A Playlist From Another Dimension (Or Is That Demention?)

May 9, 2016 2:14 AM

io9's Katharine Trendacosta has succeeded in creative crowdsourcing again (previously), by asking "What's Your Favorite Science Fiction Novelty Song?", and she got enough suggestions to assemble a 30-song Spotify playlist*
(Actually she got a couple hundred. There are more that didn't make the spotify list in the follow-up post; just scroll down** for things like The Doctor Who Time Warp, Captain Picard's Let It Snow/Make It So and the highlight of the Buffy Musical Episode [BUNNIES!])

*if you don't do Spotify, or just want to "see" the songs, here are the video versions of the playlist:
Still Alive - Jonathan Coulton w/ Sara Quin and Dorit Chrysler on theremin, also the Portal soundtrack version (previously)
Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury - Rachel Bloom (previously)
The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins - Leonard Nimoy
You Wouldn't Know - Jonathan Coulton (feat. Ellen McLain)
In The Year 2525 - Zager And Evans
Great Lakes Avengers - Kirby Krackle
The Saga Begins - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia
Hey There Cthulhu - Eben Brooks
Yoda - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Superman - Herbie Mann
Doctorin' the Tardis - The Timelords (The Jams/KLF) (previously)
Where's Captain Kirk? - Spizz Energi
I Am the Law - Anthrax
Deadpool Rap - Teamheadkick
Drives Us Bats - Neil Patrick Harris (Batman: the Brave & the Bold soundtrack)
Settlers of Catan - The Axis of Awesome
Write Like the Wind (George R. R. Martin) - Paul & Storm (previously and subsequently)
Flash's Theme - Queen
Fett's Vette - MC Chris
I Whipped Spiderman's Ass - Wesley Willis
Yellow Lasers - MC Frontalot
Up, Up, Down, Down - Kirby Krackle
Godzilla - Blue Öyster Cult
Rage of Thrones - The Axis of Awesome (previously)
The Ballad of Barry Allen - Jim's Big Ego
The Ultimate Showdown - Lemon Demon (previously)
Save World Get Girl - I Fight Dragons
Rocket Man - William Shatner (previously)
The Firm (not the '80s 'supergroup') - Star Trekkin'

**Okay, if you didn't scroll down there,
The Doctor Who Time Warp
Captain Picard's Let It Snow/Make It So
the highlight of the Buffy Musical Episode [BUNNIES!]

If after all this, you think they missed your favorite, that would be no surprise. Ahem.

posted by oneswellfoop (60 comments total)

When I was a teen, I had an inexplicably deep emotional attachment to the song Marvin, I Love You.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 3:11 AM on May 9, 2016 [9 favorites]

They have neither the Rah Band's Clouds across the Moon or Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip's I Lost my Heart to a Starship Trooper. For Shame.
posted by biffa at 3:12 AM on May 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

Nothing from Deltron 3030?
posted by peeedro at 3:20 AM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

This is the song that starts to play through every speaker in my house, whether or not they are plugged in, when They come for me.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:30 AM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

I always loved the fact that the Fringe production team went as far as commissioning a fake psych album for their in-universe band, Violet Sedan Chair, which can now be had on Spotify. What's even better is ... it's not half bad, although it sounds far more like contemporary neo-psych-folk than something actually recorded in 1968–71.
posted by Sonny Jim at 3:43 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Voltaire has a bunch of Star Trek and Star Wars songs, mostly collected in a full length album named Bitrektual (yes). My favorite is the Cantina song (original | Bitrektual longer version).
posted by sukeban at 3:57 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also, since there's Jonathan Coulton but not this one, Redshirt.
posted by sukeban at 3:59 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've always been partial to I Whupped Batman's Ass, myself.
posted by lumensimus at 4:37 AM on May 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

Wot no Mulder and Scully?
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 4:53 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

I see your Mulder and Scully and raise you David Duchovny.
posted by olinerd at 4:57 AM on May 9, 2016 [11 favorites]

I feel like novelty bands (Weird Al, Axis of Awesome, Lemon Demon) make it too easy, because sci-fi stuff is their bread and butter. But that's probably not fair, because they often make truly great songs. So why not include....

Humans Are Dead (Robots) by Flight of the Conchords?
posted by edheil at 5:09 AM on May 9, 2016 [9 favorites]

WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF SPACE
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:13 AM on May 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

Oh, also, how about this bizarro artifact of the 1970s -- a Spider-man concept album, with some honestly pretty cool songs, including Doctor Octopus, Parts 1 and 2! With narration by Stan (The Man) Lee!
posted by edheil at 5:17 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

No Space Girl by the Imagined Village, no justice.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:26 AM on May 9, 2016 [7 favorites]

No "When Worlds Collide"?
posted by Zonker at 5:27 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yabbut no. Destination Venus by the Rezillos. It's actually kind of melancholy, for a power pop punk song.

