Incubus (band)

An Alternative Rock band formed in 1991 in California. They released 6 studio albums, reached multi-platinum sales.

Over the course of their career, Incubus went from Mr. Bungle-esque Funk Metal/Rap Metal mixed with Jazz and other genres, to more melodic alternative rock, at times slipping to retro, ethnic and art-rock areas.

The band currently consists of:

• Brandon Boyd - lead vocals, lyrics, also played guitar, didjeridoo, djembe and other percussion in some songs, both studio and live
• Mike Einziger - guitar, backing vocals, pipa, pian
• Ben Kenney - bass, backing vocals, drums for some live performances
• Jose Pasillas - drums, percussion
• Chris Kilmore - DJ, keyboards

Former members:

• DJ Lyfe - DJ, keyboards. Fired in 1998.
• Dirk Lance - Bass. Left in 2003.

Incubus (band) provides examples of the following tropes:

• Bilingual Bonus: "Pistola" is Italian slang for "penis". The song may or may not be about that.
• Book Ends: Light Grenades has "Earth to Bella", Parts 1 and 2 (though Part 1 is in the middle of the album instead of at the beginning). Averted when they are played as a single song in concert.
• Broken Record: Quite a few of their songs feature one line repeated several times in the chorus. Perhaps the most notable example: "Wish You Were Here", where the chorus consists of "I wish you were here" repeated four times.
• B-Side: The second disc of the Monuments and Melodies album consists largely of these. Another one, not included on that album, is the Make Yourself B-side "Crowded Elevator".
• Careful with That Axe: The end of "Circles". "Round and round and round and round and ROUND!!!!!!!!"
• Chorus-Only Song: "Are You In?" is pretty darn close.
• Cluster F-Bomb: The title track from "Make Yourself". Also "Leech".
  • "Clean" features no swearing in the actual lyrics, but the guy seems to be telling his girl that he'd rather have the Cluster F-Bomb unleashed upon him than get the silent treatment.
• Cover Version: The only cover that the band has recorded in the studio is Prince's "Let's Go Crazy". But the band has done many live covers of artists ranging from Soundgarden to Massive Attack to TLC.
• The Cover Changes the Gender: Inverted with "Promises, Promises". Brandon Boyd, male, sings an original song from a woman's point of view.
• The End of the World as We Know It: "Warning".
  • Also alluded to in "A Certain Shade of Green" with the lyric "Are you gonna stand around 'til Two Thousand Twelve AD?"
• Epic Rocking: "Sick Sad Little World" from A Crow Left of the Murder. The band is reported to have worked on a 20-minute epic called "Odyssey" during the sessions for that album, but it didn't make the cut.
  • It's split into 4 parts on the Halo 2 soundtrack. And it's very epic.
• Fungus Humongous: Rather, one of their albums uses the word-play.
• Genre Busting: A pretty good description of S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
• Genre Roulette: A staple of their career post-Make Yourself, but special mention goes to Light Grenades, which Brandon Boyd described as sounding like "13 different bands playing 13 different songs".
• Greatest Hits Album: Monuments and Melodies
• Hidden Track: S.C.I.E.N.C.E. has a rather ridiculous one after "Calgone".
• Intercourse with You: At least once per album. "Stellar" and "Anti-Gravity Love Song" are this trope... In Space!
• The Jimmy Hart Version: Note the similarities between the main riff of "Zee Deveel" and Pearl Jam's "Rival".
• Last-Note Nightmare: "The Odyssey" ends abruptly with some electronic static-like noise, creating a comparable effect to what you'd find on corrupted MP3 files from file sharing services.
• Lighter and Softer: Morning View still features some heavy tracks, but the lyrics are PG-rated and there are several more ballads, including the fully acoustic "Mexico" and the exotic Eastern lullaby "Aqueous Transmission".
  • If Not Now, When? makes Morning View sound downright heavy by comparison.
• Love Hurts: The song of the same name, maybe.
• Meaningful Name: The Incubus was an ancient Roman demon who gave people nightmares by...having intercourse with them while they slept. The band chose the name on a dictionary and liked it because of the vaguely sexual connotation. It's also similar to the Italian word for nightmare, "incubo", of the same origin.
• Metal Scream: Evident in songs like "Make Yourself", "Out From Under", "Light Grenades", and much of the S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album.
• Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: Incubus fuses a lot of diverse genres.
• New Sound Album: "A Crow Left of the Murder" had a new bass player and guitarist Mike Einzinger replacing his high-end guitar rig with old-school vintage gear.
  • Actually, this can apply to all of their albums to a certain degree. Make Yourself and their latest album If Not Now, When? also brought about significant changes in their sound.
• Non-Appearing Title: Not a common occurence, but some examples include "Idiot Box", "Aqueous Transmission", "Agoraphobia", and "Talk Shows on Mute". (Although these titles all relate to the song's lyrical content.)
• One-Hit Wonder: They are a technical example with only one Black Sheep Hit topping the charts, but they aren't close to fading into obscurity as a true example of this trope would be.
• The Problem with Pen Island: Intentionally, though subtly, invoked in the chorus of "Pistola".
• Punny Name: "Anna-Molly" and possibly "A Crow Left of the Murder".
• Refrain From Assuming: "Drive".
• Room Full of Crazy
• Signature Song: "Wish You Were Here".
• Spontaneous Human Combustion: The subject of "Pardon Me".
• Take That: The band has implied that"Megalomaniac" is at least partly about Scott Stapp from Creed.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change
• Uncommon Time: "Make Yourself", "Nice to Know You", "Priceless", "Quicksand", "Paper Shoes", "Follow".
• Unusual Euphemism: From "Here in My Room": "Pink tractor beam into your incision."
• Verbal Tic: Brandon Boyd is fond of these, but "Zee Deveel" is particularly notable.
• Viewers are Morons: Discussed in "Idiot Box", "Talk Shows on Mute", and possibly "Made for TV Movie".