The Flaming Lips (formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983) is an American rock band.

The band is known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements, spacey lyrics and bizarre song and album titles (e.g "Pilot Can at the Queer of God", "Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)" and Yeah, I Know It's a Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical). They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and frontman Wayne Coyne's signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

The group recorded several albums and EPs on an indie label in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a hit in 1993 with "She Don't Use Jelly". Although it has been their only hit single in the U.S., the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability through albums such as 1999's The Soft Bulletin (which was NME Magazine's Album of the Year) and 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. They have had more hit singles in the UK and Europe than in the U.S. In February of 2007, they were nominated for a BRIT Award in the "Best International Act" category. As of 2007 the group has collected three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Early history and releases (Debut EP to In a Priest Driven Ambulance)

The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City (Norman Oklahoma) in 1983 with Wayne Coyne's brother Mark singing lead vocals and Michael Ivins on bass guitar. The band debuted at Oklahoma City's own Blue Note Lounge. After going through a host of different drummers, Richard English joined the band in 1984. That same year they recorded their only release with Mark Coyne singing lead vocals - The Flaming Lips.

After his brother's departure, Wayne assumed the vocal duties and the band released their first full-length album, Hear It Is, on Pink Dust Records (the psychedelic-rock imprint of Enigma Records) in 1986. This line-up recorded two more albums; 1987's Oh My Gawd!!! and 1989's Telepathic Surgery, the latter originally planned to be a thirty minute sound collage.

Nathan Roberts replaced English and Jonathan Donahue (also a member of the alternative rock band Mercury Rev) joined in 1989. In a Priest Driven Ambulance, their first album with producer Dave Fridmann, was recorded at the State University of New York in Fredonia for $5 an hour on a $10,000 budget. The album was host to a marked expansion in the band's sound and their previous experiments in tape loops and effects were given a more prominent role. During this period, Coyne made his transition to a higher, more strained vocal style akin to Neil Young, which he first used on Telepathic Surgery's "Chrome Plated Suicide" and has employed ever since.