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God is an Astronaut — Remembrance Day
Album: All is Violent, All is Bright
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 3456









Released: 2006
Length: 4:09
Plays (last 30 days): 2
(Instrumental)
Comments (402)add comment
An all time favourite, thanks to RP for introducing me to this lovely track.
The anticipation & build up is masterful.
 kcar wrote:

You're sparking a lot of comments with this beloved bidet. Could we get some photos or a few blog entries? 

Yes!  Please send photos! Happy Valentine's day!  
This is one of those "classic RP" tracks in my mind, as I heard it first on RP and pretty much only here for about 17 years at this point. 
 BBoyes wrote:

Perfect to accompany installing a bidet (purchase was a Christmas present for my wife).  Installation is a Valentine's Day present.


You're sparking a lot of comments with this beloved bidet. Could we get some photos or a few blog entries? 
love this!
My home county too
 BBoyes wrote:

Perfect to accompany installing a bidet (purchase was a Christmas present for my wife).  Installation is a Valentine's Day present.



A long time to wait for a clean bottom
 Pitjes wrote:

Did you ever think about the question, if there is one, as person, is it male or female?



If there's only one, a bit pointless being either ....
Did you ever think about the question, if there is one, as person, is it male or female?
Absolutely makes the synapses fire on every listen.  Love it!
 ick wrote:


Perhaps I am a strange person, but I find installing a bidet as a Valentine's Day present hilarious.  Everybody poops!  Christmas gift no less... oh sheesh, I must stop typing now so I can continue laughing.



LOL!! I Agree!  ...To each, their own!   
 BBoyes wrote:

Perfect to accompany installing a bidet (purchase was a Christmas present for my wife).  Installation is a Valentine's Day present.



Perhaps I am a strange person, but I find installing a bidet as a Valentine's Day present hilarious.  Everybody poops!  Christmas gift no less... oh sheesh, I must stop typing now so I can continue laughing.
 BBoyes wrote:

Perfect to accompany installing a bidet (purchase was a Christmas present for my wife).  Installation is a Valentine's Day present.



Haha ... love it.  Hope it worked  😧

[And they say romance is dead]
Perfect to accompany installing a bidet (purchase was a Christmas present for my wife).  Installation is a Valentine's Day present.
 Salamus wrote:

The 7.6 rating has become passe. Rate it a ten or a five. Or a zero. Make a decision for once in your life. 7 or 8 don't count anymore.


The bell-curve-like spread of ratings (centered around 7) on most songs in RP is likely primarily due to the self-selection of users and secondarily by the musical selection of Bill, Rebecca, and company.

These aren't random songs being rated by random people - the RP team picks what they deem good, and the people who regularly listen and rate them are almost by definition mostly among those who agree.
God is an astronaut.
10 - godlike
Really love this. - 9
God is an astronaut everyday at lunch time? Me says yes! 
A straight eight👍
 Salamus wrote:

The 7.6 rating has become passe. Rate it a ten or a five. Or a zero. Make a decision for once in your life. 7 or 8 don't count anymore.


I've decided it's a 7.6.  But I can't rate it at 7.6.  So I left my rating alone.
 quesarah wrote:

For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me



As a Tullite, I get it but wonder how many others do...great song off of Benefit by the way...
 wiltaran wrote:

Trent Reznor's 'Hurt'...


Cash now owns it - ask Reznor...
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me
I kept waiting for it to start.  Then it ended. 
Damlaaaa
 renaultr17 wrote:
This track doesn't remind me of Trent Rezner's Hurt. This track is Trent Rezner's Hurt. Straight-up rip.
 
Hmm, except for the striking differences in rhythm, tempo, chord progression, key, melody, instrumentation, structure, lyrical content and vocals (or lack thereof), they are kinda similar aren't they? 

What's that? You weren't referring to NIN's Trent Reznor but your flatmate's second cousin Trent Rezner who wrote a completely different piece name Hurt that actually does sound like GIAA's Remembrance Day

In that case, please pardon my sarcasm.
if ... god is an astronaut ... he surely spent some time in ireland
Driftin' away I am...
 

Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives.

Bertrand Russell

Rate 10 
This track doesn't remind me of Trent Rezner's Hurt. This track is Trent Rezner's Hurt. Straight-up rip.
The 7.6 rating has become passe. Rate it a ten or a five. Or a zero. Make a decision for once in your life. 7 or 8 don't count anymore.
 Stefen wrote:
The opening reminds me of Johnny Cash's Hurt.
 
