Space Rocks!
Entertainment Weekly’s “Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of All Time” list had me exploring the connection between sci-fi and classic rock.
It isn’t just thematic—it’s sonic, cinematic, and loud enough to warp time. The analog whine of a phaser connects us to the sound of keyboards and guitars in any prog rock or heavy metal classic. Both worlds share a love for atmosphere, rebellion, and pushing boundaries.
In the ’70s and ’80s, bands like Pink Floyd, Rush, and David Bowie didn’t just flirt with sci-fi—they married it. Bowie was Ziggy Stardust, an alien rock star sent to save humanity. Rush’s 2112 imagined a dystopian future where music was forbidden—a prog-rock prophecy that could’ve aired on Black Mirror. And Pink Floyd’s The Wall felt like a psychological space opera set in a broken world of isolation and authoritarian dread.
Music videos took it further. Queen’s Radio Ga Ga video borrows footage from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, one of sci-fi’s founding films. Even Styx jumped headfirst into the cosmos with Mr. Roboto, mixing synths, masks, and android rebellion. David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” is practically the theme song for every astronaut floating helplessly through the void in shows like Lost In Space. When The Twilight Zone hits you with a mind-bending twist, cue Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.” And let’s not forget Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”—perfect for The X-Files, where death and aliens are always lurking… just off screen.
Meanwhile, shows like Doctor Who and Buck Rogers embraced synthesizers and glam-rock aesthetics. Stranger Things (a modern classic) revived both sci-fi nostalgia and ’80s rock in one neon-drenched package.
Classic rock and sci-fi TV are cut from the same cosmic cloth—loud, rebellious, weird, and wired for wonder. One asks, “What’s out there?” The other shouts, “Let’s find out—with a Marshall stack and zero gravity.”
Whether you’re on the bridge of a starship or in the back of a tour van, the mission is the same: turn it up and blow their minds.
Doug O’Brien
