This week, I’m turning Fear of Landing over to my friend Jack Keller, who promised me a playlist of music related to my interests.
All titles except a link to YouTube. I have also created the playlist on Spotify For those I could find, it’s embedded at the bottom.
It’s a great change of pace, so I hope you enjoy it as a late summer fun time.
Tragedy in orbit: a soundtrack
by Jack Keller
Unfortunately, Sylvia’s musical knowledge peaks somewhere between nostalgic pop and Taylor Swift. While it can tell you exactly why Challenger’s O-rings failed, you somehow missed decades of musicians turning space tragedies into music.
Space disasters are the tragic punctuation marks of humanity’s love letter to the cosmos. We love to dream of the stars, but we remember the disasters longer than the triumphs. Musicians of all genres have turned these failures into haunting, beautiful, and sometimes strangely optimistic songs.
This is a playlist for every moment humanity reached for the stars…and got lost.
The canonical catastrophes (you knew they would come)
Let’s leave aside the expected successes.
David Bowie – “space rarity“
Major Tom enters space in the most elegant way possible. This is the original model of the astronauts’ sad music.
Peter Schilling – “Major Tom (Coming Home)“
The German synthetic sequel that no one needed, but everyone secretly enjoys. Ambiguity meets the drum machine.
Elton John – “rocket man“
Emotional collapse into a velvety falsetto. Less disaster, more despair.
Crash and Echo: post-rock and space disaster
This is where it gets weird and wonderful. Post-rock artists, in particular, have developed an entire microgenre around space tragedies: instrumental laments with titles that sound like obituaries written by HAL-9000.
We lost the sea – “Challenger Part 1: Flight” and “Challenger Part 2: The Swan Song“
An instrumental memorial to the Challenger disaster, using real NASA audio from the launch. The songs build and break like the mission they honor.
Frank Turner – “Silent key“
Told from the perspective of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died on the Challenger. Imagine his voice still transmitting from orbit.
Tommy N. Tucker – “Spirit of the Challenger”
A tribute from 1986 so sincere it hurts. Recorded and released shortly after the disaster and I’m still looking for an online version.
Sex Clark Five – “51-l“
It is named after the mission designation of Challenger (STS-51-L). A strange mini punk anthem for space trauma.
Scott Manley, played by his daughter Skye – “You won’t go to space today“
A satirical yet affectionate musical love letter to failed releases, technical mishaps, and all the flaming wreckage in between.
The long winters – “The commander thinks out loud“
Inspired by the Columbia disaster. The lyrics explore the final moments when a shuttle breaks up upon re-entry. Brutal, poetic and gentle.
Mastodon – “Forgot“
Metal meets melancholy. Supposedly influenced by the Columbia tragedy. Includes the line “Falling from grace because I’ve been away too long.”
Failure – “another space song“
Less about a specific incident, more about the feeling of dying alone in the void. Shoegaze for your oxygen-deprived soul.
Lost in Orbit: Bonus tracks of ambient and spatial sadness
No specific disaster, just that general, heartbreaking realization that space is a cold, indifferent void.
God is an astronaut – “Suicide by star“
Possibly the most “branded” post-rock band name of all time. This track is like watching a beautiful slow motion tragedy unfold in reverse.
Explosions in the sky – “Your hand in mine“
It has been used in documentaries and space trailers although it has nothing to do with space, because it feels like space.
Hammock – “walk away and come back“
If stardust could cry, this would be the sound. Endless environmental pain.
INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS – “Ashes in the snow“
The musical version of floating silently through a debris field of your own ambition.
Conclusion: space is the favorite scene of tragedy
There’s something hauntingly poetic about the way the music captures the space disaster. Maybe it’s the silence of the space and how sound can fill that silence with mourning, meaning, or a crescendo filled with reverberations.
So whether you’re creating a playlist for a space-themed funeral or just want to feel small in the face of a cruel, expanding universe, these songs will get the job done.
Rockets don’t always make it, but someone always writes the soundtrack.
Thanks Jack!
However, in defense of my street cred, I would like to point out that I remember Peter Schilling’s song in the German original.
I hope you enjoyed Jack’s collection! I’ll admit that I have both clues We lost the sea again and again since I saw the draft of the article.
Here is the Spotify playlist:
If you know of any other songs that clearly should be included, let me know in the comments!