Trent Reznor's 'Hurt'...
Thanks for the trippy session this past hour Bill!  Cue up the Steven Wilson!
Appropriate on the eve of Remembrance Day.
 lizardking wrote:

@robertomiller 
I just read the summary for your film, and I am looking forward to hearing how you incorporated this (great) track into the film. 

Peace, Love, Happiness, and a bunch of other stuff!  

 
Thanks, lizardking,
The track is used on the trailer only:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mandorla/132865030 
 
love and light...  
 robertomiller wrote:
Very pleased to have discovered this song on RP, and then licensed it for the trailer to our film, Mandorla.
https://vimeo.com/132865030
Niels and his label have been great to work with. 

 
@robertomiller 
I just read the summary for your film, and I am looking forward to hearing how you incorporated this (great) track into the film. 

Peace, Love, Happiness, and a bunch of other stuff!  
Distracted by the NIN opening...
Very pleased to have discovered this song on RP, and then licensed it for the trailer to our film, Mandorla.
https://vimeo.com/132865030
Niels and his label have been great to work with. 
I've had this at 7 for too long. Just got a nudge to 8! {#Cheesygrin}
Saw them live recently, I was not expecting such an energetic show. Really awesome! And the guys are really humble and cool, they stayed after the show and gave autographs to fan. A band to follow for sure. And again thanks to RP for this great discovery! 
Feel the power...
 1wolfy wrote:
 I recently read that we may send messages outside of our galaxy to possibly make contact with other intelligent life forms ..the debate is what should we say. perhaps it should read  'Is there anybody out there'? What fascinates me is how much fear there is in doing so. many feel it could lead to earths destruction.  not me, but my curiosity is aroused. Will someone/something ever answer in my lifetime ? 
 
Is anybody out there? Well, many subscribe to the view that they are indeed out there and that they have been here all along anyway. . . me included. 

One does not have too scratch that deep for all kinds of proof that this is indeed the case. . . as long as you ignore Main Stream Media and Government propaganda that is. 

Anyway. On that bombshell, I hope if you think my statement is credible then you may dip your toes into using the internet to look further than the narrow and controlled field that is presented to the public at large. {#Propeller}
 
 
 Stingray wrote:

Never thought a band without singer could produce such dense songs!

WONDERFUL!

ottovonb wrote:

I've often thought the same about the Smashing Pumpkins. Who I love.

 
ka-ching! that's good  : )
I still remember the "in crescendo" of the concert of this guys last fall, like each of their songs they start putting in the right mood and it goes up and up until everyone in the room is up there. Difficult to achieve, a great live band.
Yep, still sounding good.
Drifting through space when I hear this
Had not heard this one in a while ... {#Cheers}
 AndreasKristian wrote:
I just can't believe ......That you are playing this track...you must be God.

 
You're thinking of that other group, "God is a DJ".
Emancipator would be the perfect follow-up to this
 MrMiami wrote:
Is it me or are they ripping the melody from NIN??

 
Couldn't help but keep singing...."without you...everything falls apart..."
Is it me or are they ripping the melody from NIN??
 I recently read that we may send messages outside of our galaxy to possibly make contact with other intelligent life forms ..the debate is what should we say. perhaps it should read  'Is there anybody out there'? What fascinates me is how much fear there is in doing so. many feel it could lead to earths destruction.  not me, but my curiosity is aroused. Will someone/something ever answer in my lifetime ?    unclehud wrote:

If God is an astronaut, then he's out of work these days.  Which is really a sad statement, since NASA worked peacefully at the pinnacle of civilization's accumulated knowledge.



 

I just can't believe ......That you are playing this track...you must be God.
  ....powerful, uplifting, exciting sound  {#Crown} ......
 Stingray wrote:

Never thought a band without singer could produce such dense songs!

WONDERFUL!



 
I've often thought the same about the Smashing Pumpkins. Who I love.
 fredriley wrote:
The band name is very likely referring to the 'ancient astronauts' cult of the 70s (of which I was a believer), of which Erich von Daniken was a prime exponent, following his best-selling book "Chariots of the Gods?". A later opus of his was explicit in its title: "The Gods Were Astronauts"

Was a believer? I am not sure how one can go from reading Daniken (and all the many, many following researchers) and then at a later point dismissing it. 

I am not sure if it was a cult though. . . more a case of looking at the available facts and coming to a reasonable conclusion regardless of what the current trend of thinking may be.

 
“In an infinite Universe anything can happen.”

