''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'' is the second major label studio album by American rock band Powerman 5000. It was released on July 20, 1999 by

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 200 ...

. Having sold over one million copies and achieving platinum status, this would become the group's most successful release and featured such hits as "

Nobody's Real "Nobody's Real" is a song by Powerman 5000 from the album '' Tonight the Stars Revolt!'' and on the '' End of Days'' soundtrack. On the band's tour in early 2000, they performed the song in a modified version, for their encores. Music video A mu ...

" and "

When Worlds Collide ''When Worlds Collide'' is a 1933 science fiction novel co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie; they also co-authored the sequel ''After Worlds Collide'' (1934). It was first published as a six-part monthly serial (September 1932 through Fe ...

Album information

Although it doesn't tell a specific story, the songs have a cohesive theme, primarily oriented around

campy Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...

Atomic Age The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, The Gadget at the ''Trinity'' test in New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, during World War II. Although nuclear chain reactio ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

reminiscent of the 1950s, coupled with

nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...

, apocalyptic messages and

paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

imagery. Music critics and fans alike compare Powerman 5000 frontman

Spider One Michael David Cummings (born August 25, 1968), better known as Spider One, is an American singer, Producer, and Director. He is the founder and only consistent member of the rock band Powerman 5000. He is the younger sibling of singer and filmm ...

's fixation on bygone science fiction with older brother

Rob Zombie Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...

's obsession with B-movie horror themes. Both seem to share an affection for campy entertainment that influence their musical output, though Spider has since abandoned science fiction as the inspiration for Powerman 5000's sound and image. The CD booklet of ''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'' is also composed with science fiction imagery and text, similar to Zombie's horror-themed ''

Hellbilly Deluxe ''Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International'' is the debut solo studio album by American musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie. The album serves as his first release outside of the band White Zombie, wit ...

'', released the year prior. Musically, the album bears similarity to Rob Zombie's

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...

sound with catchy riffs and electronic elements. However, it also includes a cover of

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

' "

Good Times Roll "Good Times Roll" is a song by American rock band the Cars released as the first track from their 1978 debut album ''The Cars''. Written by Ric Ocasek as a sarcastic comment on rock's idea of good times, the song features layered harmonies courte ...

" and "Watch the Sky for Me", a moody,

lounge song Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The rang ...

with its entire melody taken from the track "One More Kiss, Dear" by

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

for the ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. The album shares the same title as a story by

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

published in the pulp science fiction magazine

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readership. ...

(1952).

Reception

*''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' (July 19, 1999, p. 3) – "...tighter than a barbed wire noose wrapped around your neck... ONIGHTrelies on sci-fi imagery and memorable hooks that are sharp enough to catch more than a few big, heavy fish".

Awards

The album won the

Boston Music Awards Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyhor ...

for "Album of the Year" in 2000, while "

" was nominated for "Single of the Year".

Media appearances

* "

" featured in ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subs ...

''. It also served as the theme song to ''

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' (subtitled ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 6'' in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2 on November 2, 2004 in North America. It is the sixth installmen ...

'' and featured on the ''

Little Nicky ''Little Nicky'' is a 2000 American fantasy comedy film directed by Steven Brill, written by Brill, Adam Sandler, and Tim Herlihy, and starring Sandler in the title role, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr., an ...

'' soundtrack, ''Free Air, Vol. 2'', and ''

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

The Return of the Rock''. * "

" featured on the '' End of Days'' soundtrack, ''Gravity Games 2000: Summer Sounds, Vol. 1'', and ''Naked 4-Play'' as a live rendition. * "The Son of X-51" (Remix) featured exclusively on the ''

Bride of Chucky ''Bride of Chucky'' is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. The fourth installment in the ''Child's Play'' franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Ni ...

'' soundtrack. * "Supernova Goes Pop" featured on the '' Universal Soldier: The Return'' soundtrack and ''

Gran Turismo 3 ''Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec'' is a 2001 racing game, the first in the ''Gran Turismo'' series released for the PlayStation 2. During its demonstration at E3 2000 and E3 2001 the game's working title was ''Gran Turismo 2000''. Like its predecessors ...

''. * "Tonight the Stars Revolt!" featured on the ''

Blade II ''Blade II'' is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by David S. Goyer. A sequel to ''Blade'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Blade'' franchise, fol ...

'' soundtrack.

Track listing

All lyrics by Spider One; all music by Powerman 5000, except "

" by

. * The song "Watch the Sky for Me" ends at minute 3:50. After 30 seconds of silence (3:50–4:20), the

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

"The World of the Dead" starts.

Personnel

– vocals * Adam 12 – guitar * M.33 – guitar * Dorian 27 – bass * Al 3 – drums Production * Chapman Baehler – photography * Tom Baker – mastering * Joe Barresi – engineer *

Ginger Fish Kenneth Robert Wilson, better known by his stage name Ginger Fish, is an American drummer primarily known for playing drums for Marilyn Manson from 1995–2011. Like Marilyn Manson, which combines the names of an iconic beauty with a serial ki ...

– piano *

Frank Gryner Frank Gryner is a Canadian record producer, mix engineer, audio technician, and multi-instrumentalist. He has mixed/engineered or performed on recordings for multiplatinum artist Rob Zombie, as well as A Perfect Circle, BT, Peter Pepper, and A ...

– mixing *

Scott Humphrey Scott Humphrey is a Canadian record producer and mix engineer. He began his music career as a keyboard player and programmer. He is best known for his work with multiplatinum recording artist Rob Zombie and has co-written, co-produced and mixed ...

– programming, mixing *

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, instructor and author. Massy is renowned for her multifaceted production/mixing and engineering skills, with her first major breakthrough occurring with 1993's '' Undertow'', th ...

– producer, engineer * Marc LaCorte – programming *

DJ Lethal Leor Dimant ( lv, Leors Dimants, russian: Леор Григорьевич Димант, ; born December 18, 1972), better known as DJ Lethal, is a Latvian-American Turntablism, turntablist and producer and is best known as a member of the groups ...

– turntables * Spider One – art direction, design * Nika – art direction, design *

Malachi Throne Malachi Throne (December 1, 1928 – March 13, 2013) was an American actor, noted for his guest-starring roles on ''Star Trek'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'', ''Lost in Space'', ''Batman'', '' Land ...

– narrator *

Ulrich Wild Ulrich Wild is an American record producer, engineer and mixer specializing in the rock and metal genres. Born and raised in Switzerland, Ulrich is now a naturalized citizen in the United States, living in Los Angeles, California. In a career th ...

– producer, mixing *

– vocals *

Ron Handler Ronald Craig Handler is a music publisher, A & R executive and artist manager, who lives in Los Angeles. He has worked for influential companies such as Arista Music Publishing, BMG, EMI, DreamWorks and Interscope/ Geffen. During his career, ...

– A&R

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonight The Stars Revolt! Powerman 5000 albums 1999 albums Albums produced by Ulrich Wild Nu metal albums by American artists Industrial metal albums Cyberpunk music DreamWorks Records albums