The Top Psychedelic Post-Grunge Art Rock Bands
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What’s the deal with Psychedelic Post-Grunge Art Rock? We’re taking a look at the top bands in this genre and what sets them apart. If you’re a fan of dreamy, experimental rock music, then this is the blog for you!
The Psychedelic Furs
One of the most criminally underrated bands of the late post-punk era, The Psychedelic Furs formed in 1977 in England. The Furs are led by the dynamic vocalist/guitarist duo of Richard Butler and Tim Butler. The band’s signature sound is a fusion of post-punk and new wave with a healthy dose of garage rock and psychedelia thrown in for good measure.
History
The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in February 1977. Led by singer Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs originally formed in Southall, London. The band’s music went through several phases, from an initial incorporation of neo-psychedelia to a later period that emphasized darkwave and post-punk.
The Psychedelic Furs garnered attention for their radio-friendly songs “Love My Way”, “Pretty in Pink”, and “Heaven”. These three songs were released as singles on their debut album, The Psychedelic Furs (1980).The album was moderately successful upon its release, reaching number 37 in the UK Albums Chart.
Despite strong airplay and college radio support, along with touring and appearances in television commercials (most notably a UK commercial for Levi’s featuring “Pretty in Pink”), the band failed to achieve mainstream success in the United States until 19882’s Mirror Moves, which contained the top 40 hit “Heartbeat”. The album included “Love My Way”, which became one of their most recognizable songs.
Music
The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in 1977. The mainstay of the band since its formation has been vocalist Richard Butler and bass guitarist Tim Butler, brothers who originally trained as actors. The Psychedelic Furs rose to prominence with their 1980 single “Pretty in Pink”, which was later featured in the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink.
The band’s sound varied significantly over their career, with their earliest work being rooted in punk rock and new wave, and later adopting a more commercial post-punk sound. Although they scored several UK Top 30 hits and were a major influence on the new wave movement that preceded and coincided with their_initial_ years _of active_ commerciality,_ by the early 1990s_, The Psychedelic Furs had pretty much disbanded, with only occasional reunions since that time.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a psychedelic rock band that was founded in San Francisco in 1990. The band has been through many lineup changes, but the current members are Anton Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Jeffrey Davies, Ricky Maymi, and Dan Allair. The band is named after the late Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones, and the Jonestown mass suicide.
History
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film Dig!, directed by Ondi Timoner, which chronicles their long history of interpersonal tensions and artistic rivalry with fellow Californian rock band The Dandy Warhols. The name comes from Rolling Stones founder and main original driving force Brian Jones, combined with a reference to Jonestown, the site of the 1978 mass suicide of members of the Peoples Temple cult in Guyana.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre has released seventeen albums, five compilation albums, five live albums, thirteen singles and eight various-artist compilation albums. The band has been through many line-up changes, with Newcombe being the only constant member.
Music
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film Dig!, directed by Ondi Timoner, which chronicles their long and tumultuous history. The name Brian Jonestown Massacre is a combination of The Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and Jim Jones, a notorious cult leader who led the Peoples Temple to mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre has released seventeen albums, five compilation albums, five live albums, thirteen EPs, sixteen singles as well as two various-artist compilation albums to date. The outfit has been through many line-up changes, with Newcombe being the only constant member. Despite having been coined as rock or neo-psychedelia throughout their career they have branched out into associated genres such as space rock, shoegazing, gothic rock, acid rock, punk rock and more recently post-punk revival.
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American art rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and drummer Eric Hedford. Hedford left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor’s cousin, Brent DeBoer. The band’s name is a reference to the pop artist Andy Warhol. They gained recognition with their album …The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997), which featured the singles “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” and “Boyfriend”.
History
The Dandy Warhols are an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Zia McCabe. The band was signed to Capitol Records in 1995 and released its major label album debut, …The Dandy Warhols Come Down, the following year.
