<![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Don't forget most of the output of Toto (Dune Soundtrack) or Information Society (esp. Hack and Peace and Love). Anyone else notice how 80s centric this list is?

Myrcurial

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Two truly sci-fi songs (both pretty good one as well) by previously unmentioned bands.

"Non-Ionic Surfactants" by Lazily Spun - paranoid government and alien abduction conspiracies all in one song. Sample lyrics...

"...extracting vats
and ear drum wax
funded by
your income tax
the non-ionic surfactants are landing here to review
analyzing our stools
colonizing our schools
...they're taking over."
MP3 link

"The Catbird Seat" by The Silent League - to use a quote from erasing clouds, "...The Silent League's 'The Catbird Seat' is a post-nuclear apocalypse nightmare disguised as a psychological piano ballad infiltrated by eerie guitar recorded out on a lost highway somewhere..." The video is lovely as well, but I always had visions of desert landscape with the song.
MP3 link
YouTube - The Silent League - Catbird Seat

Mr-Kimberly

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Oh, and another vote for "The Final Countdown".

victheremin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> How about the entire oeuvre of the Electric Light Orchestra -- in particular 10538 Overture, the entire album "Time" which is cheesewhiz SF at it's best.

Oh, and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Rick Wakeman. IIEEEE! Can such things be?

According to every rock documentary I've ever seen, he single handedly precipitated the punk movement. Footage of Rick Wakeman's "King Arthur on Ice," then cut to footage of the Sex Pistols. Every time.

victheremin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Dealer Man by Michael Moorcock off his solo album. And I think you're wrong about the theme song for Misfits of Science. I can't remember quite how it went, but it contained the words, "Misfits of science, right from Mars". It stuck in my mind because it just sucked SO badly.

Counterglow

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "Dancing Galaxy" by Astral Projection, it even has The Spice monologue.

[www.youtube.com]

Idolwild

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> um... no mention of Coheed and Cambria? Their everything?

TheRunningboard7

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> No youtube links to the songs? Fail.

mooboy

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> The video is redeeming if only for the opening shots [www.youtube.com]

yankerosa

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @neoshaman: Yeah, I'm really excited about that. As long as it doesn't turn out like musition to Broadway usually does.

Also, what about '39 by Queen?

geekiscool

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Well for those of you who are Lips fans there are plans for a Musical version of Yoshimi to hit broadway. Its being written by Wayne Coyne and another prominent Broadway writer. All Flaming Lips songs can be considered Sci-Fi. Just look at their back catalog from Hear It Is their first album up to their latest At War With the Mystics. Wayne is also producing a movie titled Christmas on Mars...

neoshaman

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Ahh, yes, Flaming Lips. As I read this I was actually in the middle of "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell" from the same album (which is also coincidentally my cell phone ringtone too). Love that album.

middlelurch

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> It's not science fiction but ABOUT science fiction - the great "Science Fiction Double Feature" from "Rocky Horror."

SeeingI

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Y'all need to check out the whole Princess Superstar concept album, "My Machine". I can't recall a best lyric offhand, but it's about a superstar who clones herself and becomes the only celebrity in the world, until her clones rebel... The album is told as a "speaking" assignment in a future where people communicate telepathically, by one of the clones' descendants.
And it's a fun album.

MrLister

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "After The Gold Rush" by Neil Young sounds like it was inspired by Clarke's "Childhood's End", though I have no idea if Young ever read the book.

WasatchMan

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Lots of early Rush is strictly more fantasy than sci-fi, but most prog has definite genre elements in it somewhere. I would do a list but that would be really quite tragic behaviour.

And Muse's 'Knights of Cydonia' is am absolute shoo-in for the top 3, just check out the video on YouTube.

stouters

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Have to throw out for consideration (and for perhaps obvious reasons!):

"905" by The Who (from 'Who's Next' but one of Townshend's many scattered songs from the infamous Lifehouse project)

The story of a cloned human going through an accelerated adolescence during which the 'knowledge of the universe' is fed into his mind, and he ends up ultimately feeling vaguely dissatisfied and that there must be something more to life than this...

905

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I don't think I'd leave the plant without a bunch of Beck loaded and ready to roll. Lyrical content aside, it's all just cool.

El_Bandito

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> The actual lyric for "Mr. Roboto" is:
"With parts made in Japan, I am the modren man." The lyrics printed in my copy of the cassette(!)use a backwards "r".

hardcle

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> How about Muse's Exo-Politics?
When the Zetas fill the skies
Will our leaders tell us why
....and now I've got the guitar riff stuck in my head.

