The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

Barrett Strong Barrett Strong (born February 5, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best known for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whit ...

's "

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money ar ...

", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and US

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

s in 1979. They followed this with their self-titled album that year, which reached number 60 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Career

Formed and led by record producer David Cunningham, the group were a loose collective of

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

and free-improvising musicians, including

David Toop David Toop (born 5 May 1949) is an English musician, author, curator, and Emeritus Professor. From 2013 to 2021 he was professor of audio culture and improvisation at the London College of Communication. He was a regular contributor to British m ...

and

Steve Beresford Steve Beresford (born 6 March 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such ...

as instrumentalists, with Deborah Evans-Stickland, Patti Palladin and

Vivien Goldman Vivien Goldman (born 1952) is a British journalist, writer and musician. Early life and education Goldman was born in London in 1952, the child of two German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. She studied English and American literature at the ...

as main vocalists. In August 1979 the Flying Lizards appeared twice on the BBC's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' performing their hit single "

Money (That's What I Want) "Money (That's What I Want)" is a rhythm and blues song written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, which was the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise. Barrett Strong recorded it in 1959 as a single for the Tamla label, di ...

". They also appeared in February 1980, performing follow-up single "TV".

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

extended the band's recording contract after the success of "Money". The group released their début album ''

The Flying Lizards 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 US re ...

'' in 1979. The album included two songs – "Her Story" and "The Window" – written and sung by Goldman. Their single issues included their

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

s of songs such as

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desir ...

's "

Summertime Blues "Summertime Blues" is a song co-written and recorded by American rock artist Eddie Cochran. It was written by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on the ''B ...

" 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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' 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 Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

'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 ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tell ...

'', ''

Empire Records ''Empire Records'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Robin Tunney, Renée Zellweger, and Liv Tyler. The film fol ...

'', ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...

'' and ''

Lord of War ''Lord of War'' is a 2005 American crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Andrew Niccol, and co-produced by and starring Nicolas Cage. The film was released in the United States on September 16, 2005, to positive reviews and gros ...

'', as well as in the Emmy and

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

award-winning American television medical drama ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

'', documentary series ''

People's Century ''People's Century'' is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States. The series was first shown on BBC in the 199 ...

'', and in '' Ashes to Ashes'', the follow-up to the UK TV drama ''

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

''. It was also used in the episode "Venus Rising" of ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working ...

'', the episode "Follow the Money" of "Family Guy", and in a commercial for

Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, incl ...

in 2011. An album of dub

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

s, ''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 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

, and was the band's only single to do so.

Band members

* Michael Upton *

Julian Marshall Julian Marshall (24 June 1836 – 21 November 1903) was an English music and print collector, tennis player and writer. Life Marshall was born in Headingley, Yorkshire to a flax-spinning family. Faflak & Wright, p. 51 His father, John Marshal ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Green ...

* David Cunningham *

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

* Bob Black * Deborah Evans-Stickland * Patti Palladin *

Peter Laurence Gordon Peter Gordon (born June 20, 1951, New York City) is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist and experimental composer, whose influences include jazz, disco, funk, rock, opera, classical and world music. He has released several albums ...

* Sally Peterson * Rory Allam

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

David Cunningham website

The Flying Lizards biography

RPM Records
* *
Staubgold

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Lizards, The English post-punk music groups English new wave musical groups Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1984