Pere Ubu

See all 25 pictures

Play Radio

Listen to Pere Ubu Radio, featuring artists like The Red Krayola, The Pop Group, Rocket From The Tombs, Swell Maps and more…

• Search on Spotify

1,845,579 plays (137,720 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Pere Ubu Ringtones to Cell

Buy

• Download
• Amazon
• Juno
• Send Ringtones to Cell
• Tonefuse Search

Add to my Library

Cleveland, United States (1975 – present)

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant. The group is named after Père Ubu (“father Ubu”), the protagonist of Ubu Roi (“Ubu, the King”), a play by French writer Alfred Jarry.

While Pere Ubu have never been widely popular—usually categorized as “underground rock”—they have a devoted following, have been hugely influential on several generations of avant-garde musicians and are a critically acclaimed American musical group. To define their music, Pere Ubu coined the term Avant Garage to reflect interest in both avant-garde music (especially musique concrète) and raw, direct garage rock.

When Cleveland-based band Rocket From The Tombs fragmented some members formed Dead Boys, while David Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner joined with guitarist Tom Herman, bass guitarist Tim Wright, drummer Scott Krauss and synthesist Allen Ravenstine to form Pere Ubu in 1975. At the time the band formed, Herman, Krauss, and Ravenstine lived in a house owned by Ravenstine.

Pere Ubu’s first single (their first five releases were singles on their own “Hearthan” label) was “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” (inspired by the “Doolittle Raid” and named after a film depicting the raid), backed with “Heart of Darkness”; followed by “Final Solution” in 1976. One review noted that “30 Seconds…” “was clearly the work of a garage band, yet its arty dissonance and weird experimentalism were startlingly unique.”

Read more… Edit bio

Popular tags: post-punk, experimental, new wave, experimental rock, alternative  See more

Share this artist:

• Tweet
• Send

Top Albums

• The Modern Dance
  Pere Ubu

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $13.00
  • eBay Search
• Dub Housing
  Pere Ubu

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 $7.99
  • 7digital $8.99
  • iTunes $9.90
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $10.27
  • eBay Search
• Terminal Tower
  Pere Ubu

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $10.27
  • eBay Search
• Cloudland
  Pere Ubu

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $7.19
  • eBay Search

Top Tracks

• Last Week
• Last 6 months

1		Street Waves			138
2		Navvy			129
3		Life Stinks			127
4		Laughing			116
5		Final Solution			105
6		Modern Dance			102
7		Sentimental Journey			100
7		Humor Me			100
9		Chinese Radiation			97
10		Dub Housing			93
11		Over My Head			90
12		Real World			89
13		Nonalignment Pact			83
13		On the Surface			83
15		Caligari's Mirror			77

Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3

See more