The album became a surprise hit in Europe, reaching No. 1 in the Netherlands and Norway and No. 2 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Sweden. In their native United States, the album peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The band’s follow-up album, 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000), performed even better internationally than its predecessor did and received widespread critical acclaim; it remains the band’s best-reviewed work to date. Despite its commercial success, the album failed to match …Come Down’s sales in the United States, peaking at No. 72 on the Billboard 200. The singles “Get Off” and “Bohemian Like You” became top 40 hits on multiple charts worldwide.
In 2003, Taylor-Taylor took a break from recording Full Court Press Vol 3., a collection of old singles and B-sides; he spent much of his time focusing on his art which was shown in several galleries around America over the next few years. Zia McCabe left the Dandy Warhols for several months during this time to concentrate on her side project Bow Wow Wow; she would later return to her full-time position with the band.
In 2004, McCabe started up her own record label called Odditorium Records which she ran with fellow Dandy Warhols’ member Peter Holmstrom; Holmstrom’s solo project for Odditorium is called Major Maker.”
Music
The Dandy Warhols are an American pop/rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. The band’s music spans many genres, including psychedelic rock, post-punk, garage rock, and art rock.
The Dandy Warhols began as a trio with bassist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford. Hedford left the band in 1996 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor’s cousin Brent DeBoer. The band’s debut album, …The Dandy Warhols Come Down, was released in 1997 to critical acclaim.
The band’s follow-up album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000), was even more successful, reaching #3 on the UK Albums Chart and receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. The album featured the singles “Get Off” and “Bohemian Like You”, which were both massive international hits.
In 2003, the Dandy Warhols released their fourth album, Welcome to the Monkey House; the album was produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. It was followed by a greatest hits album in 2006 and a fifth studio album, This Machine, in 2012.
The Dandy Warhols continue to tour and release new music; their most recent album is 2017’s Distortland.
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. The group recorded several albums and EPs on an independent label, Restless, before being signed to Warner Bros. in 1991. They began as a psychobilly band and later found success with their 13th album, The Soft Bulletin (1999), which spawned the singles “Waitin’ for a Superman”, “Talkin’ ‘Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (everyone wants to live forever)” and “Do You Realize??”, the latter of which became the state rock song of Oklahoma. The band’s 14th studio album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002), features the singles “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1” and “Do You Realize??”
History
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1983. Subjected to the influences of early punk rock and Lilys, their sound is reliant on sonic textures as much as songwriting. In the 1990s, they began working with psychedelic and pop overtones, often underpinning these experiments with synth-based instrumentation. The group scored a mainstream hit in 1993 with “She Don’t Use Jelly”, although they have maintained critical respect within the alternative music community throughout their career.
The band’s lineup has included Wayne Coyne on lead vocals and guitar, Michael Ivins on bass guitar and drums, Steven Drozd on lead guitar and drums, and Derek Brown on keyboards. Since 2002, Richard English has been involved with the band’s touring activity as a drummer. After signing to Warner Bros. Records in 1991, The Flaming Lips released four albums before breaking into the mainstream with their sophomore effort Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992). Their next three releases–Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993), Clouds Taste Metallic (1995), and Zaireeka (1997)–were similarly successful on college radio; all three albums topped Billboard magazine’s Heatseekers chart for non-commercial radio airplay.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) became their first top ten album in the Billboard 200; it was certified platinum in America for shipments of one million copies. The Flaming Lips’ 2006 release At War with the Mystics continued this trend by debuting at number three on that chart; it was followed by 2009’s Embryonic reaching number eight—the highest US chart position achieved by any of their studio albums to date—and 2013’s The Terror reaching number twelve on the Billboard 200 list in its opening week. The Soft Bulletin won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category during this time period.
Music
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. The group is composed of Wayne Coyne (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Michael Ivins (bass guitar), and Steven Drozd (drums, keyboards). The Flaming Lips began as a typical punk rock outfit and have released twelve albums since 1986. They have won three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
The Flaming Lips’ music is often described as psychedelic, experimental, and/or post-grunge. Their early releases were a mix of punk rock and psychedelic pop, but they later turned to more experimental styles incorporating elements of space rock, indie rock, pop music, and electronica. They are well known for their elaborate stage shows, which often include costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, confetti cannons, and frontman Wayne Coyne’s signature human hamster ball.
