Hit Me Like You Did The First Time by The Flaming Lips

With all the success The Flaming Lips enjoyed with their layered, emotional Pet Sounds-inspired albums like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, it’s easy to forget that they started back in the 1990s, as a raw, psychedelic guitar band. This song, originally from 1992’s Hit to Death in the Future Head, is even more frenetic in this 1994 live version from Lollapalooza; Wayne Coyne’s rhythm guitar is especially frantic.

Here’s the studio version for reference – 1992’s Hit to Death in the Future Head was already their fifth album, and their last to feature guitarist Jonathan Donahue, who was already a member of Mercury Rev, and who left to concentrate on that band.

7 Comments

Vinyl Connection

May 27, 2018 / 8:08 pm Reply

I’m very fond of this album. Enjoyed seeing it get air time!
- Aphoristical
  
  May 27, 2018 / 9:37 pm Reply
  
  I think Soft Bulletin and Priest Driven Ambulance are my favourites though.
stephen1001

May 28, 2018 / 2:24 am Reply

So far I’ve only got the 2 you mentioned (and I hadn’t thought about the Pet Sounds connection, perhaps that’s why I liked them so much!) – nice to read that there’s much more to the discography!
- Aphoristical
  
  May 28, 2018 / 9:25 am Reply
  
  They were very good all through the 1990s – lots of good guitar rock before The Soft Bulletin. Everyone else seems to love 2002’s Yoshimi. but I’ve never connected to it as much.
J.

May 29, 2018 / 8:09 pm Reply

It’s always nice to see some love for the early fuzzy Flaming Lips… I think the reason I like Oczy Mlody so much is that it has such a deep connection to that stuff sonically.

Anyhoo, I think they’re one of the best ever… few bands can match that run from In A Priest Driven Ambulance to At War With The Mystics.
- Aphoristical
  
  May 29, 2018 / 8:22 pm Reply
  
  Yeah, that’s pretty much all the Lips I have – they’re all pretty good, even though I think Yoshimi is a bit overrated.
  - J.
    
    May 31, 2018 / 8:35 am Reply
    
    Yoshimi is certainly the one that the mainstream grabbed on to… people recognise tracks without necessarily knowing who the band is. Personally, I think it’s a beautiful album. Not their best (pushing for a place in the top 5), but it’s a really splendid album.