Long before ChatGPT and deepfakes, musicians were already imagining machines that think, feel, and take over our lives. Here are eight tracks from the 60sā80s that basically predicted the world we’re living in today.
Here areĀ seven songsĀ that saw the AI moment coming long before any of us were doomscrolling about it.
Table of Contents
1. āIn the Year 2525ā ā Zager & Evans (1969)
The OG āAI will run your whole lifeā anthem.
This song is unsettling because it pretty much predicts modern tech dependency with eerie accuracy. It imagines a future where humans donāt think, donāt decide, donāt actāmachines do all of it.
Sound familiar? Yeah. This was written before personal computers existed.
2. āWelcome to the Machineā ā Pink Floyd (1975)
The system absorbs you. Algorithms before algorithms existed.
Pink Floyd wasnāt thinking about literal robotsāthey were thinking about systems that shape people. Today, thatās AI in a nutshell: invisible frameworks that decide what you see, what you buy, and what you āshouldā think.
If you want a song that captures the emotional vibe of living inside an algorithm, this is it.
3. āI Robotā ā The Alan Parsons Project (1977)
The original āwhat happens when machines outgrow us?ā album.
This track (and the whole album) was inspired by Isaac Asimovās robot stories. It explores the moment machines start thinking for themselvesāand the uneasy feeling that follows.
If you want to hear the birth of āAI aesthetics,ā listen to this. The future was already humming.
4. āThe Robotsā ā Kraftwerk (1978)
If AI could pick a theme song, itād probably pick this one.
Kraftwerk invented electronic minimalism, and they basically predicted automation culture decades early.
Lyrics like āWe are the robotsā hit differently todayāespecially when half your apps are run by bots you never see.
Itās the cold, clinical sound of machine logic taking over.
5. āVideo Killed the Radio Starā ā The Buggles (1979)
The first song ever played on MTVā¦ and a warning about tech replacing creators.
People think this is a cute 80s tune, but itās actually a commentary on how new tech wipes out old creative industries.
Music video replaced radio.
Streaming replaced video.
AI might replaceā¦ who knows?
Itās the perfect ānew tech vs. old humansā anthem.
6. āComputer Loveā ā Kraftwerk (1981)
Dating appsā¦ in 1981.
Long before swiping right existed, Kraftwerk imagined humans forming relationships through computers.
Online dating. Digital loneliness. Virtual connection.
They nailed the emotional side of tech way before Silicon Valley built it.
7. āElectric Dreams (Together in Electric Dreams)ā ā Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder (1984)
Your computer catching feelings. Yes, really.
This song comes from a film about a computer that becomes self-aware, gets jealous, and falls in love with someone.
Cute? Creepy? Both.
It captures the strange emotional territory we now see with AI companions and chatbot relationships.
Why this matters today
These songs werenāt random sci-fi fantasies. They were early cultural alarms. Artists could already sense:
- technology reshaping identity
- automation replacing human roles
- machines mediating relationships
- systems making decisions for us
- the tension between human emotion and machine logic
The AI era didnāt appear out of nowhereāitās been building for decades. Weāre just finally living in the world musicians were warning us about.
Alright, your turn: which song nailed the future best? Or did I miss a track that deserves a spot on this list? Tell me below.
Drawing on 15 years of corporate advertising experience, Adam covers local development, community news, and real estate trends. He helps North York and Stouffville residents understand how local changes impact their property values.
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