The Flaming Lips formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, and released their first album in 1985. This video of Unconsciously Screaming from the 1990 album In A Priest Driven Ambulance was the earliest I could find. Priest finds the band honing in on their experimental tendencies and taking more advantage of the recording studio.

In 1992 they signed to Warner Brother's Records (!) when a label rep saw them almost burn down a venue using pyrotechnics. Warners released Hit to Death in the Future Head in 1992, which included Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues [Everyone Wants To Live Forever]

Frogs, also from Future Head, hints at future success combining a catchy chorus with bizarre lyrics and, quite often, animal imagery.

Transmissions From the Satellite Heart in 1993 showed them refining their pop sensibilities with songs like Turn it On.

Be My Head showed they hadn't abandoned their weirdness, however.

Transmissions also contained their freak top-40 hit She Don't Use Jelly, which they unapologetically performed on Beverly Hills 90210 to cries of "sellout" from the american underground scene. Who's laughing now, aging punk rockers?

Clouds Taste Metallic was an improvement on Transmissions, but it didn't do anything sales-wise, positioning the Flaming Lips as "one-hit wonders" to all but their most faithful fans. Bad Days was the biggest "hit," appearing in the movie Batman Forever.

This Here Giraffe was directed by Sofia Coppola. It's a favorite of my four-year-old daughter as well, who is prone to singing "this here giraffe, laaaaaaaaauuuuughed." to puzzled looks from her teachers.

Christmas at the Zoo is classic Flaming Lips, with Wayne taking on universal themes in a very simple, direct way.

According to the band's website,

Wayne's ethos for video making in the past has always been to create something interesting and fun, but without breaking the bank since, "It's not like millions of people are going to see them anyway..."

When You Smile bears this out.

Feeling like they had taken their brand of standard rock music as far as they could, The Flaming Lips went into a period of intense experimentation after Clouds. For The Parking Lot Experiments, they recorded separate tracks on 40 cassette tapes and involved the audience in playing these interactive performances through their car stereos.

The Boom Box Experiments further refined their experimentation, and in 1997 they managed to convince Warner Brothers to release Zaireeka, an album comprised of 4 cd's designed to be played simultaneously.

In 1999, the band went back to more traditional song writing, but channeled everything they learned into the brilliant and hugely successful The Soft Bulletin. Race for the Prize kicked off this new phase for The Flaming Lips.

Waiting for a Superman was the anchor of the album, a song that brought them huge critical acclaim and is recognized as their artistic breakthrough.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots brought them even greater popularity in the mainstream.

Cat Stevens forced the Lips to turn over songwriting royalties to Fight Test, claiming it too closely resembled his song Fathers and Sons.

Do You Realize? If you haven't heard this song yet you live in a cave.

In 2004, The Flaming Lips recorded Spongebob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy for the Spongebob Squarepants Movie, and made an extravagant (for them) video of the song, as detailed in this behind the scenes clip.

Are You a Hypnotist? pushes the limits of YouTube's compression.

At War With the Mystics, released in 2006, is less focused than either Yoshimi or The Soft Bulletin, but still contains some superlative songs. While the Flaming Lips were never a political band, the Bush Administration drove them to write The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.

The W.A.N.D. is also about the current administration and is a favorite of Mash-up artists.

Mr. Ambulance Driver makes my wife look for sirens every time it comes on the car cd player.

Jet Threads of the Red Sun - At recent shows, guys in super hero outfits pass out free red laser pens to the audience for this show-stopping moment.

The trailer for U.F.O.'s at the Zoo is a sneak peak at their upcoming live DVD.

Where are The Flaming Lips going next? Broadway, of course. Aaron Sorkin, (West Wing, Studio 60), is writing the script for a Broadway musical based on Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Also floating in the Lips' ether is the often delayed, long-in-the-making feature film Christmas on Mars.