Jonathan Coulton
(Photo by Vivan Jayant and Masem, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons)
You may not know his name, but you know his work. Jonathan Coulton is the man behind Portal's endlessly catchy end credit songs, "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone." Outside of that, however, he's made some of the most creative music I've heard in a long time. He is, and I firmly believe this is true, one of the best lyricists to emerge in the last 25 or so years. Yet, in spite of this, he remains criminally slept-on as an artist. In my opinion, in a perfect world, he would be selling out arenas and releasing IMAX concert films, and some of the TikTok-famous types who pass for lyricists today would be asking if I want fries with that.
Of course, those same TikTok types at least partially have Coulton to thank for their success. He was one of the first musicians to come to prominence entirely through the Internet, releasing new music every week on his Thing-A-Week podcast and making money through digital track sales and print-on-demand CDs. He is a major innovator of online creative success. And his work then was fantastic! Songs like "Re: Your Brains" showed his gift for geeky musical comedy, while tracks like "Shop Vac" demonstrated his skill at writing deeply emotional songs. His fantastic EP Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow, featuring tracks like "The Future Soon" and "I Crush Everything," combined the two styles, turning his nerdy comedy into a means of exploring alienated characters. With the exception of "Mandelbrot Set" (the EP's surprisingly profane black sheep), the EP serves as a series of chuckle-worthy and thoughtful character studies.
And JoCo has only gotten better since then. His 2011 album Artificial Heart (produced by TMBG's John Flansburgh) contains some of his best work, songs like "Glasses" and "Nemeses" that explore a variety of topics using an updated, more subtle lyrical style. And then there's Solid State. Holy crap Solid State. It's a sci-fi concept album about the Internet, diving deep into questions of whether or not we are truly better off with the Web in our lives. But the songs touch on many topics as well, from escape ("All This Time") to love ("Your Tattoo") to the post-apocalypse ("Sunshine"). The best of the bunch, however, is "Don't Feed the Trolls," a witty, fantastically composed track about outrage culture, integrating references to the University of Florida taser incident and lines like "I just checked my privilege / And it looks fine to me." Every single lyric is gold. The song is perhaps Coulton's masterpiece, and one I would recommend to anyone looking for a great rock song they haven't heard before.
I discovered Coulton's music in the winter of 2020, in the midst of great life changes and the ongoing pandemic. His sense of humor and unique satirical eye drew me in, and I've been a devout fan ever since. Every time someone asks for music recommendations, he is the first name I bring up. I shot him a fan letter a while back, and he sent me a personal response I have taped to my wall to this day. I cannot recommend him enough. He's a nice guy and a great musician. Going on the JoCo Cruise remains a bucket list item for me.
Those wishing to get into his music have the entire Thing-A-Week library ahead of them, as well as his post-TAW albums (he recently announced that he had six songs "in varying stages of completion" for a new one). Hardcore fans should also check out the songs he wrote for the legal drama series The Good Fight, which are fantastic little political satires exploring NDAs, Russian troll farms, and a certain orange-faced dictator who shall remain nameless.
Coulton is a true original, who deserves far more fame and acclaim than he gets. You should seriously just go listen to his stuff right now.
Seriously.
Do it.
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