The Hit Singles of Sun Ra

On the 30th anniversary of the Afrofuturist's death, I explore the oddest discs in his discography

Nobody in American music had a more amazing life than Sun Ra. He started out as a poor kid in Birmingham, Alabama named Herman Blount, and turned himself into the musical guardian of the galaxy.

America is all about reinventing yourself. That’s up there with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But not even the Great Gatsby could reinvent himself like Sun Ra.

But what happened after Sun Ra’s death, exactly 30 years ago today, is even more amazing. I’ve never seen any jazz musician gain more posthumously in reputation and influence.

During his lifetime, many jazz fans didn’t know quite what to make of this iconoclastic performer—who dressed in peculiar costumes, played even more peculiar music, and claimed that he came from the planet Saturn. Much of the jazz audience dismissed all this as a tired gimmick—like Kiss’s silly clown makeup or those goofy animal outfits on The Masked Singer.

But nobody’s laughing now.

Sun Ra’s business card

Nowadays Sun Ra is celebrated as a pioneer of the Afrofuturist movement.

But that hardly makes it easier to come to grips with this wide-ranging and rule-breaking artist. People think they understand Sun Ra because they’ve attached him to a movement. But Sun Ra is still a strange musician.

And he will always be a strange musician. That’s half the fun of listening to his records. Even if they actually find music on Saturn someday, it will hardly be as surprising as his delirious discography.

Today I want to focus on one of the oddest aspects of his legacy—namely his catalog of hit singles.

I use the word hit loosely. Very loosely.