Oct 9 2010
One of the earliest examples of music
Music and humor can intersect in one of three ways.
Basically, a band or artist takes a break from singing about important subjectslike drugs, and rock-n-rollto show us they have a sense of humor.
The second time music and humor converge is via quirkiness. This is when serious musicians write and record offbeat and weird material but yet still maintain a smattering of professionalism.
Examples of these musical comedians include Spike Jones, Benny Hill, Weird Al Yankovic, The Bloodhound Gang, Flight of the Conchords, and Stephen Lynch. Regardless of their talent level, these artists forgo being taken as serious musicians just so they can make us laugh.
Of course theres a fourth type of musical humorunintentional. This category would include just about every album released by a television actor, all music from countries where women arent allowed to reveal their face in public, and any pop song featuring a synthesizer worn as a guitar.
Yet, music and humor, while they have their moments, dont seem to conjoin as often as one might expect.
Also, comedy isnt timeless. The Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street sounds like it was recorded yesterday and still has the power to capture the imagination. But Steve Martins King Tut was dated the second it was pressed onto vinyl.
Paul McCartneys original lyrics for Yesterday were Scrambled Eggs. That song most certainly would have not been covered a gazillion times had it been about breakfast food instead of despair and heartbreak.
They featured local dialects, familiar stock characters, and patter (an early form of rap). These light hearted musical pieces would take to the stage in between acts of opera seria.
The torch of music and humor was picked up in the 20th century by Lindley Armstrong Jones, also known as Spike Jones. Jones didnt so much write music that was humorous but he took serious songs and made them funny–similar to what Joss Stone does. In 1942, Jones scored a huge hit with Der Fuehrers Face.
The song was featured in a Walt Disney propaganda film and ridiculed Adolf Hitler by following the word Heil with a razzbery sound:
…Heil, (razzberry), Heil (razzberry), right in Der Fuehrers face!
Then in 1984, Weird Al Yankovic released Eat It, a parody of Michael Jacksons Beat It. The world of music and humor would never be the same again. Yankovics version reached number #12 on the charts and established the accordion player with a bad perm as musics crown prince of jocularity.
In the 21st century, the banner of music and humor is being carried (literally, they had one made at Kinkos and they take it with them everywhere they go) by Flight of the Conchords. This duo, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, are from a place called New Zealand. Were not sure but we think they made it up.
Music and humor has greatly benefited from the personal computer and the internet. Now amateurs can channel their inner Stan Freberg or Sheb Wooley to write and record their own comedy songs and post them on hip networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, or the Drudge Report.
However, I strongly believe, and you may laugh at this, but the future of music and humor looks hilarious.
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