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How could you guys forget Frank Zappa? Most of his output contains humor in some form.
And most of it--at least, what followed Absolutely Free---was about as funny as a screen door on a submarine. His humour has not dated well, alas, even if the music was terrific.
For my money no one has integrated humor and music better than the Bonzo Dog Band. And it was no accident they were coming up at the same time and place as future Monty Python players.
They were the direct line to Monty Python (matter of fact, guitarist/songwriter Neil Innes became one of the Pythons after the Bonzos were pretty much finished), and a lot of their stuff fed a lot of vintage Python routines and concepts. Far as I'm concerned, the Bonzos made the Mothers of Invention resemble poseurs, and I still think Freak Out! and Absolutely Free are the Mothers' best work. Though I still think the Bonzos should have left their name alone . . . and it's a tragedy that top dog Viv Stanshall died in a fire some years ago.
Aside from the ton of musicians that do great novelty music...and the HUGE amount of youtube artists doing great things like 'CandyBra' etc....hmmmm...
What musicians display a consistent sense of humor in their work...and it actually still be decent music? I'm not talking Weird Al type stuff...
A couple that come to mind for me...
Joe Walsh. Album names alone put him in this category...The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get and So What?
Songs like All Night Laundromat Blues, Average Ordinary Guys, Life's Been Good to Me.
Lyrics like "Standing on the runway waving at the plane, there goes everything you own. You call your mom collect, she doesn't know your name, staring at the telephone."
In the old days they had these things called "records". In the gap between the grooves of the last song and the record label, Walsh would often have a joke carved into the plastic. Example--(on one side of the album)--Q. What do you do with a dog that has no legs? (The other side of the album) A. Take it for a drag.
End songs like All Night Laundromat Blues or some no title thing that says "Hey, we're done." (2nd voice) "You can't be done." "Uh, why not?" "Because Dunn's in California!"
Consistently a funny guy who has fun with his music but still had mucho quality serious rock.
Another band that comes to mind...
Foo Fighters. I base this on their music videos...consistently funny. Not as funny with their music as Walsh, but still.
Phil Collins never seemed to take himself too seriously either.
Any other musicians as consistently off-beat as Walsh?
Although you have to have a perverted sense of humor...Steely Dan.
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