3608 lines
152 KiB
Plaintext
3608 lines
152 KiB
Plaintext
From: rsk@aspen.circ.upenn.edu (Rich Kulawiec)
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Date: 18 Feb 94 15:22:07 GMT
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Newsgroups: rec.music.misc,rec.arts.sf.misc,rec.answers,news.answers
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Subject: SF-references-in-music List
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Archive-name: music/sci-fi-refs
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Version: $Header: sf.music,v 1.25 94/01/23 10:43:58 rsk Exp $
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This is the revised SF-in-music list. It isn't comprehensive, but
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it does try to cover rock, jazz, folk, classical and electronic music.
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Most of the items listed here fall pretty well into these categories.
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There is also a list of SF-based operas, which was assembled by
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Evelyn C. Leeper and is reproduced here with permission. I've attempted
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to list everybody who helped in the large (and growing) montage at the end.
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SF can stand for whatever you'd like it to; science fiction, science fantasy,
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speculative fiction, you pick it. My personal definition is rather broad,
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which, coupled with the copious contributions of those of you on the
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various networks, accounts for the length of this list.
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One thing that I've changed since the last revision: I'm now listing
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purely instrumental pieces along with everything else, rather than
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bundling them at the end. This is mostly due to the large number
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of updates that folks have sent in which list instrumental pieces.
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I guess we'll see how it goes.
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I'm not really interested in adding filk or novelty records to this list;
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not that I have anything against them, but they would probably be
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more appropriate on another list.
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In most cases, I've relied on the contributions that have been sent in;
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in others, I've verified spellings and attributions. Thus, the accuracy
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of the information is uneven; so be it. Corrections (VIA MAIL ONLY)
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are quite welcome, as are additions. I will be maintaining this list
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and re-sending it periodically.
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Further update: it's probably getting to be about to split this into
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two postings, or to prune it dramatically. I'll decide which of the
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two options to exercise in the near future.
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--
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Rich Kulawiec, rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu
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--
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1919:
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Has an EP "Machine".
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801
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Track "East of Asteroid". See also Eno, Brian.
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AC/DC:
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"Who Made Who" from the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack.
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Acen:
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Has a song called "Trip II the Moon (The Darkside)".
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Adam Ant:
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"Forbidden Zone" from "Kings of the Wild Frontier" is about the
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invasion of the earth by ants.
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Adolphson & Falk:
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This Swedish band had a hit with "Control is Flashing Blue", a song
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about how computers/sensors say everything is okay, but something
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is crawling in the shadows. Most of their albums have a very dominant
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SF theme. One example is 'Med Rymden I Blodet' (With Space In The Blood).
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(In the same sense that one might say that a family with a seafaring
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tradition "has the sea in their blood").
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After the Fire:
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"Suspended Animation" is either about weightlessness or genuine
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suspended animation, and "Starflight" describes interstellar flight.
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Alan Parsons Project:
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Albums "I, Robot" (but not based on Asimov) and "Tales of Mystery and
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Imagination (Poe). The title track from "Ammonia Avenue" is about a
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world destroyed by pollution.
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Alice Cooper:
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On "School's Out", the words "Klaatu barada nikto" occur in background
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vocals near the end of "My Stars". The album "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell"
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is a fantasy. "Clones (We're All)" appears on "Alice Cooper '80: Flush
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the Fashion"; it's about a collection of clones who revel against their
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situation. He also refers to "the twilight zone" in "The Quiet Room"
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from "From the Inside" and in "Wish You Were Here" from "...Goes to Hell".
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Also, check out "BB on Mars" from "Pretties for You".
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Finally, "No Baloney Homo Sapiens" from "Zipper Catches Skin" is about
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a human challenege to potential marauding aliens.
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Alien:
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Early '80's post-disco group whose album "Sons of the Universe" has SF
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themes running all through it.
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Alphaville:
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The album "Afternoons in Utopia" include tracks such as "Afternoons
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in Utopia", "20th Century" and "Lady Bright" (which contains an old
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rhyming couplet about generally relativity). See also "For a Million"
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of "Breathtaking Blue", with its reference to dancing under an alien sun.
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Ambrosia:
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"Nice, Nice, Very Nice" is from the 53rd Calypso of Bokonon from
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Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut. Also "Time Waits for no One"; both
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are on "Ambrosia", which also contains a reading of Jabberwocky.
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Ambrosia is probably known to most readers for their mid-70's
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hit "Holdin' On to Yesterday".
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America:
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"Sandman" refers to Nolan's "Logan's Run."
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Amin Bhatia:
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Has an entire album entitled "Interstellar Suite" about space travel.
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Amon Duul II:
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Some sf-oriented material; German band from the mid-seventies.
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Two of their albums are "Made in Germany" and "Vive La Trance".
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Amos, Tori:
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There is a Tori Amos song with a line something like "If you need me,
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me and Neil are hanging out with the Dream King." Neil Gaiman is the
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creator of "Sandman". (Side note: One of the "Sandman" issues includes
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some of the lyrics from that song.) And the song "Happy Phantom"
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is about traipsing around the world after one is dead.
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Anderson, Ian:
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Vocalist from Jethro Tull. His 1983 LP, "Walk Into Light" contains a
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notable SF-related track, "User Friendly".
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Anderson, Jon:
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Vocalist from Yes. Solo album, "Olias of Sunhillow", from 1976.
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"Olympia" from "Animation" seems to discuss a futuristic world;
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"Boundaries" from the same album may be about the aftermath of a future war.
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Anderson, Laurie:
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Surrealism & sf-type music. Try "O Superman" and "Language is a
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Virus From Outer Space", which I seem to recall is derived from
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Burroughs (William S., that is). (Did she collaborate on an
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album with him?)
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Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe:
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(With bassist Chris Squire, these are the five core musicians of Yes.)
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The eponymous album includes "Fist of Fire", a song about some sort
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of acension after death, and "Birthright", about British atomic testing
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carried out at Maralinga during the 50's and early 60's, which has
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left many Aboriginal sacred sites and traditional lands uninhabitable.
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Android Sisters, The:
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"Songs of Electronic Despair".
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Androids of MU:
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A punk band that never got anywhere; their album "Blood Robots"
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includes a track called "Lost in Space".
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Ange:
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(French progressive group) "Au-dela du delire" is a time-travel story.
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Ant, Adam:
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"Apollo 9" is about a trip to the moon.
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Anthrax:
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The album "Among the Living" contains "I Am the Law" (about Judge Dredd,
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the 2000 AD hero) and "Among the Living" (about the antihero of Stephen
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King's "The Stand").
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Anvil:
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"Mothra", about the monster from the "Godzilla" movies.
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Aphrodite's Child:
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The album "666" is the veritable armageddon waltz; it is a musical
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retelling of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelations). Vangelis was
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in this band back then.
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Apocrypha:
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"West World" is presumably about the film.
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April Wine:
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A heavy metal band who indulge in fantasy imagery; note "The Whole
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World's Goin' Crazy" and its references to Lewis Carol. Along
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with Nektar and Pavlov's Dog, cult heroes in the St. Louis area
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thanks to twenty years of airplay on KSHE-FM.
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Art of Noise:
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"Paranoimia" features Max Headroom.
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Asia:
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"After the War", from "Astra" refers to post-WW III era.
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"Wildest Dreams", from the first album, might also be about a war that
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is yet to happen. "Sole Survivor", also from the first album, seems
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to be in a similar vein.
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Athletico Spizz '80:
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LP "Do A Runner".
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Atlantics:
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An Australian instrumental band from the early 1960s, had popular singles
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entitled "Moon Man" and "War of the Worlds." The latter is
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amazing for its evocative sound effects.
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Automatic Man:
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Two albums of SF-ish mystic stuff; notable track "I.T.D."
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(Interstellar Tracking Device).
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B-52's:
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"Planet Claire", and "53 Miles West of Venus" from "Wild Planet".
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"Cosmic Thing" and "Planet" (is this the correct title/album?)
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from "Cosmic Thing" Also see the soundtrack to "Earth Girls Are Easy".
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B.A.L.L:
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"Little Tex in Trouble" and "Little Tex's Prelude" from "Trouble Doll"
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are about a cowboy who sees his cattle being taken by aliens.
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The Bags:
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"September", from the album "Night of the Corn People", is about
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a love affair between astronauts. "L. Frank Baum" is a tribute to the
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Wizard of Oz books.
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Ball, Edward:
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Releases under many names, including Teenage Film Stars, The Times and
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The Missing Scientists. Has done several songs with references to "The
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Prisoner" including "I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape".
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Banks, Tony:
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See "Man of Spells" from "Fugitive".
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Barbarella:
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Their album "The Art of Dance" consists only of songs about
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Barbarella and containing samples from the film Barbarella.
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Barenaked Ladies:
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Another Canadian Band, with a song called "Grade 9", with the lines:
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"Some of them are crazy and the others are depressed,
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None of them can help me study for my math test.
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I got into the classroom and my knowledge was gone;
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I guess I should have studied 'stead of watching Wrath of Khan."
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Bauhaus:
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Did a cover of "Ziggy Stardust", and the song "Bela Lugosi's Dead",
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which opens the film "The Hunger" (they perform in it, too). Their lyrics
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are obscure enough so that most of their songs can be taken for SF - or
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anything else, for that matter. They broke up in '83. 3 members became
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Love and Rockets, the other, Peter Murphy, got a solo career. (See below)
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Be Bop Deluxe:
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Tracks include "Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus" (vague reminiscences
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about '50s British SF-comics, also thought to be poking a little fun
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at Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) and "Life In The Air Age" (a time
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traveller stranded in a Gernsbackian future). Also see
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"The Dangerous Stranger from the Highway to the End of Time" on "Modern Music".
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Beatles:
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The "Yellow Submarine" movie and accompanying soundtrack probably deserve
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a mention as an example of an interesting animated fantasy experiment.
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Bedford, David:
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Albums include "Star's End"; could this be a reference to Asimov's
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Foundation series ("Star's End", "Tazenda")?
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He also wrote a sort of Rock Opera, "Rigel 9", to text by
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Ursula le Guin. And "The Dark Nebula" to words by Arthur C Clark.
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The Bee Gees:
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"Edge of the Universe" is a space travel/love song
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which first appeared as a track on the "Main Course" LP in 1975.
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Two years latter was included as part of the "Here at Last .. Live"
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album. The live version was released as a single and was the last
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Top 40 hit for the Bee Gees before their "Saturday Night Fever"
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releases and disco fame.
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Belew, Adrian:
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"Phone Call from the Moon", as well as "Looking For a UFO" from "Young
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Lions" - a message of hope that aliens will come and save us
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from destroying ourselves. The song "The Momur" from "Lone Rhinoceros"
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tells the story of a man who's wife turns into a "momur" (a critic);
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probably not really science fiction.
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Benatar, Pat:
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"My Clone Sleeps Alone".
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The Bevis Frond:
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Lots of SF and fantasy imagery, eg. "The Miskatonic Variations" from
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"The Auntie Winnie Album".
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Big Country:
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Some songs have a magical theme, but the most outstanding is "The
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Seer" from the album by the same name, about a woman who foretells the Roman
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invasion of Scotland.
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Black, Frank:
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Frank Black is Black Francis from the Pixies. His solo album has the track
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"Parry the Wind High, Low" which is about a UFO/Trekkies convention.
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Black Sabbath:
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Sort of. Tends to black magic et. al. See "Paranoid" for
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"Iron Man" (mechanical golem?), "Plant Caravan" and "Electric Funeral"
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(nuclear war?);"Black Sabbath" (1st LP) for demented ravings like
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"Behind the Wall of Sleep" (Lovecraft). "Heaven and Hell" is all fantasy.
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Some speculation that "Iron Man" refers to the comic book hero (paraplegic
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w/special iron alloy suit and powers far beyond...) The song "Computer God",
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from "Dehumanizer" concerns a sinister cyberpunk-like virtual reality.
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Blake, Tim:
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Electronic New Age. Albums "Crystal Machine", "Blake's New Jerusalem",
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both SF. Was in Hawkwind 1979-80, and Gong 1972-1975.
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Blitzkrieg:
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The song "Blitzkrieg" talks about aliens arriving and some sort of war.
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Song was covered by Metallica.
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Blondie:
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SF themes in some songs: e.g. the "Man from Mars" in "Rapture";
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also "Dragonfly" from "The Hunter", which is a half-spoken half-sung
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description of a race between spaceships that uses a collage of
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sf buzzwords. See also "The Attack of the Giant Ants".
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Blue Oyster Cult:
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Many tracks on many albums with SF themes; "Veteran of the Psychic
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Wars" (which also was on the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack; the narrator
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is Corum, of Moorcock's "Chronicles of Corum") from "Fire of
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Unknown Origin", "E.T.I.", "The Subhuman", "Flaming Telepaths" and most
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of the rest of the LP's "Tyranny and Mutation" and "Secret Treaties".
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Later work includes "Godzilla" (from "Spectres" and "Some Enchanted
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Evening"), which about our favorite Tokyo-bashing reptile; "Monsters"
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(from "Cultosaurus Erectus"), which is about a small group of people
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who escape a ravaged Earth but wind up battling each other over one of
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the women; "Black Blade" (from "Cultosaurus Erectus" and "E.T. Live",
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a song done with Michael Moorcock; the nararator is Elric, from
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his Elric saga) "Nosferatu" (from "Spectres"), which is a
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retelling of the Dracula story; "Vengeance (The Pact)" (from "Fire
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of Unknown Origin), which retells the "Taarna" segment from the movie
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"Heavy Metal"; and "Sole Survivor" (also from "Fire..."), tells the
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story of the last man alive on earth, who runs away when aliens come to
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rescue him. The LP "Imaginos" tells the story of a sorcerer attempting
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to release the demonic other-worldly beings called "Les Invisibles".
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"The Great Sun Jester" from "Mirrors" is based on the novel
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"The Fireclown" by Michael Moorcock (also released as "The Winds
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of Limbo"). "Joan Crawford" from "Fire..." might be SF depending
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on how you feel about wire hangers. Incidentally, a couple of
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Karl Edward Wagner's "Kane" series contain direct references to
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the BOC song "Astronomy" (from "Secret Treaties"); in particular,
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there's a chapter entitled "On the Origin of Storms". "Take Me Away"
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(from "The Revolution by Night") is about a guy who wants to go visit aliens.
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Boney M.:
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"Night Flight to Venus" (title track of LP), and "Steppenwolf",
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a werewolf story, on the same LP.
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Bonzo Dog DooDah Band:
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"Urban Spaceman" from "The Best of the Bonzos",
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and "There's a Monster Coming" from "Gorilla".
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Boom Crash Opera:
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Australian band whose song "The Best Thing" from "Look! Listen!"
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describes an astronaut's experiences in flight.
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Bored Games:
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Song "Joe 90". Classic Kiwi underground pop.
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This schoolboy band was one of the early proponents of the "Dunedin Sound"
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associated with the Flying Nun label, and band members went on to play
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in virtually every important Dunedin band, including the Chills,
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the Verlaines, the Clean, Straightjacket Fits etc.
