The term "zolo" was first coined by Terry Sharkie via his "Zany Zolo Muzik Hour" radio show to describe a cross-section of bands and artists with similar approaches to music. Zolo is characterized by hyper, jerky rhythms, synthesized bleeps and boings, polka-dot percussion, chipper falsettos, zany imagery and a Zappa-esque sense of humor. While zolo contains elements associated with Progressive Rock or New Wave, zolo itself is a creative thread that runs independently of both of these genres.

Finding its beginnings in the 1970s with the quirky prog of Gentle Giant and comic art-pop of Sparks (produced by another zolo godfather, Todd Rundgren), zolo reached its apotheosis during the late 1970s and 1980s, with XTC's Go 2, Split Enz's Second Thoughts and Godley & Creme's L often considered the best examples of zolo music. Other albums high in zolo content include Bill Nelson & Red Noise's Sound-On-Sound, Devo's Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, Wazmo Nariz's Things Aren't Right, Snakefinger's Chewing Hides the Sound and Greener Postures and numerous works by Albert Marcœur. Zolo was particularly popular in Japan, spawning bands like P-Model, ヒカシュー [Hikashu], Uchouten, Wha-Ha-Ha, 人生 [Zin-Säy!] and ピッキーピクニック [Picky Picnic].

Record labels associated with zolo music include Ralph Records in the USA and ナゴムレコード in Japan.

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A discord server for the wacky genre, zolo.

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