The Flaming Lips

Robyn Set To Headline O Music Awards

25 Oct 2011 08:53:29 EDT

Flaming Lips will perform classic Beatles tune in tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at the October 31 show.
By Gil Kaufman

Robyn
Photo: Karl Walter/ Getty Images

One is helping to reshape dance music for the 2000s and the other helped transform music ... period. The O Music Awards 2 have added some heavy hitters to the roster with the announcement that Robyn will headline the October 31 show and the Flaming Lips will pay tribute to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs during the broadcast. Robyn will take the main stage at the awards show, set to unfold at an as-yet-undisclosed location in Los Angeles at 11:30 p.m. ET. The live, multiplatform event celebrating the artists, innovators and fans who are constantly transforming digital music culture will open with the Swedish singer's performance (one of several during the show), which will be broadcast on MTV. The rest of the event will unfold on a number of the Viacom Music Group's websites, including MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoTV.com and MTVHive.com, as well as mobile. Oklahoma's Lips will pay tribute to the Apple co-founder — who died of pancreatic cancer on October 5 — by performing the Beatles' "Revolution"; the performance will be recorded on an iPad and broadcast on the O Music site. Additional presenters and performers include Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Alabama Shakes, Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator, Travie McCoy, Midi Mafia and DJ Diamond Kuts. More performers and presenters will be announced throughout the week. MTV's signature online awards show will also attempt to make it into the Guinness record books again by hosting the longest dance party in history, and there will be plenty of star wattage on hand to help celebrate should the dancers break the 24-hour barrier. The dance marathon will aim to raise awareness for LGBT youth issues, especially bullying, by giving fans a chance to donate to a number of organizations during the live stream. Among the groups that will benefit from the record attempt are: GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network), It Gets Better, the Gay Straight Alliance Network, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). Viewers will also be able to use social media to support the cause and cheer on their favorite dancers. In addition, fans can participate via the O Music Awards Facebook page, Twitter and Tumblr. The "Longest Dance Party" event will be live-streamed at the O Music Awards site beginning on October 29 from the Roxy Theatre on Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip. Since voting began on September 27, more than 12 million votes have been cast. Fans can continue to vote via the O Music Awards site. The fan that drives the most votes will appear in the live show. The leading nominees for O Music awards include Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator (Most Outrageous Tweet and Best Web-Born Artists), Lady Gaga (Fan Army FTW and Must Follow Artist on Twitter), the Weeknd (Best Web-Born Artist and Too Much Ass for TV), Katy Perry (Best Lyrics Video and Best Artist With a Cameraphone), Justin Bieber (Fan Army FTW and Best Artist With a Cameraphone), Demi Lovato (Fan Army FTW and Best Artist With a Cameraphone), Sinéad O'Connor (Oops! I Did It Online Award and Best Vintage Viral Video) and Adam Lambert (Fan Army FTW and Must Follow Artist on Twitter), all of whom grabbed two nods. Other nominated artists include Cher, Nirvana, Lil Wayne, Iron Maiden, Dolly Parton, Björk, Wayne Coyne, Scissor Sisters, Best Coast and Big Freedia. The O Music Awards 2 will unfold on Halloween on OMusicAwards.com, as well as MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoTV.com and MTVHive.com. Fans can vote for their favorites and get updates at OMusicAwards.com.

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Dave Matthews Band Caravan Pulls Into Atlantic City

25 Jun 2011 10:06:18 EDT

First of four three-day festivals also features the Flaming Lips.
By Mary J. DiMeglio

