The Dandy Warhols

While it may be hard to believe, given the synth-pop direction (the inherent haziness of "The Last High," the frothy and frantic "We Used to Be Friends") and Duran Duran connection (keyboardist Nick Rhodes co-produced) to Welcome to the Monkey House, the Dandy Warhols have always bowed down to the guitar pedals and blown-out amps of Lou Reed. Well, him and the guitar heroes of the shoegazer scene (a hazy and hypnotic "Ride," named after the band it cribs chords from), '60s psych ("Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth"), and simple, hip-shaking rock 'n' roll (the cool- kid anthem "Bohemian Like You").

With fan favorites this diverse, you better believe our Next Steps is stuffed with surprises as well.

You could say the Dandy Warhols take their name very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that the Portland-based band fashioned their recording studio/art space after Andy Warhol's fabled home of the painfully hip. Not only that — they've also applied the colorful, post-everything canvases of pop art to their songwriting process, a fearless approach that's made the Warhols' catalog incredibly unpredictable. Just hit random on the following songs to hear what we mean, as the chainsaw riffs of "Horse Pills" give way to the heavyweight beats and quirky vocals of "Scientist," the prairie-prowling hooks of "The New Country," and the space cadet passages of "Dick."

Between their numerous TV/film appearances — including licensed spots in The O.C., Six Feet Under and Sex and the City — and Courtney Taylor-Taylor's buzz-stirring narrator role in the documentary Dig!, the Dandy Warhols are one of the most misunderstood bands of the post-Nirvana Alternative Nation. As tongue-in-cheek as Dandys Rule Ok was — they called a clear Velvet Underground tribute "Lou Weed" — their 1995 debut was merely a hint of the mind-altering music to come, including the unexpected new wave experiments of Welcome to the Monkey House, the glam-rock sheen of Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, and bits of airy dream pop ("Godless," "Sleep"), and anthemic indie rock ("Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth," "Bohemian Like You").