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The Protomen

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Light up the night

The Protomen are an American rock band that composes and performs science fiction rock opera concept albums inspired by pop culture including films and video games. The band was formed in 2003 and is based out of Nashville, Tennessee. They first gained exposure with their 2005 self-titled debut rock opera album The Protomen. The act is one of the most renowned in the video game music and geek rock genres.

Quotes

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  • The world was missing the kind of rock'n'roll that was at once able to destroy and rebuild[.] [...] We found that if we got enough people together on one stage and covered them in silver paint and gave them enough amplifiers, we could fill that hole to the death.
    • Commander B. Hawkins of the Protomen. Rich, Jonathan (March 23, 2012). "Game on: The Protomen play Emerald Lounge". Asheville Citizen-Times (Ashville, North Carolina: Gannett Media Corp): p. T9. ProQuest 1471189991. 
  • In total, The Protomen story is a tragedy. I don’t really expect it to end well for humanity. Our overarching message is that people really need to think for themselves and not follow a crowd. This project started, and remains, a commentary on the music scene. When we were at MTSU, we were instructed on how to make things sound like everything already sounds… like Nashville pop-country. It really infuriated us. The Act I sound may not be as pleasing to the ears as your average Taylor Swift jam, but a big part of our message is to go your own way, and we’re trying to exemplify that.
  • At the moment, we are making great friends with Ohio's emergency service[.] After delivering the fury to fans for the past two days, now Ohio is fighting back. When she lets us leave, we will make way to Austin for the beginning of our SXSW attack, and the end plan is to get endorsed by Flaming Hot Cheetos and Kit-Kat. Someone will see us and believe in our quest.

Relationship to Mega Man

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  • We get asked [about Mega Man] a lot. And it wasn't so much that we were drawn to it, it was just always there. It was something we grew up with and continued to love well past the age when we were expected to throw our Nintendos in the trash and get real jobs. The music is stellar. The story is classic. So really, the framework was there, and we just kind of took it a bit further.
  • There are characters like Mega Man, and Dr. Light, and Proto Man. And that may be about as far along the actual Capcom canon as we wanted to go. The idea was to take the core of the Mega Man idea and push it in a much darker direction, all while not relying on all the ins and outs of the original storyline. [...] What drew us to the Mega Man series originally is that there were some serious, fantastic rock and roll jams in the original six Mega Man games[.] On top of the rad music, we could see a tougher than shit story that was just waiting to break out of those first few games.

Song lyrics

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All lyrics attributed to The Protomen and sourced from ablum liner notes.

The Protomen (2005)

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  • He'd set his skillful hands to the task of creating a device to bring about a change, to create a machine to bring freedom, to create a man to save the world. Twelve years Light worked and on a cold night in the year 200X, Protoman was born. A perfect man, an unbeatable machine, hell-bent on destroying every evil standing between man and freedom, built for one purpose, to destroy Wily's army of evil robots. Ready, willing, prepared to fight.
    • "Hope Rides Alone"

Act II: The Father of Death (2009)

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  • Light up the night.
    There is a city that this darkness can't hide.
    There are the embers of a fire that's gone out
    but I can still feel the heat on my skin and
    this mess we're in, well, you and I.
    Maybe you and I.
    We can light up the night.
    • "Light Up the Night"

Act III: This City Made Us (2026)

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  • I know what I'll do.
    I've made my choice and
    I'll make my stand.
    I may not be the hero they need,
    but, God, I can still be a man.
    • "Light's Last Stand"

Quotes about the Protomen

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  • This is just a band that’s odd enough to be interesting whether you like their music or not.
  • ...much of the storyline, and even some of the lyrics, are inspired by the literary masterpiece 1984. Both stories have a very pronounced theme that the common man (the “proles” of 1984 and the humans of The Protomen) need to stand up and fight. It’s not a enough for a Hero (be it a member of the Ingsoc society or mechanical savior) to take a stand.
  • The band's use of creative synthesizers and keyboards with theatrical spoken word reminds me of video game characters. And their outfits set them aside, far to the side, from any other local band in Murfreesboro or Nashville even and possibly Tennessee.
  • That’s how they started playing in robot drag — the original gag was that they were robots built by Mega Man's creator, Dr. Light, to tell his tragic story. Since then, the premise has slipped a little, but the silver facepaint stuck around, along with aviator shades and uniforms out of a post-apocalyptic Wild West. It’s all a little over-the-top—but that’s part of the point.
  • We live in complicated times, with a handful of opportunists who think they can take everything for the benefit of a select few. This is where I hope our story ends differently than the one depicted on these albums: we have to take the fight to the streets so they don't find us singing "we are the dead" in the near future.
  • The only band who seems to realize that no career breaks are coming out of the Warped Tour is the Protomen, a rock band that smells terrible and paints their faces silver. One of them hears I’m from VICE and asks, "Why is VICE here?" After a brief interview, they pick me up and throw me over their shoulders.
  • ...am I really the only one to have not known about them? As it turns out, I wasn’t alone at all. Though The Protomen do have a relatively large cult following, I’d estimate that about half of the MAGFest attendees, the "regulars," were in the same boat as me. Some where disgruntled over the fact that they weren’t the same "kind" of band as the others. Other Protomen newbies became instant acolytes, diving into their strange, dark, exotic and fun brand of rock and roll. You can count me with the latter.
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