Inkymonkey

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I would add:

"Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Still Alive" from the Portal game.

Bonus point for Red Barchetta, but much of the Rush catalog would qualify, as would YES "Starship Trooper" and much of YES's catalog as well.

Hmm, maybe some stuff from Emerson Lake and Palmer too?
"Tarkus", Karn Evil Nine, third impression"
-even "In the Beginning" from The Moody Blues!:

I think; I think I am; therefore I am; I think
---
Of course you are, my bright little star,
I've miles
And miles
Of files
Pretty files of your forefathers' fruit and now to suit our great computer!
You're magnetic ink.
---
I'm more than that; I know I am; at least, I think I must be.
---
There you go, man, keep as cool as you can,
Face piles
Of trials
With smiles.
It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave
And keep on thinking free.

(Old school here.)

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> How about Ashes To Ashes by David Bowie

hn333

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @robg33: I agree - Peter Schilling definitely needs to be on this list!

FredicvsMaximvs

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "spacegrass" clutch
"escape from the prison planet" clutch
"droid" clutch
"tim sult vs the greys" clutch
"saturn III" fu manchu
"space truckin'" deep purple
"your neighborhood spaceman" peeping ton
"jerusalem" sleep
"electric machine" acid king
"the last astronaut" butthole surfers

chump

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @EBone:

4 3 2 1! Another vote for Major Tom.

robg33

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @SCALZI: "39," is an awesome choice, despite the fact they're really making fun of Jefferson Airplane trying to update themselves by changing the name to Jefferson Starship. (Why do you think the travelers in, "39," are called, "The Volunteers?")

Bob Bruhin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @MERCURYPDX: There are way too many Coulton songs that would count. Even, "I Crush Everything," might count if you buy into the idea of an introspective giant squid.

Bob Bruhin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @AMISHJOHN: Of course we have to include the commercials. They sell the cyberpunk theme of the album almost as well as the lyrics. (I love how they open with a blatant reference to Bladerunner, just in case you aren't paying attention.)

Bob Bruhin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Oh, and I forgot "Phasors on Stun" by FM. You can't get much more sci-fi than Nash the Slash in full-on electric mando assault mode.

PocketCoil

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> What, no mention of "I Robot" the concept album by The Alan Parsons Project -- the same guy who made Dark Side of the Moon the fabulous album it is -- and another contender here? Oldies but goodies ...

PocketCoil

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> If you do a list of awesomely bad sci-fi songs, "The Final Countdown" has to be on top of the list.

PAULMDAVIS

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Grandaddy has a whole SF album too, "The Sophtware Slump."

mumblingmynah

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "Space Oddity"? If you want to be obvious, I guess. "Drive-In Saturday" is better for Bowie-SF, I find. "I'll ring and see if your friends are home/Perhaps the strange ones in the dome..." And another full SF album for the list: Outside.

Gabriel_Mckee

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> One of the best Sci-fi songs is "Destination Venus" from The Rezzillos. They had other Sci-fi songs like "Flying Saucer Attack" too.

Also, there are some nice R'n'R classics such as Purple People Eater, Martian Hop. It's funny because I recently got The Neanderthals record "In Space" which include a wanderful instrumental version of "Space Oddity"

For me, Sci-Fi music is closely tied to Rock'n'Roll, Surf and Psychobilly music...

-Jorge

maka76

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> 'The Blob' themesong by Burt Bacharach. Space by The KLF.

dubqnp

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @Mercurypdx: Or Skullcrusher Mountain? Shameful

MarlboroTestMonkey7

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" - Billy Lee Riley
"Spaceship to Mars" - Gene Vincent
"Telstar" - The Tornados

Somebody already mentioned Captain Beefheart, but I have to type "Big-Eyed Beans From Venus" just because it feels good.

Lynn Peril

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> WTF? Where the HELL is "Still Alive" from Portal?! (Just because it's from a game *doesn't* mean it's not sci-fi!)

*Shakes head in disappointment*

!! SPOILER ALERT, if you haven't finished the game !!
[www.youtube.com]

braddie

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Ok, checking my Ipod's Science Fiction Playlist:

Genesis by VNV
Places Named after Numbers - Frank Black
Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
2 Wicky - Hoverphonic
Robert Onion - Frank black
Big Electric Cat - Adrian Belew
The Happening - The Pixies
Knights of Cydonia - Muse
Circling Overland - Front 242
Praying to the Aliens - Gary Numan
Down in the Park - Covered by Marylin Manson and NIN
Mindphaser - Front line assemby
The Marsist - Frank Black
Watcher of the Skies - Genesis
Hear the Rich Boy - The Auranaught

Really, you could have an entire list of just Frank Black - Pixies Sci-Fi. Big Red is Red/Green/Blue mars set to music. Men in Black synthesizes UFO paranoia to a T.

