BigRedJed
6/25/2008, 04:22 PM
Entertainment Weekly named their 100 Best Albums from 2003 to 2008 (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_20207387_20207337,00.html), and The Soft Bulletin, considered by most critics to be the best by that band, came in at number 23.
The 1999 album came after a tumultuous period for the Lips in which they saw departures from members who had been key to some of their earlier success. Specifically, guitarist Ronald Jones left around '95-'96. Frustrated, the band regrouped and decided to try to go in a different direction.
This led to the famous "parking lot experiments" and "boom box experiments" in which the band pre-recorded various soundtracks onto separate media (cassettes, generally) and gave them to audience members to play in their vehicles (parking lot experiments) and provided boom boxes (boom box experiments). The band then "conducted" the audience members in the playing of the soundtracks, much like an orchestra.
Energized from the new, experimental sounds they were creating, the band asked their label, Warner Brothers, to back the release of a 10 CD set, in which the CDs were all meant to be played simultaneously, on separate stereos. Warner balked, but eventually agreed to the release of Zaireeka, which was a FOUR disc set, designed to be played all at the same time. Zaireeka listening parties have since become very common among fellow musicians and fans alike.
The requirement that Warner made in agreeing to release the highly experimental four-disc set is that the Lips would also deliver a traditional album, produced at the same time and within the same budget. Therefore, there was no pressure for Zaireeka to be a hit, as it almost surely would not be due to the format. In fact, Zaireeka only needed to sell something like 10,000 units to break even, which it easily did.
Out of the studio experimentation for Zaireeka came the new sound for which the Lips would be known, clearly evident on The Soft Bulletin. Gone were the loud, crunchy guitars and post-punk noise, and in came the ethereal, electronic-leaning, beat-laden music that the Lips have produced ever since. Of course, the band's most recent album At War With The Mystics made a slight return to guitar rock, proving that they could still rock out when they felt like it, but "beautiful" has become more more common from them than "blistering."
Sessions for The Soft Bulletin also produced some of lead singer Wayne Coyne's most intensely personal lyrics, as he was dealing with losing his father to cancer during the period. Songs like Waitin' for a Superman, A Spoonful Weighs a Ton, and Suddenly Everything Has Changed deal with the issue directly.
It's pretty obvious when looking at the list that it can be easy as a whole to debate, but one thing that cannot be argued is that the Lips caused critics and fans of indie/alt rock to sit up and listen when they came out with the album. I'm personally proud to call them Oklahomans, and happy for the success they have managed to achieve despite taking the long road and staying true to themselves, qualities lacking in most of today's musicians.
The 1999 album came after a tumultuous period for the Lips in which they saw departures from members who had been key to some of their earlier success. Specifically, guitarist Ronald Jones left around '95-'96. Frustrated, the band regrouped and decided to try to go in a different direction.
This led to the famous "parking lot experiments" and "boom box experiments" in which the band pre-recorded various soundtracks onto separate media (cassettes, generally) and gave them to audience members to play in their vehicles (parking lot experiments) and provided boom boxes (boom box experiments). The band then "conducted" the audience members in the playing of the soundtracks, much like an orchestra.
Energized from the new, experimental sounds they were creating, the band asked their label, Warner Brothers, to back the release of a 10 CD set, in which the CDs were all meant to be played simultaneously, on separate stereos. Warner balked, but eventually agreed to the release of Zaireeka, which was a FOUR disc set, designed to be played all at the same time. Zaireeka listening parties have since become very common among fellow musicians and fans alike.
The requirement that Warner made in agreeing to release the highly experimental four-disc set is that the Lips would also deliver a traditional album, produced at the same time and within the same budget. Therefore, there was no pressure for Zaireeka to be a hit, as it almost surely would not be due to the format. In fact, Zaireeka only needed to sell something like 10,000 units to break even, which it easily did.
Out of the studio experimentation for Zaireeka came the new sound for which the Lips would be known, clearly evident on The Soft Bulletin. Gone were the loud, crunchy guitars and post-punk noise, and in came the ethereal, electronic-leaning, beat-laden music that the Lips have produced ever since. Of course, the band's most recent album At War With The Mystics made a slight return to guitar rock, proving that they could still rock out when they felt like it, but "beautiful" has become more more common from them than "blistering."
Sessions for The Soft Bulletin also produced some of lead singer Wayne Coyne's most intensely personal lyrics, as he was dealing with losing his father to cancer during the period. Songs like Waitin' for a Superman, A Spoonful Weighs a Ton, and Suddenly Everything Has Changed deal with the issue directly.
It's pretty obvious when looking at the list that it can be easy as a whole to debate, but one thing that cannot be argued is that the Lips caused critics and fans of indie/alt rock to sit up and listen when they came out with the album. I'm personally proud to call them Oklahomans, and happy for the success they have managed to achieve despite taking the long road and staying true to themselves, qualities lacking in most of today's musicians.