Line #75 Music/Buckethead


1	[[quoteright:253:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buckethead.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:253:'''''[[MeaningfulName HE'S GOT A BUCKET ON HIS HEAD!]]''''']]
3
4	->''"Who's this guitar-playing sonzabitch?"\
5	Is a question common asked\
6	On his head, a bucket of chicken bones,\
7	On his face, a plastic mask\
8	He's the bastard son of a preacher man\
9	On the town he left a stain\
10	They made him live in a chicken house\
11	To try and hide the shame\
12	He was born in a coop, raised in a cage\
13	Children fear him, critics rage\
14	He's half-alive, he's half-dead\
15	Folks just call him Buckethead!''\
16	--'''[[Music/{{Primus}} Les Claypool]],''' "The Ballad of Buckethead"
17
18	->''Buckethead is probably twice as good a guitar player as me and Slash combined, and can stand having fried chicken rubbed up against his face all night for a couple of hours.''\
19	--'''[[Music/{{Megadeth}} Dave Mustaine]]'''
20
21
22	Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), better known by his [[StageNames stage name]] (or rather [[KayfabeMusic stage persona]]) Music/{{Buckethead}}, is a prolific American [[GenreBusting experimental/avant-garde/progressive/thrash/jazz/electronica/insanity]] songwriter and multi-instrumentalist noted for his [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} eccentric persona]], as well as for [[BunnyEarsLawyer being really good with his instruments]]. Also, he only ever performs while wearing an [[WhiteMaskOfDoom expressionless plain white mask]] and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a KFC bucket on his head]]. To date, he has released over 260 solo albums and performed on over 50 more. Played lead guitar for Music/GunsNRoses from 2000-2004, and for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(band) Praxis]] from 1992-1999 and from 2004-present. His discography may be found [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckethead_discography here]].
23
24	He's also a painter, though as you might expect, his artworks are somewhat... ''[[NightmareFuelColoringBook peculiar]]''.
25
26	Sadly, [[PopCulturalOsmosis you probably only know him]] for [[VideoGame/GuitarHero "Jordan"]], the song from the scene where [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Goro beats the crap out of Art Lean]], or the seriously badass rendition of the theme from ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie''.
27	----
28	!! Buckethead provides examples of:
29	* AchievementsInIgnorance: See below. As Music/ShawnLane once mentioned, Buckethead managed (or at least came very close) to play "Kaiser Nancarrow", because he didn't know Lane composed that song in a way that it was unplayable in real time.
30	* AffectionateNickname: Most of his friends and even some fans call him "''Big B''". His mother used to call him "''Boo''" for liking scary things.
31	* {{Ambient}}: Not only does he do a-lot of ambient rock, but he side-project Death Cube K is where he performs nightmare inducing dark ambient.
32	* AmusementParkOfDoom: Bucketheadland.
33	* ApocalypseHow: Class 3. With ''Population Override'', Bucket manages to recount the extinction of the human race ''without singing a single word''.
34	* BalladOfX: ''"The Ballad of Buckethead"'', ''"Buddy Berkman's Ballad"'', ''"The Ballad of the Inside-Out Face"'' and possibly others.
35	* BeyondTheImpossible: He performed a song the original artist composed to be unplayable! (Music/ShawnLane's "Kaiser Nancarrow")
36	* BucketHelmet: Duh. His name doesn't come from anything else.
37	* BuffySpeak: Whenever he happens to actually speak. Also uses {{Metaphorgotten}}, NonSequitur and sometimes even InsaneTrollLogic.
38	* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's very weird. He's also very, very good at what he does.
39	** A lot of people assume Buckethead's persona is just a stage gimmick, and that he is a normal person offstage. They are very wrong. Buckethead's persona is basically just a way he's found to allow himself to cope with his crippling fear of people. Offstage, however, he is pretty much just as weird in his private life. One anecdote going around was that when he was playing with Guns 'n Roses, while they were recording music in the studio, someone jokingly suggested that they build a chicken coop in the studio for Buckethead to live in. Buckethead ''[[InsultBackfire loved]]'' the idea, and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor proceeded to do just that]].
40	* CameBackWrong: His Frankensteinian taxidermy experiment in the music video for ''We Are One''. And later in the video Buckethead himself, when the creature does the same experimentation on him.
41	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He's...awkward, to put it ''lightly''.
42	* CoatHatMask: One of his stage outfits throughout the years consisted of Coat, Bucket and Mask.
43	* CollectorOfTheStrange: He owns many odd things, like rubber chickens, rubber body parts, scary masks, many plastic buckets, aside from the ones he wears, and toys.