Dave Matthews peforms in Atlantic City on June 24, 2011
Photo: Getty Images

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — For the first stop on its traveling roadshow, the Dave Matthews Band Caravan brought a rootsy collection of friends to dusty Bader Field on Friday. And even after a career-spanning set that included "Don't Drink the Water," "Satellite" and "Why I Am," DMB still have plenty of hits to draw from for the next two headlining performances of their inaugural three-day festival. Matthews gave nods to almost all of the day's supporting acts, mentioning Delta Spirit, Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Head & The Heart, and saying, "It was a pleasure to share the stage with Ray Lamontagne." David Ryan Harris, who played Friday afternoon, joined the band for perennial crowd favorite "Jimi Thing" from their 1994 debut, Under the Table and Dreaming. Grammy-winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin proved his chops early, tearing into "You Might Die Trying." Coffin has played with DMB since LeRoi Moore's 2008 ATV accident and death. His Mu'tet ensemble was one of the first acts of the day. Also pulling double duty was guitarist Tim Reynolds, first appearing in the afternoon with TR3. Reynolds will also join Matthews for an acoustic set Saturday afternoon (June 25). A memorable aspect of any DMB show is the quirky frontman's non sequiturs, and Friday night was no exception. Matthews shared these gems: "Facial hair is so transformative" and "Too much morphine will make you constipated," after debuting a version of "Buena" by '90s alt-rockers Morphine. Matthews unleashed his impressive wail on "Grey Street," and the show took a romantic turn when the band followed "Crash" with "You and Me" and "Shake Me Like A Monkey." Returning from a break, Matthews warned, "I think we might f--- it up, but we're gonna try anyway," before his acoustic adaptation of Procol Harum's 1967 classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Another cover closed out the set, as the band stunned the audience by playing Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" for the first time ever in concert. Though not exactly channeling Robert Plant, Matthews did sound oddly unlike himself on the vocals, in a rendition highlighted by a deft guitar solo. And though, rather than returning for a second encore, the band ended 30 minutes shy of their scheduled 11 p.m. ending time, most in the audience, anticipating another two long days capped by three-hour DMB sets, seemed relieved to be shuffling off the grounds. Previously that evening, the Flaming Lips proved it's never too early for them to bring the weird. Flanked by sunglass-wearing, bopping Dorothys, Scarecrows, Tin Men and Cowardly Lions, they shared their ultra-psychedelic take on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, playing the album in its entirety, interspersed with choice selections from "The Wizard of Oz." Those looking for something lighter found instrumental jam band Lotus keeping it groovy as the sun set. An ocean breeze brought welcome relief from the hot and humid day as seagulls cruised overhead. O.A.R., Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Thievery Corporation join the caravan Saturday, while Sunday's festivities will feature David Gray, Dr. Dog, Bassnectar and Michael Franti with Spearhead. The party travels to Chicago in July, returns to the East Coast in August for a weekend at New York's Governors Island and wraps up at The Gorge in Washington in early September. Did you see the Dave Matthews Band Caravan? Share your review in the comments below!

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Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd Hospitalized, Cancelling Appearances

29 Apr 2010 08:55:00 EDT

Band cancels gigs in Florida and Memphis due to multi-instrumentalist's undisclosed illness.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Peter Kramer/ Getty Images

The Flaming Lips were forced to cancel their Thursday night appearance at the SunFest in West Palm Beach, Florida, when longtime guitarist/keyboard-player Steven Drozd was hospitalized with an undisclosed ailment.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances SunFest is announcing a last-minute schedule change," a statement from the event reads. "The Flaming Lips have withdrawn from the festival. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause. ... SunFest has been informed that the cancellation is due to the hospitalization of Steven Drozd and therefore extends wishes for a speedy recovery." A spokesperson for the band could not be reached for comment at press time, but a publicist told Spinner that Drozd is "expected to make a full recovery." As of Friday, the band was no longer listed on the roster of expected performers at the five-day event, which includes Weezer, ZZ Top, Shinedown, REO Speedwagon, Nas and Damian Marley, Patti Labelle, and Ben Harper. The Lips' spot was filled by Ladies and Gentlemen, led by local radio DJ Smitty, after organizers were unable to find a national headliner to replace them when word came down on Tuesday about Drozd's hospitalization, according to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. The Lips were also forced to cancel a gig at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday (May 1), though it was unclear at press time if any other upcoming gigs would be affected. They are slated to play at the Hangout Music Festival in Alabama on May 15 and to perform their version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at Bonnaroo on June 11. Drozd joined the Lips in 1991 as a drummer, and his massive percussion was one of the anchor sounds of 1999's psychedelic pop masterpiece The Soft Bulletin. His crippling battle with drug addiction was depicted in the 2005 Lips documentary "The Fearless Freaks," but the multi-instrumentalist has reportedly been clean for several years.

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Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup Includes Jay-Z, Weezer, Flaming Lips

09 Feb 2010 13:39:00 EST

Norah Jones, Wale, Flaming Lips, the xx also announced in gradual MySpace reveal.
By James Montgomery

Jay-Z
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images

Jay-Z, Weezer, and the Flaming Lips are among the first batch of artists confirmed for the 2010 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, to be held June 10-13 in — as always — Manchester, Tennessee. Artists are being announced in a series of rolling reveals that will continue throughout the day on Bonnaroo's MySpace page. Tickets for the fest are on sale now through its official site, with a four-day pass running $234.50. An RV pass (if you want to experience the fest in luxury) will cost an extra $150. As in previous years, Bonnaroo is also offering attendees the opportunity to purchase tickets on an installment plan.

Other early confirmations for Bonnaroo 2010 are Norah Jones, comedian/ Grammy-winning bluegrass enthusiast Steve Martin (with his Steep Canyon Rangers), Wale, Regina Spektor, John Fogerty, the Avett Brothers, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Ingrid Michaelson, Bassnectar, Phoenix and hotly tipped Brits the xx. Jay-Z has already been announced as a headliner for the 2010 Coachella Festival, to be held April 16-18 in Indio, California. The Flaming Lips will be joined by Stardeath and the White Dwarves (the band fronted by Lips' main man Wayne Coyne's nephew) and — much like they did in a raucous Oklahoma City New Year's Eve show — the groups will be performing Pink Floyd's epic Dark Side of the Moon album. News of Weezer's confirmation actually leaked earlier in the day, when the band tweeted that they would be performing at the 2010 'Roo. Through various online sources, the fest's other rumored acts include the Dave Matthews Band and Georgia metallers Baroness. But the only way to get the latest confirmations is to head over to Bonnaroo's MySpace page, where a new band is being announced every five minutes.

