Band Names
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol
Just by name alone, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is enough to bring a smile to my face. Their music is a unique brand of what’s been called “Bubblegum Doom” or “Party Doom” or even “The Weezer of Doom.” But they are more than some sort of joke band. They make legitimate, heavy, fuzzy, crunchy, and infectious music, but they clearly have a sense of humor. With album names like Grease Beast and Burger Babes from Outer Space, it’s hard not to smile while you get crushed by the fuzz.
Stöner
Out of the legendary ashes of Kyuss, 2021 saw the rise of the appropriately named Stöner. Made up of Desert/Stoner Rock heroes, Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork reclaimed the stoner rock moniker by simply naming their newly formed group Stöner. In fact, they named their debut album Stoners Rule. Followed by their 2022 effort, Totally…—which had a pepperoni pizza as the album cover. There has been debate over the years on the use of “stoner rock” as the chosen term for the genre, with many claiming that it implies the need to be on drugs to enjoy it. As the forefathers of the scene, I love that they took the term, embraced it, and owned it outright with a sense of humor.
Stonerboner
Stoner Rock band Stonerboner released their album “Bonerstone” in 2020. Their Bandcamp page reads, “As a dedication to this most holy rock, ‘Stonerboner’ was born. As a holy mission to let the Bonerstone enlighten mankind with its phallic glory. Stonerboner is about the wonders that fate sometimes bestowes upon you: the love of the Bonerstone.” Sure, this seems like a band, and album cover, that Slightly Fuzzed might come up with, but I assure you it’s real, and it rocks!
Gorilla Wizard
Gorilla Wizard is a New York Stoner Rock band that epitomizes not taking yourself too seriously. Their band description reads, “10,000 years ago, a gorilla ate a space banana and gained magical powers. 9,997 years later he started a metal band.” Their music is heavy, interesting, and worth a listen every time, but their artwork, band name, and the fact there is a 10,000 year old gorilla in this band makes them an absolute delight. “For us, it didn’t make sense to not lean into it. We’re four guys in our 30s who are very much not doing this to get laid, might as well have fun with it,” the band stated.
Titanosaur
In a similar vein, Titanosaur is the dinosaur mask-wearing, one-man band by New York’s Geoff Saavendra. His music is heavy, self-described as equal parts Motörhead, Monster Magnet, and the Ramones, but his presence is light and never takes itself too seriously. Check out his album art and music videos for a smile-inducing piece of Stoner Metal. “It’s a big part of me, I love humor, I love to laugh. I sort of got serious with the lyrics… but through the videos, I’m able to be more humorous,” Geoff stated in an interview with Slightly Fuzzed.
Music Videos
Red Fang
As purveyors of hilariously awesome music videos, Red Fang are unmatched when it comes to combining humor and heaviness. There’s nothing particularly funny about Red Fang’s music, but they have a particular talent for bringing their personalities into their music videos. It’s difficult to choose just one beer-soaked video to mention, but I’m particularly fond of “Wires” demonstrating just how much fun you can have, even on a budget, or “Blood Like Cream” where the band narrowly escapes a mob of beer-drinking zombies.
High Desert Queen
In 2021, Texas Stoner Rock band High Desert Queen were able to channel their inner Red Fang for their video for “Mountain vs. The Quake.” Lead singer Ryan Garney explains, “When we were coming up with music video ideas for ‘The Mountain vs. the Quake,’ we knew we wanted something to show we like to have fun. Even though we take the music very seriously, we don’t take ourselves seriously. We loved music videos from the ’80s and ’90s that had a skit to set up the music video, so we wanted to pay homage to that. We also love terribly awesome B-movies so we wanted a video that was Fight Club meets Office Space, but that was also inspired by Hard Ticket to Hawaii.”
Tidal Wave
Swedish fuzz rockers Tidal Wave channel their inner Black Metal alter egos in their recent video for the track “Pentagram.” The video concludes with the text, “Music Video Budget: $30,” a possible reference once again to the kings of the music video, Red Fang. Either way, Tidal Wave always bring a smile to my face. Their last album was entitled Blueberry Muffin. I’m not sure why, but it doesn’t matter… For a Rock band, they’re funny to me.
Song Names
Robot Death Monkey
I could probably put Robot Death Monkey in just about any of these categories. Great band name, great album names (Big Pussy, Intergalactic Party Powder), great artwork, and great song names. Some of my favorite track titles include “Viking Bong” off of their Booze Cruise EP, “Blazed and Confused” and “Eggy Bread” from Big Pussy, and finally “Dragon Clit” and “Kittens and Coke” from their latest, Intergalactic Party Powder. Don’t let all of the smile-inducing titles fool you, though—these guys know how to rock!
