Monsters and Robots | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 20, 1999 | |||
Recorded | 1998–1999 | |||
Genre | Experimental rock, funk rock, electronic rock, alternative metal | |||
Length | 50:54 (standard release) 55:12 (Japanese release) | |||
Label | CyberOctave, Higher Octave Music, Virgin, EMI | |||
Producer | Pete Scaturro, Les Claypool, Extrakd, Bill Laswell | |||
Buckethead chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Monsters and Robots is Buckethead's fifth studio album, released April 20, 1999, by Higher Octave records. A large part of the album was co-written with Les Claypool, who also plays bass on several tracks and lends his vocals to the track "The Ballad of Buckethead".
Buckethead promoted the album by opening for Primus in October and November 1999. [2] Monsters and Robots is listed in the German National Library's catalog [3] and is Buckethead's best selling solo album to date. [4]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Jump Man" | Buckethead, Pete Scaturro | 4:21 |
2. | "Stick Pit" | Buckethead, Les Claypool, Bryan Mantia | 3:40 |
3. | "The Ballad of Buckethead" | Buckethead, Claypool, Mantia | 3:59 |
4. | "Sow Thistle" | Buckethead, Steve Freeman, Bootsy Collins | 4:30 |
5. | "Revenge of the Double-Man" | Buckethead, Claypool, Mantia, DJ Disk | 3:34 |
6. | "Night of the Slunk" | Buckethead | 5:43 |
7. | "Who Me?" | Buckethead | 2:08 |
8. | "Jowls" | Buckethead, Scaturro, Mantia | 4:26 |
9. | "The Shape Vs. Buckethead" | Buckethead, Freeman, Collins | 5:40 |
10. | "Stun Operator" | Buckethead, Claypool, Mantia | 4:17 |
11. | "Scapula" | Buckethead, Scaturro, Mantia | 4:04 |
12. | "Nun Chuka Kata" | Buckethead, Claypool, Mantia, DJ Disk | 4:30 |
13. | "Remote Viewer #13" (Japanese edition bonus track) | Buckethead, Claypool, Mantia, DJ Disk | 4:18 |
Total length: | 55:12 |
"The Ballad of Buckethead" | |
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Song by Buckethead | |
from the album Monsters and Robots | |
Released | April 20, 1999 |
Recorded | Rancho Relaxo studios |
Genre | Experimental rock, funk metal |
Length | 3:59 |
Label | Higher Octave |
Songwriter(s) | Buckethead, Les Claypool, Bryan Mantia |
Producer(s) | Les Claypool |
"The Ballad of Buckethead" was chosen to promote Monsters and Robots. It is one of the few Buckethead songs to prominently feature vocals, which are performed by Primus' Les Claypool. Drums were performed by long-time Buckethead friend (and then Primus drummer) Brain.
The song is split into three verses, with the chorus following the first and third verse. The song, as its title suggests, tells the (fictional) story of Buckethead's life, [5] particularly his upbringing. According to Buckethead's official biography, [6] he was raised in a chicken coop by chickens, and the lyrics to the narrative [7] continue this theme:
Buckethead found his freedom at the age of 17
When he burned the chicken house down with a quart of gasoline
He did puppet shows on corners and bought a real guitarAnd with the help of Colonel Sanders he's bound to be a star
A video clip using 3D models and reassembling themes from the lyrics was made by English artist Dave McKean, [8] and gained airplay on several music related television stations.
The song was included to Primus' live set in October and November 1999, when Buckethead made stage cameos. [9]
"The Ballad of Buckethead" features samples from the 1996 movie Sling Blade .
The music video was nominated for the "Best New Artist - Modern Rock" on Billboard's Music Video Awards. [10]
Leslie Edward Claypool is an American rock musician. He is the founder, lead singer, bassist, and primary songwriter of the band Primus. Listed as one of the greatest bassists of all time by Rolling Stone, his playing style mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends, and slapping.
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himself as one of the leading names and innovators in funk with his driving basslines and humorous vocals. He later formed his own P-Funk side project known as 'Bootsy's Rubber Band'. He was a frequent collaborator with other musicians from a variety of genres, including dance music, electronic big beat, and alternative metal (Praxis), among others. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Collins number 4 in its list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time.
Primus is an American rock band formed in El Sobrante, California in 1984. The band is currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool and guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by drummer Jay Lane, though the latter two had departed the band by the beginning of 1989, and were replaced by LaLonde and Tim "Herb" Alexander respectively.
