Why Does This Exist?: "Suspended Animation" by the Millennium

Diagram titled "Alternate Prone Throwing Position" from the pamphlet Grenades and Pyrotechnic Signals published by US Army Material Command, 2000

I don't know why, but I've always been uneasy about science fiction references in '60s rock music - it never quite seems to work for me. Songs like the Byrds' "Space Odyssey" just don't seem hit that outer-space vibe like that later sci-fi musicians like David Bowie and Gary Numan were able to tap into. So it's probably no surprise that I'm more than a little creeped out by "Suspended Animation", a song by '60s super-group the Millennium. Headed by producer Curt Boettcher (who produced the Association's first record), the Millennium also included members of Sagittarius and the Music Machine. The band only released a single album of sunshine pop, Begin, but there are a bunch of other tracks by the band out there - they had a second record lined up before getting the ax from the record company.

"Suspended Animation" is one of these demos,one of only a few written and sung by Boettcher. Sung from the point of view of a person floating through space in - you guessed it - suspended animation, Boettcher describes how the Earth was taken over by mind-stealing androids and laments his inevitable death, separated from his true love before his stolen space ship reaches a habitable planet. Uh, yeah. And all this is set to a folky/flamenco acoustic arrangement, with Boettcher intoning the line "Far out in deepest space..." repeatedly in a heavily treated vocal. "Suspended Animation" has a yearning feel to it that almost sells the song's concept, but I really have trouble getting past the mind-stealing androids.

"Suspended Animation" by the Millennium