Great Sci-Fi Songs

My appreciation for music is pretty much equalled by my love for movies... especially science-fiction movies. I've been a fan of both of these art forms ever since I can remember. As a kid, I was nuts about the music of Kiss, The Monkees and Beatles (no sci-fi there, sorry)... and I raved about TV's Star Trek and Space:1999, and classic films like The Thing and The Day the Earth Stood Still. 

Now throw those two seemingly disparate forms together and what have you got? Mostly some of the most imaginative songs of all time, I'd say. A while back, I posted a list of great "robot songs", which you can read here, but I won't borrow too much from that for this more all-encompassing Sci-Fi Songs playlist.

Flights of fancy, or fantasy, in music can involve future worlds both utopian and dystopian, outer space adventures, time and dimensional travel, alien beings, cybernetic/robotic creations, and more. The Canadian progressive rock trio Rush is definitely the most famous contributor in this department, having dedicated many songs, song suites, and even (almost) whole albums to science fiction storytelling. Fellow Canuck headbangers Voivod also have a reputation as sci-fi songwriters, though these boys focus more heavily on post-apocalyptic themes. Dark, weird and wonderful, Voivod are also - perhaps even more so than Rush - more prolific in this sphere. 

Off the top of my head, I can come up with some biggies, though my list is far from comprehensive. These are sci-fi songs that I am most familiar with... enjoy!

2112 Suite, by Rush (essential to any such list, Rush did this song genre best)

Cygnus X-1, by Rush

Twilight Zone, by Rush

... loads more by Rush (like Red Barchetta, Natural Science, and so on)

Space Oddity, by David Bowie

Ziggy Stardust, by David Bowie

Starman, again by Bowie

Starship Trooper, by Yes

Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft), by The Carpenters

Iron Man, by Black Sabbath

Time Machine, Black Sabbath

Electric Eye, by Judas Priest (about a futuristic world of surveillance of the masses)

Rocket Man, by Elton John

Psychotron, by Megadeth

Hangar 18, by Megadeth

Walking on the Moon, The Police

I Robot, Alan Parsons Project (based on the Isaac Asimov short story collection)

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Pink Floyd

Astronomy Domine, Pink Floyd

Space Truckin', Deep Purple

Mr. Roboto, by Styx

Stranger in a Strange Land, Iron Maiden (based on the Heinlein novel of the same title)

To Tame a Land, Iron Maiden (based on the Frank Herbert classic novel Dune)

Nothingface, and Killing Technology, and Cosmic Drama, and many others... by Voivod