Black Velvet Flag

Last updated
Black Velvet Flag
Origin New York City
Genres Lounge, comedy music
Labels Go-Kart
Past membersJeff Musser
Fred Stesney
Jason Zasky

Black Velvet Flag was a New York City-based comedy music trio, known for their humorous, lounge-styled covers of songs by Southern California punk rock bands, and for performing while wearing tuxedos. [1] [2] They became known in 1994, after performing on the New York music scene, which suddenly propelled them to fame in just six months. [3] Their only full-length album, Come Recline, was released in 1995 on Go-Kart Records. [2] In 2003, an interactive documentary of the band, entitled The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag, was released; it was directed by Sheldon Schiffer. [4] [5]

Contents

Reception

Black Velvet Flag was named the best unsigned band of 1994 by Rolling Stone 's poll of music critics. [1] AllMusic's Jack Rabid called the album "One of the funniest records released this year." [2] In the Washington Post , Mark Jenkins wrote of the band's act of covering punk songs in a lounge style that "...this is a joke that doesn't need to be told more than once." [6] Trouser Press 's David Sprague concluded that the album "...falls somewhere between Dread Zeppelin feebdom and a '90s approximation of Frank Sinatra's late-'60s hipster era, during which Ol' Blue Eyes tried his best to bask in the glow of the summer of love— [7] Chris Norris of New York was also critical of the band's style, writing that their "hardcore-as-lounge gag" was "funny for about twenty seconds and only if you've never seen Repo Man ." [8]

Discography

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References

  1. 1 2 Borzillo, Carrie (1995-04-01). "Lounge, Big-Band Era Bops Back on Indies and Majors". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 16.
  2. 1 2 3 Rabid, Jack. "Come Recline - Black Velvet Flag". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  3. Plasketes, Professor George (2013-01-28). Play it Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 96. ISBN   9781409494003.
  4. "The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag". Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO). Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  5. Schiffer, Sheldon (1999). "The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag: An "Intelligent" System for Youth Culture Documentary". AAAI Fall Symposium.
  6. Jenkins, Mark (1995-02-24). "Black Velvet Flag's Tired Cocktail Joke". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  7. Sprague, David. "Black Velvet Flag". www.trouserpress.com. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  8. LLC, New York Media (1996-01-22). "Rock of Ages". Billboard. New York Media, LLC. p. 75.