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Outsider music is music performed either by social outsiders, who have no or few associates in the mainstream music business, or by musicians who choose to live and work in seclusion, often due to compromising behavioral or psychological conditions. Outside music relects these conditions in various ways. Lyrics are often bizarre or emotionally stark and songs show a great ignorance or disregard for structural conventions or popular trends in mainstream music. Also, outsider musicians frequently have no formal training and/or significant music skills in the traditional sense. The end result is music that is much stranger and more abrasive than more popular musical styles. Outsider music is a form of outsider art.By definition, outsider music has very outlets and most outsider musicians (save those such as Syd Barrett and Skip Spence who became popular before becoming recluses) come to be semi-well known through word of mouth, usually among communities of obsessive music collectors. Only a few, including Tiny Tim and Wesley Willis, have achieved much renown outside of a small coterie of devotees. Outsider music is frequently praised by musicians with experimental leanings, such as avant-garde jazz saxophonist John Zorn and Kurt Cobain—a fan of outsider Daniel Johnston, Cobain famously wore a shirt designed by Johnston.
Some outsider musicians are famously awful and most of their audience considers them to be a surreal comedy act, something most of these performers realize and embrace. Examples include Florence Foster Jenkins, a American soprano who sang ear-splitting renditions of compositions far outsider her range and Eilert Pilarm, a SwedishThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf Elvis impersonatorElvis impersonators are people who impersonate or copy Elvis Presley either as a hobby or as a professional career. These impersonators work all over the world and are in great demand due to the iconic status of the man they imitate. They range in ethnic known for his utter lack of resemblance to Elvis PresleyElvis Aron Presley ( January 8, 1935 August 16, 1977), known as The King of Rock and Roll, or as just "The King", was an American singer who had an immeasurable effect on world culture. He started his career under the name the Hillbilly Cat and was later. However, a majority of outsider artists are honestly appreciated for their unique and uncompromising styles of music.
The definitive guide to outsider music is Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music ( 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri) by music journalist and radio personality Irwin Chusid . The book profiles several relatively well known outsider musicians and gives a definition to the term. The book inspired two companion compilation CDs, sold separately.
Some examples of outsider musicians:
- Jandek1981) Jandek is a musician, presumably from Houston, Texas. Since 1978, he has self-released 38 albums of unusual, often emotionally dissolute folk and blues songs without ever giving a known concert or interview or providing any biographical information., a singer/songwriter who gives no concerts or interviews and releases albums anonymously and prolifically.
- The ShaggsThe Shaggs was an American all-women band. It has been many times considered the worst rock and roll band of the world (or "the best worst band ever"), and this title made the band's first, last, and only album into a sort of a cult collector's item., a 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around rock band of sisters with no musical skills whatsoever, whose awfulness became semi-legend.
- Roky Erikson , the reclusive and eccentric former leader of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and onetime mental patient.
- Harry PartchHarry Partch ( June 24, 1901 September 3, 1974) was an American composer. He is one the first composers to work with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for instruments he built himself, tuned in 11- limit just intonation. Partch's tuning had its, a composer who built his own instruments according to his own system of musical scales.
- Wesley Willis, a 350 lb. roaring, schizophrenic from Chicago who sang simplistic songs about fast food, public transportation and his favorite bands, among other subjects.
- Skip Spence , former Jefferson Airplane member who produced one cult classic album of stark, strange folk music.
- Daniel Johnston, a Texas singer/songwriter known for recording music on his radio boom box.
For a longer list of outsider musicians, please see list of outsider musicians.