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Boston:
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The LP "Third Stage" has a track emulating a spaceship take-off.
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(All three of their album covers tell the story of the Guitar Spaceship
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and its quest for a new home.)
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Bow Wow Wow:
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Punk. "I want my baby on Mars", "Giant sized baby thing!".
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Bowie, David:
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"Space Oddity" (most emphatically NOT "Major Tom") discusses eerie
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experiences in orbit. Also has a film, "The Man who Fell to Earth".
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See also "Diamond Dogs" (mutated life on earth after the bomb)
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and "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", about a rock band on
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an earth with five years left; this LP also contains "Five Years"
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and "Starman". From "Hunky Dory", see "Life on Mars", and from "Station
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to Station", see "TVC15". See also "Ashes to Ashes", "Memory of a
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Free Festival", and "1984". Also, "Cat People (Putting out the Fire)"
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from "Let's Dance", the title song to the movie. His collaboration
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with the Sales Brothers (Tin Machine), released an album with some
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SF-oriented tracks, such as "Tin Machine", "Video Crime", and "I Can't Read".
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--- Some commentary on Bowie...
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Bowie, David:
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A lot of his albums contain at least a few sf songs. The major ones are:
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"Space Oddity", the title track (often mistakenly referred to as "Major Tom")
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was apparently played on the BBC broadcast of Neil Armstrong's moon walk;
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"The Man Who Sold the World"; "Hunky Dory" which contains 'Life on Mars';
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"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", the first
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side has sf songs, the second is about a rock band whose lead singer self-
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destructs (presumably the band which sang the first side); "AladdinSane";
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"Diamond Dogs", a sort of Orwellian '1984' album which contains the song
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'1984' and other songs about big brother; "Heroes", "Scary Monsters (and
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super creeps)" which contains the title track and 'Ashes to Ashes', a
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followup to 'Space Oddity'. Also, 'Cat People (Putting out the Fire)'
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(tenuosly sf) from "Let's Dance", the title song to the movie of the same
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name. "Tonight" contains a song, 'Loving the Alien" and his latest
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album, "Never Let Me Down", has another. "Station to Station" was originally
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written, but not used, as the soundtrack to one of his films, "The Man who
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Fell to Earth", a classic about an alien stranded on earth. Bowie has done
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a couple of other sf films, "The Hunger", about vampires, and "Labyrinth",
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where he plays the goblin king who has kidnapped a young girl's baby brother
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after she brattishly announces, "I wish the goblins would take him away!"
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-- Scott Butler
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---
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Brickel, Edie and the New Bohemians:
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The title track from "Ghost of a Dog" is, uh, well, about the ghost of a dog.
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Brightman, Sarah
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"I Lost my Heart to a Starship Trooper", "Love In A U.F.O.", and
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"The Love Crusader" (not quite sf, but has many snips of supposed
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intergalactic radio conversations, etc.) and "Lost in Space"
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are all from a 1979 album.
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Broderna Brothers:
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Swedish band, with an song "Karlek i rymden" ("Love in Space") about
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the boyfriend of a female astronaut.
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Brown, Arthur:
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In the late sixties, "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown" had a big hit
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with "Fire". In the mid-to-late-70's, he released an album called
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"Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come", rife with SF themes. For example,
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the first track is "Time Captives", about a group of people who have
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crashed their timeship. (The album may have been a double LP in the UK.)
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Brown, Julie:
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"Earth Girls are Easy". :-)
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Brownsville Station:
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"The Martian Boogie" was a 1977 single about an alien who learns to
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rock n' roll. The song was sort of a minor cult classic for this
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band in the midwest as they tried to follow-up on their "Smokin' in
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the Boy's Room" success. The single was issued on the Private Stock label.
|
|
(Your editor would like to mention that he saw Brownsville Station and
|
|
Styx on a double bill in a converted skating rink outside St. Louis around
|
|
1975 or so...it was an interesting pairing, to say the least. ---Rsk )
|
|
|
|
Buckner and Garcia:
|
|
"Hyperspace", "Defender". (These *are* the guys that did
|
|
that awful Pacman song.)
|
|
|
|
Buggles, The:
|
|
The LP "Age of Plastic" contains many SF themes;for instance, the title
|
|
song has the lines "They send the Heart Police to put you under
|
|
cardiac arrest" (1984 meets Harlan Ellison's Ticktockman?) Also "I Love
|
|
You, Miss Robot". See also "Johnny on the Monorail". See also
|
|
"Adventures in Modern Recording", with SF tracks such as "Vermillion Sands",
|
|
"Inner City", "Rainbow Warrior", and maybe "On TV".
|
|
For trivia fans: "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first video shown
|
|
on MTV.
|
|
|
|
Bunnydrums:
|
|
"PKD", for Phillip K. Dick.
|
|
|
|
Burnett, T-Bone:
|
|
"We Are Humans From Earth" from the soundtrack of "Until the End of
|
|
the World".
|
|
|
|
Bush, Kate:
|
|
"Breathing", about breathing the fallout following a nuclear blast, (supposed
|
|
to be sung by an unborn child) is from "Never For Ever", and "Experiment IV"
|
|
from "The Whole Story" about designing a sound that can kill.
|
|
"Cloudbusting" is about a boy (played by Kate in the video) whose father
|
|
builds a rain-making machine and is kidnapped by the government.
|
|
|
|
(This song was inspired by Peter Reich's "The Book of Dreams".
|
|
The lines "I hid my Yo-yo/In the garden/
|
|
what made it special/made it dangerous"
|
|
is a reference to the fact that the rainmaking energy was inhibited
|
|
by radiation, so Peter's father made him throw away his yo-yo.
|
|
Peter buried it in the garden instead. -- Theo O'Neal)
|
|
|
|
(Peter Reich's father, Wilhelm Reich, was actually a 'scientist'
|
|
(regard the quotes) who did research in 'orgone energy'. Don't ask
|
|
me seriously what 'orgone energy' should be, but one of it's
|
|
abilities should have been to make it rain. The story
|
|
behind that is not sci-fi at all, it is true life (more or less).
|
|
Wilhelm Reich was actually arrested by the government and died in
|
|
prison, something the nine (or so) year old Peter couldn't comprehend
|
|
as a child. Peter later wrote 'a book of dreams' to cope with that
|
|
experience. -- Ulrich Grepel )
|
|
|
|
See also "Hammer Horror" from "Lionheart", a throwback to the
|
|
horror films of the 60's. "Deeper Understanding" from "The Sensual
|
|
World" is about computer addiction. "Hello Earth" from "Hounds of Love"
|
|
refers to an astronaut viewing the earth from his spaceship.
|
|
KB also covered Elton John's "Rocket Man".
|
|
|
|
Byrds, The:
|
|
"Hey Mr. Spaceman" from "The Fifth Dimension". "Space Odyssey"
|
|
from "Notorious Byrd Brothers" is a retelling of Clarke's "The Sentinel".
|
|
|
|
Byrne, David:
|
|
"In the Future", from the "Civil Wars" soundtrack is an
|
|
often-contradictory list how we will be in the future.
|
|
|
|
Camel:
|
|
Lots of fantasy stuff on various albums, notably "Mirage", which
|
|
contains the song "White Rider" (about Gandalf). "Moonmadness" contains
|
|
the instrumental "Lunar Sea". See also "Echoes" from "Breathless".
|
|
|
|
Camper Van Beethoven:
|
|
"The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon" from "Telephone Free Landslide
|
|
Victory", 1985; cover of Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" from self-titled
|
|
album, 1986. Other songs include some "fantastic" imagery. The title of
|
|
their album "II & III" is an oblique reference to R.A. Wilson's
|
|
"Illuminatus!" books (they also did the theme for a TV show Wilson did,
|
|
apparently; it appears on their album "Key Lime Pie").
|
|
|
|
Can:
|
|
First album "Monster Movie", 1969; occasional spacey themes in songs
|
|
("Cascade Waltz" on "Flow Motion" mentions a spaceship and an astronaut).
|
|
|
|
Candlemass:
|
|
A Swedish heavy metal band - pretty much slow heavy doom metal
|
|
with fantasy themes. LP's include "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus", "Nightfall",
|
|
"Ancient Dreams" and "Tales of Creation". This last often suggests
|
|
Michael Moorcock characters, particularly Corum.
|
|
|
|
Captain Beefheart:
|
|
"Big Eyed Beans from Venus" and "The Floppy Boot Stomp". The latter is
|
|
that tale of a farmer who accidentally summons the devil while squaredancing.
|
|
|
|
Captain Beyond:
|
|
"Astral Lady", "Voyagers From Distant Planets", etc.
|
|
|
|
Caravan:
|
|
"Cthulhu" from "Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night".
|
|
|
|
Carlos, Wendy (Walter):
|
|
The soundtrack recording to "A Clockwork Orange".
|
|
|
|
Carpenters:
|
|
See "Klaatu".
|
|
|
|
Cassandra Complex:
|
|
Their album "Satan, Bugs Bunny and Me..." contains "E*O*D", a track
|
|
which discusses Cthulhu. The album "Cyberpunx" contains some tracks
|
|
with cyberpunkish dark visions of the future, e.g. "Nightfall (over the EC)".
|
|
|
|
Caswell and Carnahan:
|
|
Do a song called "Borderlands" which is about a man who
|
|
goes back in time to meet a woman but must return to his own time.
|
|
[There is a novel called The House On The Borderland by William Hodgeson(?)
|
|
Among its (sub)plots there is a man who goes back (or maybe sideways) in
|
|
time to meet a woman but must return to his own time.]
|
|
|
|
Cheap Trick:
|
|
"Dream Police" (title track).
|
|
|
|
Chicago:
|
|
Last side of Chicago III is a suite named "Elegy" about ecodeath and final war.
|
|
|
|
----Some commentary on this from Ed Eastridge:
|
|
|
|
The side as a whole is named Elegy. Elegy's principal writer was trombonist
|
|
James Pankow. It is about humans killing themselves off in the name of
|
|
progress. Another song off of this album which is in a similar vein is
|
|
"Mother" describing the Raping of the Earth by Highways and other man-made
|
|
occurences. Anyway, If I can rememeber correctly Elegy consists of five
|
|
movements, the names As I can recall are:
|
|
|
|
"When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow" (a small poem)
|
|
"Canon" (Brass quartet type of feel,interesting harmonies.)
|
|
"Once Upon a Time"(Soft Jazz ballad featuring Flute and Trombone.)
|
|
"Progress?" (Dissonant and forboding. Uses taped sounds of jackhammers,
|
|
traffic, etc. Most interesting is the use of the toilet...:))
|
|
"The Approaching Storm" (Normal Jazz type number like mid-60's "cool" sound)
|
|
"Man vs Man = The End" (Contemporary almost 12-tonal in sound, definitely not
|
|
like "normal" Chicago)
|
|
|
|
All in all, this is a good piece. The songs are cohesive, transitions are
|
|
smooth and subtle. (If you couldn't tell by now, yes, I am a Chicago freak).
|
|
--- Ed Eastridge
|
|
----
|
|
|
|
The Church:
|
|
Their last three albums ("Priest = Aura", "Gold Afternoon Fix", and
|
|
"Starfish") contain a good deal of SF material, such as:
|
|
"Pharaoh", "City", "Terra Nova Cain", "Priest = Aura", and "Dome".
|
|
|
|
Clannad:
|
|
New-age Celtic-folk stuff; numerous songs about druids, Stonehenge,
|
|
that sort of thing. Also did much of the music for the British
|
|
"Robin Hood" TV show, as well as the film "Last of the Mohicans".
|
|
|
|
Clarke, Stanley:
|
|
Jazz bassist, who spent considerable time with Chick Corea and Al Dimeola
|
|
in "Return to Forever". His self-titled solo release (mostly instrumental)
|
|
has a vocal track called "Vulcan Princess", about a woman he has loved
|
|
"through eternity". This track also appears on a recently released CD
|
|
of his live performances, "Stanley Clarke Live 1975-1976".
|
|
|
|
Clash, the:
|
|
A band pretty much centered in the (then) Now, but had a couple songs
|
|
taking place in the future. "Groovy Times" (from "Black Market Clash")
|
|
is roughly about a fascist state, apparently sparked by the sight of
|
|
chain-link fences around a soccer stadium. "London Calling" (from the
|
|
LP of the same name) is about the apocalypse, a possibility which is
|
|
treated rather ambivalently. "Atom Tan" (from "Combat Rock") is about
|
|
the apocalypse again, from sort of a Beat-Marxist angle.
|
|
|
|
Clark, Allan:
|
|
Album (title unknown) with multiple songs dealing with reincarnation.
|
|
|
|
Clark, Anne:
|
|
On her "Changing Places" album, "Sleeper in Metropolis" deals
|
|
with loss of all human contact in a future (or present) world;
|
|
"Poem for a Nuclear Romance" is about what will happen to two
|
|
lovers in a nuclear war.
|
|
|
|
Clinton, George (and Parliament/Funkadelic):
|
|
Parliament released a series of albums during the seventies with overt
|
|
SF themes: "The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein", "Mothership Connection",
|
|
and others. Clinton had a solo hit with "Atomic Dog" in the mid-80's.
|
|
All this music ranges from slow-burn funk to beat-heavy disco.
|
|
(Their influence is still felt in a number of places -- e.g. one
|
|
of the sequences in the Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" film.)
|
|
|
|
Clouds:
|
|
Australian pop music quartet. Have a song "Fox's Wedding" inspired by
|
|
a Japanese fairy tale. Their debut album "Penny Century" is named after
|
|
the character in Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez' comic book "Love and Rockets".
|
|
|
|
Colourbox:
|
|
A track from their "Colourbox" LP entitled "Just Give "em Whiskey." has
|
|
quotes from "Prisoner", "2001" and "West World" on it.
|
|
|
|
Concrete Blonde:
|
|
The album "Bloodletting" has "The Vampire Song" which sounds like it
|
|
was patterned after Anne Rice's Vampire novels.
|
|
|
|
Cooder, Ry:
|
|
"UFO has Landed in the Ghetto" from "The Slide Area". Cooder is
|
|
extremely well-regarded among other professional guitar players,
|
|
and is known responsible (with Steve Vai) for the music in the
|
|
film "Crossroads".
|
|
|
|
Consolidated:
|
|
Rap group, used a sample from They Live!. It's part of the speech that
|
|
someone (the President?) is holding on TV. Part of it is "We have faith in our
|
|
leaders".
|
|
|
|
Costello, Elvis:
|
|
"Tokyo Storm Warning" from "Blood and Chocolate"; mentions the cheap
|
|
sets found in some Japanese horror/sf movies. (In the sleeve notes to
|
|
"Girls Girls Girls" (a retrospective collection of Elvis Costello + The
|
|
Attractions songs) Costello says that Tokyo Storm Warning is influenced
|
|
by "brutal SF stories", and mentions Philip K Dick as one of the
|
|
influences.) "Waiting for the End of the World" from "My Aim Is True",
|
|
(self explanatory) and "Night Rally" (fascist rally/totalitarian government)
|
|
"Hurry Down Doomsday (the Bugs Are Taking Over)" from "Mighty Like a
|
|
Rose". "Satellite" from the album _Spike_ is based on concepts from
|
|
"Radio Free Albemuth" by Philip K. Dick.
