Re: The Flaming Lips
There was a movement here not too long ago to change the state song from the corny Rogers & Hammerstein ditty "Oklahoma" to something a little less cheesy. When it became apparent that the Lips were winning with write-in votes for "Do You Realize" something had to be done. The higher-ups wanted a change but they weren't so sure the older generation in the state would appreciate. that one. So they decided to create a "state rock song" and gave the honor to the Lips...of course a lot of that whole thing was just an attempt to make the state look "cool" by associating it with such a "cool" band. Republicans got pissed off, though, because of some language and viewpoints expressed by the bassist in some publication he'd been interviewed for. Eventually it was all smoothed out, with explanations round the board, and no doubt it wasn't too hard to convince the repubs that the "hipness factor" would play into the recent push to turn the state into a major tourist destination (Bricktown, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the River Walk, etc. and while you're in town you might as well visit the Murrah Building Memorial). What was funny, to me, was that these geezers got all worked up about the possibility of being associated with a band whose members probably had radical political views...but apparently they had not seen the film "The Flying Freaks", in which the drummer shows the correct way of injecting heroin into the veins by doing it to himself (a process with which, as the film makes plain, was a familiar one to him). Surely that would have disqualified them on the strength of the bible belt lawmaker's vote. But no. It's all about money and the whole idea of a "state rock song" is ludicrous.
Think I have about 5 of their albums
