1990Released
2:49

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about 21st Century (Digital Boy). By Songfacts®.

This song was first released on the album Against the Grain in 1990, but it was rerecorded for their 1994 album Stranger Than Fiction and released as a single. The theme of the song is a criticism of modern consumerist culture: "I don't know how to live, but I got a lot of toys."

The song also is a homage (or at least it refers to) King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," with the title, also the set of lyrics that are sung in the background of the last lyrics: "Cat's foot iron claw, neurosurgeons scream for more. Innocents raped with napalm fire, everything I want I really need." These lines are a direct quote from the song; only the last line is reworked, the original was: "Nothing he's got he really needs."

The video shows a young child transfixed to a TV screen while the band plays inside it. Director Gore Verbinski created an interesting effect by submerging the band in a plastic swimming pool filled with water that was treated with various dyes and other substances.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of 21st Century (Digital Boy).
FKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
134BPM

Album

The album 21st Century (Digital Boy) is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released 21st Century (Digital Boy).
Epitaph
1990 Epitaph
1990 Epitaph

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