|
|
|
|
Crack the Sky:
|
|
"Robots for Ronnie" off "Crack the Sky" (not about Ronnie Reagan, but
|
|
could easily be adapted!). "Invaders from Mars" off "Animal Notes"
|
|
(the martians are coming for our hero, but he doesn't care, 'cause
|
|
it's probably better over there!). "Nuclear Apathy" off "Safety in
|
|
Numbers" discusses how the situation looks to those on the Moon.
|
|
|
|
Cracker:
|
|
Led by David Lowery, formerly of Camper Van Beethoven.
|
|
"Nostalgia" (from "Kerosene Hat", 1993) is about a stranded cosmonaut,
|
|
also mentioned on the single "Low", from the same album.
|
|
|
|
Cramps:
|
|
Contributed a song to the soundtrack of "Return of the Living Dead",
|
|
called "Surfin' Dead" (about zombies and the like, not
|
|
to mention numerous uses of 50's-60's era hot-rod lingo.)
|
|
|
|
Crash Test Dummies:
|
|
A Canadian group. "Superman Song" from their first album, "The Ghosts that
|
|
Haunt Me", is about the man of steel himself, comparing his lifestyle to that
|
|
of Tarzan.
|
|
|
|
The Cravats:
|
|
A number of albums contain SF references. For example the album "The
|
|
Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes" uses recordings from TV's "The
|
|
Twilight Zone" and "The Prisoner" plus the film "Them!". The title
|
|
track ends with the narrator's father being eaten by his roses. The
|
|
Cravats later turned into The Very Things and released the album
|
|
"Motortown!", which contains the track "The Land of the Giants" about
|
|
the TV series.
|
|
|
|
Cream:
|
|
(Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce.)
|
|
"Tales of Brave Ulysses" from "Disraeli Gears" is about the
|
|
well-known mythological character; "Those Were the Days"
|
|
from "Wheels of Fire" is about Atlantis.
|
|
|
|
The Creatures:
|
|
"Pluto Drive" from "Boomerang".
|
|
|
|
Creedence Clearwater Revival:
|
|
"It Come Out of the Sky".
|
|
|
|
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young:
|
|
"Wooden Ships" is a resigned tale of survival in a post-nuclear world.
|
|
"Teach Your Children" is part of the soundtrack to "Silent Running".
|
|
|
|
The Cure:
|
|
On the "Faith" LP there is a track called "The Drowning Man" based on
|
|
chapter 75 in 'Gormenghast' by Mervyn Peake describing the death of Fuschia.
|
|
|
|
Dalek I Love You (aka Dalek I):
|
|
Who are these folks?
|
|
|
|
The Damned:
|
|
"I Just Can't Be Happy Today" (single + live on "The Black Album")
|
|
deals with a future military state in the UK.
|
|
|
|
Danse Society:
|
|
On their "Heaven is Waiting" LP is cover of "2000 Light Years from home".
|
|
|
|
DeBurgh, Chris:
|
|
"The Vision", "The Leader", and "What About Me?", a three-song
|
|
series from "Into the Light" discusses the Revelation, which may or
|
|
may not be a fantasy, depending on your viewpoint. See "A Spaceman Came
|
|
Travelling" and "The Tower" from "Spanish Train", "The Girl With April
|
|
in Her Eyes" from "Crusader", "Sight and Touch" from "Man on the Line"
|
|
(post-WW3), and "Don't Pay the Ferryman" from "The Getaway".
|
|
Also note "The Devil's Eye" from "Crusader", about the Devil taking over the
|
|
world through TV screens, and "Sin City" from "Far Beyond These Castle Walls",
|
|
about the Devil tempting people on Earth.
|
|
|
|
Dead Milkmen:
|
|
Have done a number of SF songs, including "Right Wing Pigeons" from
|
|
"Big Lizard in my Backyard", and "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies".
|
|
|
|
Deep Fix:
|
|
Michael Moorcock's band of the late seventies-produced one album, "The
|
|
New Worlds Fair". A sort of cross between rock and slow square dance.
|
|
|
|
Deep Purple:
|
|
Occasional forays into SF. "Space Truckin'", from "Machine Head".
|
|
"The Mule", from "Fireball" (Asimov's 'Foundation'?).
|
|
|
|
Def Leppard:
|
|
Heavy Metal. First album ("On Through The Night" has a futuristic track,
|
|
"When the Walls Came Tumblin' Down", and a fantasy "Overture".
|
|
The videos for "Foolin'" and "Rock of Ages" from "Pyromania" contain
|
|
fantasy/SF elements, although the lyrics of the songs aren't explicitly
|
|
SF-ish. The LP "Hysteria" includes "Gods of War", "Run Riot",
|
|
"Armageddon it" and "Rocket" which have s-f themes (It sounds so, at least).
|
|
The video for "Women" (also from "Hysteria")is about a s-f comic story
|
|
(called "Def Leppard and the Women of Doom").
|
|
|
|
Devo:
|
|
"Q: Are we not men? A: We are DEVO" and "Duty Now for the Future" are
|
|
full of SF themes; examples are "Space Junk" and "Jocko Homo". "Freedom
|
|
of Choice" and "New Traditionalists" also have some SF material.
|
|
Also "Shout" has a couple of SF tracks on it: "Are You Experienced?"
|
|
(the Hendrix song) and "4th Dimension". "Mr DNA" from "Duty Now for the
|
|
Future" is apparently about genetic engineering.
|
|
|
|
Diamond, Neil:
|
|
"Heartlight" is based on "E.T."
|
|
|
|
Dio:
|
|
Most Dio albums are fantasy in tone, i.e. covers & liners. "The Last
|
|
in Line" is about a quest to find a witch. Other songs and videos
|
|
have similar themes.
|
|
|
|
Divinyls:
|
|
Australian grunge band, did a track called "Science Fiction" on
|
|
their "Desperate" album. It's more about your average sf fan
|
|
"I thought love was science fiction...now that love is my addiction,
|
|
I've thrown all my books away."
|
|
|
|
DOEF:
|
|
(the OE being O umlaut, DOEF stands for Deutsch-Oestereichische-Freunschaft,
|
|
German-Austrian-Friendship) once wrote a song called 'Codo'. It's about
|
|
a peace and love bringing alien.
|
|
|
|
Dogzilla:
|
|
Boston funk band with songs "Mr. Toad's WIld Ride", "Scarab of Ra",
|
|
"The Two-Headed Baby Song" and "Giant Squid" as examples from "There's
|
|
Always Something Wrong"/"Allizgod". Fun.
|
|
|
|
Dolby, Thomas:
|
|
"Golden Age of Wireless" is mostly (if not all) songs about
|
|
science/technology and man. "The Flat Earth" also contains these themes
|
|
to a lesser extent. The album "Aliens Ate My Buick" (an SF title if ever
|
|
I heard one) includes the track "May The Cube Be With You" (first line -
|
|
"Late one night a happy Martian with nothing to do"). See also the
|
|
album "Astronauts and Heretics".
|
|
|
|
Donovan (w/Paul McCartney):
|
|
"Atlantis" (Georg Danzer translated and sang a German version.)
|
|
See also "The Intergalactive Laxative" and the title track
|
|
from "Cosmic Wheels". "Sunshine Superman" probably deserves
|
|
a mention as well.
|
|
|
|
Dorough, Bob:
|
|
"Little Twelvetoes" is about an alien with 12 toes.
|
|
|
|
Geoffrey Downes New Dance Orchestra:
|
|
"Plastic Age" on one of their albums (which one, anybody?).
|
|
|
|
Dr. John:
|
|
"Gris-Gris" and "Gumbo" are heavily into New Orleans voodoo party mysticism.
|
|
|
|
Dschinghis Khan:
|
|
A German band with a song called "Kaept'n Nemo" about Jules Vernes'
|
|
undersea captain.
|
|
|
|
Duran Duran:
|
|
(Note: The group's name comes from a character in the Jane Fonda/Roger Vadim
|
|
film "Barbarella".)
|
|
|
|
Some comments from Gabrielle de Lioncourt on Duran Duran:
|
|
|
|
Their first album has "Planet Earth" and "Sound of Thunder" (the
|
|
latter about waiting for the bomb to drop). A B-side, "Faster than
|
|
Light", was also SF. Duran Duran have a very interesting video
|
|
history for SF lovers. The majority of their videos were directed
|
|
by Russel Mulchaey, director of Highlander. Some video plots:
|
|
|
|
"Night Boat" - zombie horror video
|
|
"Hungry Like The Wolf" - man chases woman who turns into panther.
|
|
"New Moon On Monday" - near future story of peaceful revolt against
|
|
totalitarian regime.
|
|
"Union of the Snake" - man from Earth travels into the world
|
|
beneath ours.
|
|
"View to a Kill" - James Bond fantasy.
|
|
|
|
"Wild Boys" wasn't a tribute to Barbarella. It was taken from
|
|
their film "Arena", a _very_ surreal story that takes place half
|
|
in the arena where Duran Duran are holding their concert and half
|
|
in the strange underworld below the arena (where Wild Boys takes
|
|
place). The videos by Arcadia, a splinter portion of the band,
|
|
are also surreal and SF-ish.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dylan, Bob:
|
|
"Talkin' World War III Blues"
|
|
|
|
Earth, Wind & Fire:
|
|
"Jupiter" from "All 'n All"; the singer is visited by an alien
|
|
who wants to bring love and peace to the world by means of a
|
|
flower from his plant. "Electric Nation" from the "Electric Universe" album
|
|
tells how it won't be so bad to become a country of robots, as long as
|
|
we can still dance. ;-)
|
|
|
|
Edelweiss:
|
|
An Austrian band who've recorded a parody of the Star Trek theme entitled
|
|
"Raumschiff Edelweiss" ("Spaceship Edelweiss"); they also have a
|
|
corresponding video.
|
|
|
|
Electric Light Orchestra:
|
|
"Mission (A World Record)" on "A New World Record". The entire album
|
|
"Time" involves a man from 1981 winding up in the 21st century (or perhaps
|
|
the other way around). The "10538 Overture" is a dystopia set in that year.
|
|
(Although closer examination of the lyrics indicates that "10538" might
|
|
be a person, not a year.)
|
|
|
|
Elektric Music:
|
|
The Kraftwerk offshoot band's first album "Esperanto" has a song about
|
|
making love to a machine ("Kissing The Machine"). Co-written by and
|
|
features the vocals of OMD's Andy McCluskey.
|
|
|
|
Elephant's Memory:
|
|
The track "Old Man Willow" is apparently a reference to the sentient
|
|
trees described by Tolkien.
|
|
|
|
Eloy:
|
|
(German/Swiss electronic progressive rock) See "Ocean", the atlantis
|
|
myth; "Planets","Time to Turn", a two album story of fantasy with a
|
|
twist. (It's about "the rise and fall of the most beautiful planet in
|
|
the universe, Salta".) Also, "Giant" from "Colours" and "Night Riders"
|
|
and "Metromania" from "Metromania", about the high tech near future. The
|
|
LP "Power and the Passion" is based on a story involving a student who
|
|
ingests some of his father's experimental timedrug. He travels back 600
|
|
years and falls in love, gets involved in her father's fight with the
|
|
peasants and eventually finds a wizard to send him back to the future.
|
|
(The name of the band was based on the Eloi race from H. G. Wells'
|
|
"The Time Machine".)
|
|
|
|
Emerald Web:
|
|
(small obscure west coast duo [flute & synthesizer]) New age material,
|
|
but one album is "Dragon Wings and Wizard Tales", a fantasy story set
|
|
to music.
|
|
|
|
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer:
|
|
Space battle in "Karn Evil 9" from "Brain Salad Surgery". (Artwork
|
|
by H R Giger, of "Alien" fame.) See also "Tarkus", whose tracks
|
|
seem to loosely correlate with the cover artwork, but which I've
|
|
never been quite able to figure out.
|
|
|
|
Eno, Brian:
|
|
Albums: "Apollo" and "On Land"; see also "The Fat Lady of Limbourg"
|
|
from "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy", a bizarre story of
|
|
SF and espionage. See also "Nerve Net".
|
|
|
|
----Some commentary on Eno from Tim Day:
|
|
|
|
Re "Apollo": This is purely instrumental. It was apparently written as
|
|
sountrack for a video documentary of the Apollo missions (bits were
|
|
also used in the film "Static"), but I don't think this qualifies
|
|
it for the main section of the list any more than <random Tangerine Dream track>
|
|
|
|
"On Land" is also instrumental. #1 of a series entitled "Ambient" (sort of
|
|
intelligent background muzak). It is intended to suggest large open spaces
|
|
(and succeeds very well). But SF ? No way.
|
|
|
|
Eno's philosophy towards song lyrics seems to be summarized by the first
|
|
track (I forget the name) on "Another Green World":
|
|
"All the clouds turn to words;
|
|
All the words float in sequence
|
|
And no-one knows what they mean
|
|
Everyone just ignores them"
|
|
Eno's songs generally aim to invoke an atmosphere, mood or emotion.
|
|
Like the music, lyrics are just another tool to serve this purpose; this can
|
|
often be done using particular words or phrases. However, the song they form
|
|
in combination is essentially meaningless (which is why it's so difficult
|
|
to classify any of his stuff as SF !). "The Fat Lady of Limbourg" is
|
|
probably the closest he's come. (Though it really seems to be just about
|
|
bumbling espionage agencies.)
|
|
|
|
--- Tim Day
|
|
-----
|
|
|
|
Enya:
|
|
"Aldebaran" is dedicate to Ridley Scott; but does it deal with SF themes?
|
|
Another track, apparently Tolkien-derived, is "Lothlorien".
|
|
The album "Shepherd Moons" is a sort of reference to moons found in
|
|
the rings of Saturn, which, due to their gravitational influence,
|
|
hold some of the rings in place. (See also Clannad: Enya is the sister of
|
|
the lead singer, and was part of their early line-up.)
|
|
|
|
Eon:
|
|
Their album "Void dweller" include several tracks with samples from SF
|
|
and horror movies. For example, "Spice" and "Fear: The Mindkiller"
|
|
have samples from Dune (saw that coming, didn't you?), "Electromagnetic
|
|
Waves" has samples from "Prince of Darkness" and so on.
|
|
|
|
Erasure:
|
|
Their song "Sweet Sweet Baby" includes samples from the films "Dark Star"
|
|
and "Barbarella".
|
|
|
|
Erickson, Roky:
|
|
"The Evil One" has a track entitled "Creature with the Atom Brain"
|
|
Also see "I Walked with a Zombie" (now you know all the lyrics :-) ).
|
|
|
|
Etheridge, Melissa:
|
|
Her 1992 release "Never Enough" includes "2001", a rocker with
|
|
semi-cyberpunk lyrics about the near future.
|
|
|
|
Europe:
|
|
A Swedish heavy metal band, which did the song "The Final Countdown", about
|
|
being exiled from Earth.