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Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Flaming Lips Lead New Year's Eve Concerts

30 Dec 2009 06:50:00 EST

Gaga's Miami show is one of the hottest bills in the country.
By Gil Kaufman

Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

It's fitting that MTV's Woman of the Year is going to cap off a tremendous 2009 by playing one of the most anticipated New Year's Eve shows in the country. Lady Gaga's December 31 show at the James L. Knight Center in Miami Beach is currently the hottest New Year's Eve ticket on the market, according to "Extra," despite ticket prices that range from $425 to $25,000. The show has already sold a reported $1 million in tickets. But Gaga isn't the only star ringing in the new year from the stage. She joins a cavalcade of bold names who will hoist some bubbly on Thursday, including Mariah Carey, Adam Lambert, John Mayer, reunited jam band Phish, Maroon 5 and psychedelic astronauts the Flaming Lips. Lambert, MTV's #3 Man of the Year, will take the stage at the annual Gridlock New Year's Eve concert in his native Los Angeles on the Paramount Pictures Studio backlot. Though there are far fewer big-name shows than usual for the last night of the year, New York will have the typical mother lode of options for revelers, including Carey at Madison Square Garden, a DJ set from Passion Pit at Piano's, Q-Tip at the Brooklyn Bowl, Patti Smith at the Bowery Ballroom, some jam rock from the Disco Biscuits at Nokia Theatre, who knows what from Hole frontwoman Courtney Love at the Standard Hotel's Boom Boom Room, and guaranteed techno mayhem at Webster Hall with MSTRKRFT. Phish will also be in Miami, winding up a four-night stand at American Airlines Arena with a NYE blowout, as will 1980s new wavers the B-52's, who will rock in the new year at Hard Rock Live. Joining Lambert in Los Angeles for revelry will be techno funkers Chromeo with DJ Peanut Butter Wolf at Club Nokia, R&B queen Erykah Badu at the House of Blues, and hip-hop legend DJ Quik with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony member Bizzy Bone at the Key Club. Up the coast in San Francisco, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead will perform as Furthur at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, Jimmy Fallon house band and hip-hop powerhouse the Roots will plug in at the Warfield, and Ozomatli, Bassnectar, and Ghostland Observatory will bring the dance funk at the Concourse Exhibition Center. Chicago's roster of shows is a mixed bag of blues, jam and electro rock with the Black Keys at the Riviera, mixmaster Girl Talk at the Congress Theater, Umphrey's McGee at the Aragon Ballroom, and Crystal Castles at Logan Square. Socially conscious rapper Mos Def will perform at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, while Spoon will hook up with unpredictable punk Jay Reatard at the Riverside in Milwaukee, and jammers Galactic are at legendary Tipitinas in New Orleans. In Washington, D.C., soul singer Anthony Hamilton will be at Zanzibar, and Third Eye Blind will play the Grand Hyatt. The Goo Goo Dolls will suit up at the Sound Board in Detroit. Denver will live up to its happy hippy vibe with shows by Sound Tribe Sector Nine at the Wells Fargo Theatre and the Yonder Mountain String Band at the Fillmore. Flo Rida will flex his muscle at the IP Casino Resort & Spa in Biloxi, Mississippi. In Las Vegas, the John Mayer Trio will share a stage with buzz singer Meyer Hawthorne at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and Maroon 5 will be joined by actor/songwriter Jason Segel at the Pearl Concert Theatre at the Palms. Band of Horses will rock in the year at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, while the Flaming Lips will unleash their typical end-of-year mayhem with a show in their hometown of Oklahoma City. For the gig, the psychedelic survivors will perform Pink Floyd's trippy masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety in addition to a set of their own music at the Cox Convention Center. What are you doing on New Year's Eve? Don't miss MTV News' "Top 9 of '09" — which counts down the year's biggest stories, from Michael Jackson to Eminem and everything in between — airing New Year's Eve at 11 p.m. on MTV.

