Who let the Flaming Lips take a flaming crap on the Deep Purple tribute album?

by Steve Newton on Nov 13, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Can somebody just peel off the band name that doesn't belong there please?

Some of the world's top hard-rockers paid homage to Deep Purple recently by performing on Remachined, a tribute to the British band's legendary Machine Head album of '72. Then the Flaming Lips took a dump in the middle of it and damn near spoiled the whole thing.

I take my Purple pretty seriously, and apparently so do bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden and guitarists such as Joe Bonamassa, Carlos Santana, and Steve Vai, all of whom took time out from their busy schedules to contribute to the disc. Maiden get things raging with "Space Truckin'", Vai gets freaky on the fretboard on "Highway Star", and Bonamassa is joined by Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford and former Cold Chisel howler Jimmy Barnes on a wicked, nine-minute rendition of "Lazy".

Then--for no apparent reason other than to rile up cranky old '70s-rock holdouts like myself--the Flaming Lips come crawling out of Oklahoma to waste everybody's time with a puerile version of "Smoke On the Water" that everyone in the entire world could do without. Check this crap out:

Okay, so maybe I overreacted a little bit. I guess it is kind of an ingeniously comical reworking... No, wait--what am I saying? Get a grip, Newt. It fucking sucks! And I'm not the only one who thinks so. 352 YouTube viewers disliked it, including the guy who said: "Wow. I made it through 55 seconds. I was going to listen to the rest but I gotta go stick my dick in a meat grinder and that sounds so much more appealing."

Fortunately for real Purple fans, that torturous dismantling of "Smoke On the Water" is directly followed by that kick-ass version of "Lazy" I told you about, and it works like a rocking balm to speed recovery. Only three YouTube viewers disliked "Lazy", and I'm guessing they're all Pitchfork-reading Flaming Lips freaks:

So whaddya think? Wanna sign my petition to have Remachined rereleased with that Flaming piece of crap removed?

You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at twitter.com/earofnewt.

Comments (19) Add New Comment
Plum Duff
Nov 13, 2012 at 5:29 pm
I'm with ya, Steve. And it only took 15 seconds....

FL is such a waste of skin anyway. Who the hell invited them?

Ick.
1
1
Rating: 0
John Lucas
Nov 13, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Oh, Steve. You're gonna LOVE this:
2
1
Rating: +1
iang62
Nov 13, 2012 at 8:07 pm
C'mon The Flaming Lips are well known for doing things "differently", this rendition certainly qualifies, what did you expect a straight ahead cover like so many others ?

Kinda reminds me of the 1000 Homo DJ's of "Supernaut" on the Nativity in Black tribute to Sabbath and how it stuck out of the pack.
4
3
Rating: +1
Tuco Lopez
Nov 13, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Ouch! No way could I sit thru that. See if Cold War Kids will take a crack at it......
1
6
Rating: -5
James Blatchford
Nov 13, 2012 at 10:05 pm
It was time 'Smoke' was gently lampooned..who better to do it?...William Shatner?
6
2
Rating: +4
Martin Dunphy
Nov 13, 2012 at 10:47 pm
James:

Oh, yes. I can actually hear him right now.
"Smoke...on the..........wa.....ter..."
3
3
Rating: 0
A. MacInnis
Nov 13, 2012 at 11:04 pm
You know, I was prepared to hate it and try to prove to you Straight people that I'm not the snob you may think. Plus The Flaming Lips generally annoy me. But I have to admit, I found the first minute or so really, really funny. And the "solo" with those moany background vocals actually is kinda cool, in a ridiculous way.

But generally I agree - tribute albums should be TRIBUTE albums, and keep disrespectful satires off (cf. Dinosaur Jr. doing Neil Young's "Lotta Love" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7UGui1QOSA - or Nick Cave doing L. Cohen's "Tower of Song." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duv1MxvXYck). There's a place for such things, but not on a tribute album.
2
8
Rating: -6
Plum Duff
Nov 13, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Jezus, better the Shat, even. Fucking Pat Boone, bring it on.

Anyone but those pasty wankers.
5
3
Rating: +2
Tommy Bolin
Nov 14, 2012 at 7:52 am
Deep Purple....Not in the RnR Hall of Fame.....WTF!!??
4
3
Rating: +1
Louis Cyphre
Nov 14, 2012 at 9:19 am
Yay Steve, writing about crappy redneck music for what, 30 years now?
1
3
Rating: -2
Steve Newton
Nov 14, 2012 at 10:00 am
and yet you keep reading it all. Thanks for the three decades of support, Lou!
0
0
Rating: 0
Steve Newton
Nov 14, 2012 at 10:23 am
Hey John Lucas, commentor #2: I didn't love it. But I hated it less than their version of "Smoke".
0
0
Rating: 0
Remedy
Nov 14, 2012 at 11:42 am
That's appalling.

Here - try this version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZBYSgEnFjM
5
0
Rating: +5
Steve Newton
Nov 14, 2012 at 12:14 pm
much better, thanks Remedy
1
4
Rating: -3
Steve C
Nov 14, 2012 at 12:41 pm
It's not awful, but certainly not something I'd want to listen to either.

I feel like a dirty hipster, but I liked the Lips a lot better when they were a little more under the radar. They acted weirder, but their music was way more listenable.
1
1
Rating: 0
Steve Newton
Nov 14, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Listenable is usually good
0
0
Rating: 0
Old guy
Nov 14, 2012 at 3:08 pm
The first part sounds like someone with irritable bowel syndrome playing a loading dock buzzer
0
4
Rating: -4
Steve Newton
Nov 14, 2012 at 3:48 pm
that would be the leader of the Flaming Lips, whatever his name is
5
0
Rating: +5
speedo
Dec 10, 2012 at 5:05 pm
I have always hated Smoke on the Water and all the Flaming Lips have done is reveal the ridiculosity of the original. That boneheaded melody has always made me cringe.

It's pompous pseudointellectual silliness but at least Stairway to Heaven weaves a few melodies together and takes skill to play.

3
2
Rating: +1
Add new comment
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.