Songs About Extinction?

I sometimes do a segment on my radio show called "That's A Fact, Jack!" (sampling Bill Murray in "Stripes") where I talk briefly about an interesting subject, then play some songs that relate to it. I thought that the "The 6th Extinction" would be a fascinating topic. There's a metal (of course) band called The Sixth Extinction, but apart from a certain REM song about how it's the end of the world etc., I'm stumped. Any ideas, oh TP hive-mind?

(Anyone ever written a song about Dodo birds? Seems like the kind of thing Robyn Hitchcock would do...)

Genesis had a song about the dodo on Abacab.

"I Melt With You," "99 Luftballoons" and "Walk the Dinosaur" are three off the top of my head that might fit, depending on how much you want extinction to overlap with nuclear armageddon.

"Party At Ground Zero" - Fishbone

"Everyday is like Sunday"?

Some of these are more about a post-apocalyptic world or a dying planet which goes hand-in-hand but:

Talking Heads - Nothing but Flowers
The Police - Walking in Your Footsteps
David Bowie - Five Years
Steely Dan - King of the World
Grateful Dead - Morning Dew

Also, David Bowie did record an earlier, superior version of "1984" that combined it with a song called "Dodo" - great Shaft licks from Mick Ronson - but it's not actually about the extinct animal.

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2026 04:36PM by belfast.

Grimes had an entire album called Miss Anthropocene, but I can't say if any of the songs on it have to do with the Anthropocene extinction as I lost any interest in anything she had to say on any topic once she took up with the Colossal Shitbag.

The Handsome Family - "Passenger Pigeons"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2026 05:19PM by breno.

Songs about the end of the world, nuclear armageddon, etc. seem plentiful enough, and I'm sure we can think of more than have been posted already (e.g., "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes"). But if you mean the extinction of a species other than mankind by some devastating event, that's going to be tougher.

Anyway, two from Midnight Oil come to mind: "Progress," and "Two Minutes to Midnight." I bet they have more.

The long-lost “troglodyte”

Red Skies Over Paradise by Fischer-Z (who are curiously touring out here this year).
Apocalypso by Mental As Anything

Killing Joke has lots of songs in this vein. "Millenium", "The Great Cull", the entire "MMXII" album to name a few.

"Twilight's Last Gleaming" – John Foxx
"Seconds" – U2
"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" – Ultravox
"Hammer to Fall" – Queen
"This World Over" – XTC

playing some of your fantastic suggestions now:
[wfmu.org]

Couldn't squeeze in as many as I wanted, so might do a pt 2 next week. Thanks, all you geniuses!