My friend Dwija introduced me to Sparks and was really surprised that I hadn’t heard of them before. Now, a year or so later, I’m a huge fan and get to expose them to all sorts of new people.

I’m sure I’ve posted about them before, but more in passing than anything.

Sparks was form in 1968 by two brothers, Ron and Russell Mael. They played the LA club scene as the band Halfnelson, released and album and it didn’t really go anywhere. They changed their name to Sparks, toured England and released a second album and were huge in Europe.

The musical stylings have changed over the decades (they’re still putting out music), but from the beginning till now Sparks is known for theatrical Queen-like performances (though they actually look like they’re enjoying it) and very fun lyrics.

The first thing I ever saw of them was the song “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” as they performed it in 1974 on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test… See it here.

And that’s Sparks. Russell Mael is fairly animated and Ron Mael scowls in really fun ways with a great Hitler-esque mustache.

Let’s try 1975′s “Get in the Swing.” See that here. It’s a bit more peppy and musical than “This Town” and is a great example of what they do.

And if you like knit glove and falsetto, “Something for the Girl with Everything” is just the thing for you. This is also from 1975 and is somehow more theatrical than “Swing.” See it here.

Sparks returned to the US in 1976 to regroup and reinvent themselves. They put out two albums that really didn’t do so well. A few minor favorites came out of that era, like “Number One Song in Heaven.” I’m not sure if it was their first proper video, but here’s Sparks circa 1979.

One of my favorite songs, yet least favorite videos is “Tips for Teens.” Hilarious lyrics though. Check it out.

Their biggest hit in the US was the duet with Jane Wiedlin from the Go Go’s. She ran a Sparks fan club when she was a kid, you know? It’s hard to think of this as a Sparks song because I remember it from when I was a kid. I always thought they were one hit wonders. But that’s not exactly true. See it here.

The 80s were not kind to a lot of bands from the 70s and Sparks fits that description here and there. But “Music That You Can Dance To” is great. It was in the movie RAD and I remember my sister and I liking the lyrics “Shut up, dear – In my eye” or something like that. We were probably wrong, but the song is great and fun. See it here!

That was from 1986 and has a real Pet Shop Boys feel to it, but it was before PSB were doing that sort of high energy, peppy stuff. They continued with that sound well into the 90s (so did PSB).

“When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way’?” came out in 1994 and still has that electro-dance thing going. I didn’t like it at first, but now it’s one of my favorites. Especially because of the lyrics. And because of Ron’s dancing. See it here!

As the new millennium rolled in, Sparks was still with us! The electro-dance was still with us too. So was the weirdness. The video for “The Calm Before the Storm” is just weird. There’s no frame of reference, so it makes it all the weirder. Check it out.

A few years later, 2004, Sparks dropped the electro thing in favor of some really very dramatic orchestration and lyrical repetition. Everything they did at this point was about repetition. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. But “The Rhythm Thief” is brilliant. See it here.

Two years later, in 2006 (oh we’re getting close to the end!), they put out “Dick Around,” which might just be my favorite Sparks song. Fun video too. They were still almost into the repetition thing, but stuffed a lot of lyrics into this one. See that!! Kitties!

Their newest single is “Lighten Up, Morrissey” and pretty much every guy knows what this song is about. Most of their newest album is more theatrical than this, but it’s still quite a fun song. See it now!

And that’s Sparks. They have a new album coming out that’s actually a radio drama about Igmar Bergman. We’ll see how that goes, but it’s amazing that they’ve been around for so long and consistently put out great music.

Sparks is best when live and there’s plenty of videos on youtube that showcase such things. There’s also a DVD released in the states of a live show. Hopefully there will be more to come.