Monday, February 16, 2009
Creamtastic The Cream-pire Strikes Back: 10 Bands With More Sci-fi Cred Than U2
Posted by Sean Maloney on Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 2:02 PM
If you guys didn't know, I'm a huge dork. When I'm not thinking about music I'm probably think about robots, or lasers or spaceships. Or--more likely than not--all three. Which is why when io9 proclaimed U2 "Science Fiction's Finest Band" I got a little miffed. Now, I like U2 as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy isn't Adam Gold) but I just can't accept U2 as the apex of near-sighted, sweaty palmed sounds. I didn't get my ass kicked in elementary school to let pop's biggest blowhard rule the nerd-roost. Sometimes you gotta stand up for your nerd-pride and speak truth to the future-dwelling cyborg blogger-bots. After the jump, 10 bands that let their geek flag fly without being obnoxious celebri-tards....
The dude's original gimmick was a pyrotechnic headpiece and by the time he go around to recording Journey he had just gotten weird. "Time Captives" is the sorta of proto-electronica that you would imagine would soundtrack a Phillip K. Dick-penned episode of Doctor Who. The rest of his catalog is equally odd and fascinating.
These cats dressed like Martians way, way before cosplay reared its foam covered head, and they did it all the gawddamn time. I really think the picture speaks for itself. Bono might have some funny glasses and fancier live show, but he definitely doesn't wear antenna to the grocery store. Bonus points for writing a song called "Plutonian Marmalade."
Has Bono been to Saturn? Didn't think so.
Robots versus spud-eating self promoters, who's gonna win? The robots of course, cuz they're robots that can drive long distances and take trains and stuff. And they can make love to the Apple IIc--cold, mechanical robot love.
Who wakes you up on the morning of the apocalypse, huh? The Atomic mutherfuckin Rooster, that's who. Prog is by the domain of nerds by default, but when your prog-band features former members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and the lamest name ever, you win.
This is another example of walking that extraterrestrial walk and talking that mothership talk. Bono's big lemon and The Edge's armada of delay pedals are real impressive but spaceships and Bootsy Collins are way cooler.
Named after the patron satellite of sci-fi, this Swedish surf outfit clearly were a head of the curve with their Spaceballs-inspired head gear. Do you think Adam Clayton could pull that off? Nope, neither do I.
I'm gonna use "Destination Ursa Major" as an excuse to talk about their new album Industry Giants. It has nothing to do with the topic on hand, but damn is it a stellar piece of guitar pop. It's that perfect blend of big star and Flip Your Wig-era Husker Du that made the first two albums so exciting, but everybody in the band seems to be having a lot more fun. I can't wait to see 'em play the new tunes live. And "Ursa Major" references something in outer space, so ya, that's that.
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
The reasons cited in that article from io9 as to why U2 is the best Sci-Fi are flimsy at best. I can't even wrap my brain around how someone was able to rationalize such a declaration.
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Dude - there's a guy from my hometown that made a record all about aliens & UFOs, etc. I almost want to find it, burn it, and send it to you. It truly is priceless.
Oh, and the guys two biggest influences were Blue Oyster Cult (of which he has a tattoo) and Rush, so you KNOW it's gotta be good.
Am I the only one here who saw the Popmart tour? The band descended out of giant lemon shaped mirror ball. Moreover, 1992's Zoo Tv tour was supposed to look like a set straight out of Blade Runner.
No Adam, you're not. But that would definitely rank last of the four U2 shows I've seen (1987 and 2001 would both rank in my top 5 concerts ever... hate them for being pretentious blowhards all you want, but they are simply one of the most amazing live bands I've ever seen).
Oh, bleurgh. U2 aren't the best band of anything, even a really crappy genre like those 3-month horoscope forecast books they sell at the supermarket checkout counter.
Hey, where's Hawkwind on this list?
Daft Punk. Don't they have this whole tale about their studio exploding and ending up robots. come on.
You'd think Man...or Astro-Man? would've made the list as well. What other band builds their own Tesla Coil and turns it on on stage?
Rick Wakeman explored proto-Sci-Fi with his orchestral setting of "Journey to the Center of the Earth". And he always wore those robes...
This is by no means a definitive list of bands with more sci-fi cred than U2. Josie & The Pussycats had a spaceship for a while there.
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