Monday, April 30, 2012

Queen II comes in at 12


As their About section says: “io9 is a daily publication that covers science, science fiction, and the future. Time to get ready for tomorrow.” I’ve been following this site on Facebook for quite a while now and was curious to see how their four-part series on the “top 100 albums every science fiction and fantasy fan should listen to” would look like.

Maybe Queen would make an appearance somewhere in there with Flash Gordon or even A Kind of Magic since it was the unofficial Highlander soundtrack. To my surprise, they ended up as #11 with Queen II. I suppose it is a great fantasy concept album, so why not?

Here’s the list, in case you missed it:

100. Mastodon — Crack the Skye (2009)
99. Alain Goraguer — The Fantastic Planet soundtrack (1973)
98. Yellow Magic Orchestra — Solid State Survivor (1979)
97. Add N To (X) — Avant Hard (1999)
96. Ayreon — Into the Electric Castle (1998)
95. The Residents — The Commercial Album (1980)
94. Front Line Assembly — Tactical Neural Implant (1992)
93. Eon — The Void Dweller (1992)
92. Joe Hisaishi — Princess Mononoke Soundtrack (1999)
91. Space — Space (1990)
90. Black Sabbath — Master of Reality (1971)
89. Intergalactic Touring Band — Intergalactic Touring Band (1977)
88. The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice — Moon Colony Bloodbath (2009)
87. Frank Zappa and the Ensemble Modern — Yellow Shark (1993)
86. Muse — Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
85. King Crimson — In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
84. Goblin — Suspiria Original Soundtrack (1977)
83. Bo Hansson — Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1970)
82. Clint Mansell — Moon Soundtrack (2009)
81. X-Ray Spex — Germ-Free Adolescents (1978)
80. The Chemical Bros. — Dig Your Own Hole (1997)
79. Uriah Heep — Demons & Wizards (1972)
78. Blue Öyster Cult — Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)
77. Alan Parsons Project — I Robot (1977)
76. Praxis — Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) (1993)
75. Electric Light Orchestra — Time (1981)
74. Fela Kuti — Zombie (1977)
73. GWAR — Lust in Space (2009)
72. The Heavy Metal Soundtrack (1981)
71. Voivod — The Outer Limits (1993)
70. Sukia — Contacto Espacial Con El Tercer Sexo (1996)
69. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band — Solar Fire (1973)
68. Genesis — The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)
67. Coheed and Cambria — Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002)
66. Blind Guardian — Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998)
65. Yamasuki — Les Monde Fableaux des Yamasuki (1971)
64. Atari Teenage Riot — Burn, Berlin, Burn! (1997)
63. Gravediggaz — 6 Feet Deep (1994)
62. Fantômas — The Director’s Cut (2001)
61. Misfits — Walk Among Us (1982)
60. Manowar — Hail To England (1984)
59. Cybotron — Clear (1990)
58. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — original soundtrack by James Horner (1982)
57. Björk — Homogenic (1997)
56. Scientist — Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (1981)
55. Guitar Wolf — Planet of the Wolves (1997)
54. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — F♯A♯∞ (1997)
53. Tangerine Dream — Phaedra (1974)
52. Deltron 3030 — Deltron 3030 (2000)
51. Iced Earth — Dystopia (2011)
50. UNKLE — Psyence Fiction (1998)
49. Jean-Michelle Jarre — Oxygene (1976)
48. Jefferson Starship — Blows Against the Empire (1970)
47. Man or Astro-Man — Eeviac: Operational Index and Reference Guide, Including Other Non- Computational Devices (1999)
46. The Decemberists — The Hazards of Love (2009)
45. Aphex Twin — Selected Ambient Works 85—92 (1992)
44. Global Communication — 76:14 (1994)
43. Mike Oldfield — Songs of Distant Earth (1994)
42. Gary Numan — The Pleasure Principle (1979)
41. Philip Glass — Einstein on the Beach (1974)
40. The Orb — The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991)
39. Sonic Youth — Daydream Nation (1988)
38. Goldfrapp — Black Cherry (2003)
37. The Sword — Warp Riders (2010)
36. Yoko Kanno — The Cowboy Bebop soundtrack (2002)
35. Princess Superstar — My Machine (2005)
34. Meshuggah — Destroy Erase Improve (1995)
33. Hawkwind — Space Ritual (1973)
32. The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
31. Rick Wakeman — Journey to the Center of the Earth (1974)
30. OutKast — ATLiens (1996)
29. Brian Eno — Before and After Science (1977)
28. Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
27. The Splash Band — The Music of John Carpenter (1984)
26. Dio — Magica (2000)
25. Emerson, Lake and Palmer — Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
24. Wendy Carlos and Journey — Tron Soundtrack (1982)
23. Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack (1975)
22. Devin Townsend — Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007)
21. Thomas Dolby — The Golden Age of Wireless (1982)
20. Yes — Fragile (1970)
19. The Beatles — Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
18. Sun Ra — Space Is The Place (1973)
17. Underworld and John Murphy — The Sunshine Soundtrack (2008)
16. Queensryche — Operation Mindcrime (1988)
15. Joe Satriani — Surfing With The Alien (1987)
14. Gustav Holst — The Planets (1916)
13. Iron Maiden — Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

12. Queen – Queen II (1974)
Side two of this album (“the Black Side”) is basically a series of dark fantasy short stories, in song form, written entirely by Freddie Mercury. This was the first sign that Queen would become the ultimate fantasy/SF/glam band, who would later add their epic sound to movies like Flash Gordon and Highlander. - AN

11. Dr. Octagon — Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)
10. Daft Punk — Discovery (2001)
9. Vangelis — Albedo 0.39 (1976)
8. Radiohead — OK Computer (1997)
7. Pink Floyd — Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
6. Kraftwerk — The Man-Machine (1978)
5. Parliament — Mothership Connection (1975)
4. Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds (1978)
3. Rush — 2112 (1976)
2. Janelle Monae — The ArchAndroid (2010)
1. David Bowie — The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)

Speaking of Ziggy Stardust, perhaps io9 should have considered William Shatner’s space opera Seeking Major Tom that was released last year. It is a full-on sequel to the Major Tom character introduced by Bowie, and Shatner even does an interesting spoken-word rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody (we’d even get some more Queen on the list again). I blog about it here.

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