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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/incubus_1985.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:Left to right: Mike Einziger, Jose Pasillas, DJ Kilmore, Ben Kenney, Brandon Boyd]]
3->''"The world's a roller coaster and I am not strapped in,\
4Maybe I should hold with care but my hands are busy in the air."''
5-->"Wish You Were Here"
6
7Incubus are an AlternativeRock band formed in 1991 in California. They released eight studio albums and two [=EP=]s (and one GreatestHitsAlbum), and have reached multi-platinum sales.
8
9Over the course of their career, Incubus have grown to be quite the GenreRoulette outfit - they went from Mr. Bungle[=-=]esque {{Funk|Metal}}[=/=]RapMetal mixed with {{Jazz}} and other genres, to more melodic alternative rock, at times slipping to retro, ethnic and art-rock areas. On ''If Not Now, When?'', they mellowed their sound out a bit to some less visceral modern rock. Their EP ''Trust Fall (Side A)'' and album ''[[YouAreNumber6 8]]'' are '''somewhat''' of a return to a more alternative rock-based sound.
10
11Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/{{Incubo}}''.
12----
13!!Discography:
14
15* ''Fungus Amongus'' (1995)
16* ''Enjoy Incubus'' (1996, EP)
17* ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'' (1997)
18* ''Make Yourself'' (1999)
19* ''Morning View'' (2001)
20* ''A Crow Left of the Murder...'' (2004)
21* ''Light Grenades'' (2006)
22* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Monuments and Melodies]]'' (2009)
23* ''If Not Now, When?'' (2011)
24* ''Trust Fall (Side A)'' (2015, EP)
25* ''8'' (2017)
26* ''Trust Fall (Side B)'' (2020, EP)
27
28----
29!!Current Members:
30* Brandon Boyd - lead vocals, lyrics, also played guitar, didgeridoo, djembe and other percussion in some songs, both studio and live (1991-)
31* Mike Einziger - guitar, backing vocals, pipa, piano (1991-)
32* Nicole Row - bass (2023-present)
33* José Pasillas II - drums, percussion (1991-)
34* Chris Kilmore - turntables, keyboards (1998-)
35
36!!Former Members:
37* Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell - turntables, keyboards. (1995-1998)
38* Alex "[[PornNames Dirk Lance]]" Katunich - bass (1991-2003)
39* Ben Kenney - bass, backing vocals, drums for some live performances (2003-2023)
40
41----
42!!Incubus and their music provide examples of the following tropes:
43* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: It happens quite a lot. The best examples are in "Clean" (where Brandon repeatedly pronounces the word like "cLAYn" for some reason) and "Have You Ever" ("unabaSHED honeSTAY would be idee-HELL"). Another prominent example is "Anna Molly", in which Brandon puts the emphasis on the second syllable (an-NA mol-LY), which ends up sounding like "anomaly". [[note]]Likely intentional, as it's meant to be a play on words[[/note]]
44* AerithAndBob: Though on their earliest releases [[note]]''Fungus Amongus'', ''Enjoy Incubus'', and ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E. ''[[/note]] pretty much everyone had an odd stage name, since then most band members have gone by their common first names (Brandon, Mike, Jose, Ben), and their current DJ simply adds "DJ" before his last name (Kilmore). But former bassist Alex Katunich used the rather quirky nickname "Dirk Lance", and their former DJ Gavin Coppell used the nickname "DJ Lyfe".
45* AlternativeMetal: Their default genre- ''If Not Now, When?" is the only album of theirs that mostly doesn't count.
46* ArtifactTitle: The name Incubus seemed more appropriate for their heavier, wilder early music than for their considerably more restrained later sounds. Indeed, the band members have been less than thrilled with the name in recent times. Their only reason for picking that name? Randomly skimming a dictionary, and seeing its definition had the word "sex" in it.
47* BeYourself: A recurring theme throughout the lyrics of ''Make Yourself''- the album's title even hints at it.
