"Gnat King Called"

For some reason I've always liked classic rock (1964-1975) even though I was born in '78. Never cared for the current stuff going on. I was, and to this day am amazed by the INCREDIBLE evolution music went through during that period of time.
I've always been intrigued by the most adventurous artists. The ones that dare to look at the world from a *totally* different point of view. The ones that go waaaay "out there" and provide great insight for the rest of us in their own magical way. In other words, I fell for the psychedelic stuff. The "weirder" the better. Floyd, Doors, Velvet Underground, and Hendrix being favorites. The thing is that after about ten years of listening to the same stuff it got quite pointless. The music was and still is great, but after listening to it over and over and OVER again I almost knew each note by heart. I kept looking around for stuff I hadn't heard hoping to find something "fresh". I think I listened to just about every artist that recorded during that period of time. The whole #0-9,A-Z... From the 13th Floor Elevators to The Zombies.
Some of it was pretty lame. I had already listened to the the stuff that had successfully withstood the test of time. The rest sounded way too dated and dull.
I think I was checking out a Syd Barrett website that listed bands that had played cover versions of his songs and one of those were the Flaming Lips. I listened to their version of a song called "Opel" that they played in their live shows, and thought it was ok. I did a web search on the band. They were pretty underground even though they had been around for quite a few years now. I read about something called "the Parking Lot Experiments" and then "ZAIREEKA" and went, "WTF!!!!". I thought it was way too pretentious for ANY band to do something like that.... I thought it was a crazy but VERY original idea, and the thought of it remained in the back of my head. I dismissed the idea of getting it thinking that the band was just trying way too hard to get everyone's attention just to be famous and make $$$ like everybody else does nowadays. (Stupid me)
So some time passed, and I was still hungry for new music. Kept looking around and again I ran into the Lips. This time I read about their latest record... "The Soft Bulletin". After reading a few rave reviews and taking a look at what seemed to be a familiar cover art(later found out it was done in 1966), I decided I should give it a try since there was nothing else that interested me. Heard it and thought it was terrible. Just awful! I thought the singer's voice was way too annoying and monotonous... I just didn't get it at all. Again I thought they were just trying too hard to be weird. I almost sold my copy to a used record store. What stopped me was the idea that I wouldn't get more than a buck for it. I thought about giving it away to somebody, but nobody wanted it! not even for free! they assumed (by the cover) it was just another of my 60's albums that nobody liked or had ever heard of. So I left it gathering dust for a while.
Not having anything else to do, watch, read, or listen one day, I decided I should at least play that terrible album to get my $15 bucks worth. This time I listened more carefully. I heard tons of familiar stuff within the songs but really didn't know what to make of it. The songs sounded interestingly familiar even though I had only heard them once or twice. A few days later I was humming stuff without realizing what it was. I had been infected!
Playing the album a few more times revealed its many wonders. Felt fresh and original with every listen. Bought Zaireeka and was AMAZED even more. I felt like kicking myself for waiting so long to get it since the first time i had read about it. Got Hit to death, Transmissions. Clouds, and Yoshimi... THEY'RE ALL GREAT.
The lips gave me hope in new music, and became my favorite band.

 

Fraser, 28 (Scotland)

Years ago, I read an article in the NME about this mad band who had released an album which was designed to be played on 4 CD’s simultaneously. I had become tired of the whole NME led music scene of the time and was crying out for something original and new so, understandably, I thought this sounded like a great idea. Unfortunately, the album was only available on import for about £45 and I didn’t want to invest that sort of money in a band I’d never heard a single song by. Gradually, I forgot all about it…

A year or so later, I heard Steve Lamacq play ‘Endlessly’ by Mercury Rev on his show. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before and I fell in love with it straight away. I finally tracked down ‘Deserters Songs’ (because it was still quite hard to find at that point) and barely a day went by in the next six months where I didn’t listen to it at least once. (I realise now this was, at least in some way, due to the fact that my girlfriend at the time hated it and we were close to splitting up so I played it just to annoy her J Despite this, I did honestly adore the album anyway!) <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />

Another six months or so passed and I read a story in the NME about this band (the lips) who were in some way connected to Mercury Rev. On the strength of that recommendation alone, I pre-ordered Soft Bulletin in my local record store without hearing a song. The first thing that struck me when I finally got it was that it was nowhere near as mellow as deserters songs (one of the things I loved most about that album) But by the second or third listen, I realised this album was the closest thing I had ever heard to the music inside my head. I set about buying the back catalogue as quickly as I could. It was only later on I realised it was the same band that had recorded that mental 4 CD album (Zaireeka, obviously) by which point I’d bought Transmissions and Clouds so was already assured of their genius. In fact it was probably somewhere round about the third or fourth listen to Clouds that I decided they were my absolute favourite band and it’s pretty much stayed that way ever since.