Van Halen, ‘Outta Space’ vs. Joe Satriani, ‘Surfing with the Alien': Rock Star Wars

An ecologically conscious Van Halen anthem goes head-to-head against a space-themed Joe Satriani classic in the opening round of our Rock Star Wars tournament.

To try and fill our days between now and the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, we’ve tracked down 32 space-themed classic rock songs and paired them off against each other in 16 first-round battles. The field will be halved every week based on your votes, until only the spaciest song in rock history remains standing.

For this battle, we're pitting Van Halen's "Outta Space" against Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" — a pair of worthy foes separated by 25 years and anchored by two of rock's all-time guitar greats. "Surfing with the Alien" served as the title track to Satriani's breakthrough album in 1987, while "Outta Space" was one of our favorite cuts from Van Halen's long-awaited return to the studio with singer David Lee Roth, A Different Kind of Truth. The two songs take somewhat different perspectives on a shared theme, with Satriani's gleefully unhinged instrumental approach painting a musical picture that plays up the wild freedom of surfing through space. "Outta Space," meanwhile, finds Roth singing about jetting away from Earth in order to combat overcrowding and pollution.

So, which of these songs will emerge victorious from this round? It’s your choice. You can listen to both tracks below, and vote once per hour in each of the this round's Rock Star Wars battles until polls close on Nov. 23 at 11:59PM ET. Your choice for our Rock Star Wars champion will be revealed on Dec. 22, 2015.

Van Halen Albums, Ranked Worst to Best