Bands that Embody the Song Fight Spirit

[jb]

I'm a little flaky right now, but I have time/willpower to start a little meme I think.

List of mainstream/successful bands that I think are very Song Fight-ey, and WHY.

Requirements: These bands aren't just dudes people who like Song Fight listen to. They have to have done something that reminds me of Song Fight and the Song Fight community.

Of course, I expect you to come up with some of your own, and I expect the rest of us to argue over whether they are truly, deep in their hearts, keeps of the Song Fight Spirit.

BAND: Fountains of Wayne.
WHY THEY EMBODY THE SONG FIGHT SPIRIT: Frankie Big Face and I were inspired to Song Fight the story of how this band's "She's Got A Problem" was written. Apparently the title was written on a napkin by one band member, who dared another to write a song with that title. Frankie read that story before we had ever heard of Song Fight the Web site. So that FOW would do something like that, and have the song turn out AWESOME and then put it on an ALBUM makes them true embodiers of the Song Fight Spirit in my opinion.

BAND: They Might Be Giants
WTETSFS: No, not because so many geeks and nerds adore them, and not because their musics sound like a lot of our musics. No, the reason TMBG embodies the true Spirit of Song Fight is because of stuff like Dial-A-Song. Putting a new song on your answering machine every couple days for people to call up and listen to is very Song Fight-ey. Also, things like "Fingertips" and their self-imposed challenge to write a song for each venue on their tour, the day they were at that venue. Congrats to They Might Be Giants on this very special honor.

BAND: Flaming Lips
WTETSFS: I don't really like the Lips much. I get tired of fake blood and Wayne Coyne's voice drives me CRAZY. But they did this album called "Zaireeka" which is four CDs meant to be played simultaneously. A very arty concept from a rock band, and very much in the spirit of things Song Fight. But knock it off with the fake blood already, jackass.

BAND: Garth Brooks
WTETSFS: Yeah, you're probably cringing, going "whuh?" or you know where I'm going with this one. Several years ago Garth Brooks made this record of (I assume) terrible ballady type pop songs, and put it out under the moniker "Chris Gaines." From all reports it was terrible, and it was certainly a giant flop. But it was an experiment, and it was ballsy, and he took it to such an extreme that he even had a fake biography created for "Chris Gaines" and wore a toupee and everything. All hail the Song Fight Spirit that rides the torpid waves of Garth Brooks's soul.

BAND: Shania Twain
WTETSFS: What's with the country artists? I dunno man, it's just what comes to mind. Shania Twain embodies the spirit of Song Fight with her "Up!" album, which she recorded TWICE. For the same money, you got a two-CD set, one containing the poppy arrangements released as singles, and another CD that was all country. Of the same songs. I hear Shania has a Song Fight logo tattooed on the bottom curve of her beautifully shaped left butt cheek.

[obscurity]

The Sisters Of Mercy, 'cos they haven't put out any new songs in the last 15 years :p

[Lunkhead]

Weird Al, for being nerdcore before it was popular. Just like SongFight!

[fodroy]

The Magnetic Fields
Reason: 69 Love Songs

[glennny]

Phish: These guys are what 1st popped into my mind. 1st of all they do many genres, bluegrass, hard-rock, noodly jam band, country, jazz, funk, but especially because of their famous Halloween shows. The Halloween shows are very Side-Fight like , covering Remain In Light, The White Album, Dark Side of the Moon etc.

Hey Mercedes: That band that was 3/4 Braid. I think the year was 2002, though I might be wrong, where they did a lo-fi cover, one a day, of their favorite 365 songs. I only have about 40 of them recorded. Anyone else have any of those? The one a day list thing with covers is very Glenn Case if anything ever was.

Zappa: Again covering many genres. Also very prolific 80 albums or so. Mostly becasue of all of the collaborations, ever seen the list of all who've played with Zappa?

Rob Crow: All the different projects he does, Heavy Vegetable, Pinback, Thingy, Goblin Cock, Rob Crow etc. I think the quirky little songs especially from HV and Thingy are very song fight like.

[jb]

Yeah, see, i didn't include Weird Al because he's just a fav of the nerd crowd. What has he done that's actually a "Song Fight" sort of thing? He makes an album, he releases it on a major label, etc etc. Not a whole lot of wacky one-offs or experiments and whatnot. I guess maybe his polka medleys might be sort of Song Fight. But the nerdcore thing isn't really a Song Fight characteristic, despite our favorite son. If Al had done a hardcore christian album under another name, then perhaps I'd be more inclined to second the motion.

I totally agree on the Magnetic Fields nomination. 69 Love Songs is tres Song Fight.

I think Radiohead's TV ad thing was kind of Song Fight.