|
|
|
|
Eurythmics:
|
|
Did the soundtrack to the recent version of "1984".
|
|
|
|
FM:
|
|
The album "Black Noise" is entirely SF, and deal with topics such
|
|
as suspended animation; "RocketRoll" from "Surveillance" is about SF Rock.
|
|
Also see "Phasers on Stun".
|
|
|
|
Fagen, Donald:
|
|
"True Companion", about a lonely starship pilot, appears on the
|
|
soundtrack for "Heavy Metal". (Incidentally, some folks have
|
|
interpreted I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year) to be futuristic;
|
|
but it refers to the optimistic vision held *during* the IGY, 1957.)
|
|
"Tomorrow's Girls" from "Kamakiria".
|
|
|
|
Fairport Convention:
|
|
A few fantasy-related songs -- most notably "Tam Lin", the classic
|
|
celtic tale of an encounter with the Queen of Faerie. F.C.'s music
|
|
is mostly based around traditional English folktales. (See also
|
|
Steeleye Span.)
|
|
|
|
Faith No More:
|
|
The last-minute addition of new singer and lyricist
|
|
Mike Patton before they came out with "The Real Thing" necessitated
|
|
that he write all the songs in about eight days, so he went on sort
|
|
of a scavenger hunt for topics. Among the usual assortment of love
|
|
songs, and some other truely weird topics, "Surprise! You're Dead!"
|
|
is about getting turned into a Vampire. "The Morning After" is about
|
|
a ghost, and is an adaptation of the film Siesta.
|
|
|
|
The Fall:
|
|
They have a song called "Lay of the Land" which starts with the chanting of
|
|
some "Planet people" from the British TV series "Quatermass".
|
|
"Spectre vs. Rector" on "Dragnet" is a story about exorcism/possession- the demon is called Yog Sothoth (from H.P. Lovecraft's horror books). "Jaw Bone and the Air-Rifle" on "Hex Induction Hour" is about a curse.
|
|
See also "Elves", "Bug Day".
|
|
|
|
Falling Joys:
|
|
Australian band; the title trakck from the album "Psychohum" is the
|
|
story of the galaxy being saved by the crew of a spaceship...until
|
|
the lyrics abruptly change direction and start describing a genie.
|
|
|
|
Farmer, Mylene:
|
|
This French singer has a song "Tristana" which tells the story of that
|
|
beautiful girl ("Schneewitchen" in German) with the seven dwarfs.
|
|
|
|
Fiona:
|
|
"Nights on Earth", from the soundtrack to "Hearts of Fire",
|
|
features the chorus line "Remember all the nights we spent on earth, long
|
|
before the colonies were planted in the sky".
|
|
|
|
Firm:
|
|
"Star Trekkin'". This is not the same "Firm" who did "Radioactive",
|
|
i.e. it's not Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page.
|
|
|
|
Fink Brothers:
|
|
"Mutants in Mega City One", from 2000AD comic (origin of Judge Dredd).
|
|
America portrayed as three cities under police control.
|
|
|
|
Fishbone:
|
|
Off their self titled album, "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." stands for
|
|
"Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts" and is
|
|
about a government attempt to convince everything that Hiroshima was
|
|
actually caused by Godzilla farting. I kid you not.
|
|
"Party at Ground Zero" from the eponymous album.
|
|
|
|
Fisher Z (the Z is pronounced the Britisch way, sead with a soft s):
|
|
The title track from their album "Red Skies Over Paradise" is
|
|
about nuclear war in Britain.
|
|
|
|
The Five Blobs:
|
|
"The Blob".
|
|
|
|
The Fixx:
|
|
"Driven Out", about environmental disaster, from "Calm Animals".
|
|
(Known for early-80's hit "One Thing Leads to Another".)
|
|
|
|
Flaming Youth:
|
|
The album "Ark II" is a concept LP about the trials and tribulations of
|
|
a generation ship leaving earth. (Phil Collins was the drummer.)
|
|
|
|
Flash & the Pan:
|
|
"First and Last" is based on a combination of Olaf Stapledon's
|
|
"Last and First Men" and Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel" or "2001,"
|
|
whichever you prefer. The song "California" is based on the novel
|
|
"Fail-Safe". See also "Atlantis Calling".
|
|
|
|
Flash Fearless and the Zorg Women, parts 5&6:
|
|
Another weird IGTB type collaboration album from the
|
|
late 70's with some well-known rockers on it.
|
|
Includes "I'm Flash" by Alice Cooper.
|
|
|
|
Fleck, Bela and the Flecktones:
|
|
"Flight of the Cosmic Hippo", and "UFO Tofu" a couple of songs
|
|
with self-explanatory titles. Incidentally, one of the Flecktones
|
|
is called "Future Man" and plays a futuristic SynthAxe Drumitar.
|
|
|
|
Fleetwood Mac:
|
|
"Green Manalishi". (Judas Priest did an eminently forgettable version.)
|
|
"Rhiannon" is about a Welsh witch.
|
|
|
|
Flock, The:
|
|
"Dinosaur Swamps" is an early LP. Notable for quality of musicians,
|
|
including Jerry Goodman who later joined the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
|
|
|
|
Flock of Seagulls:
|
|
British band (circa 1982) very much associated with science fiction.
|
|
Songs with titles like "Man Made", "DNA", "Modern Love is Automatic",
|
|
and "Space Age Love Song".
|
|
|
|
Flying Pickets:
|
|
Have an a cappela cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity".
|
|
|
|
Foreigner:
|
|
"Starrider" is a track from their self-titled debut album in which
|
|
the singer is taken to the stars and "sails the celestial ways."
|
|
Reference is made to higher beings with the power to travel between the
|
|
stars and the singer seeks to gain their knowledge to become a Starrider.
|
|
A 3rd generation band, Foreigner followed in the footsteps of Bad Company,
|
|
who in turn followed in the footsteps of Free.
|
|
|
|
Foxx, John:
|
|
Former lead singer for Ultravox -- slightly harsh electro-pop. Futuristic
|
|
tracks include "20th Century" on the B-Side of the "Burning Car" single.
|
|
Surreal tracks include "He's a Liquid". First solo album "Metamatic"
|
|
is futuristic and minimalistic synth music, including "No-one's Driving"
|
|
and "Underpass"
|
|
|
|
Frank Chickens:
|
|
"Mothra", based on the movie monster.
|
|
|
|
Frankie Goes To Hollywood:
|
|
Their 1984 "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" album has two tracks with SF'isch
|
|
connotations. The title track is about the Coleridge poem ("In Xanada
|
|
did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure dome decree", if memory serves ---Rsk),
|
|
and 'Two Tribes' is about nuclear war.
|
|
|
|
Front 242:
|
|
Has a sample from the movie Videodrome in one of their songs...
|
|
(the "You know me. And I sure know you! Everyone!" part).
|
|
|
|
Front Line Assembly:
|
|
An industrial band, their latest album is titled "Tactical Neural Implant"
|
|
and they have a single from that album called "Mindphazer". The video for
|
|
this single has footage from a japanese live-action sci-fi film
|
|
called "GUNHED".
|
|
|
|
Gabriel Bondage:
|
|
"Another Trip to Earth" (LP), religious/fantasy mixture.
|
|
|
|
Gabriel, Peter:
|
|
"Here Comes the Flood", with Robert Fripp, and "Solsbury Hill" are typical
|
|
of his work. "On the Air" from his second album is about running a pirate
|
|
radio transmitter under a totalitarian regime. Many of his other songs deal
|
|
with aspects of science and technology and progress, and their effects
|
|
on people, but many of them are metaphorical and interpretations vary.
|
|
See also Genesis.
|
|
|
|
Game Theory:
|
|
"One More for Saint Michael" on the album "Lolita Nation" includes
|
|
references to Captain Jim, the Prime Directive, T'Pau, etc. "Nine Lives
|
|
to Rigel 5" from "Distortion" and "Regenisraen" from "Big Shot Chronicle"
|
|
also have SF themes. Finally, "Room for One More Honey" from "Two
|
|
Steps From the Middle Ages" seems to be about Americans taking over Asia.
|
|
|
|
J. Geils Bands:
|
|
"No Anchovies, Please" frommm "Love Stinks" is about diabolical
|
|
scientists who kidnap a woman and transform her into...
|
|
|
|
Genesis:
|
|
"Watcher of the Skies" (from "Foxtrot") could be either a "last man
|
|
on Earth" story or a "alien comes upon a deserted Earth" story.
|
|
"One for the Vine" from "Wind and Wuthering" concerns time travel;
|
|
perhaps "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" (Hello Triffids,
|
|
from "Nursery Cryme"), "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (the entire album)
|
|
(surrealism), and "A Trick of the Tail" (entire album) (fantasy).
|
|
Oh, and "Get 'em Out by Friday" (from "Foxtrot") which sounds like something
|
|
the BBC should have turned into a Doctor Who plot -- tenants are being kicked
|
|
out of their apartments by their new landlords, who just happen to be the
|
|
directors of Genetic Control, who just happen to have just announced a new
|
|
'four-foot restriction on humanoid height', thus enabling them to fit twice
|
|
as many people to a building... See also "Keep it Dark"
|
|
in which visiting aliens persuade the person they contact to remain silent
|
|
about the visit. More stuff: "Am I Very Wrong", "Solitude", "The Knife"
|
|
(--maybe, from "Trespass"), "The Musical Box" (horror, from "Nursery Cryme").
|
|
According to the story told in 1970s concerts (and apparently on the liners
|
|
of the original release, but on present in the current American release): A
|
|
boy (Henry) is killed when his playmate (Cynthia) takes his head off with a
|
|
croquet mallet (one concert telling of the tale begins, in fact, with the
|
|
line, "Croquet is a particularly vicious British sport"). Upon reaching The
|
|
Great Hereafter, he is rejected and sent back to Earth, only to manifest
|
|
himself again when Cynthia comes upon his musical box. Upon her opening the
|
|
box, Henry pops out (and the song begins). Over the course of the song,
|
|
Henry's body ages rapidly, until, by the final strains, he is an old man,
|
|
who finally collapses and dies (assumedly for good this time).
|
|
"The Fountain of Salmacis" (fantasy, from "Nursery Cryme"),
|
|
is a retelling of the myth of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis.
|
|
Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, comes upon a pool wherein
|
|
dwells the naiad Salmacis. Salmacis, smitten with love, asks the gods to
|
|
make the two of them one being. The result -- a single being of both
|
|
genders; hence, the term 'hermaphrodite'. "Supper's Ready"
|
|
(the ultimate battle of good and evil, from "Foxtrot", possibly based on
|
|
an experience Peter Gabriel had one night when his wife began speaking
|
|
with another voice ), "Firth of Fifth", and Dancing with the Moonlit Knight"
|
|
(both containing heavy fantasy elements, both from "Selling England by
|
|
the Pound"). (It's also possible that "Dancing..." is political allegory
|
|
instead -- which I tend to agree with, given the album title and a re-reading.
|
|
"Cinema Show", from the same album, mentions the mythical figure of Tyresias,
|
|
a being who has been both male and female (but not at the same time).
|
|
See also "Squonk" from "A Trick of the Tail", and "The Lady Lies" from
|
|
"...And Then There Were Three...", a fantasy about a traveller captured
|
|
by a demon in the form of a young woman. See also "Little Nemo" and
|
|
"Snowbound" from the same album, which also have fantasy elements.
|
|
"Domino" from "Invisible Touch" is about nuclear war,
|
|
death, damnation, and other cheery topics. BTW, Peter Gabriel used to
|
|
tell stories before some of the songs in concert, although those stories
|
|
seem to have nothing to do with the songs (occasionally).
|
|
|
|
Gentle Giant:
|
|
Much material, tending towards fantasy including "The Advent of Panurge",
|
|
and "Alucard" (spell it backwards).
|
|
|
|
Gerry and the Holograms:
|
|
The single "Gerry and the Holograms" is about a man who is split into
|
|
several copies of himself. If I remember rightly the man behind this
|
|
group was the singer from Albertos Y Los Paranoias.
|
|
|
|
Gong:
|
|
New Age before anyone had coined the label "new age". Three albums about
|
|
the Planet Gong, Zero the Hero & the Pot-Head Pixies!: "Radio Gnome",
|
|
"Angel's Egg", "You". Earlier albums had vaguely SF ideas, e.g.,
|
|
"Fohat Digs Holes in Space" from "Camembert Electrique".
|
|
|
|
Gowan, Larry:
|
|
See "Oceania" from "Gowan" (first LP) might refer to Oceana.
|
|
See also "Strange Animal", his second LP.
|
|
|
|
Graham, Mark:
|
|
The album "Natural Selections" contains several humorous songs on
|
|
various scientific topics, including "Big Bang Theory" (the story of
|
|
the universe in six minutes), "Working on the Food Chain", "I Can
|
|
See Your Aura and It's Ugly" and "Their Brains Were Small and They Died".
|
|
Great harmonica playing, too.
|
|
|
|
Grand Funk Railroad:
|
|
See "Time Machine" and "Into the Sun" from "On Time", and
|
|
"Life in Outer Space" from "What's Funk?"
|
|
|
|
Grateful Dead:
|
|
"Standing on the Moon" is a reflection by a singer who is standing on
|
|
the moon watching petty wars on earth; possibly SF-ish although it
|
|
seems to be more of a love song.
|
|
|
|
Greenslade, David:
|
|
"The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony", a double album of electronic music.
|
|
A derelict alien spaceship enters our solar system. Their language is
|
|
decoded (details in the accompanying illustrated book); the music is
|
|
the story of their race.
|
|
|
|
H.P. Lovecraft:
|
|
Couple of albums...one contains "At the Mountains of Madness". Estimates
|
|
place them in the late 60's. Another track is "The White Ship",
|
|
directly referencing an H.P. Lovecraft story.
|
|
|
|
Hackett, Steve:
|
|
"Narnia" on "Please Don't Touch" (one of his solo albums;he was with Genesis).
|
|
His album "Voyage of the Acolyte" isbased on the Tarot, and includes
|
|
"Star of Sirius", "The Hands of the Princess", "A Tower Struck Down",
|
|
"The Lovers", "The Hermit", "The Shadow of the Hierophant", and "Ace of Wands".
|
|
See also Genesis.
|
|
|
|
Hagar, Sammy:
|
|
"There's a Crack in the Earth".
|
|
|
|
Hamm, Stuart:
|
|
"Radio Free Albemuth" is based on the novels of Phillip K. Dick.
|
|
"Count Zero" is based on William Gibson's material.
|
|
|
|
Hammill, Peter:
|
|
Has done an operatic treatment of "The Fall of the House of Usher".
|
|
|
|
Happy the Man:
|
|
"Time Considered as a Helix of Precious Laughs" is based on Samuel R.
|
|
Delany's story "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones".
|
|
Great story, lousy song...from the album "Happy the Man".
|
|
|
|
Hardcastle, Paul:
|
|
The "No Winner" album is filled with songs about nuclear attacks and SDI.
|
|
|
|
Hatfield and the North
|
|
"Son of There's No Place Like Homerton" from their eponymous album.