48* BilingualBonus: "Pistola" is simultaneously Italian slang for "penis" and Spanish for "gun".
49* {{Bookends}}: ''Light Grenades'' has "Earth to Bella", Parts 1 and 2 (though Part 1 is in the middle of the album instead of at the beginning). Averted when they are played as a single song in concert.
50* BrokenRecord: Quite a few of their songs feature one line repeated several times in the chorus. Perhaps the most notable example: "Wish You Were Here", where the chorus consists of "I wish you were here" repeated four times. "Nice to Know You", from the same album, also has this.
51* BSide: The second disc of the ''Monuments and Melodies'' release consists largely of these. Another one, not included on that, is the ''Make Yourself'' B-side "Crowded Elevator" (which was included in an EP, "When Incubus Attacks Vol. 1").
52* CarefulWithThatAxe:
53** The end of "Circles". "Round and round and round and round and ''ROUND!!!!!!!!''"
54** To a slightly lesser degree in "Anna Molly", at the very end. Brandon lets off a yelled note that's pretty appropriate for an axe attack.
55** Their earlier songs had a lot of these. One of Brandon's most impressive screams can be heard on the bridge of their song "New Skin", off of ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.''
56** Brandon performs a very gnarly scream at the end of the eponymous song off ''Light Grenades''.
57* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''8'', the band's eighth studio album.
58* ClusterFBomb: The title track from "Make Yourself" ("So when I make me/I won't be papier-maché/And if I fuck me/I'll fuck me in my own way/I'LL fuck me in my own way..."). Also "Leech".
59** "Clean" features no swearing in the actual lyrics, but the guy seems to be telling his girl that he'd rather have the ClusterFBomb unleashed upon him than get the silent treatment.
60* CoverVersion: The only cover that the band has recorded in the studio is Music/{{Prince}}'s "Let's Go Crazy". But the band has done many live covers of artists ranging from Music/{{Soundgarden}} to Music/MassiveAttack to Music/{{TLC}}.
61%%* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Inverted with "Promises, Promises". Brandon Boyd, male, sings an original song from a woman's point of view. [What lyric explicitly says this song depicts a female perspective?]
62* DarkerAndEdgier:
63** ''A Crow Left of the Murder'' was a turn in this direction compared to its predecessor Morning View, and while it wasn't as musically heavy as their earlier album ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'', it did feature some of the band's most pointed social commentary; "Megalomaniac" being a prominent example.
64** The ''Trust Fall (Side A)'' [=EP=] suggested they were going in this direction on their next studio album, with the title track even being a Music/{{Faith No More}} style AlternativeMetal song.
65* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Warning". While the song itself doesn't really overtly refer to this trope, the video plays with it: it takes place in 2012, in three days; each day a mysterious girl weirdly obsessed with a number (10:24) screams at the top of her lungs in different crowded places. On the third day, when the digits on her watch reach that number, [[spoiler: the Earth is still there, but all the humans have disappeared]].
66** Also alluded to in "A Certain Shade of Green" with the lyric "Are you gonna stand around 'til Film/TwoThousandTwelve AD?"
67* EpicRocking: Most of the band's songs are radio-single length, but every now and then they get a little exploratory:
68** "Sick Sad Little World" from ''A Crow Left of the Murder''.
69** The band worked on a 20-minute epic called "Odyssey" during the sessions for that album, but it didn't make the cut. It's split into 4 parts on the ''VideoGame/Halo2'' soundtrack. And it's ''very'' epic.
70** On the softer end of the spectrum, there's "Aqueous Transmission" (if the soothing Japanese guitar riff, light violins and flute melodies count as epic rocking) and "In the Company of Wolves".
71* FunWithAcronyms: ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'' officially doesn't stand for anything, but the band had some fun making up backronyms when asked about the album title in interviews, such as "Sailing Catamarans Is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy".
72* FungusHumongous: Rather, one of their albums uses the wordplay.