Here's another one: Norah Jones. She does her thing, but then on the side she's in an unsuccessful punk band and stuff. That's sorta Song Fight. I dunno if she's released any songs from this punk band, or if she's a principle in it or writes the songs. If none of those things, I'd say she's not Song Fight after all.

I would tend not to think that just doing a lot of genres qualifies one as carrying the Spirit of Song Fight in a small bag kept in a pocket sewn into the skin above one's heart. Can't we think of a better reason to include Zappa than "he was prolific, he collaborated a lot, he did many genres"?

And this is definitely not a "who reminds you of a Song Fighter" list. I am keeping an iron fist over the progression of this thread. For at least the next six hours.

JB

[jack]

beck
ween
guided by voices
squirrel nut zippers
big bad voodoo daddy
cracker
the replacements

[Lunkhead]

I think your criteria are totally nebulous, so excuse me for not suggesting someone that jibed with what you were expecting. If you want people to post answers that are "acceptable" to you, please provide some more specific criteria. If you can't, just deal with people posting whatever they think is in line with what they think you meant.

Doesn't Weird Al basically do a totally different sound for practically every parody he does? That kind of versatility is very SongFight! And how is he disqualified for releasing albums on a major label, but Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, and the Flaming Lips aren't? It's not like Garth was selling demo tapes of his alter ego's album out of the back of his car. Al's career reminds me of SongFight!, too. Like SongFight!, he's been doing the same for years, somehow managing never to get too popular and sell out, but always having a core of loyal followers. I stand by Weird Al, proudly.

[jb]

Duuuuuuude, it's just a threeeeeead, what's the deeeeeeeeal. So much more fun if you argue back, rather than getting snippy! Mr. McSnippleston! I'm being faux-jerky here, come on! TATJ!

It's not the major-labelness that I think disqualifies Al, but what I percieve as the missing ingredient of experimentation and maybe even snooty artyness. Putting a different spin on something, or practicing creativity-through-restriction somehow. I don't think he tends to do that. He imitates so much more than he originates, even as he is being flexible with his genres. Although, he never really TRULY imitates a sound-- it always has that "Alness" about it, which is something that makes him unique and successful. But Song Fight? I say thee nay!

We are actually arguing over the artistic merits of Weird Al Yankovic. By the way, I have plenty of Weird Al in my collection. I can sing the entirety of "Nature Trail to Hell" by heart.

I'm tempted to include Ween, but I can't point to any specific reason. I'm torn whether the country album is Song Fight or not. Same with Violent Femmes, and that sort of Christian album he did, or whatever it was. Was that Song Fight or just stupid?

Come to think of it, the fact that I can't decide whether it's Song Fight or not makes it kind of Song Fight after all.

JB

[Niveous]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned the Postal Service yet?

[Adam!]

BAND: Shania Twain
WTETSFS: What's with the country artists? I dunno man, it's just what comes to mind. Shania Twain embodies the spirit of Song Fight with her "Up!" album, which she recorded TWICE.

Just to elaborate on that (and possibly push her further up your list) she actually recorded THREE versions of that album. The third one was an international version with world music and a lot of ethnic instruments. But, probably more importantly, she made that version available online, FOR FREE, for people who bought one of the other versions of UP.

I gained infinite respect for her the day I found that out. Researching this has probably confounded Amazon's profiling of me.

[jb]

Right! I thought of them in my car but when I got home I couldn't remember.

The Postal Service album was a total collaboration in the best Song Fight style-- they emailed the tracks to each other.

I don't like Sufjan Stevens's tendency to put out a CD of every noise that comes out of his body, but he challenged himself to make 50 albums, one per state, and that's pretty Song Fight. Especially if he doesn't go through with it. Heh.

JB

[jb]

BAND: Shania Twain
WTETSFS: What's with the country artists? I dunno man, it's just what comes to mind. Shania Twain embodies the spirit of Song Fight with her "Up!" album, which she recorded TWICE.

Just to elaborate on that (and possibly push her further up your list) she actually recorded THREE versions of that album. The third one was an international version with world music and a lot of ethnic instruments. But, probably more importantly, she made that version available online, FOR FREE, for people who bought one of the other versions of UP.

I gained infinite respect for her the day I found that out. Researching this has probably confounded Amazon's profiling of me.

I remember that now! Yeah, I was totally impressed by that too. I never did download that third version, but I do have the album. It's not timeless. Lots of autotune as well, which makes me get tired of an album even faster for some reason. I have this Guster album that I just can NOT listen to any more because of the autotune. And the Dixie Chicks use it on this latest album (I dunno if they used it on the ones before that) and it grates when I detect it. The use there is pretty subtle though, unlike Guster. Jesus CHRIST, Guster, what the hell!?