|
|
It's a lengthy song which has sparse lyrics and seems to be
|
|
about an orchestra from Mars.
|
|
|
|
Hawkwind:
|
|
The all-time consensus champion for sf-oriented rock. *Some* of their
|
|
albums are: "Hall of the Mountain Grill", "In Search of Space",
|
|
"Quark, Strangeness, and Charm", "Space Ritual--Alive in Liverpool &
|
|
London", "Warrior on the Edge of Time", "In Search of Space", "Doremi
|
|
Fasol Latido", "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music","25 Years On",
|
|
"Levitation", "Sonic Attack", "Church of the Hackwind", and "Choose
|
|
Your Masks". Michael Moorcock, long associated with the group, has
|
|
in fact written much fantasy-sf, including co-authoring "Time of the Hawklords",
|
|
a fantasy about the band saving the world. He co-wrote "Veteran of the
|
|
Psychic Wars", from the soundtrack of "Heavy Metal". He also released a
|
|
solo album late in the 70's (See "Deep Fix"). Many of their tracks are
|
|
explicitly linked to SF books,e.g. "Lord of Light", "Jack of Shadows",
|
|
"Damnation Alley" (Zelazny), "Steppenwolf" (Hesse), "High Rise" (Ballard).
|
|
The lyrics of "Warriors" are taken from Moorcock's "The Eternal Champion";
|
|
the lyrics to another spoken track on "Space Ritual" from his book
|
|
"The Black Corridor" The lyrics of "The Awakening", "Spirit of the Age"
|
|
and "The 10 Seconds of Forever", are SF poems from Robert Calvert's
|
|
collection of poems, "Centigrade 232". Robert Calvert was lead singer
|
|
of Hawkwind from 1976-1978 (or thereabouts) and produced a solo album,
|
|
"Lucky Leif in the Longships" in the late 70's, and two more in the mid-80's.
|
|
"Lucky Leif" is based on the premise "What if the Vikings had
|
|
succeeded and colonizing America?", and features several Hawkwind
|
|
regulars as guest musicians. The 1985 Hawkwind LP "The Chronicle of
|
|
the Black Sword" is based loosely on Moorcock's Elric character.
|
|
Debut album was called "Hawkwind". Another album is PXR5.
|
|
|
|
Some commentary on "Live Chronicles" from Stephen Swann:
|
|
"Live Chronicles" is the double-album concert rendition of their
|
|
"Chronicle of the Black Sword" album, and features several events from
|
|
the Elric books (especially "Stormbringer"), loosely intertwined into
|
|
an 80-minute music-story performance. The tour also featured Michael
|
|
Moorcock himself on stage with the band, doing narration between
|
|
musical numbers. Moorcock's spoken parts didn't make it onto the
|
|
final cut of the album, because of legal problems between himself and
|
|
the band, but he -is- on the _Chronicle of the Black Sword_ video
|
|
(which is a live performance from the same tour, even though it
|
|
sports the name of the studio album).
|
|
|
|
--- Stephen Swann
|
|
|
|
For further info on Hawkwind, please see the rather massive entry
|
|
at the end of the list.
|
|
|
|
Hazard, Robert:
|
|
A Philadelphia-area performer who released the album "Wings of Fire"
|
|
in the mid-80's. It included a track entitled "Interplanetary Private Eye",
|
|
which was essentially the Bladerunner story -- and there was even
|
|
an attribution to it in the liner notes.
|
|
|
|
Hazel O'Connor:
|
|
"Eighth Day" track. This is about how, as man advances, the world we know is
|
|
destroyed - part of lyrics - "Nobody laughs, nobody cries". Very similar
|
|
to Zager & Evan's "2525".
|
|
|
|
Heaven 17:
|
|
This band took their name from a band mentioned in "Clockwork Orange".
|
|
"Let"s All make a Bomb" from their "Penthouse and Pavement" LP is about The
|
|
Bomb and nuclear war, but is apparently not too SF-ish. See also
|
|
"Five Minutes to Midnight", on the same theme.
|
|
|
|
Heldon:
|
|
French band that took it's name from Norman Spinrad's "The Iron
|
|
Dream" and takes some song titles from the novel as well. A later LP called
|
|
"Interface" has a beautiful female alien face on the cover and the titles
|
|
seem suggestive of leading up to sex with green women.
|
|
|
|
Helloween:
|
|
Two loosely-related albums, "Keeper of the Seven Keys" Parts 1 & 2. The
|
|
first has songs about a future world, including "Twilight of the Gods"
|
|
which is about a planet that makes their own computerized gods, and the
|
|
new and old fight, and the whole planet gets trashed. In the credits, it
|
|
says thanks to Herman Frank for INSANIA 2016, which is mentioned in the
|
|
song, that's possibly what it's based on. Also, on "Pt. 1" there is a
|
|
song called "Halloween" (with an 'a' not an 'e') that is like a part one
|
|
to the song "Keeper of the 7 Keys" which is on "Pt. 2". The second LP
|
|
also contains "Dr. Stein", a comic Frankenstein, and the song of the
|
|
title, which is some sort of fantasy adventure.
|
|
|
|
Hendrix, Jimi:
|
|
Delta blues, except that the delta is on Mars. See "1983...A Merman
|
|
I Should Turn to Be","Hey Baby", and "Third Stone from the Sun",
|
|
"UFO", and lots of other stuff. "Third Stone from the Sun" reportedly
|
|
contains an entire sound clip from the Star Trek TV series, of Kirk
|
|
and Spock on the bridge, which can be heard when the song is played
|
|
at faster speed.
|
|
|
|
Hillage, Steve:
|
|
His album "Green" includes an instrumental called "UFO over Paris".
|
|
Many albums have SF tinge, e.g. "Earthrise" from album "OPEN". See
|
|
also Gong and Khan.
|
|
|
|
Hitchcock, Robyn:
|
|
See "The Fly", "Man with the Light Bulb Head".
|
|
|
|
Holdsworth, Allan:
|
|
Fusion guitar, for the most part. "Atavachron" is the instrumental title
|
|
track about the Atavachron, a time machine from a "Star Trek" episode
|
|
which an entire race used to escape from their sun which was about to
|
|
go supernova. "The UnMerry Go-Round" from "Metal Fatigue" is a conceptual
|
|
"soundtrack" to a story about a space traveler who must leave for a
|
|
distant star, never to see his beloved ones again because his ten-year
|
|
voyage, by Einstein's laws, will last several hundred earth years.
|
|
The succeeding track, "In the Mystery" is about some sort of quest.
|
|
|
|
Holy Modal Rounders:
|
|
"Mister Spaceman", complete with yodeling.
|
|
|
|
Hoodoo Gurus:
|
|
Have a song called "Another World" which is about an alien. Also
|
|
see the song "Mars Needs Guitars".
|
|
|
|
The Horse Flies:
|
|
"Human Fly" from album of the same name--a cover of the Cramps' song.
|
|
|
|
Horslips:
|
|
Their 1970's album "The Book of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony" (IMHO one
|
|
of the most underrated albums ever produced --Dave Weingart) is one long
|
|
suite of magick and faerie. Good solid Irish rock 'n' roll, with nary
|
|
a bad cut. (Horslips has produced some other similar works; would anyone
|
|
like to add to the list? ---Rsk )
|
|
|
|
Huey Lewis & the News:
|
|
"Back in Time" from the "Back to the Future" soundtrack.
|
|
|
|
Human League:
|
|
"I Am the Law", also from Judge Dredd (futuristic cop) comic. Process
|
|
of apprehension, trial, conviction, and sentencing telescoped into a
|
|
very short time period. (This reminds me of the short story, "10:01 AM"
|
|
by Alexandar Malec; it appears in a hard-to-find collection called
|
|
"Extrapolasis" ---Rsk.) Also "Black Hit of Space" from the "Travelogue"
|
|
album. Top 40 hit songs arrives from space and takes over the charts.
|
|
"Circus of Death" from "Reproduction" (and misc EPs) mentions that the
|
|
last verse is spoken by "the last man on earth"...it is actually a drug song.
|
|
(And, to top it of, it mentions Steve McGarret from Hawaii 5-0.)
|
|
Also "Seconds" from "Dare!", possibly about a scientist blinding the dictator
|
|
of an African country with a laser. (The lyrics don't make direct reference
|
|
to it, but the tour slide show does...on the other hand, some folks report
|
|
that the tour slide show contained stills from the Zapruder film of the JFK
|
|
assassination. Much dispute and confusion on this point.) See also
|
|
"Tom Baker", on the CD of "Reproduction", which might be about Dr. Who.
|
|
|
|
Hypnotic Clambake:
|
|
"Chef Mobie's Gumbo Gator" is more nonsense than SF, but one verse
|
|
talks about "a huge aligator on the planet neptune drinking wine".
|
|
|
|
Icehouse:
|
|
"Icehouse" contains "Icehouse" which seems to be a gothic tale of some
|
|
sort (haven't heard the album in a while) and "Sister" which is about
|
|
a computer/android (not sure which off-hand for same reason above).
|
|
|
|
IGTB:
|
|
Stands for Inter-Galactic Touring Band; Mish-mash album put out in 1977
|
|
with all sorts of people on it, purporting to be a group on galactic tour.
|
|
|
|
IQ:
|
|
Several possibilities here; "Last Human Gateway" from "Tales From a Lush
|
|
Attic"; "Outer Limits" from "The Wake"; "Human Nature" (about evolution)
|
|
and "Screaming is About Dying" from "Nomazmo"; "Falling Apart at the
|
|
Seams" from "Are You Sitting Comfortably?".
|
|
|
|
Incredible String Band:
|
|
"I Was a Young Man (back in the 1960's)", a future retrospective. See
|
|
also "Swift as the Wind", wherein a child's fantasy-hero turns out to be
|
|
more substantial. The double-LP "U (A Surreal Parable in Song and
|
|
Dance)" includes "Robot Blues".
|
|
|
|
Information Society:
|
|
Their albums are peppered with audio excerpts from Star Trek;
|
|
SF (or at lest computer) themes are common. "Mirrorshades" from "Hack"
|
|
is pure cyber-bandwagonism (at least they beat most of the "mainstream"
|
|
to it by a couple of years).
|
|
|
|
Inner City Unit:
|
|
Punk band led by Nik Turner of Hawkwind. Their first album, "Pass Out",
|
|
includes the tracks "Fall Out" (nuclear war), "Polly Ethelene",
|
|
"Cybernetic Love". Their second album, "Maximum Effect", starts with
|
|
a track suggesting that Elvis has been given Everlasting Life Via
|
|
Induced Suspendedanimation.
|
|
|
|
Iron Maiden:
|
|
The track "To Tame a Land" from "Piece of Mind" is about Dune. (Frank
|
|
Herbert wouldn't let them call it "Dune", supposedly, 'cause he doesn't
|
|
like heavy metal.) "Flight of Icarus" and "Quest for Fire" also appear
|
|
on "Piece of Mind". "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" is a concept album
|
|
about a mystical clairvoyant. The title track from "Powerslave" is about
|
|
the death of an Egyptian god; "Flash of the Blade" from the same LP is
|
|
about a young boy who is trained as a warrior and who avenges the death
|
|
of his master/teacher. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", from the same LP,
|
|
is based on the Coleridge poem. They've also done two songs based on the
|
|
TV show, "The Prisoner": "The Prisoner" from "The Number of the Beast"
|
|
and "Back in the Village" from "Powerslave". The title track from
|
|
"Number of the Beast" deals with the discovery of a Satanic ritual -- it
|
|
might be based on "The Omen". Also from that album, "Children of the
|
|
Damned" (more horror than SF). The album "Somewhere in Time" contains
|
|
"Caught Somewhere in Time", which is about time travel, the devil, and
|
|
other assorted fun stuff. "Stranger in a Strange Land" from the same LP
|
|
is SF, but is apparently not related to the Heinlein book of the same
|
|
name. It's based on a newspaper story about a body found in the ice
|
|
near the North Pole. (The cover of that album really deserves note -- it's
|
|
a sci-fi scene, lots of details. Ditto for the 2 singles from that album,
|
|
"Wasted Years" and "Stranger in a Strange Land", which have sci-fi covers.)
|
|
|
|
Jackson, Joe:
|
|
"In the T.V. Age" from "Night And Day" (aliens as TV sets).
|
|
The album "Blaze of Glory" is a concept album with two album-side
|
|
long song sequences about (among other things) human interaction
|
|
with technology, and living with myths of the future.
|
|
"Tommorrow's World" especially deals with images of science and the
|
|
future seen by those growing up in the sixties.
|
|
|
|
Jackson, Michael:
|
|
"Thriller", with narration by Vincent Price.
|
|
|
|
Jad Fair and Kramer:
|
|
"Nosferatu" (vampire) and "King Kong" from "Roll Out the Barrel".
|
|
|
|
Jade Warrior:
|
|
LP "Horizon" contains "Images of Dune: a) Prescient Dawn, b) The Fremen, c)
|
|
Journey on a Dream". Other albums contain fantasy and SF themes; like
|
|
Mannheim Steamroller, another prototype "New Age" group. Most work done
|
|
1974-1978; other LP's include "Kites", "Waves", "Released", and "Way of
|
|
the Sun". Frequent references to Oriental and Egyptian mythology.
|
|
|
|
Jefferson Airplane/Starship:
|
|
"Blows Against the Empire" (album) done by JA+Crosy, Nash, Freiberg.
|
|
etc. "Have you seen the Saucers?" from"Thirty Seconds Over Winterland".
|
|
Also did CSN&Y's "Wooden Ships" (post-nuclear holocaust)
|
|
and "Crown of Creation" from Wyndham's "Re-Birth". Finally, "War
|
|
Story" from "Bark" tells of rebellion in the US, mind control.
|
|
"Hyperdrive" from "Dragonfly", "Modern Times" and "Alien" from "Modern
|
|
Times", "Lightning Rose", "Awakening", "Freedom at Point Zero" from
|
|
"Freedom at Point Zero", "Back from the Jaws of the Dragon" from "Winds
|
|
of Change", "Connection", "Rose goes to Yale", "Champion" from "Nuclear
|
|
Furniture". See also Paul Kantner's "The Planet Earth Rock and Roll
|
|
Orchestra", a followup to "Blows...". The 1971 LP "Bark" has a
|
|
track called "War Movie" in which Kantner rants about a revolt against
|
|
the government in 1975.
|
|
|
|
Jesus Jones:
|
|
Besides *sounding* like science fiction, Jesus Jones' third album
|
|
"Perverse" begins with the song "Zeros and Ones", about computer technology.
|
|
|
|
Jethro Tull:
|
|
"Passion Play" is about the afterlife (from the vantage point of
|
|
the first person singular). There's some speculation that "War Child"
|
|
is similarly constructed. "Dun Ringill" on "Stormwatch" is about some kind of
|
|
druidic rites ("We wait in stone circles/'til the force comes through.")
