Knights of Unicron (band)

The name or term "Knights of Unicron" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Knights of Unicron (disambiguation).

The Knights of Unicron are a rock band from the Knights of Unicron continuity family.

"Rock 'n' roll angels bring thy hard rock hallelujah."

Are you ready to rock!? No? Well, too bad!!

The Knights of Unicron (formerly Bumblebee and the Hive) are Cybertron's most legendary bot 'n roll band, shredding the faces off headbangers from one side of the galaxy to the other. They've got amps that go to 11 and armadillos in their trousers; there ain't nothin' gonna derail this crazy train!

Except for petty infighting. Yeah, that sure did it.

Though a mutual love of hot licks and cheap tricks brought them together, bickering and "creative differences" tore them apart. By the 1990s, the Knights of Unicron were no more and the landscape of bot 'n roll would never be the same.

Until 2014, when they got back together. These things work in cycles.

Core members:

Optimus Prime (lead vocals)
Soundwave (back-up vocals)
Megatron (guitar)
Smooth Jazz (keytar)

Instrument members:

Laserbeak (guitar)
Ratbat (keytar)

Former members:

Bumblebee (lead vocals, Bumblebee and the Hive era)

Other members:

Starscream (manager)
Vehicons (roadies)
Arcee (Yoko Ono)

Fiction

Behind the Music pack-in booklet

This is what hipsters on Cybertron wear.

In 1978, Bumblebee founded the bot 'n roll group Bumblebee and the Hive and they skyrocketed to the top with their song "Cybertronian Rhapsody". A year later, Bumblebee shredded his vocal processor and was forced to leave the band. A record store clerk then took his place as lead singer, taking on the stage name Optimus Prime and leading to the band's new identity as the Knights of Unicron.

For the next three years, the Knights of Unicron produced hit after hit with albums such as Look What the Bot Dragged In, Dark Side of the Matrix and Sonic Interference (with the song "Thunder Touch" tearing up the charts). Though 1982 brought another hit single, "Space Bridge Over Troubled Energon", it also brought Prime's girlfriend Arcee into the fold with her increasingly intrusive "creative influence". Her demands eventually saw Prime remove his vocals from the song "Space Eater", much to the chagrin of guitarist Megatron and band manager Starscream.

In a world of rock parodies, Optimus Prime *would* be Meatloaf...

In 1983, the concept album Purple Energon and its accompanying tour bombed. Prime and Arcee rolled out the Concert to Heal Iacon benefit show without the involvement of the other Knights of Unicron, creating further rifts amongst the band. The band decided to "take a break" from each other and Optimus Prime found success with his solo albums Ride the Energon and Bot Out of Chaar. They regrouped in 1984 and launched their comeback Cybertronian Democracy tour. To ease expenses, Megatron hired a troop of Vehicon roadies who became intensely loyal to him. Following tensions during their performance at Crystal City, Megatron walked out of the band, taking the Vehicons with him.

With the Knights of Unicron disbanded, the members resorted to petty rivalries: When Megatron threw a VIP concert, Optimus countered with a free benefit concert and so on. During an epic-length battle of the bands at nightclub The Forge, former Knights keytarist Smooth Jazz had his sonic circuits permanently damaged by Megatron, ending his performing career. As the years passed, Megatron amassed a huge cult following. Former Knights back-up vocalist Soundwave found success in his own way, siring pop protégés Ratbat and Rumble who hit it big as a duo. Things would crash soon after, though, as Soundwave's duo were caught in a sound-syncing scandal. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime launched a concert promotion network, "The Matrix of Music", in order to share live music to everyone on Cybertron. The file-sharing network Botster threatened the profits of the former band-mates, causing Megatron to sue.

By 2014, each member of the Knights found success in other areas of the industry: Optimus and Megatron with their own bands, Soundwave as a snotty judge on hit show "Cybertron's Got Talent", and Smooth Jazz as producer for bands like New Bots on the Block, CyberSync, and the Backstreet Bots. Through unknown means, the Knights of Unicron were able to put aside their differences and reunite for the Till All Are One tour. Even ex-member Bumblebee was invited to come back and work the vocal sampler from back stage.

Beginning on planet Earth, spanning the galaxy and ending on planet Cybertron, the tour would be the biggest in the band's history...

2014 Till All Are One touring locations

According to the back of the official 2014 Till All Are One tour T-shirt,^[1] the Knights of Unicron visited the following venues:

Mt. St. Hilary Amphitheater - Planet Earth
Autobot City Metroplex - Planet Earth
Ft. Max Forum - Planet Earth
The Cobra Terrordrome - Planet Earth
Boulder Hill - Planet Earth
Paradron Disco - Planet Paradron
Galactic Games Stadium - Athenia Outpost
Trypticon Dinobase - Planet Chaar
The Sharkticon Pit - Planet Quintessa
The Veil of Remembrance - Autobot Mausoleum
Sinister Tympanic Membrane^[2] - Planet Unicron
Petro-Rabbit Cantina - Alpha IX
Vestial Emporium - Hydrus IV
Wreckstock - Planet of Junk (with the Rock Bots opening for them ^[3])
Niter Slave Mines - Golgonath Seven
Mumu-Obscura - Eigerson 48 System
Baron Von Joy's - Planet Gobotron
Zarak's Palace - Planet Nebulos
Kranix Memorial Stadium - Planet Lithone
Thirteenth Legion Outpost - Planet Antilla
The Plasma Pit - Thrull
The Snu-Snu Club - Planet Femax
Maccadam's Old Oil House - Planet Cybertron
Toxic Sludge Swamps - Planet Cybertron
The Smelting Pool - Planet Cybertron
Iacon Stadium - Planet Cybertron

