Stupid Dream is the fifth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree.
The album's title is a reference to frontman Steven Wilson's view of the music industry; while many aspire to be a musician for fame and glamorous lifestyle, he feels it's a "stupid dream" because it actually leads to a life of hard work and struggle.
Frontman Steven Wilson explained the transitional period for the band at the time, stating: ...the earlier years were characterized for me by this idea of the extended composition that was largely based on jamming or textures or drones or space rock or whatever you want to call it.
So...when I came back later on to making the longer form of composition, it wasn’t in the same way that I’d been doing in the early years.
They were much more structured and they had that kind of songwriter’s discipline that I guess I explored and learned on the earlier albums like Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun.
[5] These artists included Jeff Buckley,[5] Soundgarden,[5] Brian Wilson,[5] Todd Rundgren,[6] and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Steven came up with a strong selection of songs and a long process followed during which we attempted to condense as many ideas, flavours and colours into the arrangements as possible.
Orchestra, flute and saxophone added further to the eclectic mix and I also feel that we started to focus more of what each other was contributing.
And I think a lot of teenage kids have this dream of being pop stars, of being a professional musician.
Wilson stated: Like sitting down with the record company to discuss how we're gonna market this album.
The bottom line is, the people that get into Porcupine Tree know that we're exactly not the kind of band that ever consider our music in terms of product and shifting units.
What could be a more stupid dream than wanting to make music and sell it.Three singles were released from the album: "Piano Lessons", "Stranger by the Minute", and "Pure Narcotic".
The song itself features a harmonization in the chorus, between Wilson and drummer Chris Maitland, his only vocal performance on the whole album.
This track features acoustic guitars, close harmony vocals, glockenspiel, pastoral piano and lyrics.
Additionally, a 15-minute demo version of the song with alternate lyrics can only be found in the special edition of the "Four Chords That Made a Million" single.
"[11] The song "Stupid Dream" is actually only a short, 28 second instrumental piece of a tuning orchestra and sound effects.
'Don't Hate Me' is an even more extreme version, because here this person actually begins to follow and make phone calls and, you know, it becomes very unhealthy.
"Don't Hate Me" featured the first use of saxophone in the music of Porcupine Tree, courtesy of Theo Travis.
A child was taken from a shopping mall while his mother was momentarily distracted and was later found dead and tortured near a railway track.
And it's quite a cynical song because he's basically saying that the boy's life is almost mapped out already as the child is born, it's already predetermined by society and the baby's kind of singing from the pram if you like, saying 'well, actually no, I'm not going to go down this path that's been laid out for me.
In "A Smart Kid" Wilson returns to a topic he has touched on before in "Radioactive Toy", a track from their first album, On the Sunday of Life....
The loud passages feel truly sky-smashing, the calmer ones perfectly close, and the overall sense of build and drama -- "A Smart Kid" is a fine example—spot-on.
"[22] In October 2011, it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), which indicated sales in excess of 75,000 copies throughout Europe.
[23] All songs written by Steven Wilson, except "Tinto Brass", which is credited to all four band members.