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The Best Albums Of 2009, In Bigger Than The Sound

16 Dec 2009 06:50:00 EST

MTV News' James Montgomery picks his top 20 records of the year.
By James Montgomery

Photo: MTV News

Well, we made it. 2009 is practically in the books, and now it's time to look back on the rather, uh, zany year that was. Last week, I published my list of the year's Best Songs, and now, it's time for the albums. It's a fairly lengthy list, because, like I wrote in my songs column, there's perhaps no better way to sum up the year than by looking back on the soundtrack to it all. And it just so happens that there were plenty of albums that did just that. But before we get to my list, I want to point out that, yes, I'm very much aware that "the album" is a fairly dead concept, but so is the idea that Obama is a socialist, and we spent roughly three-quarters of 2009 screaming about that, didn't we? So, without further ado, here are my picks for the Best Albums of 2009 — the straightforward and the skewed, the silly and the serious, the artistic and the arrhythmic. And if you've got some picks of your own, I'd love to read 'em (cue the Eminem fans), so let me know in the comments below, or shoot me an e-mail at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. 20. Brand New, Daisy
Five kids from Long Island make the best Modest Mouse album since The Lonesome Crowded West, a sawing, slurring, snarling thing, full of enough wobbly fretwork and muddled melodies to give Isaac Brock pause. Songs like "At the Bottom" and "Gasoline" writhe like a beheaded snake, "Vices" wails like a wraith, and "Be Gone," well, it basically just sounds like an Ugly Casanova B-side. Still, after a dozen years, it's nice to finally have the old MM back in our lives, especially when the new one seems content to simply re-record sea shanties. 19. Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Scott Mescudi certainly remembers the D.A.I.S.Y. age, and Moon is his attempt to match De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising. Does he succeed? Not entirely, but there's enough here — the collaborations with Kanye West and Ratatat, the vivid storytelling, the fact that Common narrates the thing — to make it perhaps the most worthwhile near-miss in recent memory. A wonderfully weird album, it left me wondering where Cudi could possibly go from here. Perhaps he's already at work on his version of De La Soul Is Dead? 18. Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
NPR (The Album). Brunch (The Album). Antiquing (The Album). This is Wilco at their most buttoned-down, making their most straightforward album in years, and yet, despite the gray around their temples, this is still a very youthful album, honed by a relentless touring schedule and some really deft production work. The songs here are given room to breathe, to stretch their legs and walk a bit. There's blood and muscle and sweat here too. The best "live" album I've heard in years, despite it not actually being a live album. Think about that. 17. Dinosaur Jr., Farm
Sleepy-eyed, bed-headed, sweatpants rock from a trio of guys who look very much like they've resigned themselves to a life of couch-surfing and resin-scraping. Only, they haven't, and the proof is in the excellent, curlicue guitar work of songs like "Plans" and "I Don't Wanna Go There." There's hope there and muted dreams too. It's proof that good posture isn't a requirement for rocking out, that the couch can be a launching pad and that there's magic in that resin. 16. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love
Correctly criticized for bring overly long and overwhelmingly bookish, yet those are precisely the reasons I liked this one so much. Hazards is the Decemberists unchained, free to meander into stuff like stony prog-rock and twee folk, unashamed to give songs names like "The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone." Another concept album, this one encompasses a lovelorn lass, a shape-shifting boy, a deceitful rake, a magical river and a murderous forest queen (to name just a few) and features more doomy riffs than you'd ever think possible. Librarians shouldn't shred this hard, but here, they do. 15. The XX, XX
The year's best debut. An icy, wiry album that features stone-faced boy/girl vocals, angular, post-punk guitars and windswept, barren synth gusts (often on the same song — see "Crystalized" or "Basic Space" for proof). XX is an embracingly lo-fi yet also strangely distant listen. It doesn't sound like anyone involved in its creation was having much fun, but then again, they are achingly British. 14. Mos Def, The Ecstatic
Like the title (which, Wikipedia tells me, was lifted from a book by Queens author Victor LaVelle) implies, this is Mos Def in full celebratory mode, which explains the joyous boogie of songs like "Casa Bey" or "Quiet Dog Bite Hard." But given that it's Mos, things also get slightly weird — the blurred vocals on "Twilite Speedball," the sorta-samba on "Pistola" — and unabashedly political, like the Malcolm X sample that opens the album or "Auditorium," which features Slick Rick as a soldier in Iraq. Party hard, Mos seems to be saying, because there are dark times ahead. 13. Bat for Lashes, Two Suns
An exploration of the duality of life, love and loss, Natasha Khan (she's Bat for Lashes, in case you didn't know) went deep on Two Suns, leaving her native England for places like California's Joshua Tree and New York, cultivating an alternate identity (Pearl) who nearly dragged her down into destruction. But the end result was a spate of marvelous songs, swooning, nocturnal pop like "Daniel" and "Pearl's Dream." Like Kate Bush before her, Khan draws from her personal life, but she's at her best when she throws on the ethereal veil. And that's what she does here. 12. Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted
Built in a lab by the best pop-music minds in the business, equipped with all weapons necessary to assault the Hot 100, All I Ever Wanted is the musical equivalent of a gigantic, shiny Gundam suit, with Clarkson at the controls. It's no wonder it's her best album in years. Her voice powers "My Life Would Suck Without You" and "I Do Not Hook Up" into the stratosphere, and on songs like "Cry" or album-closer "If No One Will Listen," she gets subtle (or, you know, as subtle as a former "American Idol" champ with dynamite pipes can get). It didn't exactly burn up the charts, but that hardly matters. All I Ever Wanted is Clarkson's return to form. 11. Shakira, She Wolf
Sublimely silly, supremely sexy global pop, She Wolf features more popping and locking than a chiropractor's convention and more panting than a kennel. With the title track and the excellently effervescent "Men in This Town," Shakira has created two of the year's greatest songs, undoubtedly the soundtrack to the space disco in her head. Throw in some revenge fantasies, broken English and the occasional line about Matt Damon, and you've got the years most unabashed album. And there's no one else on the planet who could've made it. 10. Amadou & Miriam, Welcome to Mali
Released late last year in Europe, Welcome to Mali didn't find its way to the States until March, but it was worth the wait. Sure, you could focus on the fact that A&M are married, blind and play a wondrous brand of so-called "Afro-Blues," a mixture of Malian traditional, Indian rhythms and Egyptian wind instruments, with some good old-fashion rock and roll thrown in for good measure. But instead, listen to the joyous keyboards of album opener "Sabali" or the funky meter of "Sebeke" and try to tell me this isn't an album for all people, everywhere. Shoot, even K'Naan comes off good here, and that's saying something. 9. Lily Allen, It's Not Me, It's You
Basically the polar opposite of every other pop album on this list, It's Not Me ... isn't the end-product of the endless tinkerings of the pop elite, nor is it particularly pop in any of its sentiments. Instead, it's a handcrafted, deeply personal thing, a complicated, sad, funny, sarcastic album that pulls no punches and spares no target, including Allen herself. Songs like "The Fear," "Not Fair," "Back to the Start" and "Who'd Have Known" crackle with humor, biting social commentary and even outright sadness, and they showcase Allen's growing skill as a lyricist. She's endlessly complicated — celebrating her independence one moment ("Never Gonna Happen"), craving the support of a lover the next ("Chinese") — and delightfully odd (who else would assume God's favorite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival?), not to mention brave, wickedly funny and incredibly smart. Too bad she's reportedly giving up music. Though, as far as swan songs go, you could do a lot worse than It's Not Me, It's You. 8. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
Achingly pretty indie pop with a dark side, Veckatimest bends the lines into chamber music, psych-rock and even folk, creating a beautiful haze to lose oneself (and one's mind) in. Songs like "Two Weeks" and "Ready, Able" are ghostly, gorgeous things (with appropriately creepy videos to boot), proof that not only can Grizzly Bear write pop songs, but they can do it better than pretty much anybody. That this album debuted at #8 on the Billboard albums chart — and earned them props from Jay-Z — was only icing on the cake. Sometimes, nice guys do finish first ... or, at least, in the top 10. Even if they are somewhat creepy. 7. Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3
The year's best hip-hop al

