Echo & The Bunnymen have long enjoyed the fruits of being a successful, greatly respected band. A lengthy career. Royalties that likely provide a comfortable living. The admiration of peers and fans.

 

And seeing one of their albums get taken into space.

 

Yes, Ocean Rain, the band's now-classic 1984 release is being taken aboard the International Space Station by astronaut Timothy Korpa, who plans to not only listen to the album, but take photos of his fellow crewmates posing with the CD. Frontman Ian McCulloch is ecstatic:

"Now it's official. We are the coolest band in the universe. As a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut, and now in a way it feels like I'm fulfilling that dream. I cannot wait to hear from Tim what it is like to listen to 'The Killing Moon' in the actual glow of the moon."

 

The signed CD will launch into space in June and will live with Astronaut Korpa during his three-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The timing, as it happens, is excellent, as "The Killing Moon" is set to undergo a deluxe reissue on May 30, preceding a brand new Echo & The Bunnymen album slated for release later in the year.

 

This is all a nice experience for the Bunnymen, and, yes, "The Killing Moon" is an inspired choice for a cosmic soundtrack, but what other albums and songs belong in a spaceship's tape deck? Good question. Put away your Rare Earth, Earth Wind & Fire, and I Mother Earth CDs (does anyone still have I Mother Earth CDs?)... it's time to escape the gravitational bounds of this world and get spacey.

 

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Skip the obvious Dark Side Of The Moon and head for Floyd's psychedelic debut. Admittedly, not all the songs fit lyrically ("Bike," for example), but the music on this album makes the final, 'My God, it's full of stars' scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey seem like Toy Story. Titles include "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive." Sample lyric:

Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon Miranda and Titania
Neptune Titan, Stars can frighten...YOOOUUUUUUUU!!!!

 

 

 

Rush - 2112

In the future, music will be outlawed. At least in the evil priest-ruled Solar Federation of Planets! A protagonist finds an acoustic guitar, a relic from an earlier age, and excitedly presents it to the high priests. The priests destroy the guitar after hearing Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive album. Sample effected voiceover: "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control."

 

 

 

 

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

The Ohio nerds that made, and make, up Devo would do well in space. They're inquisitive, uniquely intelligent, and they wear uniforms. Their angular melodies and jerky rhythms are mankind's musical counterbalance to space's timeless Blue Danube waltz. Or something. Look, there's a kickass song on here called "Space Junk," OK?

 

 

 

 

Radiohead - OK Computer

The philosopher Robert Pollard once proclaimed, sarcastically, "Woohoo Radiohead! Can't say nothing bad about Radiohead!" His point is taken, but see, Radiohead are pretty amazing. They deserve the acclaim, and if there were critics in space, which there will be, if art/whatever ever ventures there, then those critics would love Radiohead's 1997 album—it not only sounds like it was recorded in space, but that it was meant to be enjoyed in space. There's a song, "Subterranean Homesick Alien," about us humans wishing to be abducting by aliens and seeing the world from above. This album belongs in space!

 

 

 

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Even space needs a little Morrissey. Poetic gloom with the endless void of space—it could work!

 

 

 

 

Above photo from NASA.