Your Favorite Science-Fiction Rock Albums?

[Enraged_Ape]

Here are mine. By "science-fiction rock album", I'm talking about rock albums that seem to have (or explicitly have) a science-fiction-based theme (one or two songs doesn't count).

There are quite a few of these, so please tell me about others I haven't thought of.

1. "To Our Children's Children's Children" - The Moody Blues (1969). Space travel and exploration in the present and in the far-flung future.

2. "2112" - Rush (1976). In a grim future world where music is outlawed, a guitar is discovered.

3. "I, Robot" - Alan Parsons Project (1977). In a grim future world where everything is outlawed, robots are discovered. (Well, actually, they're already there.)

4. "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds" - Jeff Wayne (1978). Also features the talents of Justin Hayward, David Essex, and Richard Burton. One of my all-time favorites.

5. "Joe's Garage" - Frank Zappa (1979). This could be debatable as to whether this is science fiction or not. It depends on whether you see Sy Borg and the Central Scrutinizer as actual characters or mere metaphors.

6. "Time" - Electric Light Orchestra (1981). Bored and distraught in the early 1980s, a young man is swept mysteriously to the year 2095, where things aren't much better.

7. "Kilroy Was Here" - Styx (1983). Hey, "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" was catchy.

8. "Radio KAOS" - Roger Waters (1987). A kid in a wheelchair finds out he has the ability to manipulate radio waves. He uses it to teach the world a lesson it won't soon forget.

[NewHampshireDem]

1. Uhh ... none of the above?

:shrug:

[Enraged_Ape]

2. This was an invitation for others

to list any that they know that I can't think of.

[Orsino]

3. Donald Fagen's KAMAKIRIAD

This underrated album disappeared without a trace ("Tomorrow's Girls" was the amusing semi-hit) soon after its '93 release, but I find it nearly as magnificent as his previous masterpiece, The Nightfly. http://www.steelydan.com/kama.html">Kamakiriad is an eight-song science fiction anthology of great stories. http://www.steelydan.com/lyrkama.html#track1">"Trans-Island Skyway," effectively the title track, concerns the singer's enthusiasm over driving his new high-tech, eco-friendly Kamakiri. As I've planned for more than a year, it'll be the first song I blast this very afternoon, driving home my new http://www.toyota.com/prius/index.html">Toyota Prius--for obvious reasons:

I was born yesterday
When they brought my Kamakiri
When they handed me the keys
It's a steam-power 10
The frame is out of Glasgow
The tech is Balinese
It's not a freeway bullet
Or a bug with monster wheels
It's a total biosphere
The farm in the back
Is hydroponic
Good, fresh things
Every day of the year
Good, fresh things
Every day of the year

With all screens and functions
In sync lock with Tripstar
This cool rolling bubble
Is all set to samba....

[CBGLuthier]

4. Klaatu's Hope

Klaatu's second album Hope was a loose concept album that had songs about space travel and a lighthousekeeper in space.

Just a really good album and looking at your list I think you would like it.

[Enraged_Ape]

7. Didn't the Carpenters cover a Klaatu song?

"Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft)", I believe?

I've always wanted to check out the source material for that.

[sans qualia]

5. hmm

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" - The Flaming Lips. Yoshimi, uh, battles pink robots. Then the world ends... :loveya: this album.

"Destroy Erase Improve" - Meshuggah. Cyborgs, cyborgs, cyborgs. Definitely not for everyone.

[coloradodem2005]

6. Rush's 2112.

Awesome.

[phantom power]

8. honorable mentions...

Rush's "Cygnus X1" from the album "Farewell to Kings", as the segue to their next album "Hemispheres"

The B-side of "Caress of Steel" was a sort of fantasy story, for that matter.

And, what the heck, Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" is classic metal sci-fi :-)

[semillama]

9. Voivod

Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross are the two most sci-fi albums out there, hands down. another good one is Failure's "Fantastic Planet".

They also happen to be two of the best metal albums of all time in my book, too.

To me, i guess i need to see some "science" themes for it to be science fiction. Just sticking in space ships and robots isn't enough. Best example would be "Star Wars" -space opera, vs. "2001" - science fiction.