Dug

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Don't forget the entire 'Space' album by the group Space (aka The KLF).

dubqnp

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> what about "'39" by queen?

and hell, nin has a whole sci-fi album...

and i'm sure we're missing out on some new wave stuff here. "metal" perhaps?

arachnophilia

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I would replace "Iron Man" with "Into the Void"...if you are going to include Sabbath...

Industrial? how about "Headhunter" by Front 242 with it's Blade Runner type theme...

...or Ministry's "TV II" with it's mantra "...Connect the God Damned Dots..." in reference to cultural hijacking by technology...

Great topic...

defjam

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Ground Control to Major Tom?

EBone

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Oh, come on. "Love Missile F1-11"? Just because a band has the word "Sputnik" in its name doesn't mean it's worth listening to.

First, ditch that song. It sucks. Second, replace it with one of the two following choices:

"39" by Queen -- A song that dares to confront the challenges that relativistic speed time dilation will have on romance;

or

"Starlight" by Muse -- Aside from it general excellentishness (no, it's not a word), it's got a real "Forever War" vibe to it, and that's not bad.

Once you've picked one of these far more worthy songs to replace "Love Missile F1-11"; take the other one and use it to replace "Mr. Roboto." Just because Styx wanted to be "Tarkus"-era Emerson Lake & Palmer doesn't mean their vision should be validated by rational humans.

There. That's better.

scalzi

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "Hey Mr. Spaceman" The Holy Modal Rounders.

"Please take me Along" Dan Hicks

'The UFO has Landed in the Ghetto' Ry Cooder

"Talking WWIII Blues" Bob Dylan.

"Stabilize Yourself" Bo Diddley

"Out my Back Door" CCR

"Wooden Ships" Jefferson Airplane

"Plastic Fantastic Lover" Jefferson Airplane

Everything recorded by Captain Beefheart

"Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" Frank Zappa

and so on.. basically the whole old hippie genre, nor counting the weird stuff. ;-)

wishnevsky

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> You missed an entire SF album: "To Our Children's Children's Children" by the Moody Blues, possibly the best of their theme albums. Songs included: "Higher and Higher", "Eyes of a Child", "Floating", "I Never Thought I'd Live To Be a Hundred", "Gypsy", "Eternity Road", "I Never Thought I'd Live To Be a Million", and "Watching and Waiting".

"Gypsy" is more haunting than either "Space Oddity" or "Rocket Man":
----------------
A gypsy of a strange and distant time
Travelling in panic all direction blind
Aching for the warmth of a burning sun
Freezing in the emptiness of where he'd come from
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Left without a hope of coming home

Speeding through a shadow of a million years
Darkness is the only sound to reach his ears
Frightening him with the visions of eternity
Screaming for a future that can never be
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Left without a hope of coming home
----------------
...and so on. ..bruce..

bfwebster

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Try also: James Taylor's "Frozen Man" and my favorite sci-fi tune: Jimmy Webb's "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress" borrowing from RAH's novel title.

cptnrandy

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Get out of my head, io9! I was listening to "Race for the Prize" earlier today and thinking to myself that the Flaming Lips should get more credit for the sci-fi awesomeness of some of their work.

HaroldNineThousand

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @MasterOfPastures: Also a Coulton Song.

MercuryPDX

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> "Still Alive"? It is on another medium, but it fits the genre and has a quite ludicrous lyrics.

MasterOfPastures

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> How 'bout "Zager Evans - In The Year 2525" ?

Klappstuhl

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> What was the band that Michael Moorcock was in? Was that Hawkwind? There's no techno, and obviously no one who haunted an '80's indie music shop contributed to this if Sinatra is included. I way my genitals in the direction of your auntie.

Stever-Guy

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> No Hawkwind, no credibility.

Chris Barrus

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> No Chiron Beta Prime by Johnathon Coulton?

MercuryPDX

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Humans are Dead! Fotc! We used poisonous gasses
And we poisoned their asses.
The humans are dead.
(Yes they are dead.)
The humans are dead.
(I confirm they are dead.)
It had to be done
(They look like they're dead)
So that we can have fun.
I hope is dead
They're system of oppression
What did it lead to?
Global robots depression.

