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12. “Mr. Roboto” by Styx
Song Year: 1983
“Mr. Roboto” is one of the songs about the future that imagines a more authoritarian world where the working class is little more than cattle and censorship runs rampant.
The track is from the album Kilroy Was Here and featured Kilroy as a character who escapes from a jail run by robots. The album is one of Styx's concept albums, like their earlier Paradise Theater, and helped make them one of the best rock bands of the 80s.
13. “Next Year” by Foo Fighters
Song Year: 1999
The video for this song shows the band members as astronauts lifting off and traveling toward the moon.
This imagery fits the lyrics well, but they also hint at someone having a busy time, going through both good and possibly difficult things, and planning to be more present in someone's life the following year.
The song lends itself well to holiday and New Year's Eve play.
14. “One Hundred Years From Now” by The Byrds
Song Year: 1968
The Byrds were a California folk-rock band popular in the 60s and 70s. This classic song of theirs asks profound questions about whether or not people might feel differently about their views and opinions in a hundred years.
The narrator believes that people are wrong about most things and need to change their minds in the future.
15. “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack
Song Year: 2000
Lee Ann Womack's signature song sold over 2 million copies, winning a CMA and a Grammy.
This beautiful track is one of the songs about the future that doesn't predict the upcoming state of a person or the world. Instead, an unnamed narrator lists their hopes for the future and wishes for someone else to live life to the fullest every minute.
16. “Space Oddity” by David Bowie
Song Year: 1969
This iconic David Bowie hit, about a character called Major Tom who goes to space on a rocket ship and is stranded there, came out only five days before the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
The inspiration for the song wasn't the upcoming moon landing, though. Bowie loved the Stanley Kubrik film 2001: A Space Odyssey and wrote the song after seeing it multiple times.
When Elon Musk launched one of his Teslas into space in 2018, the car's radio played this song.
17. “Year 3000” by Busted
Song Year: 2002
“Year 3000” is one of the songs about the future that's quirky, fun, and contains references to pop culture.
The narrator's neighbor builds a time machine and goes to the future to find the narrator's album knocked Michael Jackson out of the top spot and that people live mostly underwater.
The neighbor's time machine has a Flux Capacitor, a reference to the part that turned a DeLorean into a time machine in the film Back to the Future.
18. “Rocket Man” by Elton John
Song Year: 1972
Bernie Taupin wrote “Rocket Man” after being inspired by Ray Bradbury's story “The Rocket Man” in his collection The Illustrated Man. The story's theme is that being an astronaut will be a commonplace and ordinary profession in the future.
The song features an astronaut dad who regrets his job and thinks he'll quit but keeps going and doesn't make it home.
Many people see parallels in the song with jobs like touring rock stars, truck drivers, and anyone who has to be away from home for extended periods.
19. “2112” by Rush
Song Year: 1976
Canadian rock band Rush became famous for their hard and progressive rock songs that often touched on science fiction and philosophical themes. This 20-minute narrative science fiction suite in seven tracks took one entire side of the vinyl album 2112.
The album was Rush's most popular at that time and drew inspiration from the controversial objectivist works of Ayn Rand.
20. “In the Year 2525” by Zager & Evans
Song Year: 1969
This decidedly bleak song by the rock-pop duo Zager & Evans posits what life will be like in the future, and it's not a pretty picture.
Starting with 2525, they sing about all the terrible changes they foresee, including pills that serve as sustenance that control people's thoughts and reliance on machines in a dystopian nightmare.
Each verse mentions a different year in the distant future up to 10,000 years from now.
21. “Future Nostalgia” by Dua Lipa
Song Year: 2020
Grammy-winning British singer Dua Lipa says this song is about the limitless possibilities the future holds. Classic hits by artists like Madonna and Olivia-Newton John inspired the funky disco sound.
The song's remix samples several classics like “Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks and “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani.
22. “Future” by Paramore
Song Year: 2002
This track is one of the songs with future in the title that's easy to understand. The song says we need to move on and leave the past behind.
Lead singer Hayley Williams said she could write any number of songs about the past because she's nostalgic. Instead, she wanted to write an ode to the future.
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