44	* CommonalityConnection: Over the years he's worked closely with and developed friendships with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} similarly eccentric people]] in the entertainment industry (most of which are mentioned below). For a more funny take on this, he apparently mentioned in a magazine interview that he liked Shavo Odadjian of Music/SystemOfADown because the latter "has a look on his face, where you can tell he dug up something he shouldn't have" and Bucket proceeded to tell Shavo that he liked digging holes too and they could dig together sometime.
45	* {{Crossover}}: With [[Music/SystemOfADown Serj Tankian]], [[Music/{{Primus}} Les Claypool]], [[Music/MikePatton Mike]] [[Music/FaithNoMore Patton]], Bernie Worrell, [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]], Guns N' Roses, Praxis, Brain, [[Music/GeorgeClinton Bootsy Collins]], Deli Creeps, Science Faxtion, Cornbugs, Bill Moseley, Bill Laswell, Travis Dickerson, Creator/ViggoMortensen, Giant Robot, DJ Disk, Lawson Rollins, Jonas Hellborgs, Michael Shrieve, and That 1 Guy.
46	* DarkIsNotEvil: His appearance and eccentric behavior usually mark him as creepy and odd to most people. His friends and those who work with him, however, often state that he's a really nice guy.
47	* DoNotCallMePaul: He takes his stage persona [[SeriousBusiness pretty seriously]] so unless you're one of his parents/relatives/close friends, he probably won't allow you to call him Brian. No, not even if you're Music/OzzyOsbourne.
48	%%* EchoingAcoustics
49	* EpicRocking:
50	** Many of his songs are around 10 minutes long. Most well known examples are probably "''Siege Engine''" and "''Soothsayer''". Some are split in parts, such as "''Lurker at the Threshold''".
51	** There's also the album ''Look Up There'', which includes the songs "''Golden Eyes''" (10:59) and the twice as long song "''Look Up There''". And even more recently all the "Pike" songs, some of which are long enough to be considered albums on their own.
52	* EveryoneHasStandards: He was considered ''too weird'' by [[Music/OzzyOsbourne one of the weirdest people in the music industry]].
53	** While, interestingly enough, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers thought he was "sweet and normal", which was their reason for not accepting him in the band. And Axl Rose had no qualms with getting him in Guns N' Roses, despite the obvious clash of the musician's gimmicks and the band's style.
54	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: His name is Buckethead and he wears a KFC bucket on his head.
55	* TheFaceless: Although there is an old video and a picture that (not very clearly) show his face when he was young, there's no way to see him without a mask, unless you work with the guy.
56	* FictionalDocument: Buckethead Pikes is, in-universe, the name of a souvenir kiosk in Bucketheadland that sells the Pikes - issues of the park's official audio-only comic book.
57	* FunPersonified: Buckethead is this to many fans due to his antics and stage gimmicks being quite enjoyable for them. The fact that he is very dedicated to his stage persona and all the silliness and creepiness that go with it, continuing to be as eccentric and amusing as ever for many years, just adds to that effect.
58	* GenreBusting: What's a genre?
59	* GenreRoulette: The man does ''everything''. He tends to like separate genres by album, but sometimes he'll switch it up during the course of one, or even MID-SONG.
60	* GoneHorriblyRight: In the music video for ''We Are One'' he sews together parts of various dead creatures and tries to bring the result back to life with taxidermy and blood magic. He succeeds... and the resulting monster kills him and does the same experiment on him.
61	* IconicItem: The white mask and plastic bucket, naturally. His custom made white Gibson guitar with a red killswitch may also count, as he seems to be using it almost exclusively.
62	* IndecipherableLyrics: In several of the songs that have lyrics. Like in ''"Frozen Brains Tell No Tales"'' due to the distortion of most of them.[[note]]Boys and girls, please enter the Cryo Body to your right, and lower the safety bar until it clicks. In a moment, your body will be removed, to be returned to you when the ride is over.[[/note]]
63	* KayfabeMusic: Buckethead is a persona Carroll himself thought up.
64	* ManChild: Could be seen as such. He never talks while being filmed or infront of fans without his puppet, Herbie. Also, he often plays with or trades toys during live performances and is a big fan of the Ride/DisneyThemeParks.
65	* MeaningfulName: "Buckethead". Why yes, he does wear a bucket on his head.
66	* MinisculeRocking: Many songs, but probably the most prominent examples are "''Pickwick's Lost Chapter''", "''Electric Bell Blanket''" and "''Big Sur Moon''".