Look What The Bot Dragged In Album

Side 1

1. TONIGHT WE RIDE (O. Prime, Megatron)

Tonight we ride

On steeds of steel

With strength of will

And courage real

Our optics sharp

Our aim is true

Your words will strike

Your axe will hew

For we are knights

Of alloy forged

Steeped in truth

On justice gorged

We are the knights

Of rock

None shall flee

And all shall kneel

Before our riffs

And vocal steel

Tonight we ride

Across this realm

With blist'ring pace

And horned helm

For we are knights

Of untold might

Our sounds ring out

To shake this night

We are the knights

Of rock

Our quest is here

Our journey long

And thus begins

With epic song

2. CIRCUIT BREAKER (O. Prime, Megatron)

You say that you

Like my spark

But all you do

Is keep me in the dark

Just when I think

We're ready to rock

My gears are grinding

In my engine block

You're a circuit breaker

Trailer chaser

Circuit breaker

You like to say

That we are one

It's clear to me now

Our love is on the run

Just when I think

3. LASER PHASER (Megatron)

Laser phaser

Fusion phaser

Scrap maker

World shaker

Bot breaker

Spark eraser

Just a blast of my

Laser phaser

You will see me smile

As I add you to the pile

With my laser phaser

Doom bringer

Optic stinger

Ion blocker

Circuit shocker

Evil-doer

Planet ruler

With a blast of my

Laser phaser

You will feel the heat

As you're tasting your defeat

By my laser phaser

4. RUST WITHOUT YOU (O. Prime, Megatron)

Sometimes I wonder

What makes these circuits pulse

Would yours grow brighter

If I were someone else?

Ever since that first day

I knew for sure

The moment I detected your

Energy signature

Move too fast you'll overload

It's a risk I have to take

Let's hit that throttle

Cut the wire to the brake

Max out these engines

Hit the afterburners, too

Keep movin' top speed

'Cause I'd rust without you

Rust without you

Keep moving top speed

'Cause I'd rust without you

Rust without you

Shot me like a rocket

Launched at the speed of sound

Sent me into orbit

Floating high above the ground

In an astrosecond

We could be fallin' fast

Will you stand beside me

When my rockin' glory's past

Move too fast you'll overload

It's a risk I have to take

Let's hit that throttle

Cut the wire to the brake

Max out these engines

Hit the afterburners, too

Keep movin' top speed

'Cause I'd rust without you

Rust without you

I'd rust without you

Rust without you

Side 2

FACE OF THE QUINTESSONS/INTO THE VOID (Megatron, S. Jazz): (instrumental/vocal jam)

RHAPSODY REVISITED (Bumblebee, O. Prime, Soundwave, Megatron, S. Jazz)

Is this a bot's life?

Is this my destiny?

Trapped with no voicebox

In a speechless reality

Reboot my mind

Roll out for a time and be

I'm just a small bot, don't feel too bad for me

You'll see I'm very strong, very bold

Voice is lost, voice was gold

Long as my bright spark glows

I'll always be a bumblebee...a 'Bee

Primus, has this killed the band?

Fireblasted all it's hopes

With a voicebox now that chokes

Primus, will the show go on?

For Bumblebee has thrown it all away

Primus, oooo-oooo-ooo-ooo

Will the music still let fly?

Will our chords be heard across the galaxy?

Will the songs, will the songs

Be processed by your sensors?

Primus, my chance is gone

Had one quick taste of fame

Before fate made its cruel claim

Lifetime, in the spotlight, I'd wished to know

I have to leave it now to Pax and sing to you

Primus oooh (as long as my bright spark glows)

Why must my voice die

I sometimes wish I never sang songs at all

I am a silent piece of scrap from a bot

Unicron, Unicron, will the Knights of Unicron go on?

Megatron and Soundwave

Orion Pax and Smooth Jazz, Bee?

Vector Sigma (Vector Sigma)

Vector Sigma Cybertron

Till All Are One

I'm just a small bot, don't feel too bad for me

He's just a small bot, his name is Bumblebee

Don't take his voice from our band's history

Voice is gone, voice was gold will I be made whole?

The Matrix No, we will not make you whole (make him whole)

The Matrix We will not make you whole (make him whole)

Will not make him whole (make him whole)

Never, never never make him whole

Never make him whole, oh

No, no, no, no, no, no

Oh Vector Sigma Vector Sigma (Vector Sigma make me whole)

Chaos Bringer has set his Planet Eating sights on 'Bee. On 'Bee. On 'Bee

So you think that without me the Knights will still ride?

So you think that without me the songs will still fly?

Oh Primus you can't do this to me, Primus

I just wanna shout, wanna shout out to the AllSpark

Why must this have happened

To a bot like me

Why must this have happened

Why must this have happened, we'll see

I must let my voice go

Ask Vector Prime

Vector Prime saw the Knights in concert on the Lithone stop of the 2014 tour. He was not impressed, but recognized that the protoforms attending the concert were. He believed that the band's usage of "Unicron" in their name was tasteless. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/05/13 One of the band's hits was "...Are All Dead", which inspired Shockwave in several realities. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/03

Sideways loves the band, especially their hit "Thunder Touch". He also claims your mom provided some automotive maintenance for the band. Ask Sideways, 2015/07/06

Games

Transformers: Legends

When the Knights of Unicron needed to change their lineup, Megatron, and Optimus Prime began to battle over which of them would be the group's frontman. Autobot Jazz, a new musician on the scene, intended to put himself up for a position in the band, and attended the audition with his friends Laserbeak and Ratbat ready to show the band their smooth grooves. The trio succeeded in passing the auditions and joined the band as full members. The band continued to peddle their brand of metal thrash for years afterward, until Megatron and Optimus again had a falling out, resulting in the band splitting up. Knights of Unicron

Toys