''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'' is the second album by American rock band

Powerman 5000 Powerman 5000 (also known as PM5K) is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1991. The group has released eleven studio albums, gaining its highest level of commercial success with 1999's ''Tonight the Stars Revolt!'', which reached number ...

. 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, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label opera ...

. 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!.'' It was used on the soundtrack of the film '' End of Days''. On the band's tour in early 2000, they performed the song in a modified version for their encor ...

" 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 ...

Album information

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

campy Camp is an aesthetic and sensibility that regards something as appealing or amusing because of its heightened level of artifice, affectation and exaggeration, especially when there is also a playful or ironic element. ''Camp'' is historically ...

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 16 July 1945 during World War II. Although nuclear chain r ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

reminiscent of the 1950s, coupled with

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

, apocalyptic messages and

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

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

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, songwriter, record producer, and director. He is the founder and only consistent member of the rock band Powerman 5000. He is the younger brother o ...

's fixation on bygone science fiction with older brother

Rob Zombie Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...

'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, with ...

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

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

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

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

' "

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

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

for the ''

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

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. 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 readershi ...

'' (1952).

Reception

*''

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

'' (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 (band), ...

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 2000 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for PlayStation and Natsume for Game Boy Color. Published by Activision, it is the second installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games, and was ...

'', '' Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD'', and ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * ...

''. It also served as the theme song to '' WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW'' and featured on the ''

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

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

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

The Return of the Rock''. * "

" featured on the ''

End of Days End of days may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''End of Days'' (film), a 1999 supernatural film * '' Carnival: At the End of Days'', an upcoming fantasy film Music * '' The End of Days'', a 2010 album by Abney Park * ''En ...

'' 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 ...

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

Gran Turismo 3 ''Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec'' is a 2001 sim racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the third installment in the ''Gran Turismo'' series. During its demonstration a ...

''.

Track listing

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

" by

. Note * 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 musician best known for playing drums for Marilyn Manson (band), Marilyn Manson from 1995 to 2011. Like Marilyn Manson, which combines the names of an iconic bea ...

– 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 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 al ...

– programming, mixing *

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, and engineer. Her first major breakthrough occurred with 1993's ''Undertow (Tool album), Undertow'', the full-length triple platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles alternative metal band ...

– producer, engineer * Marc LaCorte – programming *

DJ Lethal Leor Dimant (, , ; born December 18, 1972), better known as DJ Lethal, is a Latvian-American turntablist and producer and is best known as a member of the groups House of Pain and Limp Bizkit. Early life Leor Dimant was born to a Latvian- ...

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

Malachi Throne Malachi Throne (December 1, 1928 – March 13, 2013) was an American actor known as Noah Bain on '' It Takes a Thief''. He also had guest-starring roles on multiple television series, including ''Star Trek'' and ''Batman'', and appeared in films ...

– narrator *

Ulrich Wild Ulrich Wild (born December 31, 1969), 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. ...

– 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

Certifications

References

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