The Flaming Lips released the 2002 album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” which includes the song “Do You Realize??” The album became one of the Oklahoma band’s defining records and a landmark of early-2000s alternative rock.
Released on July 16, 2002, the album combined psychedelic pop, electronic textures, orchestral color, and the group’s eccentric science-fiction imagery. “Do You Realize??” was issued as its first single and became one of the Flaming Lips’ most accessible and enduring songs, balancing a bright melody with lyrics about mortality and the fragility of existence.
The title track, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1,” helped establish the album’s surreal narrative world, while songs such as “Fight Test” and “In the Morning of the Magicians” expanded its reflective, futuristic mood. “Do You Realize??” later became especially associated with Oklahoma: it was named the state’s official rock song in 2009, though that designation was removed in 2013.
The neighboring bands in the options—Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and The Shins—were also prominent alternative acts of the period, but none recorded this album.