|
|
Folk tale "Jack in the Green" from "Songs From the Wood", and the songs
|
|
"BroadSword" and "Beastie" from "Broadsword and the Beast". "Orion"
|
|
and "Flying Dutchman" off "Stormwatch", "Fylingdale Flyer" (Flyingdale
|
|
is an ICBM early warning station in the UK, and this seems to be about
|
|
the possibility of false alarms leading to a nuclear exchange),
|
|
"Protect and Survive" (nuclear war), "Batteries Not Included" (android
|
|
child), "And Further On" from the album "A". "Astronomy" on the CD
|
|
version of "Under Wraps", and "Apogee" (either version). Also see
|
|
"March, the Mad Scientist" from a 4-song EP (untitled, also contained
|
|
"Ring Out, Solstice Bells" and two other songs).
|
|
|
|
Jobson Eddie/Zinc:
|
|
"The Green Album" has some interesting SF-style tracks; for instance,
|
|
"Listen to Reason" and "Through the Glass".
|
|
|
|
Joel, Billy:
|
|
"Miami 2017" from "Turnstiles"; a backwards reflection on our own future.
|
|
(Incidentally, "We Didn't Start the Fire" mentions "Stranger in a
|
|
Strange Land".)
|
|
|
|
John, Elton:
|
|
"Rocket Man"...perhaps from Bradbury's "Illustrated Man"? Anyway,
|
|
another road song. Also "I've Seen the Saucers"...from "Caribou".
|
|
"I am Your Robot" from "Jump Up".
|
|
|
|
Jones, Grace:
|
|
"Slave to the Rhythm" is about man as a slave to machines.
|
|
|
|
Jones, Howard:
|
|
"Automaton" on "Dream Into Action" is about a man
|
|
from the future who turns out to be a robot.
|
|
|
|
Jonzun Crew:
|
|
Album "Lost in Space" includes "Space Cowboy"--apparently not the same
|
|
as the Steve Miller Band song.
|
|
|
|
Journey:
|
|
"Look in into the Future", from the album of the same name,
|
|
"Spaceman" from "Next" and "Wheel in the Sky" from "Infinity".
|
|
|
|
Judas Priest:
|
|
"The Green Manalishi with the Two-Pronged Crown". See also "Electric
|
|
Eye" from "Screaming for Vengeance", an Orwellian song about covert
|
|
surveillance drones in the sky. Some commentary on the latest Judas Priest LP:
|
|
|
|
The band's last album, "Painkiller" (1990) is basically a science
|
|
fiction concept album, a story set in a time/place frame similar
|
|
to the future of "The Terminator", in which human beings are hunted
|
|
down and killed after a third world war, but it seems less by outside
|
|
forces (though one song is about a monster that hunts people down,
|
|
the "Nightcrawler") than by internal strife. "Between the Hammer and
|
|
the Anvil" is a song about priests who hunt down heretics in the
|
|
collapse of civilization, and the title song is concerned with the
|
|
post-apocalyptic world's hero, only known as The Painkiller.
|
|
--- Brian Landwehr
|
|
|
|
Kaleidascope:
|
|
The song "The Sky Children", an epic fairytale.
|
|
|
|
Kansas:
|
|
Lots of stuff. See "Kansas", "Song For America", "Masque" and
|
|
"Leftoverture" for details...note, though, that Kerry Livgren is
|
|
heavily into Chrisianity, lending an alternative interpretation
|
|
to many of the lyrics. "Point of Know Return" also has sf-related
|
|
stuff, such as "Nobody's Home". Livgren says that he didn't consciously
|
|
think of himself as writing Christian-influenced songs until "Monolith",
|
|
the LP after "Point...", so interpretation of his earlier work in an
|
|
SF context is probably not reaching too much. Note also the influence
|
|
of Native American mythos on several albums such as "Monolith".
|
|
Finally, "Taking in the View" and "Tomb 19" from "Power" have
|
|
a historical fantasy tinge.
|
|
|
|
Kayak:
|
|
Nearly all of their work is fantasy/sf-related. The tracks
|
|
"Journey Through Time", "Daphne (Laurel Tree)", "Phantom of the Night"
|
|
are interesting examples from the LP "Phantom of the Night". The first
|
|
is an interesting time-travel song and the last two deal mostly with
|
|
Greek-mythology and its associated fantasy story-lines. The album
|
|
"Periscope Life" contains "Astral Aliens". The "Starlight Dancer" LP
|
|
contains the title track, an interesting piece. The song "Relics
|
|
from a Distant Age" from "The Last Encore" is an SF piece. Another is
|
|
"Trust in the Machine" from their first LP, Kayak.
|
|
|
|
Khan:
|
|
Early Steve Hillage group. Had album "Space Shanty".
|
|
|
|
Killdozer:
|
|
The quentissential mid-80's Wisconsen grundge-hardcore band
|
|
has a song off "Twelve Point Buck" named after that ancient British TV
|
|
series "Space: 1999", but it's pretty much about "babes."
|
|
The band's name is also the title of a terrible movie about a
|
|
possessed Caterpillar D-8 bulldozer, which in turn quite probably
|
|
comes from an old Theodore Sturgeon novelet of the same name, first
|
|
published in "Astounding" in the late 40's.
|
|
|
|
King Crimson:
|
|
"Epitaph" and "21st Century Schizoid Man" from "In The Court of the
|
|
Crimson King". Also "Dig Me", from "Three of a Perfect Pair",
|
|
is about an automobile found in the wild which begs the listener
|
|
to "Dig me, but don't...bury me". The LP "Lizard"'s second side
|
|
is about a terrible war in a fantasy world. (Lyrics by Pete Sinfield.)
|
|
"Earthbound" from album of same name (not released in U.S.).
|
|
|
|
Kinks:
|
|
"I wish I could Fly (Like Superman)", and "A Gallon of Gas" from "Low Budget",
|
|
about a not-too-distant time when you can't buy a gallon of gas.
|
|
|
|
Kiss:
|
|
"(Music from) The Elder", a soundtrack for a never-made film.
|
|
|
|
Klaatu:
|
|
The group took their name from "Klaatu", the alien robot in "The Day The Earth
|
|
Stood Still". Their albums include "3:47 EST", "Hope", "Endangered Species",
|
|
"Sir Army Suit" and "Magenta Lane". (The first album was original released
|
|
eponymously, but picked up the title later.) They're probably best known
|
|
for "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", and "Little Neutrino".
|
|
The former was apparently conceived as prayer to be recited all over the
|
|
globe to induce aliens to visit; it was also covered by the Carpenters.
|
|
The album "Hope" is a concept LP telling of the demise of a very earth-like
|
|
society on the planet Venus which eventually destroyed itself
|
|
with self-paranoia.
|
|
|
|
Kraftwerk:
|
|
Sf-themes occasionally. Certainly sounds sf-ish.
|
|
Albums include "Autobahn", "Radioactivity", "ManMachine",
|
|
"Computerworld", and "Trans-Europe Express"; tracks of note
|
|
include "The Robots", "Spacelab" and "Metropolis". Also,
|
|
see the track "Kometenmelodia (1&2)".
|
|
|
|
Kooper, Al:
|
|
"Childhood's End" based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel.
|
|
A wild cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" appears on
|
|
the Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills "Super Session" album.
|
|
|
|
Landscape:
|
|
On "From The Tea-Rooms of Mars...to The Hell Holes of Uranus", see
|
|
"Einstein A-Go-Go"; nuclear terrorism ("You better watch out,
|
|
you'd better beware; Albert said that E equals M C squared") a classic.
|
|
Also "European Man", a life of leisure in an automated world.
|
|
and still from that same LP, "Live... from the Tea-Rooms of Mars";
|
|
synthesized tea-room dance music with some gently crooned SF lyrics,
|
|
(e.g "Do you know what it's like to live where there's no trees and no sky ?
|
|
Night and day are just controls.") See also "My Name is Norman Bates",
|
|
which isn't exactly SF, but horror.
|
|
|
|
Leatherwolf:
|
|
"Gypsies and Thieves" from their first album is Melnibonean
|
|
(that is, it concerns "Elric of Melnibone", one of Michael Moorcock's
|
|
characters who jointly are "The Eternal Champion". See the entry
|
|
on Hawkwind.) and some of their other material is fantasy-ish.
|
|
|
|
Led Zeppelin:
|
|
"No Quarter" from "Houses of the Holy" is rather eerie, but no one is
|
|
quite sure what it's about. "The Battle of Evermore", from Led Zep IV
|
|
mentions Ringwraiths. Also see "Ramble On" on Led Zep II for mention of
|
|
Mordor and Gollum. See also "Misty Mountain Hop" on Led Zep IV. Some
|
|
speculation that "Stairway to Heaven" is about Saruman'sjourney to the
|
|
west, but nobody seems to be sure. Also "Kashmir" from "Physical Grafitti".
|
|
|
|
Level 42:
|
|
Song, "Star Child" -- is this about the Star Child from 2001?
|
|
(Level 42's name was based on the Answer to the Ultimate Question from
|
|
the Hitchhiker's Guide.)
|
|
|
|
Limor, Gilead:
|
|
You Are The Stars. This album is an instrumental epic
|
|
describing a fantasy travel through solar systems and universes.
|
|
The album (on CD and Cassette) was released by Nesak International
|
|
Inc., New Jersey, and is part of a so-called "You Are..." series of
|
|
instrumental titles. (I believe Gilead is the first person to submit
|
|
one of his or her own works for inclusion in the list; congratulations
|
|
are in order for making it through the daunting process of cranking
|
|
out a release! Contact address: gileadgl@itexjct.jct.ac.il ---Rsk )
|
|
|
|
Little River Band:
|
|
"Orbit Zero" from "Time Exposure" is the sad story of an alien race with
|
|
hopes of settling on Earth, only to find it already crowded by us humans.
|
|
|
|
Love and Rockets:
|
|
Rumored to have done songs relating to Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez'
|
|
comic book for which they're named. See "Holiday on the Moon", a
|
|
B-side to a single, and their cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam".
|
|
|
|
Lovich, Lene:
|
|
"Telepathy" from "Stateless", about a maddening psychic gift.
|
|
|
|
Lyon, Steve:
|
|
"Deimos and Phobos" is about a guy who is homesick for Mars.
|
|
|
|
M:
|
|
"The Official Secrets Act" (an innocent gets caught up in government
|
|
plots and secret police, a la 1984)
|
|
|
|
MC-5:
|
|
On "Kick Out the Jams", "Rocket Reducer" and "Starship".
|
|
|
|
MacDonald & Giles:
|
|
Two alumni of the early King Crimson, who released an LP who
|
|
second side is a long suite called "Birdman" about a scientist
|
|
who invents wings that work.
|
|
|
|
Machover, Ted:
|
|
"VALIS", an electronic space opera version of Philip K. Dick's novel.
|
|
|
|
Magma:
|
|
"Inedits", "Udu Wudu"...sort of cross between German language research
|
|
and H.P. Lovecraft. Curious reference to "Ork" on Udu Wudu.
|
|
Here's a bit of background on the band...
|
|
|
|
About Magma & its founder Christian Vander...what he invented was rather a
|
|
cult than a subculture. Most Magma material deals with a mythology that
|
|
Vander claims to have been given knowledge of during a revelation. This is
|
|
when he also was given the umlaut-seasoned language "Kobaian" that pervades
|
|
the lyrics on the Magma albums. In short, according to the mythology, there
|
|
is a "highest being" in the Universe by the name of "Kreuhn Ko:hrmann". (I
|
|
use ":" after a letter to denote umlaut, two dots over it.) Vander sees
|
|
himself as some sort of prophet, and the people of the Earth have to listen
|
|
and convert their lives to be more in accordance with the Right Way or a
|
|
global disaster, a sort of divine punishment, will be the result. Also
|
|
appearing are "orks" which "are to machines what machines are to men". All
|
|
this sounds like bad heavy metal fantasies but Vander has persisted for many
|
|
years so maybe he really believes in it, who knows? A good example of the
|
|
Vander/Magma type of stuff is the album "Mekhanik Destruktiw Kommando:h"
|
|
that is a sort of mass with lots of mystical chanting. The second side of
|
|
"U:du Wu:du:", "De Futura", is about travelling in time which according to
|
|
the liner notes on the sleeve enables us to see the orks. --Bjorn Lisper
|
|
|
|
Magnum:
|
|
Many songs with generic SF&F themes such as "On A Storyteller's Night",
|
|
"Firebird" and possibly "Don't Wake the Lion". (There's some speculation
|
|
that the latter might really be about WW I.)
|
|
|
|
Manhattan Transfer:
|
|
Recorded a (snappy) version of the theme to the TV show "Twilight Zone".
|
|
|
|
Man or Astro-Man?:
|
|
[the question mark is part of the band's name] A current
|
|
instrumental band who make science fiction part of their identity.
|
|
The band has constructed an elaborate mythology about its members being
|
|
visitors sent from space by The Unmentionable One. Their live shows
|
|
feature half a dozen TVs on stage showing sci-fi images ranging from
|
|
1950s B movies to recent Ultraman episodes. Their 1993 debut album "Is
|
|
it ... Man or Astro-Man?" (Estrus Records) features cover art by Richard
|
|
Powers, who I'm told is famous for sci-fi novel covers. Song titles
|
|
include "Invasion of the Dragonmen," "Illudium Q-36," "Escape Through the
|
|
Air Vent," "Alien Visitors." Many tracks begin with dialogue clips of
|
|
corresponding sci-fi content. They have lots more music, similarly
|
|
themed, in the pipeline for late 1993 and 1994 release. For more info write
|
|
them at Man or Astro-Man? HQ, 429 Moores Mill Rd. #4, Auburn, AL 36830.
|
|
|
|
Mannfred Mann's Earth Band:
|
|
"Solar Fire", "Time is Right".
|
|
|
|
Manowar:
|
|
They generally sing about heroic deeds, from days of old, when
|
|
men were bold. They like to dress like Conan, and their music
|
|
brings to mind images of Viking feasts and adventures.
|
|
"Defender", from "Fighting the World" is an example wherein the
|
|
hero goes off on some mighty quest.
|
|
|
|
Manufacture:
|
|
An industrial band from Boston. "Pain Amplifier" on
|
|
"Voice of World Control" takes its title from the device in _Dune_.
|
|
|
|
Marillion:
|
|
"Grendel", i.e. Beowulf & friends is the B side of "Market Square Heroes",
|
|
a 12-inch EP. This track is now also available on an import CD called
|
|
"B'Sides Themselves". (The band took its name from "Silmarillion".)
|
|
"Season's End" from the LP of the same name, talks about global warming.
|
|
|
|
Martha and the Muffins:
|
|
"Echo Beach" seems to be about a desire to travel back in time to
|
|
a beach at pre-war Hiroshima. Update: nope, doesn't look like it.
|
|
It's apparently about a beach in northern Ontario (Canada), near Barrie.
|
|
|
|
Mary's Danish:
|
|
Their album "Circa" includes the song "Venus loves Leonard", which is
|
|
sort of a '50s SF movie soundalike.
|
|
|
|
Material:
|
|
The entire CD "Seven Souls", with liner notes from William S. Burroughs.
|
|
Appears to be about the effect of nuclear explosions on electromagnetically-
|
|
constituted souls.
