GAOTW: Camper Van Beethoven

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Camper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group. Founded in 1983 in Redlands, California (though they soon moved to Santa Cruz, California), Camper Van Beethoven mixed elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, country, and acid rock. The group's trademark violin-coated melodies and ironic, Frank Zappa-influenced lyrics progressed from silly tunes to experimental music with the intricate, psychedelic pop meanderings of their self-titled third album.

After signing to Virgin Records in 1988 and releasing two eclectic yet slightly more accessible LPs, they disbanded in 1990. Singer David Lowery founded the band Cracker, while the other members - guitarists Greg Lisher and David Immerglück, bassist Victor Krummenacher and drummer Chris Pedersen - played in Monks of Doom. Immerglück later joined Counting Crows. Violinist Jonathan Segel played with Dieselhed, Sparklehorse, and fronted his own bands Hieronymus Firebrain and Jack & Jill, and has more recently been involved in experimental music, including collaborations with Fred Frith and Joelle Leandre, and a duo with Dina Emerson called Chaos Butterfly. Krummenacher and Segel collectively run their own record label, Magnetic.

After Camper Van Beethoven called it quits in 1990, singer/guitarist David Lowery along with guitarist Johnny Hickman and bassist Davey Faragher formed the band Cracker. Cracker's most successful album was Kerosene Hat, in which the song "Low" became an instant radio hit.

In 2000, ex-members regrouped to compile the experimental rarity set Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven. In 2002, they released Tusk. Allegedly recorded in 1987, it had all the same tracks as the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name, and a parody of the original album's cover art. A series of reunion tour dates followed with many of the band's former members.

The group reformed in 2004 to record New Roman Times, their first studio album in 15 years. A live concert disc was also released entitled In The Mouth of the Crocodile, capturing a 2004 reunion performance in Seattle. Segments of a 2004 performance in Chicago were released the following year as Discotheque CVB: Live In Chicago.

Teenage Fanclub's cover of CVB's 1985 staple "Take the Skinheads Bowling" was used as the title track for the 2002 Michael Moore film Bowling for Columbine. A portion of the original Camper Van Beethoven recording can be heard as an introduction to the DVD release of the film. The song has also been covered by the Manic Street Preachers, and can be found on their B-sides album Lipstick Traces

Members of Camper Van Beethoven collaborated with Eugene Chadbourne on a number of records under the name Camper Van Chadbourne.