7 Heavy Metal Songs About Space Travel
5. Iron Maiden - Final Frontier
It would appear that several songs about space travel follow a similar motif of being “caught” or “lost” in space forever a la Space Oddity but the opening track to Iron Maiden’s The Final Frontier infuses a sense of hope with its grim acceptance of the end of days.
The song is done in two parts, the first of which, Satellite 15, describes the issue at hand, as the singer attempts to contact Earth to inform them that the ship has gone far off course. This portion of the song starts off sounding chaotic and desperate, only building in intensity after the vocals enter.
While the second half of the song does reiterate some of the sentiments of the first, it speaks bravely of death (“I’ve had a good life, I’d do it again”) and regret (“I have no regrets but I wish I could talk to my family to tell them one last goodbye”).
It speaks highly of the life the singing individual lived before this moment as he “wouldn’t be changing a thing at all” and “done more in my life than some do in ten.” This is a song that accepts the impending death of being lost in space almost with a smile that says “I’ve had a good run.”