Music for Goblins?
April 30, 2022 7:16 PM   Subscribe

What music sounds most to you as if it were written/performed by/for goblins?

Prompted by this Charlie Higson cartoon (and perhaps this comment too), what's your most gleefully chaotic mischief-making music?

(So far, all I've come up with are Romceasca and Babayaga, both by A Hawk and a Hacksaw.)
posted by scruss to Media & Arts (44 answers total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Honk!
posted by clew at 7:29 PM on April 30, 2022


The Cardiacs
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:29 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


I'm tainted, but the music featuring goblins in 'Labyrinth' (1986).
posted by porpoise at 7:30 PM on April 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


Satan said dance?
posted by bleep at 7:35 PM on April 30, 2022


The Gnome from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
posted by FencingGal at 7:35 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]




Maybe Magma?
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:40 PM on April 30, 2022


Hans Reichel?
posted by bricoleur at 7:41 PM on April 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


For me, In the Hall of the Mountain King.
posted by jb at 7:41 PM on April 30, 2022 [7 favorites]


Goblin, of course.
posted by rodlymight at 7:41 PM on April 30, 2022 [7 favorites]


What a fun question!

Lots of gothy dance music comes to mind, but this very catchy song from And One especially feels like you’re being serenaded by a goblin, and maybe the goblin is jabbing you in the butt with a pitchfork while he sings.
posted by cakelite at 7:50 PM on April 30, 2022


it's like snake jazz, but fewer scales.
posted by j_curiouser at 7:57 PM on April 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


Danse Macabre
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:02 PM on April 30, 2022 [6 favorites]


Mr Bungle.
posted by Toddles at 8:10 PM on April 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


"Singapore" by Tom Waits
posted by LionIndex at 8:24 PM on April 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


I think some kind of grindcore, like AxCx but cute.
posted by credulous at 8:25 PM on April 30, 2022


Edvard Grieg's Elfentanz, although I guess technically it's written for elves.
posted by bananana at 8:25 PM on April 30, 2022


Most Danny Elfman soundtracks.
posted by emjaybee at 8:38 PM on April 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


The Hobo Goblins! AKA Thee Hobo Gobbelins . Sadly seem to be defunct, but what's left is still great :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:39 PM on April 30, 2022


Thee Goblins.
posted by goatdog at 8:39 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


No question. Tom Waits, *Bone Machine* (the whole album). Just look at the cover art if you don't believe me.
posted by sesquipedalia at 8:51 PM on April 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


Man Man! Especially their first album The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face and then from 2011 Life Fantastic.
posted by muddgirl at 8:55 PM on April 30, 2022 [3 favorites]






Anything by Stump, e.g. Boggy Home.
posted by misteraitch at 10:20 PM on April 30, 2022


EM Forster on the third movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: '"No; look out for the part where you think you have done with the goblins and they come back," breathed Helen, as the music started with a goblin walking quietly over the universe, from end to end. Others followed him. They were not aggressive creatures; it was that that made them so terrible to Helen. They merely observed in passing that there was no such thing as splendour or heroism in the world. After the interlude of elephants dancing, they returned and made the observation for the second time"'. More of the text here.
posted by paduasoy at 10:54 PM on April 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


Nekrogoblikon
posted by oomny at 10:58 PM on April 30, 2022


Jad Fair - "Greater Expectations"

"skrinky skronky skree skraw" (from the comic linked in the post) comes pretty close.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:10 PM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


Black Midi, especially bmbmbm. But also pretty much anything from that music scene which sometimes (jokingly) gets referred to as "gremlin-core."
posted by forbiddencabinet at 11:13 PM on April 30, 2022


Anything by Caroliner (e.g.)
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 11:46 PM on April 30, 2022


Push th' Little Daisies by Ween
posted by rollick at 6:19 AM on May 1, 2022


Skaven - Catch That Goblin!
posted by subocoyne at 8:10 AM on May 1, 2022


The Residents have a lot of gleefully chaotic songs, like Birthday Boy, Moisture, Mr. Bee’s Bumble, Constantinople, and God Song.
posted by ejs at 9:22 AM on May 1, 2022


Sorry, but the main answer to this is in the hall of the goblin king from peer gent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI
posted by bq at 10:45 AM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


Bogeyman Boogie by Dr. Steel is very similar to your examples!
posted by merriment at 11:24 AM on May 1, 2022


I always associate Caravan Palace with goblins. Blame World of Warcraft.

Still, Lone Digger works on all levels in my opinion. Otherwise I'd look into electroswing as a genre.
posted by daikaisho at 12:24 PM on May 1, 2022


The hidden track at the end of Second Coming by the Stone Roses, generally known as "Foz".
posted by LionIndex at 12:40 PM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thank you! Keep 'em coming, 'cos these are great!

I already have an alarming number of these in my music collection already: Hans Reichel, Caravan Palace, Jad Fair, Marc-André Hamelin, Stump, Ween ... even Caroliner*! Maybe I'm the (oversized) goblin after all?

The older Lunatic Cartoon Crazy-making Music thread I guess has some overlap too.

---
*: more than once, and not by accident, either.
posted by scruss at 3:11 PM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


muddgirl already mentioned Man Man; I'd point to their song "Young Einstein on the Beach" in particular.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 4:22 PM on May 1, 2022 [2 favorites]




How do you feel about Orcs?
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:03 AM on May 2, 2022




Yes — Five Percent for Nothing, a brief bit of weirdly good space alien mayhem written to piss off the band's ex-manager
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:09 PM on May 4, 2022


The Stranglers: 'Waltz in Black'.
posted by feral_goldfish at 6:44 AM on May 9, 2022


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