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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. 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)". 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. 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.

"Money" reached the UK top 40, and was the band's only single to do so.

Band members

• David Toop
• Steve Beresford
• Michael Upton
• Julian Marshall
• Michael Nyman
• David Cunningham
• Vivien Goldman
• Robert Fripp
• Bob Black
• Deborah Evans-Stickland
• Patti Palladin
• Peter Laurence Gordon
• Sally Peterson
• Rory Allam

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• List of new wave artists
• List of performers on Top of the Pops
• List of post-punk bands

References

1. Greene, Doyle (2014). The Rock Cover Song: Culture, History, Politics. McFarland & Company. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7864-7809-5.
2. ^ Deming, Mark. "The Flying Lizards – Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
3. Cheal, David (25 September 2015). "The Life of a Song: 'Money (That's What I Want)'". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
4. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography. Canongate. ISBN 1-84195-335-0.
5. Allen, Mark (April 2001). "The Flying Lizards: A Pop Band Arranged According to the Laws of Chance". No. 6. Sound Collector. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
6. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 206. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
7. "The Flying Lizards – Fourth Wall". Retrieved 7 June 2024.
8. ^ "FLYING LIZARDS – full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
9. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 114. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
10. "RPM Top 100 Albums – April 12, 1980" (PDF).
11. ^ "The Flying Lizards – Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
12. "RPM Top 100 Singles – April 19, 1980" (PDF).
13. "Flying Lizards – Money". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 8 September 2022.

External links

• David Cunningham website
• The Secret Dub Life of The Flying Lizards
• The Flying Lizards biography
• RPM Records
• The Flying Lizards discography at Discogs
• The Flying Lizards at IMDb
• Staubgold
• TRY Mini

• English post-punk music groups
• English new wave musical groups
• Musical groups established in 1978
• Musical groups disestablished in 1984