Some classic rock songs are about parties. Other classic rock songs are about patriotism. More than a few classic rock songs are about love. But others, well, they deal with the future. More specifically, some classic rock songs are, well, about robots. And it’s those songs that we wanted to explore here today. Beep, boop-boop!
Videos by American Songwriter
Classic rock, which is a genre that began to coagulate in the 1960s and 1970s, is now some 50 or 60 years old. But even back then, the artists writing the songs that would become classic rock hits years later were concerned with technology. As we all mull over AI today, we only mirror the concerns some songwriters had back then about bots.
“The Robots” by Kraftwerk from ‘The Man-Machine’ (1978)
Leave it to the groundbreaking German electronic band Kraftwerk to set the tone about robots in the mid-20th century. While the group is still together today, touring around the world and sharing their love of programmed tunes, they were something altogether new when they first hit the scene in the 70s. Bringing a dry, electronic sensibility to music, they sang often about highway systems and machines, including robots. It’s just their thing.
“Mr. Roboto” by Styx from ‘Kilroy Was Here’ (1983)
The 1983 concept album by Styx, Kilroy Was Here, is all about robots. In fact, the most famous song on the LP is called “Mr. Roboto”, and it’s all about someone who is part-man and part-machine. It’s a catchy track that somehow takes you into the past and makes you think about the future. That’s a neat magic trick! During an era when futuristic movies were all the rage, that sensibility seeped into the popular music, too. First and foremost with Styx.
“Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1” by The Flaming Lips from ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ (2003)
It’s all in the title with this song, which is somehow almost 25 years old by now. Our hero Yoshimi, who happens to be a black belt in karate, is in a fight for her life when she battles the evil machines. To win, she takes a lot of vitamins. And she must win because all these robots, the Oklahoma-born rock band The Flaming Lips tells us, are programmed to destroy us. It’s all a very harrowing fight, and we are all behind Yoshimi, our new savior. We hope and pray Yoshimi is able to be victorious. The robots cannot win! (Or have they already?)
Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns
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