|
|
|
|
Matthews, David:
|
|
"Dune".
|
|
|
|
McGear, Mike:
|
|
Paul McCartney's brother, who goes by Mike McGear, put out an album in
|
|
1975 which I think was called "McGear". It was produced by Paul, and most
|
|
songs were either written or co-written by Paul, with the Wings crew
|
|
playing backup. Included was a song called "The Man Who Found God on the
|
|
Moon", co-written by McCartney/McGear, whose title is pretty descriptive,
|
|
and which features sound clips of Buzz Aldrin, broadcast live from the Moon.
|
|
The song was more adventurous musically than McCartney's own solo work.
|
|
|
|
Meco:
|
|
Schlock disco camp versions of things like the main title from "Star Wars".
|
|
Possibly the only band to record a disco track worse than "A Fifth
|
|
of Beethoven". Mired in a 70's timewarp somewhere. Thankfully.
|
|
|
|
Mekons:
|
|
Who are these folks?
|
|
|
|
Men at Work:
|
|
"Helpless Automaton" from "Business as Usual" is about a robot falling
|
|
in love with a human. "Doctor Heckle and Mister Jive" refers to
|
|
the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.
|
|
|
|
Men Without Hats:
|
|
"The Great Ones Remember" from "The Rhythm of Youth"; "Folk of the 80's"
|
|
from "Folk of the 80's (Part III)"; "Moonbeam" from "Pop Goes the World".
|
|
"In the 21st Century", "Hey Men", and "Here Come the 90's"
|
|
from "The Adventures of Men and Women Without Hate in the 21st Century"
|
|
|
|
Metallica:
|
|
"The Call of Ktulu" on "Ride the Lightning" (Lovecraft reference; the
|
|
name was changed from "Cthulhu" to avoid legal entanglements)
|
|
and "The Thing That Should Not Be" from "Master of Puppets" (also
|
|
Lovecraft-ian, about a critter named Nyogtha -- it's unclear whether
|
|
Lovecraft mentioned this particular beastie or not). However,
|
|
the lyrics of the song are very similar to HPL's phrasing in a quote from
|
|
the Necronomicon in "Call of Cthulhu", leading to the inference that "The
|
|
Thing..." is in fact about Cthulhu. Also see "The Four Horsemen"
|
|
from "Kill 'Em All".
|
|
|
|
Midnight Oil:
|
|
Albums "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and "Red Sails in the Sunset"
|
|
both have nuclear cautionary themes running thru them. "Red Sails"
|
|
depicts Sydney, Australia after a nuclear strike.
|
|
|
|
Midnight Star:
|
|
"Freak-A-Zoid" is about the perfect robot lover.
|
|
|
|
Mike and the Mechanics:
|
|
"Silent Running" depicts life after a major war; as far as I can tell,
|
|
it's unrelated to the SF film starring Bruce Dern.
|
|
|
|
Ministry:
|
|
"Thieves" seems to have references to a future facist government.
|
|
"Faith Collapsing" from "The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste"
|
|
consists largely of samples from one or another of the _1984_ films.
|
|
|
|
Misex:
|
|
An Australian-based band (really from New Zealand) released a
|
|
minor hit single "Computer Games", from the album " Space Race".
|
|
The rest of the album is also SF.
|
|
|
|
Monkees:
|
|
See "Door Into Summer" on their album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn
|
|
& Jones Ltd.". The song's writer, Bill Martin says "The title came from
|
|
the Robert Heinlein book _The_Door_Into_Summer_, which was about time travel.
|
|
The song is about the search for happiness, and is basically an anti-war song."
|
|
|
|
Monks of Doom:
|
|
Side-project-turned-spinoff from Camper Van Beethoven.
|
|
"Off On A Comet" (instr.) and "Virtual Lover" (ick! how could they?) both
|
|
from "Forgery", 1992; "The Insect God" (from an EP), based on a book by
|
|
Edward Gorey, author and illustrator of countless strange, scary little books
|
|
(he did the opening sequence to PBS' "Mystery!").
|
|
|
|
Moody Blues:
|
|
"To Our Children's Children's Children", which seems to be a musical
|
|
score for Olaf Stapledon's novel, "The Star Maker"; also "On the
|
|
Threshold of a Dream" begins with a man questioning his existence and
|
|
turns into computer rantings. Spooky psychedelia...
|
|
Also, the cover of "Long Distance Voyager" shows an 18th century
|
|
scene with something in the sky that looks like a Voyager space probe.
|
|
|
|
Moorcock, Michael:
|
|
(Some commentary on M.M. from Jeff Berry; see also the entries
|
|
for Blue Oyster Cult, Candlemass, Deep Fix, Hawkwind, and Leatherwolf.)
|
|
|
|
Michael Moorcock is a very prolific science fiction fantasy writer,
|
|
most widely known for the "Elric of Melnibone" series, a fantasy
|
|
staple. That series is, however, part of a more sweeping
|
|
"supra-series" concerning the Eternal Champion, a warrior who returns
|
|
again and again to live out various lives in a grand and ultimately
|
|
doomed cycle of birth and re-birth. (As an aside note, this concept
|
|
is satirized in Craig Shaw Garnder's "Ballad of Wuntvor" as
|
|
the Eternal Apprentice).
|
|
|
|
Moorcock has published at least 30 or 40 books, in many different
|
|
series, as well as a number of stand alone novels, both in science
|
|
fiction and in fantasy. Musically he has collaborated with Hawkwind
|
|
and Blue Oyster Cult, writing songs and occasionally performing.
|
|
Futhermore, Elric cover art by Michael Whelan has appeared as album
|
|
cover art in at least a few places (for example, Cirith Ungol
|
|
uses one of his covers for one of their albums).
|
|
|
|
The Chaosium Game Company has acquired rights to most of Moorcock's
|
|
work for gaming purposes, and has released games based on both Elric
|
|
and on Hawkmoon (yet another incarnation of the Eternal Champion).
|
|
Moorcock books should be available at almost any reputable book dealer.
|
|
More info available at request.
|
|
--- Jeff Barry, nexus@isis.cgd.ucar.edu
|
|
|
|
Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix:
|
|
A companion single to "The New Worlds Fair" was also released called "Star Cruiser/Dodgem Dude" (on Flicknife records).
|
|
|
|
Moore, Gary:
|
|
"Nuclear Attack" from "Dirty Fingers" is about World War III; the
|
|
title track from "After the War" seems to focus on the same topic.
|
|
|
|
Moraz, Patrick:
|
|
The entire theme of the album "i" is SF; also see another LP,
|
|
"Transplanetary Flight".
|
|
|
|
Mortifee, Ann:
|
|
Has done a few albums with fantastic themes on them. Her album
|
|
"Journey To Kairos", includes the song "Centaur", about the mythological
|
|
beast, "Shankarananda", about the afterlife as described by Eastern
|
|
religions, "Streets of Banaras", which seems to be about a rather
|
|
surreal search.. On her album "Born To Live", she does a song called
|
|
"Merlin" about the mythical wizard, and a pair of songs at the end
|
|
called "The Companion/Phoenix" about a strange creature called
|
|
The Companion that attends an old man, or something like that.
|
|
|
|
Move, The:
|
|
"Yellow Rainbow". See also Electric Light Orchestra.
|
|
|
|
Murder the Disturbed:
|
|
The EP "Genetic Disruption" contains "Walking Corpses" which is about
|
|
robots and "Ultimate System" which is about time travel.
|
|
|
|
Murphy, Peter:
|
|
The song "Shy" has a segment called "The Sister of Sleep" which
|
|
is based on the comic "Sandman". He also is the physical basis for the
|
|
character Klaus in the comic book Night's Children. (See also Bauhaus.)
|
|
|
|
NRBQ:
|
|
"Rocket 9".
|
|
|
|
National Health:
|
|
"Tenemos Roads", from their eponymous debut album, is about a war on Mercury.
|
|
|
|
Nektar:
|
|
"Remember the Future", "Recycle" and "Journey to the Centre of the Eye"
|
|
are all LP's with SF-ish themes. "Remember the Future" is highly
|
|
recommended on vinyl; the CD mix, at least the pressing I've heard,
|
|
overemphasizes the keyboards at the expense of some terrific guitar work.
|
|
|
|
Nelson, Bill/Red Noise:
|
|
"Sound on Sound" has a number of songs with SF themes, including
|
|
"Atom Man Loves Radium Girl". He's also done a lot of (mainly instrumental)
|
|
tracks with SF/magic themes.
|
|
|
|
Nena:
|
|
"99 Luftballons" (WW3 & aftermath)
|
|
|
|
The Neon Judgement:
|
|
"Billy Tcherno and Pretty Petrouchka" from "Horny as Hell" is about
|
|
Russian mutants after a nuclear accident.
|
|
|
|
New England:
|
|
"L-5".
|
|
|
|
New Model Army:
|
|
"White Coats" talks about genetic engineering and its problems.
|
|
|
|
New Musik:
|
|
"On Islands" asks the question whether there might be other beings
|
|
in the universe, and "Living by Numbers" rehashes the old numbers
|
|
instead of names theme; both are found on the "Straight Lines" EP,
|
|
and on the "From A To B" LP.
|
|
|
|
Nilsson, Harry:
|
|
See "Spaceman" from "Son of Schmilsson"; and "Son of Dracula",
|
|
the soundtrack for a very silly movie he made with Ringo Starr.
|
|
|
|
Normaali, Eppu:
|
|
"Science Fiction", which is mostly derogatory things about people reading SF.
|
|
|
|
Numan, Gary:
|
|
"Cars", of course, and an LP done with a band called "Tubeway Army",
|
|
"Are Friends Electric", containing the title track and "Praying to
|
|
the Aliens"; it's apparently about alien androids taking over the earth.
|
|
See also "Down in the Park", "We Are Engineers", and "I Dream of Wires"
|
|
(also covered by Robert Palmer on "Addictions II").
|
|
|
|
O'Brien, Richard:
|
|
"Science Fiction Double Feature", from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
|
|
Oh, and the entire rest of the music and lyrics too, by the way.
|
|
|
|
O'Connor, Sinead:
|
|
This well-known operatic diva :-) has recorded a track entitled
|
|
"The Emperor's New Clothes", but it would appear that the title
|
|
is the only reference to the fairy tale.
|
|
|
|
Oingo Boingo:
|
|
"Perfect System" and "Controller" (both from the LP "Only a Lad") discuss
|
|
Orwellian/Huxleyian societies. "No Spill Blood" from "Good for Your Soul"
|
|
is based on "The Island of Dr. Moreau" by H.G. Wells. See also the
|
|
soundtrack for "Weird Science", and "Dead Man's Party" for various
|
|
songs on spooks and life after the bomb.
|
|
|
|
Oldfield, Mike:
|
|
A track from "Discovery" called "Saved By the Bell"
|
|
describes a trip through the universe.
|
|
|
|
Oldfield, Salley:
|
|
(yes, this is Mike's Sister) The album "The Water Bearer" is
|
|
based primarily on the Lord of the Rings trilogy from Tolken.
|
|
|
|
Omega:
|
|
(Hungarian) has a record called "Idorablo" (add some dots and
|
|
accentes here), meaning "Time Robber". The title suite contains
|
|
one part called "Napot hoztam csillagot", "Sun and Stars I brought".
|
|
|
|
The Only Ones:
|
|
A New Zealand band with a song "Another Girl, Another Planet", which
|
|
is about futuristic space travel....well, maybe. Some folks are inclined
|
|
not to agree with this interpretation.
|
|
|
|
The Orb:
|
|
Their album "U.F.Orb" includes songs such as "Close Encounters", "O.O.B.E.",
|
|
"Blue Room" (supposedly the nickname of the room in the US where UFO's
|
|
are kept), "Majestic", and the title track. Their first album, "The Orb's
|
|
Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" featured songs identified by orbits
|
|
and probes instead of numbers, viz.:
|
|
Earth Orbit One - Little Fluffy Clouds
|
|
Earth Orbit Two - Earth (Gaia)
|
|
Earth Orbit Three - Super Nova at the End of the Universe
|
|
Earth Orbit Four - Perpetual Dawn
|
|
Earth Orbit Five - Into the Fourth Dimension
|
|
Ultraworld Probe Six - Outlands
|
|
Ultraworld Probe Seven - Star 6 & 7 8 9
|
|
Ultraworld Probe Eight - A huge ever growing pulsating brain that
|
|
rules from the centre of the ultraworld: live mix mk 10.
|
|
They also have all sorts of SF related singles.
|
|
A double-album version of "Ultraworld" exists which has extra "Lunar Orbit"
|
|
tracks. According to Keyboard magazine, "Towers of Dub" on "U.F.Orb" uses
|
|
samples from the movie "Sleeper".
|
|
|
|
Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD):
|
|
A lot of their songs have a futuristic feel to them. Tracks called "Genetic
|
|
Engineering" and "Pretending to see the future" are examples. See also
|
|
"Enola Gay", about the bombing of Hiroshima.
|
|
|
|
Orion:
|
|
"Star Trek", a techno mix.
|
|
|
|
PTP:
|
|
A collaboration between Al Jourgensen of Ministry and Cabaret Voltaire.
|
|
The name stands for Programming The Psychodrill, which is a phrase from a
|
|
J.G. Ballard collage.
|
|
|
|
Pallas:
|
|
The album "The Sentinel" contains "Rise and Fall" and "Atlantis", which
|
|
are both about Atlantis; also on this album is "Ark of Infinity", which
|
|
is about a deep space hibernation ship.
|
|
|
|
Parker, Graham:
|
|
"Waiting for the UFOs" on "Squeezing Out Sparks".
|
|
|
|
Pearls Before Swine:
|
|
"Ring Thing" -- Three rings for the elven kings...good rendition.
|
|
|
|
Peek, Kevin:
|
|
"Starship Suite" from "Awakening", actually managed to work the word
|
|
"cryogenic" into a song.
|
|
|
|
Petra:
|
|
Christian rock band with numerous SF allusions in their cover art and
|
|
music; see "Computer Brains" on "Beat the System".
|
|
|
|
Phillips, Anton:
|
|
"1984", inspired by Orwell's book.
|
|
|
|
Pickett, Bobby "Boris":
|
|
Famous for "Monster Mash", he also recorded a song titled "King Kong"
|
|
(chorus: "King Kong, King Kong, the white man done you wrong.") and a Star
|
|
Trek parody called "Star Drek" (with Peter Ferrara).
|
|
|
|
Pinhas, Richard:
|
|
Has done an LP about Dune ("Chronolyse") and also has Norman Spinrad
|
|
doing vocals on a piece on "East/West" that is about some air disaster.
|
|
(Chronolyse is entirely instrumental, by the way.)
|
|
Pinhas did and electronics and played guitar in Heldon (see above).
|
|
|
|
Pierre Etoile ("Stone Star"):
|
|
Song "In The Sun" on Rough Trade records.
|
|
Can be found also on Indie Top 20 Vol.13.
