Continuing our spotlight on legendary and singular southern alternative bands born in the 80s who hit the big time in the ’90s, we have the enterally peculiar Flaming Lips, who originated from Oklahoma of all places.
Maybe it was a combination of the heat and living in the southern US during the Reagan administration that compelled people to take a lot of drugs and form experimental bands during that era. Still, whatever the case, we’re glad the likes of the Butthole Surfers (Manic Monday), the Meat Puppets (Tuesday’s Gone), and The Flaming Lips did just that, as the results speak for themselves.
Unlike those bands above, however, The Flaming Lips’ 80s material might be their weakest link, so to speak, but their penchant for psych-flavored experimentation eventually paid off in subsequent decades, particularly on The Soft Bulletin, which represented a significant artistic breakthrough for the band. Soon after, the band started incorporating often spectacular additions to their live performances that helped bring their distinctly exuberant and wonderous brand of psychedelia even more to life. Chief among them was Wayne Coyne’s patented Space-Bubble, which made it’s debut roughly 20 years ago at Coachella (you know, back when Coachella was actually worth going to). Here it is as it all happened one magically (weird) night in 2004, and the rest, as they say, is history:
