Mr. Roboto (song, music video)
Styx. Mr. Roboto. Dennis DeYoung, song writer.[1] USA: A&M, recorded 1982, released 1983. On the album Kilroy Was Here. USA: Pumpkin Studios, recorded 1982, released 1983. 40:41 minutes.[2]
From "Lewis," e-mail, 28 June 2004: "Best known for the song 'Mr. Roboto,' the album is something of a rock opera, telling the story of a future where rock music is outlawed and every home has a robot servant (named Mr. Robotos). In the story, a jailed rock musician escapes by disguising himself as a Mr. Roboto."
Wikipedia entry for the song gives the opening — which has gone into popular culture — as follows.
どうもありがとうミスターロボット (Dōmo arigatō misutā robotto)
また会う日まで (Mata au hi made)
どうもありがとうミスターロボット (Dōmo arigatō misutā robotto)秘密を知りたい (Himitsu o shiritai)
The lyrics translate into English as follows:
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
Until the day we meet again
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
I want to know your secret
Wikipedia on the song summarizes key parts of Kilroy, and gives a reference for relevance for Graphic & Plastic Arts:
The song is performed by Kilroy [...], 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) [...]. 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.
The robot-like catchphrase was created with a vocoder.
Stan Winston [...] designed the Roboto costume and mask, which are displayed prominently on the cover of the album Kilroy Was Here.[3]
From Wikipedia on the album, etc.: "Vocalist and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung conceived Kilroy Was Here as an album and accompanying stage show, which opened with a short film of the same name." // "Three of the four videos for the album — 'Mr. Roboto', 'Don't Let It End', and 'Heavy Metal Poisoning' — were filmed at the same time and used footage from the minifilm. A fourth video, 'Haven't We Been Here Before', was filmed a few months after the album was released; it did not interact with the album's story."[4]
As of April 2023, there were at least three listings on YouTube for the album, with a full version here.[5] (The fan wiki for the album is marked as stolen from Wikipedia, so we do not link to it.)
Note that there have been accusations of racism against "Mr. Roboto"; in 2023 there are definitely questions of insensitivity. Discussions from useful perspectives can be found, as of April 2023, here[6] and here.[7]
Lewis, 2004; RDE, finishing 18Ap23, 20Ap23
