In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s, comedians such as Charlie Drake and the Goons frequently appeared in the top ten with humorous rock 'n' roll records—the latter, along with Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, were to influence the word-play of John Lennon's lyrics. Later British groups specialised in comedy: these included the Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. Later in Britain, in the 2000s, Mitch Benn released several studio albums that satirised current affairs using various musical genres, but mainly rock. His 2012 Breaking Strings album was critically acclaimed for its rock sensibility.[4]
Several modern comedy rock bands have experienced mainstream commercial success. Duos Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords both released platinum-selling albums and starred in their own respective comedic television series. Dan Finnerty with his the Dan Band has made comedy rock appearances in the Todd Phillips films Old School and The Hangover spoofing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Candy Shop", as well as his live show, which parodies female cover songs and was filmed as a one-hour TV special directed by McG and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Stephen Lynch from New York developed a following with several Opie and Anthony appearances which led to two specials on Comedy Central. He performed on Broadway with the production of Grease.
With over 12 million albums sold, song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic remains the highest-selling comedy act in history, with his 2014 album Mandatory Fun having debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, the first comedy album to do so since Allan Sherman's My Son, the Nut in 1963.[7] Rock has been the target of many spoofs and several spoof bands have gone on to have hit records, for example Spinal Tap in the U.S., and the Hee Bee Gee Bees and Bad News in the UK. The band Steel Panther has become a fixture on the Los AngelesSunset Strip with their parody of 80s glam metal,[8] and their success has opened the doors for other spoof bands such as the Jimi Homeless Experience. Other spoof bands such as Dread Zeppelin, Beatallica and Those Darn Accordions rely on unusual or intentionally contrasting genre-mixing for comic effect. The Residents are well-known for their unusual, heavily distorted covers of pop and rock songs. Comedy rock duo Ninja Sex Party, who have collaborated with Steel Panther on occasion, blend rock and synthpop and have produced songs that parody the dubstep and heavy metal genres. They have enjoyed success from their online popularity.[9] Another band, Primus, is known for their wacky lyrics and comedic music videos. Gorillaz is a British virtual band whose fictional, animated members parody contemporary trends in popular music.
Geddy Lee of Rush did a guest appearance on the novelty Take Off, supporting his grade school classmate Rick Moranis. The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 100 singles chart in March 1982, higher than any of Rush's songs ever charted on the U.S. top 40. Despite selling 40 million albums worldwide, Rush's biggest hit on that chart, "New World Man", reached only number 21, and thus "Take Off" was Lee's biggest hit.
^V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul (Backbeat Books, 3rd Edition., 2002), pp. 126.