Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Sordid Humor

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Active until
  
1992

Genre
  
Alternative/Indie

Active from
  
1987


Albums
  
Light Music for Dying People, Tony Don't

Members
  
Adam Duritz, Tom Barnes, Jim Gordon, Marty Jones, Toby Hawkins

Similar
  
Counting Crows, The Himalayans, Dan Vickrey, Ben Mize, Steve Bowman

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Sordid Humor was a musical band formed in 1987 by the duo of Tom Barnes and Jim Gordon. Barnes' unique vocal style and unusual phrasing was the trademark of Sordid Humor, and he went on to lend his vocals and alt-rock guitar style to Engine 88, and a solo project called the Blimp. Sordid Humor played what, at the time, could best be classified as college rock, releasing several independent releases before breaking up in 1992.

Contents

An EP entitled Tony Don't was released on vinyl in 1989 by Oedpius Records of San Francisco, CA. It contained the tracks "Jumping Jesus", "Apollo XIII", "First Goodbye", "Indian Ocean", and "Broken Desert". The only full-length album now available, Light Music For Dying People, was released posthumously by Capricorn Records in 1994.

Despite their limited success, Sordid Humor's music has survived in the choices of College DJs. They are notable for bringing together three musicians of Counting Crows: Adam Duritz, who sang backing vocals on "Barbarossa" and several other tracks on Light Music, David Immerglück, who played bass on several tracks of the album, and David Bryson who produced several of their tracks. Duritz would later incorporate lyrics from Sordid Humor songs "Private Archipelago", "Doris Day", and "Jumping Jesus" in Counting Crows performances.

Marty Jones also played bass on "Light Music". He is the namesake for the Counting Crows song "Mr. Jones".

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Songs

Private ArchipelagoLight Music for Dying People · 1994
Doris DayLight Music for Dying People · 1994
Broken Desert1989

References

Sordid Humor Wikipedia