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King Crimson — 21st Century Schizoid Man
Album: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 938









Released: 1969
Length: 6:53
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Cat's foot, iron claw
Neurosurgeons scream for more
At paranoia's poison door
Twenty-first century schizoid man

Blood rack, barbed wire
Politicians' funeral pyre
Innocents raped with napalm fire
Twenty-first century schizoid man

Death seed, blind man's greed
Poets' starving children bleed
Nothing he's got he really needs
Twenty-first century schizoid man
Comments (41)add comment
King Crimson say it ain’t over til we say it’s over
TRIP! Definitely one of the best records EVER... And always fun to put on when everyone is feeling strange
GREAT TUNE!!  I bought this album right after it was released. I  was 15yrs 0ld. My mom didn't mind the music, which I played loud. But, she HATED the album cover LOL!   
 William wrote:
That's odd. Swapped it out with the correct version over a year ago.

4-20 day, 2023.  This is the album version, Brother William, and I'm off to do 4/20 stuff.  (As soon as this is over, I mean.)  

Man, that Fripp guy can play a guitar, can't he?
I was fourteen or so when I painted that cover on my room wall, about 5 feet in diameter ...my mom completely freaked out.
 rcurrier wrote:

This is not the version from the original album. The mix is off on this one, and Fripp's solo is quite different. The vocals are not Greg Lake either.

I'd guess it's from one of the (many, many!) live concert albums Fripp/DGM have released over the years.

(I'd guess the applause and cheering at the end is evidence of it being a concert.)

Saw KC in 2017 and they did a smoking version of this.



Yeah.  I'm still somewhat sure that Cheap Thrills is a concert album.
 SRAY wrote:



Agree as the original was a 10 this 7 or so.


That's odd. Swapped it out with the correct version over a year ago.
 rcurrier wrote:

This is not the version from the original album. The mix is off on this one, and Fripp's solo is quite different. The vocals are not Greg Lake either.

I'd guess it's from one of the (many, many!) live concert albums Fripp/DGM have released over the years.

(I'd guess the applause and cheering at the end is evidence of it being a concert.)

Saw KC in 2017 and they did a smoking version of this.



Fixed.
 rcurrier wrote:

This is not the version from the original album. The mix is off on this one, and Fripp's solo is quite different. The vocals are not Greg Lake either.

I'd guess it's from one of the (many, many!) live concert albums Fripp/DGM have released over the years.

(I'd guess the applause and cheering at the end is evidence of it being a concert.)

Saw KC in 2017 and they did a smoking version of this.




Agree as the original was a 10 this 7 or so.
 DavidS_UK wrote:

My favourite track is Epitaph
What a shame there are no re-mastered digitals of the original album



Yes there is a remastered version. I have the 5.1 surround and it's sounds awesome
 CHuLoYo wrote:

A godlike song, pay attention to the year of this brilliantaalbum. We don't will have never an Era like that 



Despite your best attempt at what I'm assuming is your second language, I agree wholeheartedly!  Unless I am mistaken and your typing on a macbook and inadvertently hitting your touch pad and posting without proof reading.

I do believe you meant "We will never have an era like that again"?
So ahead of its time!
 d48m02h wrote:
Best album cover - EVER - hands down!! {#Devil_pimp}
 

I have this on a T-Shirt.  It get's more comments than anything I've ever worn.
DavidS_UK wrote: „What a shame there are no re-mastered digitals of the original album“ There is the highly acclaimed CD / DVD edition with the remixes by Steven Wilson from 2009 and a CD / BluRay edition for the 50th from 2019. What else should there be?
My favourite track is Epitaph
What a shame there are no re-mastered digitals of the original album
This is not the version from the original album. The mix is off on this one, and Fripp's solo is quite different. The vocals are not Greg Lake either.

I'd guess it's from one of the (many, many!) live concert albums Fripp/DGM have released over the years.

(I'd guess the applause and cheering at the end is evidence of it being a concert.)

Saw KC in 2017 and they did a smoking version of this.
A godlike song, pay attention to the year of this brilliantaalbum. We don't will have never an Era like that 
Best album cover - EVER - hands down!! {#Devil_pimp}
 Matts wrote:


The main riff is pure black sabbath . . .



They are not playing at Ozzfest this year are they ?


Um... you know... This King Crimson album predates the first Black Sabbath album by a year. Maybe Ozzie & crew found some inspiration in this album and in Giles, Giles and Fripp which is circa 1967 - 1968. Too bad Black Sabbath never amounted to more than a poor caricature of the likes of this work.
 horstman wrote:

College was great! Long live King Crimson!!!

 

Good Memories!!

