# Best Songs about the Future **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144 "2008-07-29T21:12:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/21 "2008-07-30T16:25:03Z")
_After the Gold Rush_ by Neil Young. _Wooden Ships_ by CSN&Y. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/22 "2008-07-30T16:51:15Z")
[1984](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZOUBFwG-iE&feature=related) - David Bowie 🙂 and for a post-apocalyptic future, [(Nothing But) Flowers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOEIRI5HSuQ) - Talking Heads and then, not a _song_ about the future, but a _video_ set in a post-apocalyptic future, [You Got Lucky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G0RdLh12T4) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/23 "2008-07-30T17:45:15Z")
“What in the World??..” by the Dukes of Stratosphear > [@](#): > > 2034 > Women fight the wars > Men are too bored, they’re scrubbing floors ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/24 "2008-07-30T21:58:01Z")
Queen - '39 ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/25 "2008-07-30T23:05:37Z")
I’m ashamedly going to nominate Busted’s [Year 3000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_3000). Silly, silly, throwaway pop. But catchy. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/26 "2008-07-31T00:16:25Z")
The Future Soon, by Jonathan Coulton ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/27 "2008-07-31T02:28:25Z")
**’39** - Queen Pretty much the entire **Diamond Dogs** album by David Bowie. The entire thing is set in a future that’s not exactly post-apocalypse, but post-collapse (maybe just post '70s), combining Orwell’s Oceania with the residual decadence of the glam period. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/28 "2008-07-31T03:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] I’ve always liked “2000 Man” by the Stones on _Their Satanic Majesties Request_. [/QUOTE] Especially since the line about the guy having an affair with a random computer is one of the more accurate predictions I’ve heard. Jefferson Airplane had a bunch of songs (not good) about stealing a starship, right out of Heinlein. And if you consider after the war songs to be about the future, Dylans “A Hard Rain Is a Gonna Fall” and “Talking World War III Blues” are definite candidates. The latter song takes just about every WW III cliche, chews it up and spits it out in one verse. “I lit a cigarette on a parking meter and went on down the road Just a normal day.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/29 "2008-07-31T10:56:33Z")
“Faith of the Heart,” Rod Stewart. What? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/30 "2008-07-31T18:53:01Z")
“Living in the Future” by John Prine We are living in the future I’ll tell you how I know I read it in the paper Fifteen years ago We’re all riding rocket ships And talking with our minds And wearing turquoise jewelry And standing in soup lines We’re standing in soup lines… Of course, as Prine says, he wanted to write a song about the future, but it took him 15 years to write it, so at best it’s about the present. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/31 "2008-08-01T01:51:45Z")
I was dreamin’ when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray But when I woke up this mornin’, could’ve sworn it was Judgment Day The sky was all purple, there were people runnin’ everywhere Tryin’ 2 run from the destruction, U know I didn’t even care Cuz they say 2000 zero zero party over, oops, out of time! So 2night I’m gonna party like it’s 1999! Prince, 1999 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/32 "2008-08-01T02:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] Queen’s _'39_ [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=mr. jp] Queen - '39 [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sublight] **'39** - Queen [/QUOTE] Can we start this thread over so I can be the first one to mention this? I freakin love this song, one of my very favorite songs by one of my very favorite bands. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/33 "2008-08-01T02:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Jefferson Airplane had a bunch of songs (not good) about stealing a starship, right out of Heinlein. [/QUOTE] _Blows Against the Empire_ was technically the first Jefferson Starship album, although it was really a vanity project by Paul Kanter. It’s pretty much the same mindset that was first shown on “Wooden Ships,” simultaneously released by Jefferson Airplane on the \*Volunteers \* album and Crosby, Stills, and Nash on their first album. Just to show you what the times were like, _Blows Against the Empire_ got a Hugo nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. (It lost to “no award.”) Does anybody else wonder if the title was an inspiration for a certain California filmmaker who turning his student film into the dystopian future world of _THX 1138_ at about the same time? ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/34 "2008-08-01T20:22:01Z")
The Steve Miller Band, “(I’m A) Space Cowboy”. Bet you weren’t ready for that. R.E.M., “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It”. And I feel fine. Sugar Ray, “Someday”. I’ll look around, and wonder why you were always there for me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/35 "2008-08-01T20:23:50Z")
_When I’m 64_ - The Beatles ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/36 "2008-08-01T20:30:00Z")
Oh yeah, and how many people now 35+ years old used to think that the events depicted in Nena’s 1984 hit song “99 Luftballons” (a.k.a. “99 Red Balloons”) was sooner or later going to come to pass? _Mann, wer haette das gedacht Dass es einmal soweit kommt Wegen 99 Luftballons?_ _This is what we’ve waited for, This is it boys, this is war! The president is on the line, As 99 red balloons go by…_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/37 "2008-08-01T20:31:27Z")
Technically about the present, and how it _isn’t_ the future we imagined, but “(It’s the Eighties, So Where’s Our) Rocket Packs” by Daniel Amos: > [@](#): > > It’s the eighties so where’s our rocket packs? > Go anywhere, we strap them on our backs > > I thought by now I’d walk the moon > And ride a car without no tires > And have a robot run the vacuum > And date a girl made out of wires (lyrics [here](http://www.danielamos.com/da/voxhumana/rocketpacks.html), video [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXHWDhk7Hok)) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/38 "2008-08-01T23:30:34Z")
_The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades_ - Timbuk3 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/39 "2008-08-02T00:29:39Z")
_The sun’ll come out TOMORROW…_ ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144/40 "2008-08-02T00:43:54Z")
probably fairly obscure, but how about Beyond Tomorrow by Stan Ridgeway? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-about-the-future/458144.md?page=3)