The Flaming Lips' 'Fight Test' & 'Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell' Released on Vinyl for the First Time
Starting Tuesday, April 25th in London, The Flaming Lips will begin performing Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in its entirety at select venues around the world.
By: Michael Major Mar. 17, 2023
The Flaming Lips release two sought-after fan favorite Eps. Fight Test (on Ruby Red Vinyl) and Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell (Glow In The Dark Green Vinyl) are available on limited edition vinyl for the first time ever. Click HERE to purchase.
"Fight Test" originally landed in June 2003 as the third single and opening track from the seminal 2002 Gold-certified opus Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Upon arrival, it cracked the Billboard Top 100 and rose to #28 on the UK singles chart. The Fight Test EP adorned the 6-CD box set of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition-which arrived in November.
However, it has never been available on vinyl until now. Among its seven tracks, it boasts a remix of the recently Gold-certified hit "Do You Realize??," "Thank You Jack White," and a trio of covers, ranging from a live rendition of "Can't Get You out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue to "Knives Out" by Radiohead. Meanwhile, "Fight Test" remains one of the group's most famous tunes with over 23 million Spotify streams.
Then, there's Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell. It houses seven tracks recorded during the "Yoshimi" days, and it also graced 2022's 6-CD box set of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition. Dropping on vinyl for the first time, its tracklisting consists of two versions of "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" (including a remix by Jason Bentley), a remix of "Do You Realize??" by The Postal Service, and four more non-album cuts.
Also available now is the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition 6-CD box set (101 tracks), filled with original album & EP tracks, plus a plethora of B-Sides, demos, live radio sessions and previously unreleased rarities. The 5-LP box set (56 tracks on baby pink vinyl) will arrive on April 14.
Starting Tuesday, April 25th in London, The Flaming Lips will begin performing Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in its entirety at select venues around the world. Click HERE for details.
The Flaming Lips On Tour 2023
Apr 25 - London, UK - Troxy
Apr 28 - London, UK - Eventim Apollo
Apr 29 - Manchester, UK - O2 Apollo
May 05 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed
May 07 - Atlanta, GA - Shaky Knees Festival
May 08 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore
May 10 - Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre
May 11 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
May 25 - Washington, DC - The Anthem
May 27 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling Festival
Jun 03 - Jackson, MS - Cathead Jam
Jun 08 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre
Jun 10 - Bloomington, IN - Granfalloon Festival
Jun 11 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater & Ballroom
Jun 13 - Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater
Jun 14 - St. Louis, MO - Saint Louis Music Park
Jun 16 - Omaha, NE - Steelhouse
Jun 17 - Tulsa, OK - Tulsa Theater
Aug 04 - Montreal, QC - Osheaga Festival
Aug 18 - Los Angeles, CA - YouTube Theater
Aug 22 - Portland, OR - Pioneer Courthouse Square
Aug 23 - Seattle, WA - Woodland Park Zoo
Aug 25 - Bonner, MT - KettleHouse Amphitheatre
Released in July 2002, the sci-fi-themed quasi-concept album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots remains the commercial high-water mark in The Flaming Lips' wild four-decade journey, giving them their first RIAA certified Gold Record.
As the eagerly awaited follow-up to 1999's masterwork The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi proved that singer/guitarist Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd had yet another masterpiece in them.
The record yielded the band's top-streamed track, "Do You Realize??" (a timeless stargazing anthem that, in 2009, was named the Official Rock Song of the band's native Oklahoma) and also landed the Lips their first-ever GRAMMY Award® win for the cosmic album-closing instrumental "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)." Click HERE to view and share "Wayne listening to the multi-tracks for "Do You Realize??"
Also be sure to check out THE FLAMING LIPS SPACE BUBBLE FILM exclusively on The Criterion Channel now. Click HERE for details.
About The Flaming Lips
Formed in Oklahoma City, OK in 1983, The Flaming Lips have since become one of the most iconic, influential, unpredictable, and vital forces in American alternative rock music. The band has garnered three GRAMMY® Awards, a Tony nomination, and an RIAA Gold-certified Record for Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
Q Magazine named them one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die." The band has made countless late night television appearances, appeared in a Super Bowl commercial, contributed to many film soundtracks, and collaborated with artists such as Miley Cyrus, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Kacey Musgraves, Yoko Ono, The Chemical Brothers, and many more. Most recently The LIPS have recorded an album of Nick Cave covers featuring vocalist Nell Smith called "Where The Viaduct Blooms."
They have set countless records, broken attendance records, have a hometown street named in their honor, created spectacular interactive audio/visual events now regarded as legendary. Front man Wayne Coyne has been recognized for works of art that graced many LIPS album covers along with his traveling art exhibit (and subsequent album) "The King's Mouth," an audiovisual art installation that has been featured in many contemporary art museums around the US.
Their latest LP, American Head, marks a return to a more melodic and song-oriented body of work and has critically been lauded as their best work in years placing on several "Year End/Best Of lists" around the world. Evan after a combination of 23 studio recordings, 16 singles, 11 compilations, 11 EP's and 11 self-released experimental collaborative oddities released in various forms, quantities and unique mediums, The Flaming Lips remain in a creative apex that has no bounds.
To that end, they have become an American Treasure and created a genre all to themselves.
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