Early Early American examples include
Stan Freberg, who lampooned artists such as
Elvis Presley,
Harry Belafonte and
the Platters, and
Sheb Wooley. The latter's "
Purple People Eater" reached No. 1 on the
Billboard pop chart in 1958 and stayed there for six weeks. In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s, comedians such as
Charlie Drake and
the Goons frequently appeared in the top ten with humorous rock 'n' roll records—the latter, along with
Lewis Carroll and
Edward Lear, were to influence the word-play of
John Lennon's lyrics. Later British groups specialised in comedy: these included
the Scaffold,
the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and
Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. Later in Britain, in the 2000s,
Mitch Benn released several studio albums that satirised current affairs using various musical genres, but mainly rock. His 2012
Breaking Strings album was critically acclaimed for its rock sensibility.
AllMusic described
Frank Zappa as the "godfather" of comedy rock. The
pop rock and
folk rock band
the Turtles released a comedy rock album,
The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, in 1968, though the band had previously incorporated humor into their songs. Two of its members,
Howard Kaylan and
Mark Volman, later performed more explicitly comedic songs as
Flo & Eddie with their own band and with Frank Zappa.
Later Several modern comedy rock bands have experienced mainstream commercial success. Duos
Tenacious D and
Flight of the Conchords both released platinum-selling albums and starred in their own respective comedic television series.
Dan Finnerty with his
the Dan Band has made comedy rock appearances in the
Todd Phillips films
Old School and
The Hangover spoofing "
Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "
Candy Shop", as well as his live show, which parodies female cover songs and was filmed as a one-hour TV special directed by
McG and executive produced by
Steven Spielberg.
Stephen Lynch from New York developed a following with several Opie and Anthony appearances which led to two specials on Comedy Central. He performed on Broadway with the production of
Grease. With over 12 million albums sold, song parodist
"Weird Al" Yankovic remains the highest-selling comedy act in history, with his 2014 album
Mandatory Fun having debuted at #1 on the
Billboard 200, the first comedy album to do so since
Allan Shermans
My Son, the Nut in 1963. Rock has been the target of many
spoofs and several spoof bands have gone on to have hit records, for example
Spinal Tap in the U.S., and
the Hee Bee Gee Bees and
Bad News in the UK. The band
Steel Panther has become a fixture on the
Los Angeles Sunset Strip with their parody of 1980s
glam metal, and their success opened the doors for other spoof bands such as
the Jimi Homeless Experience. Other spoof bands such as
Dread Zeppelin,
Beatallica and
Those Darn Accordions rely on unusual or intentionally contrasting genre-mixing for comic effect.
The Residents are well-known for their unusual, heavily distorted covers of pop and rock songs. Comedy rock duo
Ninja Sex Party, who have collaborated with Steel Panther on occasion, blend rock and
synthpop and have produced songs that parody the
dubstep and heavy metal genres. They have enjoyed success from their online popularity. Another band,
Primus, is known for their wacky lyrics and comedic music videos.
Gorillaz is a British
virtual band whose fictional, animated members parody contemporary trends in popular music.
Geddy Lee of
Rush did a guest appearance on the novelty
Take Off, supporting his grade school classmate
Rick Moranis. The song peaked at number 16 on the
Billboard 100 singles chart in March 1982, higher than any of Rush's songs ever charted on the U.S. top 40. Despite selling 40 million albums worldwide, Rush's biggest hit on that chart, "
New World Man", reached only number 21, and thus "Take Off" was Lee's biggest hit. Many bands within the
alternative rock and
college rock spectrum are known for their incorporation of humorous and satirical songs, with bands such as
Barenaked Ladies,
Electric Six,
Mindless Self Indulgence,
They Might Be Giants,
the Presidents of the United States of America,
Bloodhound Gang,
System of a Down,
Ween,
Weezer,
Wheatus and
Camper Van Beethoven finding both mainstream and independent success in the United States, as well as successful foreign bands such as
Parokya ni Edgar and
Knorkator.
Punk rock and
pop punk has made its contribution to the comedy rock ranks, with such bands as
the Aquabats,
Blink-182,
Bowling for Soup,
Patent Pending,
Dead Kennedys,
the Dead Milkmen,
Macc Lads,
the Meatmen,
Mojo Nixon,
the Radioactive Chicken Heads and
the Vandals.
Heavy metal has also produced many humor-oriented and satirical bands, including
Green Jellÿ,
Lawnmower Deth,
Massacration,
M.O.D.,
Big Dumb Face,
Electric Callboy,
Primus,
Nanowar of Steel,
J.B.O.,
Psychostick,
Ludichrist,
Bad News,
Spinal Tap,
Okilly Dokilly,
Scatterbrain and
Infant Annihilator, whose comedic shtick mostly revolves around parodying heavy metal clichés and ironically spoofing the seriousness of many traditional metal bands, while other bands such as
Gwar,
Lordi,
Knorkator and
Rosemary's Billygoat utilize outrageous costumes and over-the-top stage shows. The
virtual band Dethklok is a
death metal spoof featured in the
Adult Swim animated TV show
Metalocalypse, and their album
The Dethalbum debuted at No. 21 on the
Billboard Top 200 list. == See also ==