Rock ‘n Roll – It’s Out Of This World

[Note: check out any of the videos at the links below that might interest you.]

We’re going to take a little side trip this week—if that’s OK. I was driving along the other day, listening to a somewhat eclectic playlist that I honestly overplay (ask my wife), and Blondie’s Rapture came on—one of my all-time favorite tracks (the video is pretty weird, but I love watching it.)

The question occurred to me, how many other Science Fiction songs are there? Rapture’s Man from Mars that eats your head and eats cars and bars, and then he eats guitars can’t be the only one.

So let’s see what we have. I came up with a few just thinking for a couple of minutes. Being a classic rock guy, Elton John’s Rocket Man and David Bowie’s Space Oddity popped right to the top. And I’d like to think Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon would count; not strictly sci-fi—but he does want to go interplanetary.

And that was about it. That’s all I could come up with. Fortunately, the Internet being what it is, somebody somewhere compiled a list. One list is The 23 Greatest Sci-Fi Songs of All Time. Don’t ask me why 23; the list intro doesn’t explain. But it’s their list, so 23 it is. Once I read the list, I went – yeah, sure I know that song. I didn’t know all of them; in fact, I only recognized two, Styx’s Mr. Roboto and Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. The rest, no luck other than recognizing some of the groups. Interesting that They Might Be Giants has two on the list—maybe I missed something not listening to them. It’s not too late to start.

And that’s not the only list. Gizmodo put out a list, The Top 100 Science Fiction-Themed Songs Of All Time, as did Ranker with The 100 Best Science Fiction-Themed Songs of All Time.

Who knew there was so much science fiction content in popular music? Now, of course, these lists are out of tens of millions of titles recorded. But it’s good to see the genre is well represented by some famous and popular recordings. So, my job for winter—a new playlist of science fiction songs that I can overplay.

So, what do you think? Do you have some favorites? Any song the list makers missed? Do you like science fiction songs, or are they not on your playlist? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by.

[Disclaimer: Please accept my apologies for any ads that pop up before the linked videos. They do not reflect my position, nor do I endorse any of the products – it’s just a YouTube thing I can’t get around.]