29 Years of Weird: The Flaming Lips 1983-2012
The locals that just wanted to get drinks in the neighborhood bar were barraged on Tuesday, February 22, 1983 with a whole lotta noise by “Oklahoma’s Boldest New Band” (self-declared). Frankly the only thing bold about them was their audacity to perform in public despite an obvious lack of musical skill. The group was two freaky brothers (the younger a football player with a microphone, the elder an enthusiastic eccentric with a Les Paul) and their two odd collaborators: a shy nineteen year-old known for outlandish new wave hair that – along with his silver pants and warped goth fashion sense—had brought him to the attention of the brothers just weeks before; and a friend of the brothers’ still older brothers. The former was asked to join simply because he owned a bass - which happened to be covered with Sex Pistols stickers. The latter was as old as rock n’ roll itself and held together the racket the four made with basic drum beats. Recently deciding against the name “The Tijuana Toads” - the favored moniker of the Les Paul-toting, Jimmy Page-aspiring elder brother recognized around town as the long-haired fry-cook from Long John Silvers, a nearby fast-seafood restaurant (some dude named Wayne Coyne) - the four were still unsure of their permanent band name and temporarily settled on “The Flaming Lips” for this night. It was only their first gig, so they reasoned they could change it to something less “dumb” later. Despite the Biblical/ homosexual / porn images the name has evoked in imaginations ever since, there was no more significance to it beyond it being the preferred suggestion by the rest of the band. To be sure, there were no actual flames at Oklahoma City’s Blue Note Lounge that night. There were however sloppy renditions of an oft-covered 1966 classic. No not “Wild Thing”…uh, not “Hey Joe” either…”The Batman Theme,” which they played at least twice that night (after all it was a blues bar and Neal Hefti’s theme is based on a 12-bar blues progression…kind of…). They also might have played some Monkee’s songs, some non-specific blues jams and/or some amateurish originals (indiscriminatingly inspired by psych and punk). The bass amp didn’t make it through the whole set, but that likely didn’t matter anyway or anyhow. They kept on playing and, luckily, there probably weren’t that many locals passing through - most of those in the bar were family members of “Oklahoma’s Boldest New Band.”
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