67	* MistakenIdentity: For a time people would find pictures on the Internet of a tall guitarist with long hair, standing next to Music/ShawnLane. Immediately someone rushed to the conclusion that it's Buckethead unmasked, because he knew Shawn Lane personally. Turns out it was the French guitarist Stephane "Fanalo" Alaux, who just happens to be tall like Buckethead and had also met Shawn Lane and even [[Music/MrBig Paul Gilbert]] at one point. Apparently Fanalo got so many e-mails of people asking him if he's Buckethead (despite the fact that Buckethead's American, a few years older, etc.) that he now explicitly states on his myspace and facebook that he isn't. Amusingly enough, Fanalo wrote on his official site that he admits to being guitarist Bumblefoot (which he isn't either). He also posted a picture of himself wearing a popcorn bucket on his head and covering his face, as a jest to the many who called him Buckethead.
68	** What's more, many people are still convinced either that those pictures of Fanalo are Buckethead's or that Fanalo ''is'' Buckethead and is trying to hide it. All that despite the fact Fanalo has a different playing style and lives in France and performs exclusively there, while Buckethead lives and performs in the US at the same time.
69	* MurderBallad: ''"Unemployment Blues"'' is about a gutter at a slaughterhouse getting fired and subsequently killing all his former coworkers in the showers. It's actually narrated, rather than sung, with the narrator being the killer.
70	* NightmareFetishist: He adores horror, has a video filmed in a cemetery, owns rubber body parts and scary masks, one of his hobbies is taxidermy, etc. In both recorded non-serious interviews (20 years apart) he ''still'' talks about visiting slaughterhouses and covering himself in blood.
71	* NonAppearingTitle: Being that 99.9% of what he makes are {{Instrumentals}}, this is bound to happen.
72	* NoSocialSkills: Buckethead acts like this when filmed and interviewed. Whether the man himself behaves in any way similar in his daily life, or the whole thing is just playing the character, is not known.
73	* ObfuscatingInsanity: No one denies that he's ''very'' eccentric, but he's not as crazy as his stage persona.
74	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The only time he's broken kayfabe in public thus far was during a podcast interview wherein he disclosed a debilitating and potentially fatal heart condition.
75	* PopStarComposer: He co-scored ''Film/LastActionHero'' with the late Michael Kamen.
76	* RaisedByWolves: He claims to have been Raised By Chickens. That chicken coop is/was his home.
77	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: He quit Guns N' Roses rather abruptly, with his manager claiming Bucket's main reason was he got fed up with the band not making any progress on a single album for 4 years. In turn, Axl Rose blamed Buckethead's eccentric behavior as the cause for problems with the band's schedule.
78	* ShoutOut: Almost all of his music contains references to people he admires and things he likes.
79	** He named one of the songs on the "Electric Tears" (2002) album "Music/SketchesOfSpain ([[Music/MilesDavis For Miles]])".
80	* ShrinkingViolet: Admits he's very shy and using the Buckethead persona makes it easier for him to express himself.
81	* SignificantAnagram: The name of his side project ''Death Cube K'' is an anagram of ''Buckethead''.
82	* SomethingBlues: ''"Conveyor Belt Blues"'' and ''"Unemployment Blues"''.
83	* SomewhereSong: ''"Somewhere over the Slaughterhouse"'', though only by name. The song has no lyrics, except for a short "Help me!" at the end.
84	* SoulPower: According to his character biography, Buckethead became a better guitarist than ever after putting a bucket of chicken bones on his head and the ghosts of the chickens channeled their power into him.
85	* TaxidermyIsCreepy: One of his hobbies is this and it is just one the many creepy things he does.
86	* TaxidermyTerror: His creation in the video for ''We Are One'' is a creepy creature made of the corpse of a rabbit, with drooling jaws full of sharp teeth, three eyes, a human hand and a lobster hand, and various other parts of dead animals. Oh, and it comes alive.
87	* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Music/OzzyOsbourne thought he was too weird to work with. Yes, the guy who's done so many drugs that he literally had scientists testing to see how he's still alive, could not handle Buckethead.
88	* TheVoiceless: Doesn't talk. Even in interviews there's an unusual amount of silence.
89	* WhiteMaskOfDoom: That hockey mask adds to his creepy factor. It doubles as a CoolMask, depending on how you look at it.
90	* WordSaladTitle: Oh, plenty. Some of the more notable are "''Bloody Rainbow Spiraling Sherbert Scoop''", "''Carpal Tunnel Tomb Torker''", "''Gory Head Stump 2006 The Pageant of the Slunks''", "''The Hills Have Headcheese''", "''Heaven of Black Tar Pitch''" and others.

Context Music / Buckethead