#The Axis of Awesome

[grahamstoney]

The Power Of Music & Comedy: Tim Minchin

New Post has been published on https://grahamstoney.com/music/the-power-of-music-comedy-tim-minchin

The Power Of Music & Comedy: Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin is a thoughtful performer who combines the power of music and comedy to both entertain and impact his audience, while expressing what is on his mind in an engaging and memorable way.

I first came across Tim when a friend offered me a ticket to his Sydney show during the Ready For This? tour in 2009. While I’d never heard of him before, I was immediately drawn in by the proficiency of his piano playing, the intellectual nature of his comedic observations, and his bizarre teased hairstyle.

Tim’s meteoric rise to fame was captured in the documentary Rock ‘n’ Roll Nerd, named after one of his early signature tunes that expressed ambivalence at not fitting the traditional rock star mould:

While he achieved success as a musical comedian in a relatively short period of time, it came after many years of playing keyboard in an 80’s rock cover band. At the beginning of his career he as constantly under pressure to create an income as his wife was keen to give up work and start a family. They were both overjoyed when she became pregnant, but this also ratcheted up the pressure on Tim to provide for his family financially. A particularly vulnerable moment in the documentary happens when his wife has a miscarriage while he is on tour, and we get to see Tim in grief revealing his sensitive side. There is more to him than just his on-stage trickster persona. The one silver lining in this cloud was that gave him some breathing space to launch his career, move to London and become successful before they became pregnant again.

Giles Hardie said that Tim’s success was often a reflection his past experiences, describing him as a “jack of all trades” and quoting co-star David Duchovny from TV series Californication calling him “a high-energy dude” with a “comedic soul”. In an interview with Leigh Sales, Tim described his joy in musical collaboration and the difficulty of avoiding celebrity narcissism.

His song Canvas Bags drives home the importance of taking reusable shopping bags to the supermarket with a degree of repetition bordering on the absurd. We don’t even use canvas bags much in Australia, but with this song in my head, I always remember to take shopping bags every time I leave the house:

One of the hallmarks of a great artist is getting referenced in other artist’s work, and the inclusion of Canvas Bags in the Four Chord Song by The Axis of Awesome is a nod of respect from his comedy colleagues:

Tim frequently tackles important issues in his music, such as the foolishness of belief systems based on pseudoscience in his 9-minute beat poem Storm:

His song Prejudice uses an ironic twist to assault racism:

Tim isn’t afraid to offend his audience, using profanity to highlight the distorted priorities of the Catholic Church’s response to child sexual abuse by priests in Pope Song.

If you think the song is offensive, how could that possibly compare to what some priests have been doing to children with the protection of the church?

Neil Genzlinger says Tim “looks like a character out of ‘Sweeney Todd,’ alternates between absurd, low-key monologues and incongruously comic songs, accompanying himself with gleeful piano pyrotechnics.”

While his ability to weave his comedic genius into his songs is the underpinning of his success, he also has the ability to write sensitive songs. White Wine In The Sun describes the strong emotional dynamics in families as the basis for our feelings of safety and security in the world. Even for atheists like Tim and I, spending quality time with family on Christmas Day feels special, and hearing this song always makes me tear up as I think of Christmas Days spent with my own family in the sun together:

Social issues have always been a significant influence on Tim’s work, and his ability to write, record and produce catchy, quirky and relatable songs rapidly allows him to respond to newsworthy events in a timely manner. Come Home (Cardinal Pell) expressed the outrage that many Australian’s felt at the perception that Cardinal George Pell was avoiding Australian justice by hiding out in The Vatican:

However, Joel Hodge considered it “name-calling and abuse”, saying Tim “seems more interested in provoking reaction than dealing with the facts”, and that “it gives an indication of the level of public debate in Australia”. Gerard Henderson described the song as “abusive”, calling Tim a “militant atheist musician” and accusing him of engaging in guilt by association.

In the wake of the recent bush fire disaster and the coronavirus lockdown, Tim featured on HouseFyre with Briggs, expressing the frustration that many Australians feel with our political leadership’s response in recent times of major crisis:

It got played on Rage last Friday night, a sign of success and mainstream acceptance in the Australian music industry.

Music is unique in its ability to affect us emotionally, and comedy is unique in its ability to disarm our prejudices and highlight inconsistencies in ourselves which we could otherwise easily ignore. By combining the two, Tim Minchin has tapped into a powerful force to not only entertain, but also to enlighten his audience and inspire social change from a grassroots individual level.

#Canvas Bags #Come Home (Cardinal Pell) #Four Chord Song #HouseFyre #Pope Song #Prejudice #Rock and Roll Nerd #Storm #The Axis of Awesome #Tim Minchin #White Wine In The Sun #Music

[theriddlersunderwear]

4 Chords is my ADHD jam

#4 chords #The Axis of awesome #Music #adhd

[nerdnag]

Just in case there are people here who haven't actually heard the 4 chord song

#I mentioned this in the tags on my previous post #The axis of awesome #Youtube

[kalkuchen]

Silly meme i made haha

#aph prussia #nekotalia #nekotalia prussia #hetalia #hetalia axis powers #awesome #hetalia memes

[edeluette]

“Eh? What? I couldn’t hear you over my AWESOMENESS!”

