Discussion on:

Top 10 best sci-fi inspired rock albums

Formed in 1969 and still going strong, they invented 'space rock' as a sub-genre of 'rock'. Their first single (they are an albums band having produced on a very few singles) 'Silver Machine' made it to number 2 in the UK (in 1972) and stayed there for several weeks. With tracks like Sonic Attack, Brainstorm, Master of the Universe et al they truly are the SciFi band that defines Geek Music (in a rock genre). A heavy association with Michael Morecock, who has provided both inspiration and lyrics (See The Black Sword album) means that, certainly in the UK, any association of music and SciFi will automatically include Hawkwind.

Time have made the album list?

How about Klaatu's Hope album? A great sci-fi based album "about the sole survivor of an arrogant race of beings, who warns space travellers of hazards in the last days of his life." (wikipedia). So said the lighthouse keeper. Now I need to go listen to it again.

Didn't see your response until after I posted...but couldn't agree more! ... and although it wasn't on this album, they are ones who wrote the song that Karen Carpenter (yeah...I know...) made famous: Calling Occupants...

(the song was actually first released on Klaatu's initial album titled "Klaatu")

I immediately thought of YES mostly because of their album covers by Roger Dean.
Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak was a concept album set in a futuristic Big Brother type society although they really did not go the whole prog rock concept hog - see Brian Robertson's comments about the track called Running Back in wikipedia. "I took enormous offence to [the changes]. I couldn't understand why they'd pay this guy a fortune just for playing what he did. Listen to it and tell me it's not bollocks."
Wishbone Ash's Argus - again cover is more sci-fi than the music which nods towards a medieval tale - if anything a bit Lord of the Ring(ish)
Snak - you are spot on - Hawkwind 100%! One trip is space trip is.....:-)

Sure, it's a soundtrack album to a sci-fi movie, as opposed to "real" album, but how many groups have the distinction of being the only rock group to provide all of the soundtrack songs to a movie?

Although, now that I think about it, most of the songs from their album A Kind of Magic were in the soundtrack to Highlander. Which I suppose either means they were popular among the 1980s sci-fi film directors, or that their wide range of musical styles allowed their music to be better incorporated into the movies...

Blows Against the Empire isn't just science-fiction inspired, it is a science fiction epic. "Hijack the Starship"

I'll be going through this list and listening to the ones I'm familiar with and tracking down the ones I'm NOT familiar with.

I will say that as soon as I saw the title, I thought to myself, "The list won't be complete without Rush."

Surely Devin Townsend's 'Ziltoid the Omniscient' should be in there!????

Agreed on all these, one group I'd throw in there is Hawkwind. Some of their album covers have the paperback sci-fi book cover style of the 60s and 70s and far out lyrics. As well this band featured a young Lemmy Kilmeister which you may know from Motorhead.

Good Pysi-Fi-Delic stuff...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_the_Mountain_Grill

Being pioneers of Prog Rock, a lot of the Moody's music was Sci-Fi based. To our Childern's Childern's Childern has to be one of the best and Sci-Fi thought inspired albums of all time. The problem with it is that most people here are too young to remember it. They laid the groundwork for Yes, Rush, and many other Prog Rock bands to follow,

What about Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds Based on H,G,Wells book of the same name.

The 1st album that came to mind. I thought I'd be #1, not omitted.

The chances of anything coming from Mars....

I bet 90% of the peeps reading this can finish that lyric line.
I have a good video doc of the making of.
I'm scared to hear the remake they're doing. I think they should leave it alone.

While I definitely think this should be on the list, I don't see it bumping 2112.

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation...

This is the album I kept scrolling down to see. Not only is it Sci Fi Rock but it's based on one of the original Sci Fi stories.

You could probably have chosen a number of Yes albums, but I agree, Jon's solo "Olias of Sunhillow" is the superior Sci-Fi influenced album. It's a shame most folks have never heard of it -- you all established your Rock Geek cred here without a doubt. I first found my copy, on LP, in the used record store that lived over-top of a neighborhood bar near the CMU campus, back in the early 80s.

Of course 2112 had to top the list. Thanks, this was fun!

Anything from Be-Bop Deluxe or Bill Nelson. Practically every song the guy writes is sci-fi based and, frankly, the music is about the best prog-rock from the '70s.

2112 is a good choice for #1, Rush has a lot of Sci-Fi inspired songs (Cygnus X-1 Books 1 and 2, Red Barchetta, Red Sector A just to name a few). But their latest album "Clockwork Angels" should probably have been at least #2 since there is a Sci-Fi novel that goes with it.

Left off was Arjen A. Lucassen's Star One band, album Space Metal.
Pretty much every song on their is sci-fi inspired, from Dune to Star Wars to Stargate.

You REALLY blew it, the number one, by FAR rock album based on science fiction is Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds.

