Jonathan Coulton
(born December 1, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, famous for his songs containing themes of geek culture as well as his rise to popularity through the use of the Internet.
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Career
A former
computer programmer and self-described geek, Coulton tends to write quirky, witty lyrics about a variety of topics such as
science fiction and technology: a man who thinks in simian terms, a mad scientist who falls in love with one of his captives, and the dangers of bacteria. He does not often write topical songs, but he did release a song titled "W's Duty", which sampled President
George W. Bush, in 2005 and another called "Tom Cruise Crazy" in 2006. Most of Coulton's songs feature Coulton's vocals accompanied by
guitar,
bass, and
drums, though they often feature the various other instruments Coulton plays, including
accordion,
harmonica,
mandolin,
banjo,
ukulele, or
glockenspiel.
A graduate of
Yale and former member of the
Yale Whiffenpoofs [1] and the
Yale Spizzwinks(?), he is now the Contributing Troubadour at
Popular Science
magazine, whose September 2005 issue was accompanied by a five-song set by him called
Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms
.
[2] He is also the Musical Director for
The Little Gray Book Lectures.
[3] Coulton's best known works include his light-acoustic
cover of the
Sir Mix-a-Lot hit song "
Baby Got Back" and original pieces such as "
Still Alive", the theme song for the
video game Portal
, and "
Code Monkey", which has been featured on
Slashdot [4] on April 23, 2006 as well as linked from the webcomic
Penny Arcade.
[5] It is currently the theme song for an animated show on
G4 called
Code Monkeys
. A video set to his song "Re: Your Brains" was a featured link on
Good Morning Silicon Valley
. His work has also been featured on
NPR's
All Things Considered
.
Coulton accompanied
John Hodgman on his list of "700 Hobo Names" promotional track for Hodgman's book
The Areas of My Expertise
as the guitarist (he was referenced as "Jonathan William Coulton, the Colchester Kid" in said work). Coulton also can be heard throughout the audiobook version of the same book, playing the theme song to the book, playing incidental music, and at times engaging in witty banter with Hodgman, who reads the audio version of his work. Coulton has also been referenced in Hodgman's work with
The Daily Show
; a Jonathan Coulton of
Colchester, Connecticut is Hodgman's pick to win an essay contest on overpowering Iraqi resistance to American invasion.
[6] The winning entry, as set to music, was then played on the program; this song, about dropping
snakes from airplanes, was written and performed by Coulton. He is currently participating with the tour for Hodgman's newest book,
More Information Than You Require
.
Coulton also has released other songs under "The Little Gray Book Lectures". In 2006, Coulton began touring with and co-wrote a song with comedy-duo
Paul and Storm entitled "Your Love Is", which appeared on their album
News to Us
. They have since toured together almost exclusively, rarely appearing with any other artists.
Coulton wrote and performed a song titled "
Still Alive" for the ending credits of
Valve's 2007 video game
Portal
, with vocals by
Ellen McLain. On April 1, 2008, Harmonix made this track available as free downloadable content for the game
Rock Band
.
[7] A version with Coulton's vocals was also included on the
Orange Box Original Soundtrack
,
[8] in addition to the one heard at the end of the game. His song, "The Future Soon", was also featured in the hit online anime music video, "AMV Hell 4",
[9] and appeared alongside video footage from the Fullmetal Alchemist movie "Conqueror of Shamballa".
While he was originally working on songs for a new album, titled
The Aftermath
, Coulton has since decided to forego the album structure, releasing new songs as he can. Also, a
DVD &
CD of a concert performed February 22, 2008 at the
Great American Music Hall in
San Francisco, entitled "Best. Concert. Ever." was released in 2009. At the concert, Coulton the aforementioned song "Still Alive" on its
Rock Band
version, along with guest "musicians" and geek/celebrities
Leo Laporte,
Merlin Mann and
Veronica Belmont.
[10]
Licensing
As an Internet-based performing artist, he has attracted a group of fans who promote him. Since Coulton uses the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license, others are free to use his songs in their own noncommercial works. As a result, a number of
music videos have been created using his songs, including such
machinima as the
ILL Clan's video for "Code Monkey".
Thing a Week
"Thing a Week" is the name that Coulton gave to a creative experiment which ran from September 16, 2005 to September 30, 2006. In this project, Coulton undertook to record 52 musical pieces in the course of a year, one each week. This target was achieved. The objectives were: (a) to push the artist's creative envelope by adopting what Coulton describes as a "forced-march approach to writing and recording"; (b) to prove to himself that he was capable of producing creative output to a deadline; and (c) to test the viability of the Internet and Creative Commons as a platform capable of supporting a professional artist financially. Early indications are that the experiment succeeded in generating a large number of high quality songs, boosting sales of music downloads, expanding Coulton's public presence and enlarging his fan base. The success of the financial objective is more difficult to judge, but Coulton was quoted in a September 2006 interview as stating that "in some parts of the country, I’d be making a decent living".
[11] In a February 25 2008, interview with
This Week in Tech, he stated that he made more money in 2007 than he did in his last year of working as a programmer, 40% of it from digital downloads and 40% from merchandise and performances.
[12]
Discography
- Smoking Monkey
(2003)
- Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow
(2004)
- Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms
(2005)
- Thing a Week One
(2006)
- Thing a Week Two
(2006)
- Thing a Week Three
(2006)
- Thing a Week Four
(2006)
- JoCo Looks Back
(Greatest Hits compilation) (2008)
- The Aftermath
, which is the umbrella title he uses for new song releases.
- The Orange Box Original Soundtrack
- :19. Still Alive
- Best. Concert. Ever.
[Live] (2009)
Most of Coulton's songs are published on his website as
MP3 and
FLAC downloads. Many of them are free, and none of them are subject to
digital rights management. All of his original songs fall under the
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License.
[13]
References
- Perfect Tone, in a Minor Key
- "The Future of The Body: The Soundtrack" (accessed on 23rd June 2008), ''Popular Science''
- "Witty Tunes Are Jonathan Coulton's 'Thing'" (accessed ) on NPR's ''All Things Considered''
- Code Monkey Like Fritos
- Prinny Please
- essay-contest
- Rock Band Gets 'Still Alive' Tomorrow, Free | Game | Life from Wired.com
- Orange Box Original Soundtrack
- http://amvhell.com/index.php?pageid=amvhell4
- 2/22/08 Concert info
- Quick Stop Interview: Jonathan Coulton
- TWiT 133: Jonathan Coulton - Functional And Elegant
- "Still Alive" is the only exception to this, as Coulton gave all rights for the song to Valve Corporation.