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Flaming Lips' 'Do You Realize??' Named Official Rock Song Of Oklahoma

03 Mar 2009 12:22:00 EST

'We're in this just to have fun and we wind up winning,' says surprised bandmember Wayne Coyne.
By Jem Aswad

Photo: Charley Gallay/ Getty Images

When you think of the creators of a state's official song, veteran psychedelic rockers the Flaming Lips — who over the past 25 years have released songs with titles like "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" and "Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues," as well as their biggest hit, "She Don't Use Jelly" — are probably not the first artists to come to mind.

And yet, the band's 2002 track "Do You Realize??" has been named the official rock song of their home state of Oklahoma, beating out such songs written or recorded by Oklahomans as "Heartbreak Hotel" and "After Midnight." "We have an official state folk song and a state country song. With as many outstanding rock artists as we have in Oklahoma, it was time to recognize this music as well," said State Senator Mike Schulz, according to The Associated Press. More than 21,000 votes were cast online for a list of 10 songs selected by a panel of experts, according to the AP. The winner was announced Monday in the Oklahoma Senate. "I never gave it that much thought," band leader Wayne Coyne told the AP, adding that it was an honor to have been nominated, "and everything else is just extra. We're in this just to have fun and we wind up winning." "Do You Realize??" — which was featured in a Land Rover commercial — was written by bandmembers Coyne, Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins, along with longtime producer Dave Fridmann, and hails from the band's 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The song's lyrics, which do not mention Oklahoma, have a melancholy but ultimately uplifting theme ("Do you realize ... that you have the most beautiful face ... we're floating in space ... that happiness makes you cry ... that everyone you know someday will die?"). The band's latest release was the soundtrack to its long-percolating film, "Christmas on Mars." In 2008, the Legislature adopted a resolution outlining the voting process, according to the AP. The Oklahoma Historical Society conducted a competition to select the official state rock song and Oklahomans nominated 454 songs. A panel then narrowed the list to 10, and the people of the state cast their ballots. Out of the 21,061 votes cast, 10,738, or nearly 51 percent, picked "Do You Realize??" Other finalists were "Let's Have a Party," recorded by Oklahoman Wanda Jackson; "Walk, Don't Run," recorded by the Ventures; "Home Sweet Oklahoma," written and recorded by Oklahoman Leon Russell; "Oklahoma," by the Call; and "Move Along," by the All-American Rejects. The "official state rock song" is not a terribly common category: According to several online sources, the only others states to have them are Ohio (the McCoys' 1960s hit "Hang on Sloopy") and Washington (Richard Berry's "Louie Louie").

