Each week, we here at EPIC FU highlight someone or something who is giving the ultimate FU to the status-quo. This week, the FU of the Week is being served by Jonathan Coulton, the former computer programmer turned Geek Rockstar.
In 2005, Jonathan stopped writing software and started writing song lyrics. He immediately tapped into his online roots and decided to release a song a week for an entire year as free downloads on his site. The combination of the web's love of free things and Jonathan's readiness to take creative risks turned the experiment into a crazy success. The project, called Thing a Week, garnered a legion of loyal fans, who are now the core of his online community and continue to fuel his music career.
One of the more popular songs to come out of the year-long project was Code Monkey, a semi-autobiographical song about the life of a programmer. The song has produced fan-made music videos and mashups, dance interpretations, and became the intro music to G4TV's 8-bit animation series. One of his other songs Still Alive, was included as a playable song in Rock Band.
Jonathan is one of the first of a new generation of musicians who truly know the value of web. It's not just about selling music and putting a few concert photos up. People flock to the web to communicate, and Jonathan encourages that two-way interaction and community-building with his fan base. The new rock star is not about pretending to be a rock star so that a label would sign you, now it's about saying "hey, I'm just a guy trying to make a living doing this." And of course, it's about having the talent to be able to back that up, which Jonathan has in spades.
PhobicPheebs said:
Okay can I just say that he is SOOOO YUMMMY!
I have Such a thing for computer programmers... I guess...
^_~
bonvivant said:
I'm a musician and its something I really want to make a living doing. But, I'm also an audiophile that realizes that most music can already be acquired for free via the inter-web..
What most people are paying for now, aside from merch and concerts, is quality.. [And] Now with the introduction of Sorrato , vinyl seems to be fading away. (sigh)
The only good thing I can see with this change is that it'll separate the Hobbyists from the Diehards.
matt doman said:
dude, thanks ALOT for turning me on to this guy. I must be the only person in the entire internet who hasn't already heard of him.
I tried to tell my little brother and he was all like "yeah... I've known about him for over a year now."
same thing with that new weezer video.
if my brother was worth a damn, I wouldn't even need epicFU.
CrazyCheshireCat said:
I actually heard Code Monkey for the first time last year at Animethon 14, Edmonton Alberta. It was used in an AMV (anime music video); the series it focused on was about an office worker and was very ammusing when matched with the song! I had no idea who made the AMV and didn't catch the name of the artist, so nearly a year later I find out!
Thank you!
Cephas said:
I did a little quick research and I'm pretty sure that Code Monkey is not a playable song in Guitar Hero. The closest thing I can think of is Still Alive, which was written, but not performed by Jonathan Coulton which is a playable song in Rock Band not Guitar Hero.
Zadi said:
Cephas -- You're absolutely right! Meant to say that and typed something else. Corrected it. Thanks!
PhobicPheebs said:
Wait, was that him playing in the background on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Tonight?
So hot!
^_~