Ruff Majik
Ruff Majik is a great South African fuzzy Rock ‘n’ Roll band, and they continue to deliver sleazy riffs with just a touch of humor. I love their track titles, including “Swine Tooth Grin,” “Shrug of the Year,” “Voodoo’s and Don’ts,” and so many more.
Murcielago
Portland Stoner Rockers Murcielago released their album Casualties in 2020. It’s an amazingly fuzzy, Stoner Rock/Space Rock/Hard Rock effort and it’s got some great song titles as well, including, “Blues for the Red Lobster,” “Matt Got Roofied,” and “Naked in Night Court.”
Album Covers
I recently published an article for Monster Riff that mentioned a few Stoner Rock albums that had humorous album art, including Volcanova’s Cosmic Bullshit, Mad Chicken’s Poultrygeist, and Van Groover’s Honk if Parts Fall Off. Album covers are insanely important to a band and their music. It’s often the first introduction a fan might have to the band and can make or break that first impression. It sets the tone for the entire album. I’ve listened, or not listened, to many albums purely based on album covers.
Goblin Cock
Does it get any funnier than naming your band Goblin Cock? I’m not sure that it does. I was first introduced to this band by the album, Bagged and Boarded. Not the funniest album name, but the artwork is absolutely hysterical.
Their 2016 effort was named Necronomidonkeykongimicon. Not sure what it means, but I know it’s funny. Although, after naming your band Goblin Cock, I might get a chuckle out of just about anything you do.
The Chop
A band called The Chop recently released a concept album about Arby’s (yes, the roast beef restaurant) called Ghostbeef. An absurd concept, perhaps, but given that it placed #28 on the October Doom Charts, it just goes to show there is plenty of room for humor in the Stoner Rock scene and you can still be taken seriously enough. Good music is good music, and… “They have the meats.”
Super Raptor
Super Raptor released their self-titled debut in 2021. Another fantastic album, in many ways reminiscent of The Atomic Bitchwax, but most importantly featuring a laser beam-shooting raptor on the album cover.
Routes of Neptune
The band Routes of Neptune released an album entitled Stone ‘N’ Distracted in 2019. This album rocks, and there’s really nothing funny about the music, but a slice of pizza with one eye, UFOs in the background… you gotta love it, and only in Stoner Rock do you see this type of album cover.
Weed
Marijuana is not inherently funny, but Stoner Rock’s fixation of it might be. I mean, it’s called “Stoner Rock!” From Sleep’s Dopesmoker to Bongzilla‘s Weedsconsin, or Lonely Kamel’s “More Weed Less Hate” to the Gas Giant classic “Too Stoned,” there is no shortage of weed references. Don’t believe me? Check it out:
- Genghis Bong
- Bong Voyage
- Bonginator
- Bong Wizard
- Bong Coffin
- Bongtower
- Bong Reaper
- Acidsaurus Bong
- Bong Corleone
- King Bong
…Just to name a few. Again, reefer might not be funny itself, but there’s a big difference between a tune like Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” and calling your band Bongzilla. You can’t call your band Bongzilla without a sense of humor about the subject matter.
Social Media
What would social media be without memes!? Many bands, labels, journalists, and more in the Stoner Rock scene have started to embrace and utilize memes in their social media.
Promotion
Bands like Acid Mammoth do a great job of using memes to help promote their music and merchandise. Another band that excels in this space is Van Groover. They know how to use video to keep their audience engaged through social media, and offer a light and funny alternative to self-promotion. Labels like Heavy Psych Sounds and Riding Easy show a great sense of humor on their social media, as well as their merchandise.
Memes
Meme-dedicated accounts are not overly common in Stoner Rock, but it won’t take long to discover there is an entire world completely dedicated to Sleep memes. In fact, ProceedstheMemeNazareth shares almost exclusively Sleep memes. If you follow this world at all, you might have noticed that by “Sleep memes” I basically mean just taking any picture of a person smoking weed, a bong, what could be viewed as a bong, what could be used as a bong, or honestly almost any picture on the internet and slapping a “Sleep” logo on it. Instagram account Void.Sdw also creates lots of fun memes and posts for the Stoner Rock lover.
Slightly Fuzzed
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Slightly Fuzzed. I might be a bit partial, but they do an AMAZING job of combining humor and stoner rock, like the absolute best, unmatched, no one even comes close. But seriously, that’s what it has always been about for Slightly Fuzzed. Let’s bring a little fun back into rock music, most importantly, let’s laugh. So go check out Slightly Fuzzed. Take a look at some goofy album covers, check out the video segments with more absurd album covers, or play along to a game of “Shitting, Fucking, or Playing“. You also might have noticed here on Monster Riff lately a number of satirical articles popping up, a collaboration between Monster Riff and Slightly Fuzzed.
Of course, this is just a small sample of the humor within the Stoner Rock community. What are some of your favorites?