Music / Stupid Dream

I come in value packs of ten.

Stupid Dream is the fifth studio album by Porcupine Tree, first released on March 22, 1999, in the United Kingdom. This album moves away from the band's early Psychedelic Rock/Space Rock sound towards a more song-oriented direction that's poppier yet still firmly in Progressive Rock territory. The title refers to frontman Steven Wilson's cynical outlook on the music industry, calling the idea of seeking fame and a glamorous lifestyle as a musician a "stupid dream" that only causes struggles through hard work.

Tracklist:

1. "Even Less" (7:11)
2. "Piano Lessons" (4:21)
3. "Stupid Dream" (0:28)
4. "Pure Narcotic" (5:02)
5. "Slave Called Shiver" (4:40)
6. "Don't Hate Me" (8:30)
7. "This Is No Rehearsal" (3:26)
8. "Baby Dream in Cellophane" (3:15)
9. "Stranger by the Minute" (4:30)
10. "A Smart Kid" (5:22)
11. "Tinto Brass" (6:17)
12. "Stop Swimming" (6:53)

Principal members:

• Steven Wilson - Lead vocals, guitar
• Colin Edwin - Bass
• Richard Barbieri - Keyboards
• Chris Maitland - Drums, backing vocals

Play it back and trope things at the screen:

• After the End: "A Smart Kid" is set in the years following a nuclear war. The sun has not shone since then and the only known survivor is left stranded.
• Album Title Drop: Given in "Piano Lessons":
  "And even though I got it all now
  My only stupid dream
  Is you and me together
  And how it should have been"
• Alternate Album Cover: The original CD, reissue CD/DVD, and reissue vinyl editions have different covers depicting a CD factory worker inspecting a CD.
• Blasphemous Boast: "Slave Called Shiver"
  "I may be nothing now, but I will rise
  I'll have more followers than Jesus Christ"
• Break-Up Song: The narrator of "Don't Hate Me" just experienced a breakup on a lonely late night in London and hopes his ex has no hard feelings toward him.
• Downer Ending: The album ends with the bleak "Stop Swimming", a song about giving up on individuality and just going with the flow.
• Epic Rocking: "Even Less" (7:11), "Don't Hate Me" (8:30), "Tinto Brass" (6:17), and "Stop Swimming" (6:53)
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: "A Smart Kid" is about the last survivor of a nuclear war, stranded on Earth and hoping aliens would come and rescue him.
• Gallows Humor: The Smart Kid hates the idea of being stranded alone on a now dead Earth after a nuclear war but will make the most of it nonetheless.
  "Stranded here on planet Earth
  It's not much, but it could be worse
  Everything's free here, there's no crowds"
• Instrumentals:
  • The title track is a short string drone and choir interlude.
  • "Tinto Brass" is a jam that wouldn't sound too out of place on any of the first four Porcupine Tree albums. It's also the only song on the album credited to the full band; the rest is credited only to Steven Wilson.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: The narrator of "Even Less" had a friend who drowned, apparently by suicide, and is hailed as a martyr, much to the annoyance of the narrator who knew him.
  "I may just waste away from doing nothing, but you're a martyr for even less."
• New Sound Album: This album saw Porcupine Tree focus shift from largely instrumental psychedelic rock to more song-oriented prog rock with occasional instrumentals but more prominent alternative rock leanings.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The spooky "Don't Hate Me" is a "nothing at all" variant. The first verse describes a lifeless late night in London with no one at the stations that the last train passes through. The second verse describes a single light illuminating a window with the only thing inside being the smoke from a cigarette lit just before a breakup.
• Numbers Stations: "Even Less" ends with the numbers, "0096 2251 2110 8105" read aloud by a woman. This is taken from a numbers station recording.
• Shout-Out: "Pure Narcotic" has one in the first verse, to the Radiohead album The Bends.
• Suicide by Sea: The narrator of "Even Less" had a friend who committed suicide by drowning in the sea and whose corpse was washed ashore.
  "A body is washed up on a Norfolk beach
  He was a friend that I could not reach
  He thought I was cold but I understand
  But for the grace of god goes another man"
• Take That!: Multiple songs, most notably "Piano Lessons", blast the music industry. The album cover satirizes the mass production of music by depicting a Compact Disc factory with a worker in a biohazard suit inspecting a disc beside an assembly line.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: The Smart Kid gave no indication that he took part in the nuclear war, yet he somehow managed to "win" it and become the last person left on Earth.
  "There was a war, but I must have won."

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