16 Comments
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Bruce Dessau's avatar

Squeeze have certainly made me smile a few times. Good lyricists can do that.

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Spray's avatar

Spray have a tendency to put gags in their songs, and have a goal to bring funny back to pop.

spray.bandcamp.com

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Tony Fletcher's avatar

Hi Bruce,

Been meaning to reply all week. You got me thinking, and I quickly came up with Half Man Half Biscuit and, not listed below, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. I came into the later 1990s with Art Brut and just the other day, though it did not make me laugh out loud, heard Swansea Sound and "Blur vs. Oasis." If you've heard Twat Union's "Singer Of The Band" or Lambrini Girls' "Big Dick Energy" you will know that some oft he funniest music of 2024-25 is aimed at men. Similarly, Lily Allen always made me laugh and if you've heard Lil Simz' new single "Young" or seen the video, there are some delightfully funny lines on there.

This got me reaching two conclusions:

1) All my references are British, perhaps American rock bands take themselves too seriously?

2) Hip-hop is often inherently funny: some the best raps are meant to make you laugh out loud at the word play.

Cheers!

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

Yes, I really should have mentioned Half Man Half Biscuit and CUSM's wordplay is always good value. The trouble is that once you post a piece like this on Substack you think of other things you should have written. The examples you cite - I think you could also include Madness when they are not being melancholy – are witty musicians. There are also plenty of comedians who make funny music - Tim Minchin, Flight of the Conchords and more recently Jazz Emu. My Substack clearly barely scratched the surface whereas yours tend to be real deep dives! As for the Americans - Ben Folds/Jonathan Richman would do for starters.

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Dale Wilks's avatar

Er.. half man half biscuit ?

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

yep, probably the best call yet. I was also thinking about Tim Minchin and flight of the Conchords but they come from a comedy circuit angle rather than a music scene angle.

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Gerald Collins's avatar

Radio Stars were a favourite of mine. Saw them live many times. Great band.

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

I should have mentioned Dirty Pictures - "I get my kicks up in the attic - with my Kodak instamatic" - but I guess nobody would know what a Kodak instamatic is these days.

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Alice's avatar

Check out Viagra Boys! I often say frontman Sebastian Murphy is my favourite comedian. The songs and also his stage presence are full of slightly surreal quips and knowingly silly rhymes, see recent single Uno II that opens “I found a crouton, underneath the futon”.

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

Thanks for the tip - reminds me of John Hegley who wrote about his home town, “I remember Luton, as I'm swallowing my crouton”. Though futon is actually a better rhyme for cruton!

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Alice's avatar

Ha! An inspired couplet. Will have to check out Hegley, too.

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Nigel Pennington's avatar

The Beautiful South?

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

Good call, although i don't think they set out to make fans laugh, Paul Heaton just writes really witty lyrics that can't help but make you smile. Ian Dury i think might be closer - there's more of a music hall vibe to the Blockheads.

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Tommy Mackay's avatar

I used to do a podcast on comedy (not novelty) songs: https://www.dailyreckless.com/home/podcast/

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Bruce Dessau's avatar

Some good mentions there - though I'd say hebeegeebees and Alexei were too much on the comedy side and Ian Dury, though often very funny, was too much on the music side. I think Radio Stars were one of the few bands that sat in the middle of the Venn diagram.

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Paul David Brazill's avatar

Nice one! Radio Stars were on the bill at my first gig, aged 15. They were on with Eddie & The Hot Rods and Squeeze and were a top turn. The Kursaal Flyers' 'Little Does She Know' was another gem of that era.

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