View source for Hit to Death in the Future Head

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Hit to Death in the Future Head
| type       = Studio album
| artist     = [[The Flaming Lips]]
| cover      = Afc hitToDeath.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = August 11, 1992
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = {{flatlist|
* [[Shoegazing]]
* [[alternative rock]]
* [[neo-psychedelia]]
* [[noise pop]]
}}
| length     = 69:04
| label      = [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]]
| producer   = {{flatlist|
* The Flaming Lips
* [[Dave Fridmann]]
}}
| prev_title = [[In a Priest Driven Ambulance]]
| prev_year  = 1990
| next_title = [[Transmissions from the Satellite Heart]]
| next_year  = 1993
}}
'''''Hit to Death in the Future Head''''' is the fifth [[studio album]] by American [[rock music|rock]] band [[the Flaming Lips]], released on August 11, 1992, by [[Warner Bros. Records]]. "Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)" was released as the lead track on the [[Extended play|EP]] ''[[Yeah, I Know It's a Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical]]'' to promote the album. The title provided the inspiration for the name of the British band [[the Futureheads]].
==Recording and release==
Recorded in 1991 by the same lineup of the Flaming Lips that had been featured on ''[[In a Priest Driven Ambulance]]'', the album's release was delayed for nearly a year due to the use of a sample from [[Michael Kamen]]'s score for the 1985 film ''[[Brazil (1985 film)|Brazil]]'' in the track "You Have to Be Joking (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)", which required a lengthy clearance process. During the intervening period, both Nathan Roberts and [[Jonathan Donahue]] left the band (the latter resuming his duties in [[Mercury Rev]]). By the time of the album's release both [[Steven Drozd]] and [[Ronald Jones (musician)|Ronald Jones]] had joined, and performed on the subsequent tour.
The album is known for a particularly long hidden track at the end of the CD that consists of a continuous burst of staccato noise that pans from channel to channel and lasts for nearly a half-hour. This track is omitted from the vinyl and cassette release.
==Reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/hit-to-death-in-the-future-head-mw0000071518 |title=Hit to Death in the Future Head The Flaming Lips |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |website=AllMusic |access-date=March 13, 2018}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Colin |last=Larkin |author-link=Colin Larkin |chapter=The Flaming Lips|title=[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&q=flaming+lips&pg=PA324 |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=9780857125958}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Great Rock Discography]]''
| rev3score = 6/10<ref>{{cite book |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |author-link=Martin C. Strong |title= [[The Great Rock Discography]]|chapter=Flaming Lips|date=2004|edition=7th|publisher=[[Canongate Books]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr0000stro_r9o1/page/544/mode/1up 543–544]|isbn=1-84195-615-5}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev4Score = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Graff |editor1-first=Gary |editor2-last=Durchholz |editor2-first=Daniel |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |publisher=Visible Ink Press |year=1999 |isbn=1-57859-061-2 |chapter=The Flaming Lips|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/429/mode/1up 428–429]}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Cross">{{cite book|last=Cross|first=Charles R.|author-link=Charles R. Cross|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|chapter=Flaming Lips|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/300 300]}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
| rev6score = 5/5<ref name="Perry" />
}}
From contemporary reviews, Andrew Perry of ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' gave ''Hit to Death in the Future Head'' a five out of five rating, noting the groups "gorgeously melodic garage pop is rarely short of breathtaking", and compared the band to Mercury Rev, declaring that  if "''[[Yerself Is Steam]]'' has seldom left your turntable, this won't either. Magnificent."<ref name="Perry">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|title=Reviews: New Albums|url=https://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2013/05/reviews2.jpg|page=71|last=Perry|first=Andrew|date=June 1992}}</ref>
From retrospective reviews, [[AllMusic]]'s Jason Ankeny noted that even though the album's "not as conceptually tight as ''In a Priest Driven Ambulance''", it's "no less cohesive or imaginative", and ultimately concluded that the album "serves as the bridge between the band's noisier, more hallucinatory [[Indie rock|indie]] work and the acid-bubblegum aesthetic perfected on their later [[Warner Records|Warner Bros.]] albums".<ref name="AllMusic" />
==Track listing==
{{track listing
| total_length    = 69:04
| title1          = Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)
| length1         = 3:49
| title2          = Hit Me Like You Did the First Time
| length2         = 3:41
| title3          = The Sun
| length3         = 3:31
| title4          = Felt Good to Burn
| length4         = 3:21
| title5          = Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)
| length5         = 3:45
| title6          = Halloween on the Barbary Coast
| length6         = 5:42
| title7          = The Magician vs. the Headache
| length7         = 3:12
| title8          = You Have to Be Joking (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)
| length8         = 3:55
| title9          = Frogs
| length9         = 4:28
| title10         = Hold Your Head
| length10        = 4:24
| title11         = Noise Loop
| note11 = [[hidden track]]
| length11        = 29:16
}}
==Personnel==
* [[Wayne Coyne]] – vocals, guitar
* [[Michael Ivins]] – bass
* [[Jonathan Donahue]] – guitar
* Nathan Roberts – drums
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{The Flaming Lips}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1992 albums]]
[[Category:The Flaming Lips albums]]
[[Category:Warner Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Dave Fridmann]]