More Flight of the Conchords

September 20, 2007 6:45 AM

Help me find more music like Flight of the Conchords and Tenacious D.

I'm not a big music fan. Still, I got turned on to Flight of the Conchords and Tenacious D via their respective HBO shows. The shows are great, but I have bought the CDs as well, and I really like the music itself. The qualities I like are the catchy, sometimes genre-defying tunes, the clever and comprehensible lyrics, and of course the humor.

Are there other singers/bands/comics/whatever that are similar to the above and worth a listen?

posted by brain_drain to media & arts (33 comments total)

Tenacious D reminds me of older They Might be Giants- particularly the lyrics.
posted by jmd82 at 6:49 AM on September 20, 2007

Ween.
posted by donut at 6:53 AM on September 20, 2007

The Magnetic Fields, particularly in works like I and 69 Love Songs genre-hop with great ease and Stephin Merritt's one of the best lyricists out there. His voice may take some adjustment, mind, but I think it's a brilliant instrument in its own right.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 7:01 AM on September 20, 2007

Pleaseeasaur is a goofy one-man act with songs such as "WARNING: These Cobras are Totally Cool".

Jonathan Coulton brought us that "code monkey" song and seems to be loved by friends who also love the D.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:02 AM on September 20, 2007

You might like The Hazzards, two ladies who sing funny songs. One of them, Anne Harris, is in charge of some of the programming on Comedy Central. Their myspace page has some songs you can listen to.

You might also like the now-defunct Moxy Fruvous, a Canadian band with some sincere and some funny songs.

Stepping back in time, check out Tom Lehrer.
posted by rmless at 7:04 AM on September 20, 2007

Songs to wear pants to
posted by O9scar at 7:07 AM on September 20, 2007

Eytan Mirsky and Jeffrey Lewis might fit the bill.
posted by backwards guitar at 7:14 AM on September 20, 2007

Dead Milkmen.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:25 AM on September 20, 2007

Hard 'N Phirm
posted by Andy Harwood at 7:28 AM on September 20, 2007

King Missile?
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 7:34 AM on September 20, 2007

Lemon Demon, writer of The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

Stephen Lynch
posted by zackola at 7:37 AM on September 20, 2007

How about Corky and the Juice Pigs, or the Arrogant Worms? Both hilarious and Canadian.
posted by andree at 8:08 AM on September 20, 2007

I got my first introduction to Paul and Storm opening for Coulton last night, and now I'm a fan.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:10 AM on September 20, 2007

I think old Randy Newman fits well into this category in a subtle way... of course when he played Drop the Big One Now in Europe, they thought he was joking...
posted by ewkpates at 8:27 AM on September 20, 2007

They're a little more hard-rock and profane...but I'd suggest Sons of Butcher.
posted by rocket88 at 8:34 AM on September 20, 2007

Hammell On Trial
posted by mhm at 9:15 AM on September 20, 2007

The Aquabats

GWAR
posted by munchingzombie at 9:36 AM on September 20, 2007

Foxycock is as close to Flight of the Conchords as you can get. They're a duo doing thematic comedy rock.
posted by dbolll at 9:51 AM on September 20, 2007

not folky, but you might enjoy a novelty blues album by a past co-worker of mine: Oven Mitt Johnson.
posted by ragaskar at 10:11 AM on September 20, 2007

The qualities I like are the catchy, sometimes genre-defying tunes, the clever and comprehensible lyrics, and of course the humor

I don't think "genre-defying" is the right descriptor here. Every Flight of the Conchords song is a deliberate pastiche of a particular genre. Tenacious D is pretty similar.

But I'd agree with They Might Be Giants. And of course there's Spinal Tap.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:12 AM on September 20, 2007

seconding Hard 'N Phirm. I immediately thought of them when I read the question.
posted by boreddusty at 10:40 AM on September 20, 2007

The Facesteak
The Residents
Frank Zappa
Was (Not Was)
posted by Rykey at 11:54 AM on September 20, 2007

I honestly think that a lot of these suggestions are pretty lousy -- many of them are more "cute" or "irreverent" than they are actually funny.

I'll third Hard N Phirm, second Randy Newman (start with "Sail Away" and go from there), and agree on Jonathan Coulton. Randy Newman is a really rich, deep vein to be mined. He has a lot of really, really brilliant songs which are easily the funniest songs I've ever heard, particularly given that they're not "comedy songs," generally. They all have a strong comic point of view, strong songwriting, and a charming performer.

Someone above also mentioned Tom Lehrer, who is really great (and a great guy, he was my prof at UCSC), but is stylistically very much of his time... or actually... earlier than his time. But he is very funny, and still funny forty years later.

And Hard & Phirm are the closest thing to The D and the Conchords one level of fame down. They recently taped a CC Presents special, should be on this year sometime.
posted by YoungAmerican at 12:45 PM on September 20, 2007

Tripod? I've only heard / seen one of their songs, but they remind me of the Conchords.
posted by coined at 1:58 PM on September 20, 2007

This is probably not what you're looking for in terms of the specific style of rock, but fits in with the idea of comic rock music. I find Bowling for Soup to be quite funny at times, other times just kind of silly. Probably what they're most known for was "1985," but they do a lot of stuff that's more clever.

One song that really stands out: "High School Never Ends."
posted by dondiego87 at 2:06 PM on September 20, 2007

Okay, looks like Tripod hasn't done any other good songs. But I still recommend "Gonna Make You Happy".
posted by coined at 2:21 PM on September 20, 2007

Trout Fishing in America
posted by moonmilk at 3:23 PM on September 20, 2007

Mojo Nixon?
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 6:31 PM on September 20, 2007

Art Brut? for a British kind-of humourous music.
posted by hazyspring at 6:31 PM on September 20, 2007

Elvis Costello
posted by Rykey at 8:28 PM on September 20, 2007

Surprised nobody mentioned TISM (This Is Serious Mum). They're famous internationally for "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me," except that they also have like nine or ten albums, have been around since the mid-eighties, and are ridiculously catchy in addition to having largely hilarious lyrics. IM me at my MeFi username (but on AIM) and I can share some MP3s if you'd like point you in the right direction to legally purchase used CDs which provide the copyright holders with no royalties anyway.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:12 PM on September 20, 2007

Belated thanks for all the terrific suggestions. I have gotten my hands on a few (Hard 'n Phirm is really good!) and look forward to trying many others.
posted by brain_drain at 4:17 PM on November 9, 2007

Obscure, perhaps, but Wally Pleasant has songs like "I was a teenage Republican (George Bush Megamix version)", "Cool guy with a car", "She's in love with a geek", "Denny's at 4am"...
posted by Paragon at 7:43 PM on March 9