4 Baffling Ways Famous Musicians Released Albums

4

Buckethead Manufactures Thousands of Albums by Hand

Anyone familiar with Buckethead already knows he's a little odd. For starters, the guitarist plays all his shows while wearing a KFC bucket and creepy white mask, and he refuses to speak in public unless it's through a puppet named Herbie.

The_Slunk
Remember, kids: It's not schizophrenia if you're an artist.

3

The Flaming Lips' Album Zaireeka Requires Four CD Players

The Flaming Lips

2

Beck Releases an Album That You Have to Perform Yourself

Some people pride themselves on listening to music through long-forgotten formats, be it vinyl, cassettes, or -- God forbid -- eight tracks. Not too long ago, Beck one-upped them all and released his album Song Reader in the most old-school format possible -- sheet music.

Beck / Marcel Dzama
Hardcore, man.

It simultaneously caters to the snobbiest music hipster and slaps him in the face. You'll have a hard time finding music in a more "vintage" format, but as a result, if you want to hear it, you'll have to play it yourself.

Or, of course, you could hop onto YouTube and watch other people turn the songs into everything from ragtime piano pieces to alt-rock dirges. If only we too could find a way to get the Internet to enthusiastically do our work for us ...

Thomas Northcut/Lifesize/Getty Images
Great minds think alike. That is, lazily.

1

Jack White Debuts a Song Via Helium Balloon

When Jack White talks, people listen. And when Jack White said he was finally releasing a solo album, people were willing to do anything to hear it first. So, naturally, Jack White decided to unveil one of the album's hugely anticipated singles by tying it to a balloon and letting it loose over the streets of Nashville, Tennessee.

Third Man Records
"Interwhat now?"

A thousand copies of his song "Freedom at 21" were pressed on a special flexi-disc vinyl, in hopes that they could better survive the airborne journey. Still, Jack White estimates that only 10 percent were recovered from where they crash-landed, picked up by either devoted explorers or thoroughly confused bystanders.

... and then sold on eBay, which is what one person did, to the tune of $4,238.88. (That comes out to approximately $22 per second of music.)

Third Man Records
It had better be one damn good song.

Ridley Davis is currently a student at Michigan State University. So, uh ... go green.