Flaming Lips Look To 'Superman' For New Single

02/09/2000 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(2/9/00, 10 a.m. ET) - More than six months after its initial release, the twisted orchestral pop of the Flaming Lips 's The Soft Bulletin will get another shot at a wider audience by way of a new maxi-single featuring the album track, "Waitin' For A Superman,"which arrives in stores this week.

The song was written with the cancer death of Lips frontman Wayne Coyne 's father in mind, and at a time when the band pondered its own viability in the music marketplace. Still, Coyne tells LAUNCH that the inspiration for it is not at all that clear cut. "I think any time thatyou sort of squish poetry and philosophy into the same sort of thing, itcomes out sounding, oh, you know, somewhat heavy and religious, don't you think? And I love those sorts of things. So, I think the idea of me saying, 'Waiting for a superman,' when it's put in the right context, Ithink people take that as having a little bit more of philosophical edge to it than just simply talking about, you know, the comic book character or something."

The maxi-single includes three versions of "...Superman" as wellas two songs resurrected and mixed down from the Lips' 1997 effort, Zaireeka -- a four-disc collection that required listeners to spin all discs simultaneously on separate players. Three videos are also featured on the new CD single. Meanwhile, the Flaming Lips will once againhit the road with their eye-popping live show next month, supported by Scottish outfit, Looper . Look for the band to appear on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien on March 3 and you can catch some of the band's videos right here on LAUNCH.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

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