Mr. Roboto
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| "Mr. Roboto" | |||||
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| Single by Styx | |||||
| from the album Kilroy Was Here | |||||
| Released | 1983 | ||||
| Recorded | 1982 | ||||
| Genre | Progressive rock, Synthpop | ||||
| Length | 5:30 | ||||
| Label | A&M | ||||
| Writer(s) | Dennis DeYoung | ||||
| Producer | Styx | ||||
| Styx singles chronology | |||||
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"Mr. Roboto" is a song written by Dennis DeYoung and performed by the band Styx on their 1983 concept album Kilroy Was Here. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the band their first notable hit since "Too Much Time on My Hands" in 1981. Mr. Roboto is one of Styx's most popular songs. It was also released as a 45 RPM single, with the song Snowblind as the B-Side.
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[edit] Description and background
The song's chorus features the line, "Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto", which has become a catch phrase. Dōmo arigatō is one of several Japanese phrases that translate to English as "thank you very much".
The Japanese lyrics at the beginning of the song are 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 wo shiritai)
The lyrics translate into English as follows:
- Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
- Until we meet again
- Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
- I want to know your secret
The song tells part of the fictitious 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 overtaking a Roboto prison guard and hiding inside the emptied-out metal shell. When Jonathan Chance finally meets Kilroy, at the very end of the song, Kilroy says, I'm Kilroy! Kilroy!, ending the song.
This song also represents the use of technology and robots in the 1980s.
The robot-like catch phrase was created with a vocoder. The song heavily features the Oberheim OB-XA and PPG Wave synthesizers.
Stan Winston designed the Roboto costume and mask, which is displayed prominently on the cover of the album Kilroy Was Here. The track was released as the first single from the album at the last minute instead of "Don't Let It End" at the request of A&M Records.
[edit] Video
The song's video, directed by Brian Gibson, depicts Jonathan Chance (played by guitarist Tommy Shaw) walking in Rock Museum to meet Kilroy and a robot approaches. After this, it morphs into five robots moving and dancing. Shortly thereafter, the robots transform into the members of Styx and including a clean-shaven Dennis DeYoung (he shaved his trademark moustache off at the conclusion of the Paradise Theater tour in 1982 and has remained clean-shaven to this day). The video then alternates between the band playing the song on a stage and scenes from the Kilroy Was Here backdrop film. Then, the members of Styx morph back into the robots and DeYoung confronting the robots before collapsing after screaming in the ear of one of the robots. Then DeYoung awakens to see he is being experimented on and runs off. Then, we cut back to the ending of the first scene of the video and Jonathan Chance climbs on to the stage and before the robot reveals his mask to be Kilroy, another shot of the robot with lights on was used to end the clip.
[edit] Uses in media
The song appears several times in the Japanese drama Densha Otoko.
In a 1999 Volkswagen commercial, the actor Tony Hale dances to the song inside of a Volkswagen. This is later referred too when he played Buster in the series Arrested Development. In a flashback it is shown how Buster hears this song in the stair car, starts to robot-dance to this song and lodges his hand-hook into the dashboard of the car.[citation needed]
Earl and Randy from "My Name Is Earl" dance to this song at the end of the episode 5 of season 2.
In the Season 2 finale of Chuck, Jeff and Lester perform this song at Ellie and Devon's wedding, where it is used to score a major gunfight that breaks out during the scene. Three versions are heard during the scene: One sung by actors Scott Krinsky (Jeff) and Vik Sahay (Lester), an orchestral version scored for the episode, and the original Styx recording.[1]
The song also appears in the YouTube Video Evolution Of Dance where Judson Laipply does the robot to the song.[citation needed]
In the movie The Perfect Man, Holly's mother is taken on a date by Lenny to an imitation of the band STYX and the first song sung is Mr. Roboto.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Interview with Chris Fedak: April 27, 2009: What's Alan Watching