"Flying Saucer Attack" is, to me, a lesser Rezillos SF song.

Seriously, the Rezillos are the best. "I Love My Baby (Cause She Does Good Sculptures)"? "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight"? Truly all that is finest about Scotland.
posted by Frowner at 5:30 AM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

Personally, I prefer the original Superman by Celi Bee to Herbie Mann's Superman.

Maybe this is also of interest: The Top 100 Science Fiction-Themed Songs Of All Time.
posted by sapagan at 5:32 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

"Across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us."

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds concept album.
posted by edheil at 5:34 AM on May 9, 2016 [6 favorites]

If Spider-Man counts as sci-fi, as it apparently does, you need Doctor Octopus (Parts 1 and 2) from Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero, which was basically Lifesong Records saying "We're not going to promote your _actual_ records worth a damn, so how about slumming on this project?" to 70s prog-rock wunderkinds Crack the Sky.
posted by delfin at 5:35 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Looks like I got to Doc Ock before you, delfin, but you had information to share about its origins I didn't have. Cool. :)
posted by edheil at 5:38 AM on May 9, 2016

I guess "Space Oddity" doesn't count as "science fiction".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:01 AM on May 9, 2016

Yabbut no. Destination Venus by the Rezillos. It's actually kind of melancholy, for a power pop punk song.

Man or Astro-Man? did a pretty awesome cover of it as well, which is how I first heard the song. MoAM? and their entire family of bands (Servotron, Supernova, The Causey Way, etc.) definitely rate a mention in the realm of novelty alt-rock.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:05 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

where's Jabba Flow?
posted by MrGuilt at 6:05 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also missing any S.P.O.C.K.
posted by phooky at 6:16 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Dalida, Plus Loin Que La Terre?
posted by Frowner at 6:24 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

All Mighty Senators - Superfriends
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:31 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I guess "Space Oddity" doesn't count as "science fiction".

I'm guessing it misses the "novelty song" criterion, although I'm not sure all of the songs that made the cut are novelty songs.
posted by TedW at 6:31 AM on May 9, 2016

Dammit, I will just have to keep linking to Jon Pertwee's Who Is the Doctor? until everyone loves it as unironically as I do.
posted by Vortisaur at 6:41 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

I wonder what qualifies as the earliest sci-fi novelty song? I'm going to nominate The Thing recorded by Phil Harris in 1950. (Let's not get into whether monster horror is sci-fi, I mean you have Pac-Man Fever up there and that was a thing that happened)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:42 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

The importance of Star Trekkin in the lives of many of us who were adolescents in the 1990s cannot be overstated: behold, the Star Trekkin Energizer. Yes, I can still sing and dance the whole damn song.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:52 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

I wonder what qualifies as the earliest sci-fi novelty song? I'm going to nominate The Thing recorded by Phil Harris in 1950.

"The Thing" was written by Charles Grean, who had earlier co-written the 1947 record (When You See) Those Flying Saucers, recorded by The Buchanan Brothers. "Those Flying Saucers" has to count, right?
posted by Mothlight at 7:02 AM on May 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

The husband slays 'em every year by singing the Ballad of Jayne (or Hero of Canton or whatever, I am not a Firefly fan) at a Firefly-themed burlesque-show charity fundraiser he participates in. He learned all the verses, and people cry for joy.

(clarification: he doesn't do the burlesque, just the music)

Truly we live in a strange and wonderful world.
posted by emjaybee at 7:03 AM on May 9, 2016

Craig Ferguson's Dr. Who cold open.
posted by mark k at 7:53 AM on May 9, 2016 [5 favorites]

What about Tomorrow's Girls?
posted by fuse theorem at 8:08 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu
I'm a Stranger Here - 5 Man Electrical Band
posted by rocket88 at 8:27 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots -
posted by Smibbo at 8:27 AM on May 9, 2016 [4 favorites]

Four Color Love Story by the Metasciences
posted by themadthinker at 8:33 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Star trekking across the universe / always going forward, cannot find reverse
posted by Flannery Culp at 9:19 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

That's Really Super, Supergirl - XTC
Brainiac's Daughter - The Dukes of Stratosphear (a.k.a. XTC)
posted by The Tensor at 9:27 AM on May 9, 2016 [7 favorites]

ooh ooh I got one

William Shatner - The Scofflaws
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:53 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Thanks for putting in the effort, oneswellfoop. The original seemed like a Spotify ad.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:53 AM on May 9, 2016

I lost my ability to tolerate bad singing long enough ago that I sorta miss the old Leslie Fish, Julia Ecklar, and other 80's era filkers I listed to obsessively in college. No love for any of the old crew in the list here, probably never popular enough to make even Meta's membership's awareness filter, but songs like "Banned from Argo," "Fuel to feed the drive," and similar still have a place in my heart.
posted by Blackanvil at 11:29 AM on May 9, 2016

Timebox's song about Martian invasion - Baked Jam Roll In Your Eye - should be part of every space cadet's playlist.