It's the best, most accurate production of the HG Wells classic novel ever done, has been a top seller since it came out in the 70's, and even today they are producing a spectacular live version.

How about Pink Floyd?

Although they are my #1 favorite band of all time, they aren't sci-fi. They're more into WWII and the mental issues it caused with their former band mate, Syd Barrett. Their most popular music anyway. Their older albums were more in the sci-fi vein though.

But then, I didn't do up the list, did I?

I'll agree with Rush as #1 with 2112, but BOC albums were injected with a lot of Sci-Fi songs. Most featured at least one sci-fi cut, and they also did the soundtrack for the movie Bad Channels (could have also been called Bad Movie, but the music was good).

I call it sci-fi...it's a concept set in "the future" that incorporates genetically engineered Messiah figures, genocidal test-tube clones, global war...

Test-tube kid is born. Hes stolen by a woman clairvoyant who understands his life has some kind of martyred purpose. She raises him under horrible circumstances, and the kid is influenced by all the bad stuff around him. He becomes a small-time criminal, is sent to jail, has no remorse or sense of history. But then he has a near-death experience, and then a conversion experience. He realizes he has to connect himself to a higher purpose.

At the time hes having these experiences, the world is undergoing an apocalyptic war led by this Brother 33 character, who is sticking his fingers into ethnic conflicts around the world. So Vadikyn (the test-tube guy) goes off to war, becomes a war hero, and then his genetic background is revealed to him. He realizes he is made of some sort of engineered perfection, and if he donates his body to science, the world will basically be perfect.

It is a BRILLIANT album. Conceived and delivered as well as anything I've ever heard. It's Generation X's "The Wall," but for whatever reason, it stayed quiet.

Awesome group whose name was inspired by Robert Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers'. 1983 album - Planet P Project's 'Why Me?" is great.

While not a band but a compliation of music set to a SCI-FI movie most of the music was already recorded by various groups. Personally I think it should be included, but once voice does not overcome all.

1st, I really appreciate Jay's articles and got a great kick out of this one. I also very much agree on the Queen comments. I must be old, but then I saw Rush 2112 and the Moody Blues reference. I always thought Uriah Heep's Demons and Wizards was the best, but too geeky for some of my friends - had to throw that hat in the ring.

Great article. Love Hawkwind. There - I've said it. So now that I've dated myself, I might as well put in a plug for I, Robot by Alan Parsons Project.

But always a good read. Comments, too! Thanks.

A lot of "Heavy Metal" bands would fit in here nicely. Blind Guardian (namely "Nightfall in Middle Earth", "At The Edge of Time" and other albums), Iced Earth (namely "Framing Armageddon", "Crucible of Man", and "Dystopia") , Gamma Ray, et al. For Prog Rockers I would have to nominate Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Tarkus" as well as "Karn Evil Nine" from "Brain Salad Surgery".

Crank it up!

jeff waynes war of the worlds double album should be in the mix, heck should be #1.

sold well, had top 40 hit (forever autumn), great record.

When's the last time you listened to it, Jay? OK, I've never actually SEEN "Killroy Was Here" but it's one of a handful of records (yes, LP's) that I grew up with. And according to the liner notes, it's about government policing of morality and one rocker's escape from the system (posing as a "roboto").

Also, why is there no mention of the equally PC-dystopian Devo? C'mon sing it with me, guys: "Are we not men, we are Devo?"

I really feel that Klaatu's album "Hope" belongs on this list...I still feel like "I'm the loneliest of all creatures in the universe..." How geekie is THAT!

I think Freddie Mercury might argue his album inspired from an old TV serial into a Major Motion Picture has some cred to get on here.

Admittedly, some of those on the list are not familiar to me, but I find myself listening to Pete Tonwshend's Iron Man: the Musical from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Man:_The_Musical_by_Pete_Townshend

This Canadian metal band has been writing sci-fi themed music for about 30 years now. Their 1989 album Nothingface (with a cover of Pink Floyd's 'Astronomy Domine') is one of the best metal albums of all time.

I'll freely admin there are a few in this list that I've never heard of and that's okay. Now I've got some "new" music to track down.

2112 was a given. It doesn't get any better. But Operation Mindcrime from Queensryche was unexpected and totally awesome! I've always loved that album. I even have the video version. It's a well thought out story and musically, it's just outstanding. It requires a good stereo system and plenty of volume for maximum effect.

"Money and Sex are power plays. Manipulate the people for the money they pay. Selling sex, selling God. The numbers look the same on their credit cards."

Now those are some great lyrics.

Agents of Furtune or just about any of the albums from their heyday..

How could you miss such an obvious nod to godfather of robotics, Isaac Asimov!?! Parsons' production work was so precise, you could almost believe a robot created it. And the Hawkwind fans have a point, too. Break out the argon accumulators and have a great weekend!

How about Alan Parsons Project "I Robot"