Fear of a Blank Planet

Roadrunner released it in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe on 16 April 2007. Atlantic followed in the United States on 24 April, WHD in Japan on the 25th and WEA in Canada on 1 May. It was the band's best-selling record until The Incident in 2009. Steven Wilson has said the title is a direct reference to Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet of 1990. Where that album took on race, this one is about the fear of losing the current generation of the young to the things that threaten their mental and social wellbeing — broken homes, excessive screen time, and the overuse of narcotics, prescribed or otherwise — to the point of mental and spiritual blankness. It was written between January and July 2006 in Tel Aviv and London. The promotion included premiering the songs on the tour supporting the Arriving Somewhere... DVD between September and November 2006, and listening parties at Legacy Studios in New York and Abbey Road in London in January 2007. It charted in almost every European country and entered the Billboard 200 at number 59. The Nil Recurring EP followed later the same year. The running order here is the original's as printed.