Today's Evil Beet Gossip

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Amanda Palmer And You Should Too

A photo of Amanda Palmer

So yesterday I admitted that I don’t listen to Adele, and you guys really did me a solid and gave me some song recommendations, and I really appreciated that.  But it got me to thinking, “Emily, who do you listen to that a lot of people seem to not know about?”  And my first thought was David Bowie, but people know about David Bowie, and plus it would just end up being a big hot mess of me flailing all over the internet, and I think I’ll just put that in my pocket for a rainy day.  But then I thought “Amanda Palmer!”  And so here we are with a top ten list of the ages.  Settle in so I can inform you about the wondrousness that is Amanda Palmer.

10.  She draws her eyebrows on with eyeliner because she has a creative soul and a free spirit.

9.  She invented the term “Brechtian punk cabaret” to describe her band, The Dresden Dolls, and honestly, I can’t think of a genre that sounds more lovely. You theatre/literature nerds can understand that, I hope.

8.  One of Amanda’s albums is titled Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele.  And she does just that.

7.  Speaking of her albums, if you can’t find them for free on her blog, you can buy them for “$0.99 or more,” which means that she cares about your financial issues.

6.  She got into a bit of a war with her record label over a music video.  In the video, she shows her tummy, and the label wanted to cut those shots or edit them so that she looked smaller.  She told them no, they told her that she was making a stupid choice, and she blogged about it.  Her fans started posting pictures of their own tummies in camaraderie, and that started a whole movement they called The ReBellyon.  Amanda proceeded to attempt to cut her contract short with her record label with the massive support of her fans.

5.  When she finally got out of her record contract, she released a “fuck you” song called “Do You Swear to Tell The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth, So Help Your Black Ass?”, which features lyrics like “I’ve already spent too much time doing things I didn’t want to, so if I want to sit here and write and drink wine, you can bet your black ass that I’m going to.”  I think that speaks for itself.

4.  She does a beautiful cover of one of everybody’s favorite Death Cab songs, “I Will Follow You Into The Dark,” and another beautiful cover of one of everybody’s favorite Postal Service songs, “Such Great Heights.”

3.  Her husband is none other than Neil Gaiman, and I know you sci-fi and comic book nerds can appreciate that.

2.  Amanda’s worked internationally as a living statue.  Her most well-known statue is “The Eight Foot Bride.”

1. She beautifully reenacted a scene from Labyrinth featuring a sock puppet.

Are we feeling the love yet, you guys?

18 CommentsLeave a comment

    • I know! It’s a truly magical video. I was going to include it in the list, but then I changed it for the ReBellyon bit instead. So much love for that video though!

  • Her version of “look mummy no hands” is heartbreakingly beautiful. You know: if you feel like sobbing your heart out about life.

    • I think it’s both a song about loneliness and a song about mechanical help for the love impaired. After all, the first usually calls for the latter. ;)

  • re:#4

    Wait Amanda Palmer is a musician????? I’ll have to check her stuff out to see if it’s any good.

    It’s amazing, the things you can learn on the internet! Just yesterday I read on wikipedia that Kurt Cobain was a musician before he was a suicide case– who would have guessed?

  • Wow. I just read this about 6 hours ago and now I’ve come it across it again. Amanda Palmer is one of those rare artists that you only get to see once in a full moon. With songs about pubic trimming, oasis fans that get abortions and school shootings; who couldn’t love her? She is a magnificant master of music. She knows you can’t spell heart without art and it shows through her lyrics. I’ve been such a huge fan for the better part of the last decade. I saw her play in Atlanta a couple months ago and I was totally blown away. She has inspired me (and many others, I’m sure) more than she will ever know. Thanks Amanda. You weirdo.

  • yes shes is amazing, but i find it hard to beleive u think we wouldnt know who the dresden dolls are!!??

    • Really? And that’s an excited “really,” not a bitchy “really.” Maybe it’s just in my neck of the woods, but I’ve met maybe five people total who knew who Amanda/The Dresden Dolls are. I’m really glad that that may not be the case though!