About
Los Angeles gave us plenty of synth-driven weirdness in the early 1980s, but few projects were as ambitious or genuinely strange as Planet P Project. The brainchild of Tony Carey, a classically trained keyboardist who had previously toured with Rainbow, Planet P launched in 1983 with a self-titled debut that caught listeners completely off guard. Carey wrote, performed, and produced nearly everything himself, crafting a dense, cinematic sound that blended progressive rock structures with new wave synths and a distinctly dark, dystopian atmosphere.
The debut album produced the unlikely MTV hit Why Me, a brooding, hypnotic track that somehow cracked mainstream radio despite sounding like nothing else on the charts. Carey followed it up with Pink World in 1984, a full-blown concept double album telling a sprawling sci-fi story about a future totalitarian society. It was a bold, sprawling statement that divided fans but cemented Planet P's reputation as a genuine cult classic act.
Planet P never achieved mainstream staying power, but among prog and synth-rock devotees the project carries serious weight. Carey revived the name periodically over the decades, releasing Go Out Dancing in 2013 to reconnect with longtime followers. The original records remain touchstones for fans who like their rock cerebral, atmospheric, and just a little unsettling.
