🎵 How Good Are They Really 🎵 The Flaming Lips

Get your giant bubbles out, it’s the Flaming Lips!

RTJ slot in between Dylan and Doom

Leaderboard
Artist Rating
Aretha Franklin 4.64
Nina Simone 4.57
Neil Young 4.48
Miles Davis 4.42
Talking Heads 4.39
R.E.M. 4.38
Beastie Boys 4.36
Otis Redding 4.34
The Velvet Underground 4.33
David Bowie 4.31
The Beatles 4.31
Pixies 4.30
Leonard Cohen 4.30
The Cure 4.28
Boards Of Canada 4.28
Björk 4.27
Mogwai 4.24
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 4.22
Marvin Gaye 4.21
Tom Waits 4.20
Aphex Twin 4.18
PJ Harvey 4.17
Stevie Wonder 4.17
Nirvana 4.15
Joy Division 4.15
Radiohead 4.13
The Supremes 4.13
Pavement 4.12
Prince 4.11
Wu-Tang Clan 4.11
Nick Drake 4.10
Elliott Smith 4.09
Pulp 4.08
Public Enemy 4.08
Sonic Youth 4.08
Sleater-Kinney 4.08
Kate Bush 4.07
OutKast 4.07
Portishead 4.03
Super Furry Animals 4.03
Black Sabbath 4.03
Simon & Garfunkel 4.02
MF DOOM 4.01
Run The Jewels 4.00
Bob Dylan 3.97
Kendrick Lamar 3.97
Low 3.96
Robyn 3.96
The Beach Boys 3.93
Jimi Hendrix 3.93
LCD Soundsystem 3.92
Joni Mitchell 3.89
Massive Attack 3.89
Frank Ocean 3.86
Bruce Springsteen 3.84
Deftones 3.84
Underworld 3.82
The Kinks 3.82
The Clash 3.77
Dolly Parton 3.77
Pet Shop Boys 3.76
Modest Mouse 3.76
Blondie 3.73
Bright Eyes 3.71
Rage Against The Machine 3.71
The National 3.68
Paul Simon 3.68
The Ramones 3.67
ABBA 3.66
Kanye West 3.65
Arcade Fire 3.64
Blur 3.61
Beck 3.59
Elvis Costello 3.59
The Smiths 3.57
Beyoncé 3.54
Yeah Yeah Yeahs 3.54
Eels 3.52
Carly Rae Jepsen 3.51
The Chemical Brothers 3.49
Bob Marley & The Wailers 3.48
Jeff Buckley 3.47
Hot Chip 3.44
Idlewild 3.42
George Michael 3.41
Madonna 3.40
Manic Street Preachers 3.39
Fleetwood Mac 3.39
The Notorious B.I.G. 3.37
Toots & The Maytals 3.35
The White Stripes 3.34
Supergrass 3.32
Hole 3.31
The Smashing Pumpkins 3.30
Suede 3.30
Steely Dan 3.29
Elton John 3.28
The Pogues 3.28
Kylie Minogue 3.27
The Specials 3.26
Sugababes 3.22
Thin Lizzy 3.22
Hall & Oates 3.21
Rihanna 3.19
The Prodigy 3.18
Led Zeppelin 3.16
Ash 3.16
Pink Floyd 3.15
Taylor Swift 3.14
Jay-Z 3.14
Arctic Monkeys 3.14
Interpol 3.12
TLC 3.12
Los Campesinos! 3.10
The Rolling Stones 3.09
Iron Maiden 3.06
Destiny’s Child 3.05
Primal Scream 3.04
Shower Cans 3.04
The Strokes 3.03
Elvis Presley 3.02
The Bee Gees 2.99
Weezer 2.97
Amy Winehouse 2.95
Girls Aloud 2.93
Frank Sinatra 2.92
2Pac 2.91
The Doors 2.89
Franz Ferdinand 2.89
Ariana Grande 2.88
Lizzo 2.86
Belle And Sebastian 2.85
Britney Spears 2.85
Metallica 2.81
Green Day 2.81
Madness 2.80
Slipknot 2.80
The Jam 2.75
Basement Jaxx 2.75
Oasis 2.71
Whitney Houston 2.69
The Verve 2.67
Slayer 2.65
The Sex Pistols 2.63
Lady Gaga 2.61
Queen 2.60
Billy Joel 2.57
Foo Fighters 2.57
U2 2.55
Justin Timberlake 2.52
Biffy Clyro 2.48
Dire Straits 2.43
The Beautiful South 2.43
Bloc Party 2.41
Cher 2.40
Michael Jackson 2.39
Eminem 2.38
Mariah Carey 2.32
Coldplay 2.31
Rancid 2.26
Guns N’ Roses 2.26
The Killers 2.22
The Who 2.22
Blink-182 2.21
Muse 2.20
Adele 2.05
Kings Of Leon 2.01
The Libertines 1.99
Red Hot Chili Peppers 1.90
The Spice Girls 1.81
Stereophonics 1.74