#hetalia #aph #hws #hetalia axis powers #hetalia world stars #hetalia fanart #aph denmark #hws denmark #hetalia denmark #aph prussia #hws prussia #hetalia prussia #aph america #hws america #hetalia america #aph awesome trio #Awesome trio #gilbird #alfred f jones #gilbert beilschmidt #mathias kohler

[thatpacifictheatregirlie]

A collection of memes I made for the beloved and extremely talented @sunnylolli, also known as one of my favorite artists on this platform.

Sorry for the terrible quality, Tumblr does not seem to like uploading my photos correctly (not joking, they were all fine in Files, but the moment I uploaded them Tumblr decided to make everything blurry.

I hope you like them, some might not fit perfectly with CISFAYOT (I'm only partway through), but they were all a lot of fun to make. You have some incredible talent!

#CISFAYOT #race you to the end #sunnylolli #memes #hetalia #hetalia axis powers #awesome trio #FACE family #aph america #aph canada #aph england #hws america #hws canada #hws england #but I'm not kidding race you to the end made me sob #I'm still sad just thinking about it #;-; #can I stay for a year or two? #probably spelling mistakes but I'm too tired to fix them right now

[catgirlesex]

awesome undertale yellow fanart what do we think ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️

#dalv #martlet #starlo #ceroba #axis #clover #flowey #:) #awesome fucking fanart #art

[tootern2345]

Background art from Dave Willis and Jim Fortier’s Squidbillies. done by Ben Prisk

#squidbillies #ben prisk #dave willis #jim foriter #background art #adult animated shows #adult animation #adult swim #radical axis #awesome inc. #williams street #made in georgia #atlanta animation industry #traditional #acrylic #ink #not my art #photoshop

[postozjeb]

Prussia Prussia

Swimming in the ocean

#hetalia #aph prussia #awesomeness #hetalia axis powers #narwhal

[cyonofgaia]

*sigh* Guys, I implore of you. Despite everything going on tonight, Remain calm and talk about Axis Undertale Yellow

#cyonposting.txt #axis from undertale yellow is awesome

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Being a huge history nerd and watching both hetalia and puppet history is so awesome because I could totally see Czech throwing Slovakia out a window during a argument

#the professor talking about defenstrations in czech was awesome #I want some fanart of this now #please someone draw this #axis powers hetalia #hetalia #hetalia world series #hetalia world stars #czech #czech republic #puppet history #all hail the watcher #the watcher #shane medej #the proffessor #history #history lover #history lesson #world history

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Did I really get suggested an article about The 4 Chord Song by Axis of Awesome, in 2023?

(apparently, there was a plagiarism lawsuit involving Ed Sheeran and Marvin Gaye's estate, and Ed won because there are established musical motifs etc etc, so it was a funny and educational use of The 4 Chord Song, but I was flabbergasted.)

If you somehow haven't seen/heard it, here it is:

https://youtu.be/5pidokakU4I

#axis of awesome #4 chords

[kalkuchen]

What on EARTH IS HE YAPPING ABOUT?

#hetalia #hetalia axis powers #awesome #art #hetalia art #aph alfred f jones #alfred f jones #aph america #hetalia memes #hetalia meme #funny stuff

[snoofsnorfsneefsnoorf]

Ok I know this is. A little dumb. but I’m far too amused by the bird theme to quit now— Aside from their favorite, what type of birds do you think they’d be in a hypothetical bird!au?

Any characters you want!

Ooooooohhh, I like thisssss! I'll do the Nordics and Axis

Nordics:

Norway: Maybe a Raven. They're Intelligent and in Norse Mythology, Odin had two Ravens. He could also be a Scrubbird, they're shy and secretive.

Denmark: Parrot. Specifically the ones that have fancy head feathers.

Iceland: Nightingale. I hc him to be a good singer, and he's shy, so I think they'd match up perfectly.

Sweden: a Weaver! They're nests are damn impressive, look it up!

Finland: a Chicken. Hear me out, some chickens can be shy, some can be social, and he's definitely a social chicken. I also think they're cute.

Axis:

Germany: a Red-billed Oxpecker. They're 'cleaning birds' and I think that's fits Germany, as I see him as very tidy.

Italy: Budgy! They're friendly, peaceful and curious!

Japan: He's a Finch! They're shy birds who don't like to be touched by humans, and I think that fits Japan!

Thank you for the ask, it was fun to do research on birds!

#hetalia #aph norway #aph iceland #aph denmark #aph sweden #aph finland #aph nordics #aph germany #aph japan #aph italy #axis powers ヘタリア #axis powers hetalia #thank you #I liked that ask. It was very fun! #Birds are awesome!

[rosaluxembae]

Thanks to Axis of Awesome I will never forgot how long it was between AFFC and ADWD being published, despite not knowing what ASOIAF was at the time.

#asoiaf #affc #adwd #axis of awesome #the real five year gap was how much longer than expected it took to write

[tootern2345]

50 likes!

#50 likes #tumblr milestone #squidbillies #early cuyler #Awesome Bill from Dawsonville #adult swim #radical axis #Georgia animation #2000’s #animation #adult animated shows #adult animation