tell me more about classic filk i know a few songs but never got deep into it
"Filk" is music (often but not always folk music-style, often but not always song parodies to the tune of famous pre-existing songs) about sci-fi, fantasy, and other fannish topics. Filk circles are popular events at science fiction conventions, and that's really where the genre started. The word "filk" actually arose from a typo in a convention program once, and people just rolled with it ever since!
Some of the most iconic albums in the filk world are the anthology albums "Minus Ten And Counting" (songs about space exploration and the real-life space program), "Carmen Miranda's Ghost" (songs about sci-fi space shenanigans and space ghosts), and "Finity's End: Songs of the Station Trade" (songs set in the world of CJ Cherryh's Alliance-Union novels, and my personal favorite. I've never read any of CJ Cherryh's books, but these songs paint such a vivid world.) "Space Heroes and Other Fools" is another big one, it's more hit-or-miss for me but it's iconic. Other really good and foundational ones are "Divine Intervention" by Julia Ecklar, "Avalon is Risen" by Leslie Fish, and "We Are Who We Are" by Vixy & Tony.
I lean more towards sci-fi and space than fantasy, but fantasy and paganism are huuuugely popular filk topics too.
Some of the most popular names to look into include Leslie Fish (intensely prolific, barely a fraction of her work is on any streaming or music service), Julia Ecklar (famous for her "ose," the filk-world word for sad songs - because they're "ose, more-ose, and even more-ose), Juanita Coulson, Kristoph Klover, Vic Tyler (who just recently died :( rest in peace), Duane Elms, Kathy Mar, Bob Kanefsky, Alexander James (trans, with lots of filk under his previous name as well), Vixy & Tony, and Seanan McGuire. (I like Seanan McGuire's filk music better than her books, hah.) Some other great ones include Cat Faber (most acapella), Astrisoni, The PDX Broadsides, Kari Maaren, and Sassafrass (also mostly acapella. Includes Ada Palmer). Heather Dale, Tom Lehrer, and Jonathan Coulton are kind of honorary filkers too haha.
The best place to get the ones from 80s and 90s cassettes are on the Internet Archive or Youtube; a few filkers who are more currently active have their stuff on Bandcamp.
And I'll leave you with a few of my Favorite Ever filk songs:
"Sam Jones" by CJ Cherryh and Leslie Fish
"Pushin' the Speed of Light" by Julia Ecklar and Anne Prather
"Chickasaw Mountain" by Leslie Fish
"Fire in the Sky" by Jordan Kare
"The Phoenix" by Julia Ecklar
"Freedom of the Snow" by Leslie Fish
"Burn it Down" by Vixy & Tony
"Hope Eyrie" by Leslie Fish, or this Minus Ten And Counting version
"Rocket Rider's Prayer" by Kristoph Klover, Ernie Mansfield, and Cecilia Eng
"Dawson's Christian" by Duane Elms, performed by Vic Tyler or Vixy & Tony
"Somebody Will" by Sassafrass
"Chances & Choices & Fortunes & Fates" by Astrisoni
... my tastes lean sentimental and ose but I swear there's a lot of very funny filk out there too
"Never Set the Cat on Fire" by Frank Hayes (a famous one)
"Banned From Argo" by Leslie Fish (an INFAMOUS one)
"Don't Push That Button" by Duane Elms and Larry Warner
"No More SF Cons" by Juanita Coulson
"One More Ose Song" by B. J. Willinger
everything Bob Kanefsky writes
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