"Mr. Roboto" is a song written by Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx, and recorded on the Styx album Kilroy Was Here. It was also released as a 45 RPM single in a 4:44 single edit, which has the synthesizer intro and a bar at the finale remov…
"Mr. Roboto" is a song written by Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx, and recorded on the Styx album Kilroy Was Here. It was also released as a 45 RPM single in a 4:44 single edit, which has the synthesizer intro and a bar at the finale removed (available on Greatest Hits released by PolyTel in Canada in 1992). In Canada, it went to #1 on the RPM national singles chart. In the U.S., it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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 (played by guitarist Tommy Shaw) finally meets Kilroy at the very end of the song, Kilroy unmasks and yells "I'm Kilroy! Kilroy!", ending the song.
The robot-like catchphrase was created with a vocoder.
Stan Winston, who would become well-known through his work on Jurassic Park, designed the Roboto costume and mask, which are displayed prominently on the cover of the album Kilroy Was Here. The song's writer Dennis DeYoung did not think of the song as a single until his wife Suzanne, Dennis's friend Dave, and the staff at A&M suggested it as a good candidate. The track was released as the first single from the album at the last minute instead of "Don't Let It End" and turned out to be the band's last Top 5 US hit for eight years. As a result of this song, the Japanese phrase "domou arigatou" entered popular American vernacular. In addition, many have cited this song and the album as potentially having alienated older fans, some calling it "jumping the shark" for the band. Though the song and album may not have resonated with older fans at the time, it remained relevant for younger generations, and James Young has said that due to the song, "we're a part of pop culture."
"Mr. Roboto" has been described as synthpop.
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