- or -

“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe


Astronauts are Cool....




 unclehud wrote:

If God is an astronaut, then he's out of work these days.  Which is really a sad statement, since NASA worked peacefully at the pinnacle of civilization's accumulated knowledge. 


The band name is very likely referring to the 'ancient astronauts' cult of the 70s (of which I was a believer), of which Erich von Daniken was a prime exponent, following his best-selling book "Chariots of the Gods?". A later opus of his was explicit in its title: "The Gods Were Astronauts".
 Highlowsel wrote:

Nah...these days God would be an astronaut for the Chinese.  And this doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter if the baton gets passed (back) from West to East.  So long as the species keeps advancing it's all good.  Now if only we could find a way to stop warring amongst ourselves...like kids on the beach fighting all while ignoring the grandeur of the ocean.  You'd think we could develop a wide appreciation of how small we are against such a firmament and so go exploring it together arm in arm. 

Maybe someday.  (Good tune, too, by the way.  Heh)

Highlow
American Net'Zen

 
Your comment on another song about the "first chimp to sail out on a log" has been stuck in my head for months (in a good way)!  Thanks for the great writing!!!  {#Yell}
 Highlowsel wrote:

Nah...these days God would be an astronaut for the Chinese.  And this doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter if the baton gets passed (back) from West to East.  So long as the species keeps advancing it's all good.  Now if only we could find a way to stop warring amongst ourselves...like kids on the beach fighting all while ignoring the grandeur of the ocean.  You'd think we could develop a wide appreciation of how small we are against such a firmament and so go exploring it together arm in arm. 

Maybe someday.  (Good tune, too, by the way.  Heh)

Highlow
American Net'Zen

 
Well said, Highlowsel.  " ... like kids on the beach fighting all while ignoring the grandeur of the ocean."  I'm stealing that.
God is an Astronaut! Wow, his CV is endless!!

Never thought a band without singer could produce such dense songs!

WONDERFUL!


 On_The_Beach wrote:

Sorry, it's the dyslexia kicking in.

 
{#Drummer} {#Drummer} 

Definitely worth two rim shots. 
Happy Armistice Day.
Just clicked on 'Nasa and other space stuff' and God and the Astronaut started playing. Spooky Possums!
 unclehud wrote:

If God is an astronaut, then he's out of work these days.  Which is really a sad statement, since NASA worked peacefully at the pinnacle of civilization's accumulated knowledge.



 
Nah...these days God would be an astronaut for the Chinese.  And this doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter if the baton gets passed (back) from West to East.  So long as the species keeps advancing it's all good.  Now if only we could find a way to stop warring amongst ourselves...like kids on the beach fighting all while ignoring the grandeur of the ocean.  You'd think we could develop a wide appreciation of how small we are against such a firmament and so go exploring it together arm in arm. 

Maybe someday.  (Good tune, too, by the way.  Heh)

Highlow
American Net'Zen

If God is an astronaut, then he's out of work these days.  Which is really a sad statement, since NASA worked peacefully at the pinnacle of civilization's accumulated knowledge.


Nine Inch Nails. Hurt, Perfect drug,
Cannot be coincidence. I enjoy the tune, but only because it brings the original into my brain. 
 Proclivities wrote:

Four times in the last thirty days is outrageous.

 
{#Lol}

But seriously, I think most listeners would say there's certain songs they hear way too much. For myself, I feel like I hear "Shaking the Tree", "This is Why We Fight", and "Life on Mars" or "Ziggy Stardust" every day. That's the perception and not necessarily, the reality.
 oilydwarf wrote:
Bill,  in addition to being able to nominate new tracks can we recommend ones that we would like to remove from the play list?  This track is played far too much and whilst there is nothing wrong with it I'd rather hear something new.  Just a thought!!

 
How about "Fire Flies And Empty Skies"?  That's another excellent track off this same album that hasn't been played here since 2008!
 oilydwarf wrote:
Bill,  in addition to being able to nominate new tracks can we recommend ones that we would like to remove from the play list?  This track is played far too much and whilst there is nothing wrong with it I'd rather hear something new.  Just a thought!!

 
Four times in the last thirty days is outrageous.
Getting my money's worth out of the subwoofer on this one!
Very nice atmosphere and arrangements. Love the metal sound in combination with piano and strings. This would mix really well with songs from M83.
 oilydwarf wrote:
Bill,  in addition to being able to nominate new tracks can we recommend ones that we would like to remove from the play list?  This track is played far too much and whilst there is nothing wrong with it I'd rather hear something new.  Just a thought!!
 