PVIII

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> What about 99 Red Balloons? Does that one count?

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @Bob Bruhin: As long as they include the commercials.

As to Rush, I'd have to include the title track of "2112", as well as about half of the rest of their catalogue, especially "Countdown". Which I have a hard time listening to anymore.

AmishJohn

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> a bit of a stretch but...Sigur Ros seems, at least to me, like music that aliens (the nice kind) would make...

goldfarb

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> What no Seatbelt Jazz?

Electroqueen

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Dark Star - the Grateful Dead.

Best lyric: Dark star crashes, pouring it's light into ashes...

Yeah, yeah I know that the Dead aren't cool, but if you want to go out into deep deep space, there has never ever been a better song.

IntoAshes

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Sinatra and Flock of Seagulls stick out from the rest of the bunch. Sinatra, I can handle. Flock of Seagulls gives me hives.

ttrentham

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I love this topic, but as a fan of electro/industrial dance music, I must insist you include something from the industrial repertoire... few other genres incorporate scifi themes as much.

I'd probably include Front 242 of Front Line Assembly, perhaps the song "Mindphaser." Best lyrics: "The sky turns brighter, an evil red. Missiles fly through the air."

extracrispy

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> BTW, re: Frederik Thordendal, here is a clip of a live medley from the record. It doesn't have any of the lyrics or the mellower jazzy breakdowns, but it's awesome to watch how effortlessly the Swedes rock. If you can't see having a deathmatch session to this, I can't help you.

skweetis

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> OT, I went to see "Howard The Duck" in the theater just because Thomas Dolby had like a 3-second cameo in it. I was 12 and I was thrilled.

Gazelle

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @AdamL: Best Conchords song EVER. The corresponding episode is even more so.

I do not find it coincidental that I have every single one of these songs on my computer.

notquiteunderground

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @WickedGlee: i think my first exposure to war of the worlds as a child was the remixed soundtrack for the game based on that musical

tetracycloide

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> To this day, disappointed that a full version-film of "Kilroy Was Here" was never made (and that I was too young to see the concert.)

Cheers to the rest of the list!

Except one. "Rocketman", will not travel on any rockets with me, nor in any cars, nor even on the subway.

92BuickLeSabre

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> Frederik Thordendal, the guitarist for Meshuggah has a solo project called "Sol Niger Within". It's a jazz/mathy stomp metal hybrid that is all about alien abduction and other sci-fi miscellany. It's a little noodly, but not irritatingly so (at least to me). It's the sci-fi-est thing I've ever heard. Sample lyric:

"The first months, I couldn't seem to grasp, those black moments, holding me in a state of loss. Until one day, when it all caught up on me. After that, I
worked real hard for years at suppressing all abduction memories. Now that I remember it all, I'm scared to death almost all the time. I know they'll be
coming back for me again. They always come back."

skweetis

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I <3 Sigue Sigue Sputnik: "Mmmm-mmmmmm, I *love* technology (gy, gy, gy, gy...)"

I would put the entire, "Flaunt It," album on this list.

Bob Bruhin

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @moff: No, I was astounded that the song was as cogent as it was.

@FrankenPC: I'm not saying it makes sense. But it's clearly the story of some kind of machine man who was sent through time to save the world, and was then forgotten by society, and decided to go on a horrible killing rampage.

That's nutty.

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> I'd make sure to bring Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War Of The Worlds.

WickedGlee

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @braak:

All I see are coked up Ozzy lyrics. What is your subjective impression?

[www.lyricsfreak.com]

FrankenPC

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> @braak: You were astounded to discover that something written by Ozzy -- the substance-leaking, bat-head-eating Ozzy of days gone by, no less -- was insane? ;-)

Those are all classic, obv, but if I had to pick one from the past year or so, it'd be "Citizens of Tomorrow" by Tokyo Police Club (and actually, most of their A Lesson in Crime EP). Best lyric: "I have a microchip implanted in my heart / So if I try to escape, the robots will blow me apart."

Moff

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> As a humourous foloow up to Space Oddity, check out "Bowie's in Space" by Flight of the Conchords.

AdamL

]]> <![CDATA[Ten Scifi Songs You Should Take to a Barren Asteroid]]> After many years of enjoying the song Iron Man, I sat down and listened to the lyrics, and was astounded to discover that there's an insane story involved there.

braak

]]>