Login
Login

the Flying Lizards

{{short description|English new wave band}}

{{about|the band|other uses|Flying lizard (disambiguation)}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = The Flying Lizards

| image =

| caption =

| image_size =

| background = group_or_band

| origin = United Kingdom

| genre = {{hlist|Post-punk{{cite book |last=Greene |first=Doyle |title=The Rock Cover Song: Culture, History, Politics |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2014 |page=11 |isbn=978-0-7864-7809-5}}|new wave|{{nowrap|art pop}}{{cite news |last=Cheal |first=David |title=The Life of a Song: 'Money (That's What I Want)' |url=https://www.ft.com/content/76ed718a-6058-11e5-a28b-50226830d644 |website=Financial Times|location=London |date=25 September 2015 |access-date=20 January 2020}}}}

| years_active = 1976–1984

| label = Virgin, Statik

| website =

| past_members = {{plainlist |

}}

}}

The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric cover version of Barrett Strong's "Money", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and North American record charts in 1979.{{cite web |last=Deming |first=Mark |title=The Flying Lizards – Artist Biography |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-flying-lizards-mn0000057636/biography |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=6 October 2009}} They followed this with their self-titled album that year, which reached number 60 on the UK Albums Chart.

Career

Formed and led by record producer David Cunningham, the group were a loose collective of avant-garde and freely improvising musicians, including David Toop and Steve Beresford as instrumentalists, with Deborah Evans-Stickland, Patti Palladin and Vivien Goldman as main vocalists.

In August 1979 the Flying Lizards appeared twice on the BBC's Top of the Pops performing their hit single "Money (That's What I Want)".{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}} They also appeared in February 1980, performing follow-up single "TV". Virgin Records extended the band's recording contract after the success of "Money". The group released their début album The Flying Lizards in 1979. The album included two songs – "Her Story" and "The Window" – written and sung by Goldman.{{cite news |last=Allen |first=Mark |title=The Flying Lizards: A Pop Band Arranged According to the Laws of Chance |url=http://www.markallencam.com/soundcollector2001.html |work=No. 6 |publisher=Sound Collector |date=April 2001 |access-date=18 November 2008}} Their single issues included their postmodern cover versions of songs such as Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" and "Money".

The 1981 album Fourth Wall received praise from critics but did not sell well. Top Ten (1984), with vocalist Sally Peterson, released by Statik records, consisted entirely of covers, done in a similarly deliberately emotionless, and robotic, style (described by the NME at the time as "Sloane Rap"), including two singles, James Brown's "Sex Machine" and "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy", as well as an album track of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne". Cunningham and Peterson worked together on music production for film and advertising after Top Ten was released, including a re-recording of "Money".

The Flying Lizards version of Barrett Strong's "Money" remained popular, and was used in the film soundtracks for The Wedding Singer, Empire Records, Charlie's Angels and Lord of War, as well as in the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American television medical drama Nip/Tuck, documentary series People's Century, and in Ashes to Ashes, the follow-up to the UK TV drama Life on Mars. It was also used in the episode "Venus Rising" of WKRP in Cincinnati, the episode "Follow the Money" of Family Guy, and in a commercial for Taco Bell in 2011.

An album of dub instrumentals, The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards, recorded by David Cunningham mostly in 1978, was finally released in 1995. The first two albums, The Flying Lizards and Fourth Wall, were re-released by RPM in 2010, with the catalogue number RETROD883.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

"Money" reached the UK top 40, and was the band's only single to do so.{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=British Hit Singles & Albums |publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |location=London |edition=19th |year=2006 |page=206 |isbn=1-904994-10-5}}

Band members

Discography

=Albums=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album

! colspan="4"| Chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Label

width="40"|UK
{{cite web |title=FLYING LIZARDS – full Official Chart History |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17920/flying-lizards/ |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=8 September 2022}}

! width="40"|AUS
{{cite book |last=Kent |first=David |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |publisher=Australian Chart Book |location=St Ives, N.S.W. |edition=illustrated |year=1993 |page=114 |isbn=0-646-11917-6}}

! width="40"|CAN
{{cite web |title=RPM Top 100 Albums – April 12, 1980 |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.0131b.pdf}}

! width="40"|US
{{cite web |title=The Flying Lizards – Awards |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-flying-lizards-mn0000057636/awards |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130053513/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-flying-lizards-mn0000057636/awards |archive-date=30 November 2012}}

1979

| align="left"| The Flying Lizards

| 60

| 37

| 80

| 99

| rowspan="2"|Virgin

1981

| align="left"| Fourth Wall

| —

| —

| —

| —

1984

| align="left"| Top Ten

| —

| —

| —

| —

| Statik

1996

| align="left"| The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards

| —

| —

| —

| —

| Piano Records

colspan="7" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

{{cite book |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |title=The Great Indie Discography |publisher=Canongate |year=2003 |isbn=1-84195-335-0}}

=Singles=

class="wikitable"
scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Title

! scope="col" colspan="4"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications

style="width:40px;"| UK

! style="width:40px;"| AUS

! style="width:40px;"| CAN
{{cite web |title=RPM Top 100 Singles – April 19, 1980 |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.0141a.pdf}}

! style="width:40px;"| US

1978

| "Summertime Blues"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 75

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

1979

| "Money"

| align=center | 5

| align=center | 11

| align=center | 7

| align=center | 50

|

  • BPI: Silver{{cite web|title=Flying Lizards – Money|url=https://www.bpi.co.uk/award/4335-1505-1|publisher=British Phonographic Industry|access-date=8 September 2022}}
rowspan="3"| 1980

| "TV"

| align=center | 43

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

"The Laughing Policeman" (as The Suspicions)

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

"Move On Up"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

rowspan="2"| 1981

| "Hands 2 Take" (with Michael Nyman)

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

"Lovers and Other Strangers"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

rowspan="2"| 1984

| "Sex Machine"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

"Dizzy, Miss Lizzy"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

| align=center | ―

|

colspan="7" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.stalk.net/piano/index.htm David Cunningham website]
  • [http://www.stalk.net/piano/piano501.htm The Secret Dub Life of The Flying Lizards]
  • [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=flying_lizards The Flying Lizards biography]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090831082545/http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk/ RPM Records]
  • {{Discogs artist|The Flying Lizards}}
  • {{imdb name|id=3058544}}
  • [http://www.staubgold.com/ Staubgold]
  • [http://trymini.com/ TRY Mini]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Lizards, The}}

Category:English post-punk music groups

Category:English new wave musical groups

Category:Musical groups established in 1978

Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1984