[jute gyte]

Tom 7: Creator of AADs, current record-holder for most AADs, long-time creator and proponent of free online independent music, and guy with guitar.

[jb]

Ok, well, my idea was originally "Bands most people have heard of that embody the spirit of Song Fight."

But I guess we can expand that to "People who make music but are not part of Song Fight but who have some kind of renown in some circle somewhere who embody the spirit of Song Fight." Especially if people are just gonna do it anyway.

Jack is disqualified for not giving reasons! DISQUALIFIED.

[fodroy]

Mountain Goats
Reason: Guy with guitar. Massive output of songs. Lo-fi, like many SF-ers. Also his voice sounds kinda nerdy.

Atom and His Package
Reason: One guy and his sequencer = punk band.

[Adam!]

I was going to mention Jonathan Coulton because he writes a song a week and puts it on the Intertron, but I couldn't figure out if he was actually a SongFighter under a different name. Either way, he's probably not famous enough to include on the list, but as long as we're mentioning Tom 7...

Beck totally, if just for his Stereopathetic Soul Manure and One Foot In The Grave albums. Because they feel very 1-man-band-y, they genre-hop all over the place, and they eschew production values in favor of a let's-get-this-done-now mentality. They're also quickly written, sloppily preformed, and great.

[Aimee Mann's] doing a new-song-every-tuesday thing for her new album.

Google did not corroborate that claim, but if it was true then I think that earns her SF points.

[roymond]

BAND: Flaming Lips
But they did this album called "Zaireeka" which is four CDs meant to be played simultaneously. A very arty concept from a rock band, and very much in the spirit of things Song Fight.

Not sure how this is very Songfighty. More like Brian Eno-y, or John Cagey, or Edgar Varezy.

BAND: TMBG

Also, the "spin the dial" improvisations they did live, where they'd have a crappy radio, spin the receiver dial and jam with whatever comes up and turn it into a song. Sort of. Fun, anyway.

BAND: Shania Twain
I hear Shania has a Song Fight logo tattooed on the bottom curve of her beautifully shaped left butt cheek.

I'm partial to the right.

I just watched the VH1 Classic Album segment for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. They all go off on how Bernie would deliver lyric to Elton and he'd start to write the music right there with the band, never having seen the lyric, and within an hour they'd have the parts worked out and in another 2 hours the song is recorded. Sometimes 3 songs in a day. A great deal of the record was done this way. All very Songfighty, except the private French chateau recording studio. I don't see that much in Songfight except maybe Octothorpe's garage.

[drë]

someone should rename this thread to
'NAME YOUR FAVORITE INDI ARTIST, AND LETS ARGUE ABOUT IT'

[jb]

Yeah! Like Shania Twain! And Garth Brooks! And Weird Al! Love those Indie artists!

[mkilly]

The Postal Service album was a total collaboration in the best Song Fight style-- they emailed the tracks to each other.

Ummmmmmmm.............

I don't like Sufjan Stevens's tendency to put out a CD of every noise that comes out of his body, but he challenged himself to make 50 albums, one per state, and that's pretty Song Fight. Especially if he doesn't go through with it. Heh.

Overrated! And he's said in interviews he's not going to do 50 albums. Paraphrasing, he said something like "How am I going to sing about South Dakota for an hour." Not to disparage South Dakota's rich heritage (split from North Dakota, Tom Daschle... have I missed anything?...) but--truth.

I was going to mention Jonathan Coulton. He is aware of Song Fight!; I wrote to him once and mentioned it and he said he knows the site but was always too afraid to do a song. But then he did a similar gig with his "Thing-a-Week," so. He's as famous as MC Frontalot, or more so; John Hodgman and the dude are buddies and Coulton did the music for the Hobo Names list and all the music on Hodgman's audiobook version of The Areas of My Expertise.

Weezer uploaded demos of all the songs they were working on before their second self-titled release for free on the ol' Internets. That's commendable. Wilco did a similar thing with YHF after it was shelved by Reprise. I dunno, not too many big bands come to mind... Barenaked Ladies are technologically hip, but they lack, imo, the SongFight je ne sais quoi

[jack]

beck
ween
guided by voices
squirrel nut zippers
big bad voodoo daddy
cracker
the replacements

beck: the epitome of the one man band concept

ween: do they really need a reason? they are ween.

GBV: sheer volume of output alone gets them in.

squirrel nut zippers: defies categorization. creates their own genre.

BBVD: cult-like following that nobodys heard of. hard to categorize.

cracker: cause i like them and they epitomize good singer/songwriter to me. also they covered fleetwood mac's "tusk" album note for note.

the replacements: the masters of drunk recording and dysfunctional musical tendancies.




a couple more:

tom waits: distinct voice that lots of people hate and loves quirky instruments.

warren zevon: master of the satirical lyric.