Really now, a bit of perspective is in order.  Please stop and consider just how freakin' diverse the playlist is here.  Absolutely nothing is played too frequently on RP.  Any such arguments are simply the height of ridiculousness.         
"I am the Walrus"is a hard act to follow, but this manages it perfectly. Amazing tune. The whole album is worth it.
Bill,  in addition to being able to nominate new tracks can we recommend ones that we would like to remove from the play list?  This track is played far too much and whilst there is nothing wrong with it I'd rather hear something new.  Just a thought!!
Yes, for some reason this is one of those tracks that seems to be played more frequently than the statistics indicate.  However, the PSD button is always close by.

ricmo wrote:
Is it just me but does this song get the equivalent airplay (on RP at least) that Hey Jude did when it was peaking? I mean
this is a decent song but it's not Hendrix or Beatles or even Van Morrison. What gives? 
 


 On_The_Beach wrote:
brilliant sense of humour!!!
Sorry, it's the dyslexia kicking in.
 


 phlattop wrote:

Funny how people complain about the free things in life like listening to RP (donations aside). You might as well complain about the music coming out of a passing car.
 
I know what you mean, but your example may need reconsideration.  You must not live in a place where people go about with 400-watt stereo systems and ultra-bass sub-woofers, rumbling out of their vehicles in excess of 100 dB.  True though, complaining does little good in that situation.
Good song, by the way.
 stf9 wrote:
good lord, what a bitchfest in here. chill, people.
 
Funny how people complain about the free things in life like listening to RP (donations aside). You might as well complain about the music coming out of a passing car.

Sorry, it's the dyslexia kicking in.
 fredriley wrote:

Who? Is that an anagram?
 
This guy and this song:


 Telescopesatwar wrote:
The beginning borrows from the ending of Nine Inch Nails' "a perfect drug" way to much.
 
I thought it sounded more like "Hurt" but in a higher key
 drsteevo wrote:
Trent Reznor called, he wants his melody back.
 
Who? Is that an anagram?
 ricmo wrote:
Is it just me but does this song get the equivalent airplay (on RP at least) that Hey Jude did when it was peaking? I mean
this is a decent song but it's not Hendrix or Beatles or even Van Morrison. What gives? 
 
That's pretty narrow criteria; there has been music made in the years subsequent to 1968, you know.
Bellissima musica!
 diaspicer wrote:
GREAT tune, and how is the rest of the album? Should I bite, or does it?
 

The rest of the album is great too...this song played in a different key{#Wink}
good lord, what a bitchfest in here. chill, people.
Is this a one song album? Come on, RP.... I'm going to space
 rdo wrote:
 Darkmatter wrote:
What exactly do you imply here? That no European living today is entitled to criticize atrocities and blatant violation of human rights, because of what happened before they lived? If so, you better brush up on your debating skills, bud. Because you ain't going go win any that way.
I imply that before you (the royal you) go spewing your anti-American propaganda all over this board, maybe first consider burying your head in the sand for the next 1000 years to make up for the 2000 years Europe spent scourging the planet until, say, about 1960. 

I am fully aware of atrocities in Iraq and Vietnam, etc... not my point.  Our soldiers are wonderful, brave etc..  I am glad we don't adopt the do-nothing ethos of Europe. 

Does that help my debating skills any?  If not, I don't give a flying f.
 
Not to take anything away from our (the US) active and past military personnel, I think this country would be a lot better served if we DID adopt a little bit more of Europe's "do-nothing ethos."  Is there really any need for the US to be the world's police force?  And even if there is, I'd hardly call the majority of our military actions over the last 60 years police work.  There is a very strong record of supporting revolutionary groups who are working to overthrow existing democratically elected governments (or at least stable and somewhat equitable) and making the new government pawns in America's ambitions.  That is, until our little pawns get a mind of their own and do something like, I don't know, invade Kuwait?  Or maybe supplying the Afghanistan resistance movement against the Russians in the 80's only to have those same weapons fired at American soldiers a few decades later.  

I, for one, think we should get our fingers out of places they don't belong.  Would you want China, Japan, or Russia trying to dictate decisions and policy in our country?  No?  Then why should we have the right to do the same in any other country? 
As someone who spent part of his childhood in Bray, Co Wicklow, I feel strangely proud of these guys for putting Wicklow on the map again :)
 Telescopesatwar wrote:
The beginning borrows from the ending of Nine Inch Nails' "a perfect drug" way to much.
 
That sounds like a challenge for Bill to make a segue.

