Rock and Roll is from Outer Space

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.” Carl Sagan

Space captivates the human mind when we look at the night sky and see all sorts of celestial bodies.

We keep thinking about who we are in this cosmic game, in this universe of possibilities and information. We assess our importance in the face of vastness and ask questions, it is in our nature to question and create our moments.

In this immense context of harmonies and creations, the relationship between man, music and the universe is undeniable.

For centuries of musical works have narrowed the relationship of the cosmos with music, we can feel these forms pulsating in our bodies when we listen to artists such as David Bowie, The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows
Space oddity, David Bowie

With that in mind, I conducted an analysis study on Spotify’s databases where I crossed data from three historical events of humanity with the respective popular songs from those years!

Question 1: What were the most popular music in 1961 (The first man in space)?

The USSR sent Yuri Gagarin into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in a Vostok spacecraft.

In the year that Yuri Gagarin was going to space what was playing on the radios at the time.

The most popular song in this year was: Elvis Presley, Can’t Help Falling in Love.

Popularity Chart by year.

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 — August 16, 1977), also known simply as Elvis, was an American singer and actor.

Question 2: What were the most popular music in 1969 (First man on the Moon)?

American Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon.

The year Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon what was playing on radio at the time.

The most popular song in this year was: The Beatles, Here Comes The Sun

Popularity Chart by year.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960.

Question 3: What were the most popular music in 1990 (Voyager 1’s Pale Blue Dot Photo)?

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan’s book, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,” in which he wrote: “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”

When Carl Sagan convinced his colleagues to photograph the Earth in 1990 what was playing on radio at the time.

The most popular song in this year was: AC/DC, Thunderstruck

Popularity Chart by year.

AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973.

Question 4: What are the relationships between energy of the mentioned artists?

Energy is a measure and represents a perceptual measure of intensity and activity. Typically, energetic tracks feel fast, loud, and noisy.

For example, death metal has high energy, while a Bach prelude scores low on the scale. Perceptual features contributing to this attribute include dynamic range, perceived loudness, timbre, onset rate, and general entropy.

Bar chart of number of energy between Beatles, AC/DC and Elvis.

In the energy charts where the three artists were compared, there is evidence of the AC/DC band in the metrics.

Conclusion

That music lifts our souls and vibrates in universal tones. And it’s proven by these metrics above that Rock came from space!

For here am I sitting in my tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Space oddity, David Bowie

To see more about this analysis, see the link to my Github available here.