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Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne Hopes Fans Bring 'Their Own Weird, Subjective Beauty' To 'Christmas On Mars'

17 Nov 2008 18:50:00 EST

'We wanted to design it to be about as loud as any human could stand,' frontman says of sci-fi/Christmas movie.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Rya Backer

Photo: MTV News

Here are some things you should know about the Flaming LipsFlaming Lips' "Christmas On Mars" film: It took seven years to make (but not, you know, like, seven straight years), it is best viewed whilst under the influence of drugs and/or coitus, and it is designed to possibly kill you. "Not everyone can say this, but I have a giant circus tent in my backyard, and we have a giant surround-sound system that we played around with for about a month, designing it, remixing the movie," Lips frontman Wayne Coyne laughed. "We wanted to design it to be about as loud as any human could stand, yet still watch it and be entertained by it, not tortured by it. That was the goal, at least."

Whether that goal was achieved is basically dependent on the strength of your at-home speaker system. Because after making the rounds at summer music fests and tiny indie theaters, the Lips' much-anticipated science-fiction/Christmas flick — which tells the story of a lonely star base, a borderline unstable astronaut and, well, a martian in a spacesuit — was finally foisted upon the world last week via DVD. And, as to be expected for a guy who spent seven years making the film in and around his hometown of Oklahoma City ("It took longer than I thought it would. But we were interrupted by a lot of things. ... It took seven years, but I didn't work on it every day for seven years," Coyne explained), the Lips mastermind has some fairly specific suggestions to help maximize your at-home enjoyment of "Christmas." "When you're at your house, you are more free. There's a thing that comes on before the DVD plays that says, 'You can smoke pot, you can have sex, you can do whatever while watching this film,' " he laughed. "So, I think in that sense, watching it at your own home, in your own space, at whatever volume you want it at, is pretty great already. We want people to bring their own weird, subjective beauty to it." Totally. And though much of the film was done on the (super) cheap — many sets were built by Coyne and his brother in the backyard of his OKC home — Coyne maintains that it stands up to many of its sci-fi contemporaries. You know, except for the fact that it's not really a sci-fi film. "I don't think my movie is necessarily sci-fi, but to me, whenever I would watch, say, 'Star Wars' or one of the 'Alien' movies or whatever, to me, I would see their ray guns or their little buttons they pushed and know they were just fake objects anyway. ... They're not the real things," he smiled. "And there's so many great little weird toys that I would see at the store, and say, 'Well, I'm just going to use that.' Through the use of your imagination, anything becomes what you want it to be. "I know that if my movie plays to any audience out there, it's already kind of an arty audience. I do sometimes feel for the Steven Spielbergs of the world, because they're playing to people who are not using their imaginations," he continued. "I know our audience will do that. They're filling it full of all kinds of their own interpretations of what things could be. I want that. I think that makes any experience richer." And in a lot of ways, that DIY ethos and childlike sense of wonderment has fueled Coyne creatively for more than 25 years now. And with a new Lips album tentatively due this summer ("It's ambitious, but not too ambitious," he laughed), he hopes to keep that spirit alive and well. "In some sense, being in the Flaming Lips, I know we're a rock group, but we never really felt we were limited to just playing music and singing — really, we could do whatever we want. When I was especially young, that's why I thought you'd want to be in a rock group — you just did whatever you wanted, you know?" he said. "Even though we've been working on 'Christmas On Mars,' we still have songs. We want to play some new songs to the audience next summer. A new summer, I want to say new things."

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The Flaming Lips' 'Christmas On Mars': Wayne Coyne's Chinese Democracy? In Bigger Than The Sound

22 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EDT

For the Lips, it isn't the destination but the journey.
By James Montgomery

Wayne Coyne and Steve Drozd in "Christmas on Mars"
Photo: J. Michelle Martin-Coyne

