There’s a Pink World coming down….
While the fanboy in me is hitting max capacity this summer with The Dark Knight and Hellboy II, I had to make a little extra room when I stumbled across a video on YouTube from the 80s for one of my favorite albums of all time.
Yup — this is “Behind the Barrier” from Planet P Project’s mindscrewing SF/horror concept double album “Pink World” from 1984. In a nutshell — little kid is born with incredible powers, humanity worships him, kid destroys 99% of Earth, and the ones he keeps alive end up in worse shape than those that died. Picture “Firestarter” meets John Wyndham’s “The Midwich Cuckoos” tossed into a blender with Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” with a “1984’ chaser. Got that?
It’s an album that blew me away in high school — and remains one of my favorite examples of horror/SF storytelling done through music (although Kate Bush’s doozy “Experiment IV” is right up there). The video here — “Behind the Barrier,” taking place during the apocalypse of the story — doesn’t exactly hold up too well, but the music does.
Check out the album if you can (it’s finally out there on CD). It’s an acquired taste, but the genuinely chilling storytelling puts it a good notch above a ton of other prog-rock from that period. And if you happen to have a turntable — and yeah, I’m that old — the album was issued on pink vinyl. Because nothing says horrific apocalyptic madness like hot pink.
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Whoa...
I keep searching for something deeper than, "Boy, that woulda made a great comic!" because I feel like it's almost required, but...
whoa...
(PS-What ever happened to these rock opera/concept albums, anyway?)
(PS-What ever happened to these rock opera/concept albums, anyway?)
The music industry going so track-heavy rather than focusing on the album as a whole doesn't make it too easy, I guess. But I miss 'em.
This is awesome! I may have to get this album now. The Wall (album and film) pretty much defined my late teens.
But there are some pretty cool rock opera/concept albums out there:
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - Black Parade
THE USED - Lies for Liars
and they helped create Chadam
JANELLE MONAE - (in four parts?) Metropolis
http://www.myspace.com/janellemonae