American Syd Barrett, as a founding member of Music/JeffersonAirplane and Moby Grape who likewise developed LSD-aggravated mental health issues. His eccentric 1969 album ''Oar'' is considered by some critics to be the first example of lo-fi music.
61	* The Space Lady
62	* Submarine Man
63	* Music/DavidTanny
64	* Shooby Taylor
65	* Music/TinyTim: Still the most famous of these musicians; a OneHitWonder for "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips", also known to younger generations for his CoverVersion of "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight".
66	* Music/{{Tonetta}}
67	* Music/SidVicious: Yes, the one from the Music/SexPistols.
68	** 1979 - ''Music/SidSings''
69	* Music/WesleyWillis
70	* Wing
71	* Zoogz Rift
72	[[/index]]

Context Main / OutsiderMusic