Trent Reznor called, he wants his melody back.
 ricmo wrote:
Is it just me but does this song get the equivalent airplay (on RP at least) that Hey Jude did when it was peaking? I mean
this is a decent song but it's not Hendrix or Beatles or even Van Morrison. What gives? 
 
Wow, all your references are 40 years old. Do you ever listen to new music.
I agree, though, Bill plays this too much. 
GREAT tune, and how is the rest of the album? Should I bite, or does it?

I've typed 3 responses and erased all 3. Let's move on and listen to the music?


Is it just me but does this song get the equivalent airplay (on RP at least) that Hey Jude did when it was peaking? I mean
this is a decent song but it's not Hendrix or Beatles or even Van Morrison. What gives? 

Glad to see folks keeping up the discussion of the White Man's burden.

 

 


 Cynaera wrote:
 rdo wrote:


It's funny, as a European, that you make use of the term eradicate.  I think your continent has already cornered the market on that, sister.  Have you ever so much as opened a history book?
Wait a second - you're confronting me because I use the term "eradicate" when genocide has been the order of the day since Mussolini and even before? As a European (which I'm assuming you are, unless your use of commas indicates that you think I am European, in which case, you're mistaken) have you forgotten Hitler's regime to eradicate the Jews, the Gypsies, and anyone who wasn't of Aryan descent? I think you should open and read a couple of history books yourself.  And DON'T call me "sister." I don't know you. And I HAVE opened, read, and questioned history books, not that I should have to justify myself to you.
 
@rdo      lets talk about the Indian wars, or maybe the slaves brought in to work the fields.....or Vietnam or Iraq....
or maybe glass houses echo too much?
Maybe it's best if we just stick to the music, huh?

Nice drone music. Dig it!
Sweet zombie Jesus, I love this song!
The beginning borrows from the ending of Nine Inch Nails' "a perfect drug" way to much.
Ah. Thanks for this today.
oh wow, hell of a choice to play today. thumbs up.

Nominating this song for loud play on tenth anniversary of 9/11 
I always think this must be Simple Minds when I hear the beginning...anyone else get that?
much better....thanks.
 tbor79 wrote:
sweet zombie jesus, can we please hear a different song from this band?
 
"sweet zombie jesus"  Awesome!  Mind if I borrow that? 
 
sweet zombie jesus, can we please hear a different song from this band?
5 >2
Nice segue......

More Dance on RP!!! 
rp, you are in danger of making me hate this song- it's getting a little too much play
 rdo wrote:


It's funny, as a European, that you make use of the term eradicate.  I think your continent has already cornered the market on that, sister.  Have you ever so much as opened a history book?

Wait a second - you're confronting me because I use the term "eradicate" when genocide has been the order of the day since Mussolini and even before? As a European (which I'm assuming you are, unless your use of commas indicates that you think I am European, in which case, you're mistaken) have you forgotten Hitler's regime to eradicate the Jews, the Gypsies, and anyone who wasn't of Aryan descent? I think you should open and read a couple of history books yourself.  And DON'T call me "sister." I don't know you. And I HAVE opened, read, and questioned history books, not that I should have to justify myself to you.

 
superflyLD wrote:
This song is great.  This album is great.  This band is great.... and the name 'God is an Astronaut' is GREAT.

 
The title is a direct reference to the pseudo-cult that was active in the 70s based on the books by Erich Von Daniken and other authors, whose names I can't remember offhand, which postulated a belief that aliens visited Earth in prehistoric times and instructed civilisations to build monumental structures such as Stonehenge, the Nazca lines, Easter Island statues, and many more. It was a kind of secular pseudo-religion which caught the mood in the hottest years of the Cold War when it seemed that only beneficent aliens from a higher civilisation could save humanity from destroying itself. As well as Daniken's 'non-fiction' books, there were also a number of SF novels that pushed the same idea. I know - I was an adherent of this belief in my late teens.




Very good one here !
 jenakle wrote:
This STILL gets cranked every time it comes on. I'd love recommendations for other bands that make me feel like this.
 
> www.allmusic.com > search a band > look at Similar Artists or Influenced By > Profit
This song is great.  This album is great.  This band is great.... and the name 'God is an Astronaut' is GREAT.

piano reminds me of a song from the album Gone to Earth by David Sylvian (former Japan).
This STILL gets cranked every time it comes on. I'd love recommendations for other bands that make me feel like this.
 rdo wrote:


It's funny, as a European, that you make use of the term eradicate.  I think your continent has already cornered the market on that, sister.  Have you ever so much as opened a history book?
 
It's "funny" that the person you responded to appears to be American, not European; anyhow, good tune.