The Trouble with the Flaming Lips

They had it all going right originally mates, but then a variety of complex happenings did indeed take place. Suffice to say, that I am no doubt the most beautiful human being to ever grace the face of the planet, but this article is not about me and my triumphant return to France. No, the discussion at hand relates to the downfall of the Flaming Lips. Now, from the onset, they were doing some crazy silly stuff, no question. Having heyday Butthole Surfers as your role model is bound to make for an interesting live show at the very least. They closed out the nineteen-eighties with some of their most powerfully original work, and started the nineties off with a massive bang by signing to a record label that was indeed major.

Thinking back about their first taste of commercial success in the nineties reminds me of how fun and creatively driven these self-made Art Rockers ultimately were, and no need to name albums, because we all know what I am talking about here, friends. A catchy tune about Jelly and a Metallic record that followed, nothing could go awry. Bizarre experimental projects with difficult to pronounce names, and a Bulletin they affectionately referred to as Soft, and this was the icing on the cake, buster! What to do next? Well, so at this point they expanded their sound and further explored the more lighthearted aspects of Bulletin with a record dedicated to a Japanese drummer and expert screamer named Yoshimi. This was not a bad idea, the record was quite good, and even if it included a corny reflective Folk Rock ballad about Realizing things, still this was manageable.

And then came the Yoshimi tour in 2002; what happened here exactly? For one, they violently devoured a diva named Beck in the goofy Alternative Rock press, and number two, they ignored Steven’s profound talent as a drummer in favor of a dope named Kliph, some vague human monster, if you will. In the ensuing years the online community of which many a long time Lips fan was involved in, was essentially destroyed and quite violently so by a couple of nightmarish hired goons, and no doubt Kliph among them along with some poor dope called The Animal Wrangler. But who are these people, and what exactly do they have to do with the respective Flaming Lips legacy? The answer is as follows: Absolutely nothing at all.

But all of this is quite telling my little sissy friends, as it is part of a greater problem; and that is as such: the violent downfall and death of a vibrant and beautiful band. It happens all the time, but when it happens to YOUR band it’s all the more painful, is it not, Mr. Redmond Barry? And so, to top it all off this once wondrous group puts that final nail in their grimy coffin with an incomprehensibly dull album that vaguely deals with Mystics, but it is all bells and whistles at this point, and not just in their now cliché traveling circus of a live show, because it would appear that the records are now equally as devoid of meaning. So why am I still here my precious little babies, are funerals somehow entertaining?

Cheers mate,

Mozart Breath

Better days...???