73* FunkMetal: They were one of the few bands holding the flag for this genre in the latter part of the 90s, when it had become highly unfashionable. The style was most prevalent on ''Fungus Amongus'', ''Enjoy Incubus'' and ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'', albums which were all inspired by Californian funk metallers such as Music/MikePatton, Music/{{Primus}} and Music/RedHotChiliPeppers. Later works also sometimes touch on the LighterAndSofter variant known as funk rock.
74* GenreBusting: A pretty good description of ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'', especially "Deep Inside," which seamlessly jumps between acid jazz and groove metal.
75* GenreRoulette: A staple of their career post-''Make Yourself'', but special mention goes to ''Light Grenades'', which Brandon Boyd described as sounding like "13 different bands playing 13 different songs".
76* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Monuments and Melodies''.
77* HiddenTrack: ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'' has a rather ridiculous one after "Calgone".
78* IntercourseWithYou: At least once per album. "Stellar" ("I need you to see this place/It might be the only way/That I can show you how/It feels to be inside of you") and "[[ArtificialGravity Anti-Gravity Love Song]]" are this trope... [[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE In Space]]!
79* LastNoteNightmare:
80** "The Odyssey" ends abruptly with some electronic static-like noise, creating a comparable effect to what you'd find on corrupted [=MP3=] files from file sharing services.
81** Inverted with "Megalomaniac". It's a First Note Nightmare: the song starts off with crackling and wobbling noises, before the intro riff kicks in. It lasts exactly 30 seconds.
82* LighterAndSofter: ''Morning View'' still features some heavy tracks, but the lyrics are PG-rated and there are several more ballads, including the fully acoustic "Mexico" and the exotic Eastern lullaby "Aqueous Transmission".
83** Their later stuff (e.g. ''Morning View'', ''Make Yourself'') are more alternative rock-ish than the heavily Music/FaithNoMore influenced earlier, FunkMetal works (''Fungus Amongus'', ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'').
84** ''If Not Now, When?'' borders on easy listening, making ''Morning View'' sound downright heavy by comparison.
85** ''8'' also counts as this compared to ''Trust Fall (Side A)''.
86** Lyrically at least, they were more upbeat and optimistic than most of their fellow AlternativeMetal / NuMetal bands from the late 90s and early 2000s.
87* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Applies to Brandon Boyd, particularly during the ''Morning View'' era when Incubus were at their most popular with the female teenybopper crowd.
88* LoveHurts: The song of the same name, maybe.
89* MeaningfulName: The Incubus was an ancient Roman demon who gave people nightmares by...having intercourse with them while they slept. The band chose the name on a dictionary and liked it because of the vaguely sexual connotation. It's also similar to the Italian word for nightmare, "incubo", of the same origin.
90* MelismaticVocals: Brandon does this once in a while, and his female fans love it.
91* MetalScream: Evident in songs like "Make Yourself", "Out From Under", "Light Grenades", and much of the ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'' album.
92* MinisculeRocking: "I Miss You" (2:48), "Quicksand" (2:13), "Earth to Bella Part I and II" (2:28/2:56), "Light Grenades" (2:20), "When I Became a Man" (0:56).
93* MoodWhiplash:
94** On ''Morning View'', "Echo" is a softer song that ends with a long fade-out consisting of mellow ambient noise... leading right into the loud opening chords of "Have You Ever?".
95** "Drive" comes right after the defiant and up-tempo "Make Yourself", making the minor-[[{{Tonality}} key]] acoustic guitars sound all the more jarring.
96* NewSoundAlbum: ''A Crow Left of the Murder'' had a new bass player and guitarist Mike Einziger replacing his high-end guitar rig with old-school vintage gear. ''Make Yourself'' and ''If Not Now, When?'' also brought about significant changes in their sound.
97** In order of LP's released Incubus has gone from [[GenreRoulette funk metal to nu-metal to alternative metal to pop rock to alternative rock to art rock to soft rock]]. And that's not counting B-sides or EP's where they get even weirder.