Bryan Kei Mantia, known professionally as Brain, is an American rock drummer. He has played with bands such as Primus, Guns N' Roses, Praxis, and Godflesh, and with other performers such as Tom Waits, Serj Tankian, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, and Buckethead. He has also done session work for numerous artists and bands.
Praxis is an experimental rock project, led by producer/bassist Bill Laswell and featuring guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain in nearly every incarnation of the band.
Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (C2B3) was an experimental rock supergroup featuring bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Buckethead, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and drummer Brain.
Enter the Chicken is the fourteenth studio album by musician Buckethead. The album was released on October 25, 2005 by Serj Tankian's label Serjical Strike. It has eleven songs, two of which are less than twenty seconds long. It contains appearances from such artists as Saul Williams, Maximum Bob, Efrem Schulz and Serj Tankian.
The Deli Creeps were an avant-garde metal band consisting of singer Maximum Bob, guitarist Buckethead, drummer Pinchface and various bass players, most recently Daniel Monti. Though Buckethead is the only member who makes a consistent effort to hide his identity, little is known about the other members of the band. Deli Creeps have never released an official album, but many of their songs have been repurposed for Buckethead's solo albums.
Bucketheadland is the debut studio album by American guitarist and songwriter Buckethead. It was released on John Zornʼs Japanese record label, Avant, in 1992. It features several samples of the 1960s Japanese television series, Giant Robot, amongst guitar riffs and several fast, technical solos. The concept of the album is a tour around the construction of Bucketheadʼs fictional "abusement" park, “Bucketheadland”. Because of this, the album is divided into sections that relate to distinct areas of the park. A sequel was released in 2003, simply titled Bucketheadland 2.
Giant Robot is the second studio album by avant-garde guitarist Buckethead and loosely following the same "amusement park" concept as his previous album (Bucketheadland). It has some re-recorded songs from Buckethead's band Deli Creeps, as well his earlier demo tape Bucketheadland Blueprints. Giant Robot has a more professional sound than its predecessor in terms of recording and production value; the re-recorded tracks have lost their initial "basement" or "video game" sounding beats and guitar licks. As with Bucketheadland, the album was originally only released in Japan.
Of Whales And Woe is the first solo album by Les Claypool, the bassist and vocalist of Primus. The album was released on May 30, 2006. The album features Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Gabby La La (multi-instrumentalist). "Back off Turkey" also features Les' children, Cage and Lena. The track "Iowan Gal" is a love song for his wife, Chaney Claypool.
Bucketheadland 2 is the tenth studio album by guitarist Buckethead. Released in 2003, it is a sequel to his debut album, Bucketheadland, a concept album about his fictional "abusement" park.
Buckethead is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currently includes 31 studio albums, one live album, two extended plays, five special releases, six demo tapes, & four DVD releases. Since 2011, Buckethead started releasing albums in the "Pikes" series, mini-albums usually around 30 minutes in length, each with a sequential number similar to a comic book. Buckethead has released 655 Pike albums, 175 of which are live albums.
Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables.
Sacrifist is the second album by Bill Laswell's experimental music project Praxis, released in 1993 on Laswell's label Subharmonic. Originally, the album was intended to be a Rammellzee project, but soon was converted into the second Praxis album, after suggestions made by John Zorn.
Science Faxtion is an American experimental metal band that formed in California in 2007. Comprising multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Bootsy Collins, vocalist and guitarist Greg Hampton, guitarist Buckethead, drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia and DJ Tobe "Tobotius" Donohue, the band has released the album Living on Another Frequency in October 2008.
Brian Patrick Carroll, known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing.
Live @ Slim's / Turbulence Chest is a live album by a musical supergroup headed by DJ Disk under the name Phonopsychograph Disk.
Videoplasty is the third home video by Primus, following 1993's Cheesy Home Video and the fan club exclusive Horrible Swill. Videoplasty was released at the end of 1998 to complement the band's recent covers EP Rhinoplasty, and is composed mostly of highlights from a live show performed on October 14 that year at The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California. This live footage is interspersed with montages of clips filmed during previous tours and at other recent shows, footage shot backstage and in the studio, animations by bassist Les Claypool, and the band's then-current music videos, spanning the previous two years back to the recording of the Brown Album and presented in approximate reverse-chronological order.
This is the discography of American musician Bootsy Collins.