The joke certainly was on Robin Gibb — he had the best voice in the group but older brother Barry had the good looks, and their conflicting ideas about who should be the front man led to years of squabbles and bad feelings. “Massachusetts” was Robin’s breakout hit, but “I Started a Joke” was his solo moment — no harmonies, just wordless, choir-like backing vocals. The song reached No. 6 in the U.S. in 1968.
After Faith No More disbanded in 1998, their cover of “I Started a Joke,” released as a B-side three years earlier, was released as the group’s final single and included on their greatest hits album. The only band member on the record is singer Mike Patton, but his mannered vocal is exaggerated by British performance artist David Hoyle as the karaoke singer, making this the rare music video to feature not even a glimpse of the musicians involved.
In 2001 the Wallflowers covered the song in paisley-pop style for the first “Zoolander” movie.