On The Record: The Most Trying, Insane And Important 86 Minutes Of Your Life There is a moment — and this moment is really dependent on your tolerance for shots of bleeding infants and labia — in the Flaming Lips'Flaming Lips' "Christmas on Mars" film when you sort of want to rip your eyes out. Or at least have some sort of psychotic episode. This is probably exactly what the Lips (or, more specifically, mastermind Wayne Coyne, who directed the film and spends a majority of its 86 minutes wandering around with antennae sticking out of his head as "The Martian") intended. After all, they've sort of made a career out of pushing audiences to the brink. For 25 years now, they've prodded, poked and run relatively unchecked through the music industry, making — like, physically, with their hands — their own brand of unique madness. It hasn't always been pretty, but it's certainly been interesting. And if you consider all of that, well, "Mars" is their masterwork. Of course, that's not to say that the film is particularly good (it isn't), but when you're talking about the Lips, "good" is a relative term. And this only became apparent to me after I sat through the entirety of "Mars," a seemingly endless dirge of listless camera work, poor acting and droning background music that is periodically interrupted by the occasional scene of an atrocity (an exploding baby head, a fetus cut with a knife and fork) or psychedelic genitalia (on the heads of astronauts or a marching band, nonetheless). Oh, yeah, and it's also about Christmas. Sort of. There are cameos by Fred ArmisenFred Armisen, Adam GoldbergAdam Goldberg and the guy who used to be on "Blues Clues," and they're all pretty terrible (also, despite what you've read, neither Elijah WoodElijah Wood nor Modest Mouse'sModest Mouse's Isaac Brock are in the film). There's no dialogue for the first seven minutes of the film, and when everyone eventually does start talking, you sort of wish they would shut up. Shot on grainy 16mm, the film is hard to watch, and its editing (or lack thereof) could generously be described as languid. Though, to be fair, all of that is largely immaterial. See, the one thing I liked about "Mars" actually had nothing to do with the film itself — rather, about halfway through, I had the sudden realization that it completely sums up every single feeling I have about the Flaming Lips themselves. Both good and bad. And here they are: The Lips are amazing, unless you really look and listen closely, in which case you realize that they're sort of not. At least not anymore. They have been coasting for nearly a decade now, getting by on smoke and mirrors — their gimmicky live show, 5.1 channel surround-sound versions of their albums, landing homemade UFOs at the Oklahoma City Zoo — while ignoring the fact that Coyne can no longer sing (at least not live), and their musical output has become increasingly uninteresting. Ever since 1999's excellent The Soft Bulletin — which ushered in the current "sonically expansive" era of the band — they've sort of been spinning their wheels, releasing two albums in the '00s, exactly one-quarter of which was any good (the first four songs on Yoshimi Battles the Pink RobotsYoshimi Battles the Pink Robots). Then again, perhaps none of that matters. Because, like I said, when you're talking about the Flaming Lips, everything is relative. Like "Christmas on Mars" itself, the band is less about the end destination as it is the voyage getting there. The trip is the thing — and making "Mars" was certainly a trip, as it was famously in (and out of) production since 2001, shot almost exclusively on sets Coyne himself built and stars a guy (Lips multi-instrumentalist Steve Drozd) who kicked heroin during filming. It's a testament to the spirit of the band and to the twin DIY and "Never Say Die" ethics of Coyne — the same kind of ethics I just criticized a paragraph ago. To him, finishing "Mars," building a spaceship for their stage show or recording an album about mystics and magic are all the same thing — they're all inevitabilities, not eventualities. And in that regard, "Mars" resembles perhaps nothing quite as well as it does Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, another long-in-the-works (and equally insane) project currently (supposedly) being docked by Mr. W. Axl RoseMr. W. Axl Rose himself. Both are testaments to the ego and determination of their respective masterminds. Both have become industrywide punch lines and the subject of countless rumors. And neither was ever expected to see the light of day. I'm not the first to make this comparison, but here's where I differ from others: The beauty of "Mars" is that — like Democracy — it doesn't matter if it's any good or not. What's important is that it's finished. Both Coyne and Rose heard all the detractors, but they shouldered the load, gritted their teeth and pulled their respective projects across the finish line. The trip is the thing. And, ultimately, though I may write some bad things about them, that's also why I'll always listen to whatever the Flaming Lips are doing. Because the voyage is so enthralling — not to mention inspiring. I'll watch whatever half-baked space oddity they cook up next (and probably do so while actually half-baked), because they've earned that kind of respect. It hasn't always been pretty, but it's certainly been interesting. And even when it's pretty bad, hey, at least they're trying — really, really hard. Questions? Comments? BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

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Justin Timberlake, Jordin Sparks Triumph At Super Bowl; Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson Drop The Ball

04 Feb 2008 14:14:00 EST

There were plenty of great performances but also some real duds.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

For years now, the NFL has been bedazzling the Super Bowl with busloads of Hollywood stars and singers in an attempt to distract viewers from the fact that the game is usually a snooze-worthy blowout. But thanks to the New York Giants' historic last-minute victory Sunday night over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots, as well as an arena-rock-worthy halftime show from American icon Tom Petty, the people behind the big game finally got the mix of music and smash mouth right. (Except for the moments when it got things so, so wrong, which were also kind of great.) And so, we give you the first Super Bowl Musical Monday Morning Quarterback Report. (Also check out our take on Super Bowl movie ads — are you pumped for the next potential blockbusters?) The Big Winners Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Classic rock has become the new standard at the big show, thanks to recent gigs by the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and last year's guitar-stroking extravaganza from Prince. And despite the suggestive beating-heart-pierced-by-Flying-V-guitar opening, laid-back Petty played his four-song halftime gig as if he were just strolling in for another night of work by the world's best bar band. No corny medleys, no hokey gimmicks, just unforgettable anthems that, frankly, by the end of the night couldn't have been more apt for both teams: "I Won't Back Down" (Giants), "Free Fallin' " (Patriots) and the nothing-but-hustle rocker "Runnin' Down a Dream" (Giants again).

