Five Songs for Neil Armstrong that aren't R.E.M.'s "Man on the Moon"

In Flames, "Moonshield"

What is the Moonshield? And why must one reach for it? NASA, In Flames is concerned about you.



Iron Maiden, "Moonchild"

Neil had already made it and returned by the time Maiden dropped Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, but Maiden preferred to honor earth's orbiter with Aleister Crowley characters.



Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight"

In his best years, Billy Corgan knew more about what to do with a high budget than any other alternative rocker. This song is about Chicago, but the video is a creative re-imagining of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.



Sugar, "Man on the Moon"

2012 is a great year for Copper Blue, now enjoying a three-disc reissue and getting played in its entirety on Bob Mould's current tour. Check it out as one of the first glimpses that the guitarist from Hüsker Dü would get poppy enough to write the Daily Show theme.



Ernie, "I Don't Want to Live on the  Moon"

I don't know many songs about rainbows, but there are plenty about the moon. None more transcendent than this one.