I first heard this in a music theory class back in college.  Another student had brought it in and we were all totally blown away, including the Prof.  I realized at that point that there was life beyond Zeppelin..............
horstman wrote:
When I was a sophmore in college, SUNY Binghamton, six of my friends and I got a suite in the dorm. We were the party kings. The problem was, we had a reputation for this and the resident director of the dorm decided to put us right above her suite so that she could "monitor" us.

First night of the semester, we are cranking "21st Century Schizoid Man" full volume, doing bongs, drinking our asses off and up she comes to give us the riot act. Her husband and kids lived with her and the music made her kids cry in their sleep.

So there you have it. Rock and roll is bad for little kids.

We totally tortured her, her husband, her kids, the rest of the floor.

And then we moved off campus.

College was great! Long live King Crimson!!!
{#Drunk}{#Bananajam}{#Cowboy}{#Drummer}


I knew there was a reason I liked you. . .

My mom bought me this LP by accident when I was 13-14 yrs old. (Don't ask me how that happened. One look at the cover would be enough to scare most moms in 1973.)

Needless to say, she lived to regret it later, especially after she got blasted by successive rounds of Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, MC5, Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix, The Who. . . whoooah. . . where to stop?


{#Cheers}
The world needs more Fripp.
When I was a sophmore in college, SUNY Binghamton, six of my friends and I got a suite in the dorm. We were the party kings. The problem was, we had a reputation for this and the resident director of the dorm decided to put us right above her suite so that she could "monitor" us.

First night of the semester, we are cranking "21st Century Schizoid Man" full volume, doing bongs, drinking our asses off and up she comes to give us the riot act. Her husband and kids lived with her and the music made her kids cry in their sleep.

So there you have it. Rock and roll is bad for little kids.

We totally tortured her, her husband, her kids, the rest of the floor.

And then we moved off campus.

College was great! Long live King Crimson!!!
{#Drunk}{#Bananajam}{#Cowboy}{#Drummer}
This LP represents the cosmic tear in the fabric.When it was released, when they debuted live in London, it was The New Paradgim.

NOTHING like this had ever been heard before. Saw them in 1971 in NYC (Academy of Music.)

Minds were blown. 

(Comparisons to Black Sabbath? Please! Listen to the meter, the prescison, the complexity.
I said listen. omg.... as I listen for the thousandth time I am blown away all over again!)

Wow! 3 years since this was played?? Love this more than "Court"
bluedot wrote:
i've always loved the way this song is artsy fartsy prog rock but the main riff is pure black sabbath. they did a followup to this song called "pictures of a city" on their next album which is also pretty wild stuff. gotta love king crimson. i think this song is from 1969. and they are STILL AROUND. in some incarnation, anyway.
The main riff is pure black sabbath . . . They are not playing at Ozzfest this year are they ?
RobGraham wrote:
Nice to be brought back in time! Of course the 21st Century Schizoid man could be any one of us now...
I fear its Arnie Schwarzenegger ...
Fripp was 23 when the KC debut was released... Have you heard any rock group DEBUT album so great?
In the Court of the Crimson King was the first real album I ever owned. (The, ahem, Monkees albums defintely don't count.) Let's see, I would have been 12. I've never been the same since. Listened to it over and over then, and still love it now. And just the cover was enough to freak out the parents, which was a big bonus.
I was 4 when this came out, and my cousin bought the album. I heard it and was hooked. My mother was mortified! I begged her for this record, and she almost bought it for me until she saw the cover! 8O
Nice to be brought back in time! Of course the 21st Century Schizoid man could be any one of us now...
i've always loved the way this song is artsy fartsy prog rock but the main riff is pure black sabbath. they did a followup to this song called "pictures of a city" on their next album which is also pretty wild stuff. gotta love king crimson. i think this song is from 1969. and they are STILL AROUND. in some incarnation, anyway.
Yeah! King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King, each song, beyond the pale, beyond reach of most musical genius still. And 21st Century Schizoid Man... what an appropriate song for this, the 21st century. How did they know??
Keep pulling those rabbits outa your hat Bill! Geez, how many times did my mom come running into my room yelling to turn that song off every time I'd play it at volume Then she'd look down at the cover to the album and just shake her in dismay at what was happening to her precious little boy. Thanks Bill for this King Crimson classic and wonderful little memory.
Bugger Einstein, Time travel is possible: I just went blank for a minute and bang, there I was in 1969, although the space warp seems have caused some minor hair loss
Wow. It came out in '69, per AMG. Had almost forgotten about this one.
I genuinely LIKE KC, but this is a bit unnerving to listen to at work.
Simply awesome! This song was my first intro to King Crimson. Loved it then, still love it now.
Yeeehaaaa! Bring on more Crimson! Especially the first few albims. Incomparable stuff.