Justin Timberlake: Though he mostly just got his ass kicked, the singer/actor proved his comic chops again in the hilarious Pepsi/Amazon "Magnetic Attraction" ad that mixed his slapstick abilities with a cameo from his "D--- in a Box" co-star, Andy Samberg. Metal: As if the game needed any more aggro help, the Patriots entered to Ozzy Osbourne's iconic "Crazy Train," while the promos for Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" pulled out Danzig's dark "Mother," a Toyota ad went indie by using Fu Manchu's "Mongoose" and the ad for the big-screen adaptation of "Iron Man" pulled out Audioslave's stomping "Cochise." And as the clock ran out, Europe's "The Final Countdown" brought an end to the Patriots' dream-turned-nightmare. Kanye West: On the cusp of the Grammys, West's "Stronger" pumped over the loudspeakers as the soon-to-be world champion Giants ran out onto the field. Jordin Sparks: Her dad, former Giants player Phillippi Sparks, never made it to the big dance, but his daughter did him proud with a stirring rendition of the national anthem in front of her hometown fans. Alicia Keys: The Grammy winner plugged her upcoming tour with a rousing pregame medley that included "Fallin'," "If I Ain't Got You" and "As I Am."

Madonna/Shakira: Now we get how the Material Girl is the highest-paid female singer on the planet. Her brief appearance in an ad for Sunsilk hair products reportedly brought in millions. Shakira can't complain either. Not only did she get to plug her years-old hit "Whenever, Wherever," but she played alongside Madonna and Marilyn Monroe, which isn't bad company. Alice Cooper: We have no idea what the original shock-rocker was doing crouching on the ground with his albino snake at the end of that Bridgestone Firestone ad (maybe lying in wait for co-star Richard Simmons to jog by?), but it worked. Arcade Fire: The Canadian band's "No Cars Go" was used as a bumper by Fox during one of those dancing-robot bits, giving them massive exposure, though not likely the kind they desire. According to Pitchfork, although Fox asked permission to use the tune, it's unclear if the band gave its consent. Kina Grannis: The unknown singer/songwriter, who won a Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" competition and a deal with Interscope Records, was introduced on one of the world's biggest stages, singing her acoustic ballad "Message From Your Heart." The ad reportedly cost $5 million, so you better believe that they think she's got the goods. Latch Key Kid: A close second to Grannis in terms of worldwide coming-out parties was the election-themed Coke ad scored to "Good Times" by Southern California musician Kid (real name: Gavin Heaney). The spot, featuring Democrat James Carville and Republican Bill Frist cavorting together, perfectly fit the mood of the cheery ditty about sharing good times with good friends. The Flaming Lips: Our personal pick for the ultimate halftime band (think about it: aliens, spaceships, giant inflatable hands, dancing Santas and exploding confetti cannons!) subverted straight society for the umpteenth time when their proggy, Pink Floyd-like ode to running from lava flows, "Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung," accompanied a Ford Sync ad. Bower: The fat guy who jump-started the car with his nipples in the Mountain Dew AMP ad? None other than Michael Bower, the guy who played Donkeylips on Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts" and a budding rapper in the Eminem mode. The Losers Paula Abdul: The "American Idol" judge's pre-taped, lip-synced "performance" of "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," the first single from fellow judge Randy Jackson's new album, nearly rivaled the former pop star's infamous "baked potato" dance to "Vibeology" at the 1991 Video Music Awards. Save for the impressive male-dancer-assisted high kick/ split she pulled off near the end, the painfully '80s Janet Jackson rip-off tune and skinny-tie-era backup dancers made Adbul look like the Mrs. Robinson of dance pop. Judging those kids on "Idol" just got a lot harder. Ben Roethlisberger: The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback's off-key warbling of "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" was supposed to be bad, we get it. But it was so bad, some Steelers fans might have preferred it if he entered a Superbike race instead. Michael Jackson: At this point nobody wants to see the actual King of Pop in a TV ad, but the slimy digital reptiles doing the "Thriller" dance to promote the 25th anniversary of the singer's landmark album (oh, and SoBe Life Water too) were almost as creepy as a trip to Neverland Ranch.

LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Macy Gray and Missy Elliott: That fake-grinning, head-nodding Diet Pepsi Ad to the tune of Haddaway's club classic "What Is Love" was so cheesy that we agreed with "A Night at the Roxbury" star Chris Kattan when he yelled, "Stop it!" at the end. "American Idol": Between Roethlisberger's lame ad and Abdul's crash-and-burn performance, not to mention bionic host Ryan Seacrest's painful "red carpet" interviews with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, the show wasn't done any favors by its host network.

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