• Ethnic
  Instruments
• 
  Harmonicas
• Independent
  Music
• Music
  Accessories
• Putumayo
  World Music
• 
  Resources
• Sageman
  Drums
• 
  Services

Independent Comedy / Musical Comedy

Not to be confused the kind of musical comedies that populated Broadway, musical comedy is music that is designed to be humorous. The instrumentation, arrangements, and songwriting are all crafted with the intention of inducing hysterics. The epitome of this style is Spike Jones, who built his career around that kind of wild, wacky music, as have artists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, Allan Sherman, Cletus Judd, and Homer & Jethro).

A subset of musical comedy is novelty songs - songs generally written with a humorous gesture. They are so named because they tell a sometimes complete and sometimes episodic brief story, with light but memorable melodies. Novelty songs are generally done by musical comedy acts known primarily for these types of songs (Barnes & Barnes, The Chipmunks). But novelty songs are also done by major artists who don't normally do musical comedy. Some, like Ray Stevens, are noted primarily for their novelty songs, although Stevens has had non-novelty hits such as "Everything is Beautiful." Others simply "throw one in" occasionally for one reason or another. Johnny Cash, a major country icon, had a huge hit with the Shel Silverstein-penned novelty tune "A Boy Named Sue", while Aerosmith included the humorous "Big 10-inch Record" on their Toys in the Attic album.

Independent Music From Independent Bands and Musicians