98** Their new album ''8'' is mostly alternative rock, but also has a much greater sense of pop sensibilities and electronic influence thrown in thanks to none other than Music/{{Skrillex}}.
99* NonAppearingTitle: Not a common occurrence, but some examples include "Calgone", "Aqueous Transmission", "Agoraphobia", and "Talk Shows on Mute". (Although these titles all relate to the song's lyrical content.)
100* NonIndicativeName: With a name like Incubus, you'd probably expect them to be a death metal band. That's totally not the case. Naturally, some relatively more obscure death metal bands picked up the slack.
101* NuMetal: Starting on ''Enjoy Incubus''. ''Morning View'' was the last record of theirs to really count (and even it had a LOT of softer songs). ''A Crow Left of the Murder'' abandoned the genre entirely in favor of AlternativeMetal and AlternativeRock.
102* OutOfGenreExperience: ''S.C.I.E.N.C.E.'' is a pretty GenreBusting album as it is, but its sixth track, "Magic Medicine", is a drum 'n' bass track completely unlike anything else on the album.
103* ProtestSong: "Megalomaniac" is a huge flip-off addressed to dictators.
104* TheProblemWithPenIsland: Intentionally, though subtly, invoked in the chorus of "Pistola".
105* PornNames: Dirk Lance. Seriously.
106* PunnyName: "Anna Molly" and ''A Crow Left of the Murder''.
107* RoomFullOfCrazy: The girl in the "Warning" music video has one, with "10:24" scribbled all over the walls.
108* ScareChord: "Out from Under" could classify since it begins with the quiet sound of drumsticks and then explodes with a loud screeching sound, accompanied by equally loud guitars with no warning.
109* SludgeMetal: Applies to the ''Trust Fall (Side A)'' track "Make Out Party", a bizarre combination of SynthPop and slow doomy riffs.
110* SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein: Brandon Boyd's enunciation isn't usually the best (see AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle above), but "Make a Move" is probably the biggest offender, since the chorus, the bridge and few random words are the only clear parts.
111* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: The subject of "Pardon Me". Part of it is him ''wanting'' it to happen, rather than put up with the rest of his life.
112--> "Not two days ago, I was having a look in a book, and I saw a picture of a guy fried up above his knee\
113I said, 'I can relate,' cause lately I've been thinking of [[PerfectlyCromulentWord combustication]] as a welcome vacation from\
114The burdens of the planet Earth, like gravity, hypocrisy, and the perils of being in [=3D=],\
115But thinking so much differently..."
116* TakeThat: The band insists that "Megalomaniac" is ''not'' about UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush, but megalomaniacs in general, though they've also said it's partially about [[Music/CreedBand Scott Stapp]].
117* {{Thoughtcrime}}: Alluded to in "When It Comes" and "Talk Shows on Mute". Not letting others tell you what to think is a favorite topic for the band in general, especially on ''Make Yourself''.
118* TitleOnlyChorus: "Wish You Were Here"
119* TruckDriversGearChange: "Pendulous Threads", from E minor to F minor for the last chorus.
120* UncommonTime: "Make Yourself" (alternating 7/4 and 4/4), "Nice to Know You" (6/4 and 4/4), "Mexico" (6/8 and 4/4), "Priceless", "Quicksand", "Paper Shoes", "Follow".
121* UnusualEuphemism: From "Here in My Room": "Pink tractor beam into your incision."
122* VerbalTic: Brandon Boyd is fond of these, but "Zee Deveel" is particularly notable.
123* ViewersAreMorons: Discussed in "Idiot Box", "Talk Shows on Mute", and possibly "MadeForTVMovie".
124* WalkingShirtlessScene: Brandon in the videos for "Take Me to Your Leader", "Drive" and "Wish You Were Here", and several times during concerts.
125* WordSaladLyrics: Much of their earlier output, especially "Take Me to Your Leader."
126* [[YouAreNumberSix You Are Number Eight]]: They named their eighth LP... well, ''8''.

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