Today;

flaming_lips

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
0 voters

Many albums

  • Hear It Is
  • Oh My Gawd!!!.. The Flaming Lips
  • Telepathic Surgery
  • In A Priest Driven Ambulance
  • Hit To Death In The Future Head
  • Transmissions From The Satellite Heart
  • Clouds Taste Metallic
  • Zaireeka
  • The Soft Bulletin
  • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
  • At War With The Mystics
  • Once Beyond Hopelessness
  • Embryonic
  • The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon
  • The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends
  • The Terror
  • The Time Has Come To Shoot You Down… What A Sound
  • With A Little Help From My Fwends
  • Atlas Eets Christmas
  • Oczy Mlody
  • King’s Mouth
  • American Head

0 voters

Singles

  • Drug Machine
  • She Don’t Use Jelly
  • Turn It On
  • Bad Days
  • This Here Giraffe
  • Brainville
  • Race For The Prize
  • Waitin’ For A Superman
  • Do You Realize??
  • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
  • Fight Test
  • The Golden Path
  • The W.A.N.D.
  • The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
  • Love The World You Find
  • Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

0 voters

Mrs CCB and I had Do You Realize??? as our wedding exit song :heart_eyes: so they’ll always have a special place in my heart. The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi are lovely albums; I’ve never been particularly arsed with their other stuff, though I always wanted to buy Zaireeka and listen to it with four CD players (how 90s).

A band good enough at their peak to warrant a 4.

12 Likes

Many of these don’t exist

6 Likes

^this. Pretty much exactly. It’s a 4 from me. Did I ever tell you about the time…

7 Likes

Have never ventured much beyond Yoshimi and The Soft Bulletin, not intentionally but just one of those bands you never get around to checking out properly. Get the impression they’re quite patchy on the whole and that’s subconsciously put me off I guess.

But love both those records. Do You Realize?? is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Perhaps a bit cliche but have a sad/special memory of listening to it with my wife after a family member had passed and the both of us having a good ol’ cry. Came on in the car the other day and I had chills all over my body again. Not many artists get to come up with a song like that.

14 Likes

CMON MOTHERFUCKERS!!

8 Likes

Embryonic >>>>> The Terror > Yoshimi > Soft Bulletin.

Hard to forgive the self satisfied dicking around phase (jelly skulls, 24 hour songs and heddy fwends) but also I guess it’s nice that they can just do whatever they feel like now?

Apparently the new one is good - haven’t checked it out yet.

Probably the most exact 4 on the entire list for me.

5 Likes

Knew it was on here somewhere

26 Likes

Very patchy on record, but the most joyous experience live. I was supposed to have seen them again in May this year. Didn’t.

Hard to look past the classic 1-2 of Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi for best album, although there are gems elsewhere. The new one is indeed the best they’ve done for a while.

1 Like

I’m just trying to think of an analogy for the Flaming Lips’ career. I guess they remind me a little of how Aphex Twin will record a double album of generally quite challenging music (a double album I don’t think I’ve ever listened to in its entirety) and will bury something as beautiful as Avril 14 in the middle of it. If I’d written a song as beautiful as Do You Realize or Waiting For A Superman, I’d probably be spending my entire life trying to write something better and would descend into blandness as a result. Which is why I don’t write songs and Wayne Coyne does.

8 Likes

Obviously they can be infuriating and even the albums I like the best I have to be in the exact right frame of mind, that doesn’t happen very often, to enjoy

But the right album at the right time is unique and wonderful.

The Terror is very special but understand it has limited appeal.

1 Like

No fucking way!!!

I did not know this.

1 Like
3 Likes

Never really clicked for me. 2

That’s a really cool story!

1 Like

Seen them twice live, it was fine don’t mind them. Have their Stone Roses cover album on vinyl for some reason. £200 on discogs for some reason what the fuck.

3

1 Like

Do you realise. That song has the opposite effect on me. I find it really sickly. If I heard it on the radio I’d have to turn it off.

Fair enough, can totally see that!

1 Like