Tom Lehrer

Thomas Andrew (Tom) Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician.

Lehrer's influence on rock music

While Lehrer professed to hate rock and roll —referring to it as "children's records" in the intro to "Oedipus Rex"— his literate satiric style clearly influenced Frank Zappa.

Related Topics:
Rock and roll - Frank Zappa

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Fans of rapper Eminem have also noted some similarities in Eminem's style to that of Lehrer. The style comparison is best evidenced on Eminem's South Park parody "The Kids" with its piano backing, clever use of syntax and off-beat rhyming, and even references to torturing small animals similar to that of Lehrer's notorious "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park". One can also draw a parallel to the singer/songwriter Mary Prankster, whose oeuvre includes a feminist reading of Hamlet ("Green Eggs and Hamlet"); a satire of a pastoral idyll ("Blue Skies over Dundalk"), reminiscent of "Poisoning Pigeons"; "Student Loan", which echoes Lehrer's "Bright College Days"; and "Tempest", whose style recalls Lehrer's love of rhyming series (e.g., "Poisoning Pigeons" and "When You are Old and Gray").

Related Topics:
Eminem - South Park - Parody - Piano - Syntax - Singer/songwriter - Mary Prankster - Hamlet

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