11. Oh My Gawd!!! (1987)

Begins with a Lennon sample from "Revolution 9" and closes with a loop from "Tomorrow Never Knows," an excellent metaphor for the band's move from heroin to acid as a thematic focus. (Judging from her appearance on Heady Fwendz, Yoko Ono hasn't minded the theft.) In the liners to a 1998 compilation, Wayne noted that he and Michael were experimenting with sleep deprivation during the recording dates. Maybe that's why he's so punchy on the opener, "Everything's Explodin'": "When I look in my mirror and my brains are fallin' out of my head/ Well, there's nothing wrong, it's just the way I feel/ If you don't like it, write your own song..." A rare bit of guff from our fuzzy crew.

The Lips learned a few tricks this go-round. The nine-minute "One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning" is a hellish drive-by in slow motion that eases into a deliberate, osmium-dense riff and English's frantic fills. The piano-based "Love Yer Brain" predicts straighter moments to come, at least until the band literally takes the instrument apart. In time, the Flaming Lips would learn to incorporate their experiments into the songs, rather than cramming them in for the hell of it. But their glee at what they get away with here is infectious.