Jonathan Coulton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jonathan Coulton
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Coulton in 2009
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | JoCo |
| Born | December 1, 1970 |
| Origin | Colchester, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Genres |
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| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, radio musician, in-house musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass, drums, banjo, ukulele, zendrum, accordion, harmonica, mandolin, glockenspiel, analog synthesizers |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Associated acts | Paul and Storm, Kristen Shirts, John Hodgman, Molly Lewis, Ellen McLain, Ze Frank, They Might Be Giants, John Roderick, Aimee Mann, Andy Bates, Sara Quin |
Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. Fans often call him "JoCo". He is known for his funny songs about "geek culture," like science fiction and video games.
Jonathan Coulton became popular by sharing his music on the internet. Some of his most famous songs are "Code Monkey", "Re: Your Brains", "Still Alive", and "Want You Gone". The last three songs were even featured in popular video games like Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, and Portal 2. From 2012 to 2021, he was the house musician for the NPR puzzle show Ask Me Another.
His album Artificial Heart was his first to appear on music charts. It reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.
Contents
Jonathan Coulton's Music Career
Jonathan Coulton's music style is mostly folk rock. It also includes parts of pop and indie rock music.
Early Music and Geek Culture
Jonathan Coulton finished college at Yale in 1993. In the 1990s, he was part of a band called SuperGroup. Before becoming a full-time musician, he worked as a computer programmer.
Coulton describes himself as a "geek." This means he often writes clever and funny songs about science fiction and technology. Most of his songs feature him singing with guitar, bass, and drums. He also plays many other instruments, such as the accordion, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and glockenspiel.
His first album, Smoking Monkey, came out in November 2003. Early podcasts, which are like online radio shows, helped make his music known.
"Thing a Week" Project
From September 2005 to September 2006, Coulton started a project called "Thing a Week". He wrote and recorded one new song every week for 52 weeks. He did this to challenge himself and to see if he could make a living as an artist using the internet.
This project helped him become more creative and meet deadlines. It also showed that artists could share their work online and make money without a big record company. In 2006, he began touring with the comedy group Paul and Storm.
Famous Songs and Video Games
Jonathan Coulton wrote and sang "Still Alive" for the ending of the video game Portal in 2007. This song became very popular. Later, it was even available as free content for the game Rock Band.
"Still Alive" is considered one of the most important songs in video game music. In 2011, he wrote another song for Portal 2 called "Want You Gone." His song "Re: Your Brains" also appeared in Left 4 Dead 2. He also wrote "You Wouldn't Know" for Lego Dimensions.
Another well-known song by Coulton is "Code Monkey". This song was featured on popular tech websites and became the theme song for an animated TV show called Code Monkeys.
New Albums and Projects
After "Thing a Week," Coulton released an album called The Aftermath in 2009. He also released a live concert DVD and CD called Best. Concert. Ever. in 2009.
In 2011, he released Artificial Heart. This album was special because it was his first time recording with a full band in a professional studio. It included his two songs from the Portal games.
Since 2011, Jonathan Coulton has hosted his own yearly week-long cruise called the JoCo Cruise. This cruise is popular with fans of board games, video games, and "nerdy" music. Jonathan Coulton performs live on these cruises and spends time with his fans.
Recent Work
In 2013, Coulton announced he was working on a graphic novel (a type of comic book) called Code Monkey Save World. It was based on characters from his songs.
He also helped write songs for The SpongeBob Musical, which started in 2016. He wrote the opening song "Bikini Bottom Day." He won an award for his work on the musical.
In 2016, Coulton created a one-minute "Previously On" song for the TV show BrainDead. In 2017, he released a new album called Solid State. He also co-wrote songs for singer Aimee Mann's album "Mental Illness."
In 2019, Coulton released Some Guys, which is an album of cover songs from the 1970s.
Jonathan Coulton shares his songs using a special kind of permission called a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license. This means people can use his songs in their own projects as long as they give him credit and don't use them for money. Because of this, many fan-made music videos have been created using his songs.
Most of Coulton's songs are available on his website as MP3 and FLAC downloads. Some are free, and none have digital rights management (DRM), which means they are easy to copy and play. The only exceptions are "Still Alive," "Want You Gone," and "Wikipedia Chanukah," which have different licenses due to their use in games or on Wikipedia.
Glee Song Dispute
One of Jonathan Coulton's well-known songs is his 2005 acoustic cover of "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Coulton created a new melody for his version.
In 2013, the TV show Glee covered Coulton's version of the song without his permission. They even used a line he added, "Johnny C's in trouble." Coulton had released his cover under a Creative Commons license that requires people to give him credit and not use it for commercial purposes.
Coulton's lawyers told him it would be hard to sue because he had used a special license to create his cover in the first place. So, Coulton released his own new song called "Baby Got Back (In the Style of Glee)." This song was exactly the same as his original version. He said he would give the money from sales of this song to charities related to Glee.
In 2014, the TV show The Good Wife even made an episode about this incident.
Jonathan Coulton's Music Albums
Studio Albums
- Smoking Monkey (2003)
- Thing a Week One (2006)
- Thing a Week Two (2006)
- Thing a Week Three (2006)
- Thing a Week Four (2006)
- The Aftermath (2009)
- Artificial Heart (2011)
- Solid State (2017)
- Some Guys (2019)
EPs (Extended Plays)
- Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow (2004)
- Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms (2005)
Collections
- JoCo Looks Back (2008)
- Jonathan Coulton's Greatest Hit (Plus 13 Other Songs) (2012)
Live Albums
- Best. Concert. Ever. (2009)
- JoCo Live (2014)
Other Music Releases
- Other Experiments (Rarities Collection) (2005)
- Unplugged (Live on Second Life) (2006)
- The Orange Box Original Soundtrack (2007)
- 1. "Still Alive" (Sung by Ellen McLain)
- 19. "Still Alive" (Sung by Jonathan Coulton)
- Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti (2010)
- 10. "The Princess Who Saved Herself"
- Portal 2 Soundtrack: Songs to Test By – Volume 3 (2011)
- 13. "Want You Gone" (Sung by Ellen McLain)
- One Christmas at a Time (with John Roderick) (2012)
- Lego Dimensions (2015)
- "You Wouldn't Know" (Sung by Ellen McLain)
- SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical (2017)
- "Bikini Bottom Day" (performed by the cast of SpongeBob SquarePants)
Other Versions of His Songs
- Pianist Louis Durra made an instrumental version of "Code Monkey" on his albums "Mad World EP" and "Arrogant Doormats" (2011).
- The band I Fight Dragons covered "The Future Soon" on their "IFD Super Secret Exclusives" EP (2009).
- The Yale Whiffenpoofs, a singing group Jonathan Coulton used to be in, covered his song "Re: Your Brains" on their album The Best Whiffenpoofs Ever.
JoCo Cruise
Jonathan Coulton started the JoCo Cruise in 2011. It's a special week-long cruise for fans of board games, video games, and "nerdy" music. Jonathan Coulton plays his music live on each cruise and joins in the fun with the fans.
See also
In Spanish: Jonathan Coulton para niños