For reasons I do not intend to explain, that tab was already open before I got to this thread.

There are also plenty of SF themes in early British electronic pop - Human League got their name from a SF-themed game (and featured Jason Taverner from Flow My Tears... on their demo tape), and PKD/Ballard is just about everywhere in Ultravox/Numan/etc from back then. (Replicas is a concept album about a Do Androids... style future - it's nothing but SF songs, and wonderfully bleak.)
posted by Devonian at 11:37 AM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

And if we're going to count flying saucers, why not Dickie Goodman's corny break-in single The Flying Saucer?

More Martians?

Brownsville Station - Martian Boogie
The Ran-Dells - The Martian Hop
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers - Here Come The Martian Martians
posted by Spatch at 11:41 AM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Sorry that Star Wars Gangsta Rap hasn't appeared here yet. It was influential to many of us in an earlier Internet.
posted by cult_url_bias at 2:08 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

No Shatner of the Mount? (source and previously on the blue)

No Picard Song? (there are 4 lights!)

No Roll a D6 (previously)

It's like I don't even know you anymore, Internet.
posted by namewithoutwords at 3:32 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was standing on the bridge when Sulu came to me.
His eyes were full of tears, he said "Captain, can't you see?
The ship is gonna blow, do something, I beseech!"
I grabbed a tribble and some chewing gum, and stopped the warp core breech!

posted by Pope Guilty at 3:41 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

At some point this all fades into filk, possibly not be entirely a good thing...
posted by Devonian at 4:57 PM on May 9, 2016

So nobody has yet to mention the #1 hit from 1962, "Monster Mash" by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. If Godzilla qualifies, the old Monsters certainly do.

Not to mention Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party", The B-52s' "Planet Claire", and Sparks with "Eaten By the Monster of Love" and "A Fun Bunch of Guys From Outer Space". Those "Weird New Wave" bands knew how to work the SciFi angle.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:18 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

The B-52s also did something called "Is That You, Mo-Dean?" which I contend is more sci-fi and contains the best shopping list ever:

"Waitin' for bus number 99,
Goin' to the store for hot dogs and wine!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:47 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

"Is That You Mo-Dean"
How did I miss that one? Thanks, Empress.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:05 PM on May 9, 2016

The sci fi aspect is kind of lost in the general strangeness, but No Anchovies Please
posted by TedW at 6:35 PM on May 9, 2016

For some reason I always conflate No Anchovies Please with the Martian Boogie that Spatch linked above. The Seventies were a weird time. Joe's Garage has some potential songs as well, given the Central Scrutinizer, responsible for enforcing all the laws that haven't been made yet.
posted by TedW at 6:46 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Dammit, I will just have to keep linking to Jon Pertwee's Who Is the Doctor? until everyone loves it as unironically as I do.

If you're going to link obscure sci-fi novelty songs sung by Jon Pertwee, The Noodle Doodle Man On The Moon comes first.
posted by delfin at 6:53 PM on May 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

The Ulduar video got me back into WoW back in the day.
posted by xiw at 7:01 PM on May 9, 2016

I much prefer this Settlers of Catan song.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:12 PM on May 9, 2016

Devo "Space Junk"
Stingray Sam "welcome to mars"
Ricky Wilde "I am an astronaut"
posted by boilermonster at 9:22 PM on May 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Back in '92 or '93, when the KLF's "3 AM Eternal" was a #1 hit and in heavy rotation on MTV, I had an argument with my friend Raum that went something like:

"You know that the KLF recorded a Doctor Who novelty song?"
"No Myca, #1 dance hit sensation The KLF certainly did not record a novelty song about Doctor fucking Who."

...and this being pre-internet, and us being 17 and living in a lousy little shit town, we actually had no way to resolve that argument at the time.

It is now resolved.
posted by Myca at 6:16 AM on May 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

this is the thread that I shall come back to when I need to dig into the nostalgia mines once more.
posted by nonspecialist at 6:52 AM on May 10, 2016

I just heard the most wondrous thing on KEXP, and it totally belongs in this thread. It's by a Seattle artist named SassyBlack.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 9:57 PM on May 12, 2016