What would Steve Austin have listened to?

May 1, 2007 11:43 AM

Where can I find music with a positive perspective on robots, cyborgs, and the like?

Robots, cyborgs, and transhumanistic themes in pop culture tend to be negative - robots taking the working man's job, cyborgs without emotion, trans/post humanism as stealing, well, our humanity.

I'm looking for songs that take the opposite perspective - that this sort of change is (or can be) positive. Where are the songs written from the cyborg's perspective? Transhumanistic music? Music about personal augmentation? Where are the songs that get you excited about the future?

posted by spaceman_spiff to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

Grandaddy. Flaming Lips.
posted by billysumday at 11:50 AM on May 1, 2007

Robot Rock - Daft Punk

All Is Full Of Love - Bjork (watch the video, you'll understand)
posted by ReiToei at 11:55 AM on May 1, 2007

Automatic Lover - Vibrators

It's a stretch I know, but it's positive :)
posted by Jakey at 11:56 AM on May 1, 2007

Del tha Funkee Homosapien's concept Deltron 3030 is a pretty fun futuristic hip hop album. It's not really positive or negative about future "bio-enhanced" humans, but it's definitely got a Fifth Element sci-fi kind of feel. Here's a video.
posted by knave at 12:00 PM on May 1, 2007

Gary Numan!
posted by lovejones at 12:03 PM on May 1, 2007

KRAFTWERK!

Wir sind die roboter... doop doop doop di doop da da doop di
posted by phrontist at 12:06 PM on May 1, 2007

Captured By Robots!... Only one human in the band, the robots actually play their instruments, quite a show!
posted by jacobjacobs at 12:07 PM on May 1, 2007

There's a newish band named To My Boy that seems to be in that class.
posted by ktrey at 12:14 PM on May 1, 2007

Was Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto by Styx pro-robot?
posted by spicynuts at 12:24 PM on May 1, 2007

Best answer: Somewhat related... Bad Religion's I Love My Computer?

Link pops to what my no-sound-at-work-computer leads me to believe is audio for the song.

Yahoo's lyrics for the song
posted by odi.et.amo at 12:26 PM on May 1, 2007

Best answer: If you find the thought of children working together to build a giant cyborg a good thing, then I recommend TMBG's Robot Parade.
posted by jrossi4r at 12:33 PM on May 1, 2007

Best answer: Robot Parade, by They Might Be Giants
Somebody Bring Me a Flower, I'm a Robot, by Kev Russell's Junker
Yours Truly, 2095 by ELO (Doesn't look too positive, but is awfully romantic. Or I'm that hot for robots.)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:38 PM on May 1, 2007

Servotron was an all-robot band that has the topic of robots taking over pretty well covered with their CD "No Room for Humans", with tracks like "Theme for an Ultimate and Inevitable Victory" and "3 Laws (Abolished)". (More robot rock here...)
posted by chr1sb0y at 12:38 PM on May 1, 2007

Best answer: The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton is definitely pro-robot, though the rest of civilization might not feel as positive about the technology as the character singing it.
posted by jheiz at 12:39 PM on May 1, 2007

Depending on how you read the lyrics, Nine Inch Nails' "The Becoming" is either pro- or anti- cyborg.
posted by saladin at 12:41 PM on May 1, 2007

Most of Trans Am's Futureworld is a positive/optimistic view of technology/robots. It also completely rocks.
posted by rabbitsnake at 12:51 PM on May 1, 2007

Doubling Granddaddy. Their album The Sophtware Slump is basically all about robots. Robots like Jed:

Last night something pretty bad happened.
We lost a friend,
All shocked and broken,
Shut down, exploded.

JED-E3 is what we first called him.
Then it was "Jed,"
But Jed's system's dead.
Therefore, so's Jed.

We assembled him in the Kitchen,
Made out of this and
Made out of that and
Whatever was at hand.
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:55 PM on May 1, 2007

Yep, Grandaddy likes the robots.
Specific robot-heavy songs: Jed The Humanoid and Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground) from The Sophtware Slump and I'm On Standby from Sumday.
posted by sad_otter at 12:58 PM on May 1, 2007

Sexy Robot by Hakan Lidbo
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 2:05 PM on May 1, 2007

Butters - My Robot Friend

Hey there have you heard about my robot friend?
He's metal and small and doesn't judge me at all.
He's a cyberwired bundle of joy.
My robot friend.

I like to dip and daddle with my robot friend.
He's smart as can be and emotion-free
And he's computin' his way to my heart.
My robot friend.
My robot friend.
My robot friend.
My robot ...friend.
posted by davey_darling at 2:10 PM on May 1, 2007

The Incredible Singing Robot
posted by grobstein at 2:26 PM on May 1, 2007

The Dresden Dolls, Coin-Operated Boy
posted by fuzzbean at 2:44 PM on May 1, 2007

Response by poster: Spicynuts: sort of, but it's also got a line about machines as dehumanizing. Which was what sparked this - it was the best I could come up with through a Google search.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 2:45 PM on May 1, 2007

Laura Barrett's "Robot Ponies."
posted by greatgefilte at 2:46 PM on May 1, 2007

The Flaming Lips reference in the first comment is probably "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21", which is pretty much on the nose.
posted by ormondsacker at 3:32 PM on May 1, 2007

SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK - Affordable Firepower
posted by pompomtom at 3:49 PM on May 1, 2007

Jonathan Coulton has been mentioned, so let me add Charlie Kam. Kurzweil tested, cyborg approved.
posted by ntartifex at 4:24 PM on May 1, 2007

There's always School for Robots by Bruce Haack, on Hush Little Robot.
posted by galaksit at 6:50 PM on May 1, 2007

Printed Circuit, esp. Act Robotic.
posted by zamboni at 12:57 AM on May 2, 2007

There's always the great theme song for Artbots, the Robot Talent Show (click "Theme Song" link here).

Speaking of which, keep an eye on artbots.org because it sounds like you might love seeing an artbots exhibition (or just reading all the project descriptions if it's not in your area).
posted by allterrainbrain at 11:32 PM on May 2, 2007