Boing Boing Staging

Styx: Mr. Roboto

My first rock concert was Styx, on tour for their 1983 science fiction rock opera Kilroy Was Here. Above is the video for the album’s first single, “Mr. Roboto.” Not only does the song feature such profound lyrics as “My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain I.B.M,” the Mr. Roboto costume was designed by Stan Winston, the pioneering SFX artist who is best known for his work on The Terminator and Aliens. From Wikipedia:


The song tells part of the story of Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (ROCK), in the rock opera Kilroy Was Here. The song is performed by Kilroy (as played by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung), a rock and roll performer who was placed in a futuristic prison for “rock and roll misfits” by the anti-rock-and-roll group the Majority for Musical Morality (MMM) and its founder Dr. Everett Righteous (played by guitarist James Young). The Roboto is a model of robot which does menial jobs in the prison. Kilroy escapes the prison by overpowering a Roboto prison guard and hiding inside its emptied-out metal shell. When Jonathan Chance finally meets Kilroy, at the very end of the song, Kilroy unmasks and says, I’m Kilroy! Kilroy!, ending the song.

Styx: Kilroy Was Here (Amazon)

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