|
|
|
|
Pink Floyd:
|
|
Of course. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" & "Astronomy
|
|
Domine", (on "Ummagumma") are fairly representative. Much of their
|
|
instrumental music has an sf/fantasy feel to it. See also "Piper at the
|
|
Gates of Dawn", "Saucerful of Secrets", Some speculation that "Set the
|
|
Controls..." influenced Douglas Adam's writing about the group Disaster Area.
|
|
Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" borrows its title from
|
|
a chapter in the children's classic, "The Wind in the Willows," in
|
|
which some animals innocently encounter the god Pan.
|
|
|
|
Pixies:
|
|
"Wave of Mutilation" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven" from "Doolittle",
|
|
"Allison" and "The Happening" from "Bossanova". "Trompe Le Monde" has,
|
|
in addition to the title track, "Palace of the Brine" and
|
|
"Olympus Mons" (the large extinct volcano on Mars). Much of the whole
|
|
album may be about an alien looking for the "Planet of Sound" (Earth).
|
|
|
|
Planet P:
|
|
Albums: "Planet P" and "Pink World". Now known as Planet P Project.
|
|
"Planet P" is the name that Tony Carey ("A Fine Day for a Reunion")
|
|
uses when writing SF-oriented music.
|
|
|
|
Platinum Blonde:
|
|
The album Alien Shores is only half sci-fi...the B side is
|
|
supposedly dedicated to the idea of UFO sightings. Unfortunately, the A
|
|
side is Better. Earlier, on their first album, they did two great songs,
|
|
-Standing in the Dark- and -It Doesn't Really Matter-, both of which had
|
|
mild SF themes, and incredible sci-fi/post-holocaust videos, which are
|
|
really what put the band on the map.
|
|
|
|
The Pogues:
|
|
On their album "If I Should Fall from Grace with God," there's a song called
|
|
"Turkish Song of the Damned," which is about a sailor who is haunted by
|
|
the ghost of a crewman who he had let drown. Another song from that album,
|
|
"Sit Down by the Fire," is a bedtime story about demons.
|
|
|
|
The Polecats:
|
|
"Juvenile Delinquents from a Planet Near Mars"
|
|
|
|
Police:
|
|
"Synchronicity II" (Loch Ness monster references, but not really an
|
|
SF tune) from "Synchronicity". Also "Synchronicity" (a different
|
|
song on the same LP) is about action-at-a-distance; it seems to be
|
|
part mystical, part quantum mechanics. (There's a short short SF story
|
|
called "Synchronicity", but I can't recall the author.)
|
|
Also see "Wrapped Around Your Finger", which some claim is about a spirit
|
|
trapped inside a sorcerer's ring; I tend to go with a more mundane
|
|
interpretation. "Demolition Man" (also done by Manfred Mann) from
|
|
"Ghost in the Machine".
|
|
|
|
Pop Will Eat Itself:
|
|
This band often samples the movie "Blade Runner"; the song "Wake Up!
|
|
Time to Die..." is built around that quote from the film. "Def Con One"
|
|
from the album "This is th Day...This is the Hour...This is This"
|
|
describes a nuclear attack. "X Y & Zee" from "Cure for Sanity"
|
|
is a description of a future world.
|
|
|
|
Porno for Pyros:
|
|
"pets" on "Porno for Pyros" is about Martians coming
|
|
to Earth and cleaning it up, making pets out of the human race.
|
|
("We'll make great pets.")
|
|
|
|
Powell, Roger:
|
|
Former keyboard player with Todd Rundgren's Utopia; has a solo
|
|
album ("Cosmic Furnace"?) with tracks like "Sandworm of Arrakis".
|
|
|
|
Prism:
|
|
"Take Me to the Kaptain" was a minor hit for this Canadian band on
|
|
AOR stations in 1977-78. The singer falls asleep and wakes up on
|
|
a starship -- thus his plea to see the "Kaptain"!! The record was
|
|
released in the U.S. under the Ariola Records - America label.
|
|
|
|
Propaganda:
|
|
On the album "A Secret Wish", the song "p: machinery" is about people
|
|
commanded/directed by machines.
|
|
|
|
Punishment of Luxury:
|
|
"The Laughing Academy" is the name of the album containing a track
|
|
about receiving signals from an alien civilization. The track itself is
|
|
called "Message Received" (I think...). See also "Radar Bug/Metropolis"
|
|
from the same album. The track "Brainbomb" (B side of the single
|
|
"Secrets") is about telepathy.
|
|
|
|
Quadrophonia:
|
|
Album called "Cozmic Jam" contains songs "Djoum 1000", "The Wave of the
|
|
Future", "Cozm'" and "Ovo", along with the title track.
|
|
|
|
Quantum Jump:
|
|
(group lead by Rupert Hine) "No American Starship".
|
|
|
|
Queen:
|
|
"Thirty-Nine", from "A Night at the Opera", discusses the problems of
|
|
relativistic travel. Also "Machines (back to humans)" from "The Works";
|
|
other albums include the Flash Gordon soundtrack and "Fun in Space", a solo
|
|
album by drummer Roger Taylor. "Ogre Battle" (seems to be about the fantasy
|
|
game Ogre) "March of the Black Queen" and "Seven Seas of Rhye" from "Queen II".
|
|
The album "A Kind of Magic" contains fantasy tunes from the film "Highlander".
|
|
And the video from "Radio Ga-Ga" includes clips from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
|
|
|
|
--- A note on Queen from Elisabeth Anne Riba
|
|
|
|
Both Brian May & Roger Taylor were big SF fans. Brian's first group
|
|
was called 1984. Before Queen, Brian, Roger &Tim Staffell were a group
|
|
called "Smile." They had only one single released, called "Earth,"
|
|
about a lonely spaceman. The chorus goes "I have seen many worlds, for
|
|
what it's worth. But I'll never see again, the planet Earth, my Earth."
|
|
The song closes with "the green hills of Earth," a Heinlein reference.
|
|
|
|
In addition, the cover for Queen's News of the World album comes from
|
|
the October 1953 issue of Astounding SF. Likewise, Roger Taylor's Fun
|
|
In Space features Roger reading Creepy #119 on its cover. The title
|
|
track begins "Strangers In A Strange Land" and talks about "Little
|
|
Green Stories." (I love that term)
|
|
|
|
Queensryche:
|
|
Their first and second albums, "The Warning" and "Rage for Order"
|
|
both contain songs about sentient machinery, e.g. "Screaming in
|
|
Digital" and "I Only Dream in Infra-Red". Most of their self-titled
|
|
EP is also fantasy, include "NM 156" which is full of computer terminology.
|
|
The album "Operation: Mindcrime" is a rock opera about mind control. It
|
|
tell the story of a man who is programmed by revolutionaries to kill political
|
|
and religious leaders (and his girlfriend).
|
|
|
|
The Rah Band:
|
|
Had a mid-80's hit single, "Clouds Across the Moon" which is about a
|
|
woman taking a phonecall from her husband working on Mars,
|
|
the phonecall is cut off by interference by the clouds of the title,
|
|
before she can say how much she loves him.
|
|
|
|
Renaissance:
|
|
"Jekyll and Hyde" from "Azure D'Or", and "Kalynda (A Magical Isle)".
|
|
"Faeries (Living at the Bottom of the Garden)" from the eminently
|
|
forgettable "Camera Camera" album. And, of course "Scheherezade",
|
|
an entire LP side's worth of it. Highly recommended if for
|
|
no other reason than Annie Haslam, an operatically-trained singer
|
|
with incredible range and power.
|
|
|
|
Replacements:
|
|
"Androgynous" off "Let it Be" discusses "unisex evolution" and how
|
|
"Dick and Janes" who wear pants and skirts will be future outcasts.
|
|
|
|
Return to Forever:
|
|
Fusion jazz with Chick Corea, Al DiMeola & Stanley Clarke.
|
|
"Romantic Warrior" is a medieval/fantasy concept album. Tracks include
|
|
"The Sorceress" and "The Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant".
|
|
Return to Forever's "Where Have I Known You Before" is Scientology
|
|
(a weird religion invented by the late SF writer L. Ron Hubbard) set
|
|
to kick-ass jazz-rock fusion music. It's all instrumental, but the
|
|
pieces are linked with titles taken from a poem about some kind of
|
|
quest through space. Fusion fans should also check out "Hymn of
|
|
the Seventh Galaxy".
|
|
|
|
Revolting Cocks
|
|
"We Shall Cleanse the World" from the album "Big Sexyland" is based
|
|
on, and contains samples from the movie "The Omega Man." "Attack
|
|
Ships on Fire" is on the same album, but the only SF connection seems
|
|
to be the title (Rutger Hauer quote from "Blade Runner.")
|
|
|
|
Rezzilos:
|
|
See "2000 AD", and "Flying Saucer Attack" from "Can't Stand the Rezzilos".
|
|
|
|
REM:
|
|
Single "Superman".
|
|
|
|
Radiorama:
|
|
This Italian pop/disco group released an album entitled "2nd Album",
|
|
which contains ongs like "Aliens" (inspired by the movie), "Yeti"
|
|
and "Vampire".
|
|
|
|
Rainbow:
|
|
Heavy Metal. Some fantasy tracks, e.g. "Temple of the King",
|
|
"16th century greensleeves", "Kill the King", "Stargazer".
|
|
See the album "Rainbow Rising". See also Deep Purple.
|
|
|
|
Ramases:
|
|
"Space Hymns", including great fold-out cover, studiowork by
|
|
Godley & Creme; apparently expounds religious visions of infinite
|
|
regress of microscopic universes.
|
|
|
|
Ramatam:
|
|
"In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns" contains
|
|
"Downrange Party". Band featured April Lawton, the female Jimi Hendrix.
|
|
|
|
Rapp, Tom:
|
|
The lead singer of Pearls before Swine broke out with two solo
|
|
albums which included these songs: "The Rocket Man", based on the
|
|
Bradbury short story of the same name; "Stardancer", based on the
|
|
Bradbury story, Kaleidoscope; and "For the Dead in Space" an
|
|
original (and equally depressing) song.
|
|
|
|
Reed, Lou:
|
|
"Red Joystick" and "Down at the Arcade". Also "Satellite of Love".
|
|
|
|
Residents:
|
|
"The Mole Trilogy", a conflict between two alien cultures. Other
|
|
SF-ish songs and albums, included "God in Three Persons", which is
|
|
about a pair of Siamese twins with healing powers.
|
|
|
|
The Rheostatics:
|
|
A Canadian band; on their album "Melville", the song "Aliens(Christmas 1988)"
|
|
is about a woman getting kidnapped by UFO-style aliens, one of whom falls in
|
|
love with her.
|
|
|
|
Rhodes, Happy:
|
|
Has a song called "Wrong Century", about a woman who somehow leaves the
|
|
past for the present, but can't cope with this century and would like
|
|
to return to her own time. On "Equipoise", there is a song called
|
|
'Save our Souls' questioning the reasoning behind humans trying to
|
|
contact aliens, when we can hardly cope with our problems here on earth.
|
|
Also on "Ecto", there is a song called 'Look for the Child' from which the
|
|
following line is taken: 'When the ships come down from the sky'. It is
|
|
about first contact, and how are we going to choose a representative,
|
|
given the conflicts and prejudices that exist among us.
|
|
|
|
Richman, Jonathan & the Modern Lovers:
|
|
Their eponymous 1976 album includes "Here Come the Martian Martians",
|
|
a funny song about the Martians' inability to deal with earth and
|
|
the concept of capitalism, and "Abominable Snowman in the Supermarket",
|
|
which is similar in nature. The album "Rockin' and Romance'" includes
|
|
the song "UFO Man", about a visitor who flies around Jonathan's town
|
|
in his flying saucer doing stunts at high speed.
|
|
|
|
Ridgway, Stan:
|
|
Ex-vocalist from Wall of Voodoo. Quirky subject matter in general,
|
|
but sci-fi specifically on the album "Partyball". See the songs
|
|
"I Want to be a Boss", "Overlords", and "Beyond Tomorrow".
|
|
|
|
Riley, Billy Lee:
|
|
"Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll" An example of rockabilly, one of the
|
|
staples of the Memphis-based Sun record label. It's about a flying
|
|
saucer whose crew play rock'n'roll - nothing too profound.
|
|
|
|
Rinder & Lewis:
|
|
Early 80's new-wave group that produced some SF songs, including
|
|
"Apocalypse" and "New Malibu".
|
|
|
|
Robinson, Tom:
|
|
"Merrily Up on High", about a war that is yet to happen. (Co-written
|
|
Peter Gabriel)
|
|
|
|
Rolling Stones:
|
|
Wrote the ultimate road song for astronauts, "2000 Light Years From
|
|
Home", which is on "Their Satanic Majesties' Request". Also "2000
|
|
Man", about how child-parent relationships still don't work, even in
|
|
the 21st century.
|
|
|
|
Roth, Uli John:
|
|
"Electric Sun".
|
|
|
|
Rudimentary Penii:
|
|
This group did a whole album about H.P. Lovecraft. (Can't remember it's name).
|
|
The lyrics are extremely witty.
|
|
|
|
Rundgren, Todd:
|
|
"King Kong Reggae" and "Sons of 1984" from "Todd". See also Utopia.
|
|
"Healing" is about a man who recives the power to become a healer.
|
|
"A Capella" includes "Miracle in the Bazaar" and "Lockjaw", both
|
|
of which deal with traditional themes like ogres and genies.
|
|
|
|
Rush:
|
|
In "2112", based on the book "Anthem" by Ayn Rand, the protagonist
|
|
discovers an ancient guitar and winds up battling the dictatorial
|
|
priesthood. The LP also contains "Twilight Zone", about the TV show of
|
|
the same name. "Red Barchetta" on "Moving Pictures"is similar, except
|
|
the guitar is replaced by a car. (It's based on the story "A Nice
|
|
Morning's Drive".) See also "Cygnux X-1" (thought to be a black hole),
|
|
"Rivendell" (Tolkien reference), "The Necromancer". See also "The Body
|
|
Electric" and "Red Sector A" from "Grace Under Pressure". See also
|
|
"By-Tor and the Snow Dog" from "Fly by Night". "Hemispheres" (title
|
|
track thereof) is a sequel to "Cygnus X-1". "Countdown" from "Signals"
|
|
is about the space shuttle. See also "Manhattan Project" from "Power
|
|
Windows". The song "Xanadu" from "A Farewell to Kings" is based on the
|
|
Colerige poem of the same name. See also "The Fountain of Lamneth" from
|
|
"Caress of Steel" and "Anthem" from "Fly by Night" -- both songs deal
|
|
with individuality. See also "Natural Science" from "Permanent Waves",
|
|
which deals with future dystopias, utopias, etc.
|
|
(Note -- most of their work tends to be Olde Englishe Ballades, which of
|
|
course have much to do with things fey and weird. (Prime example would
|
|
be "Thomas the Rhymer", a rock version of "Thomas Rymer"))
|
|
|
|
Russell, Leon:
|
|
"Stranger in a Strange Land" -- based on the Heinlein novel.
|
|
|
|
S.P.O.C.K:
|
|
Swedish space pop band. They were originally called 'Spock' but
|
|
due to legal problems they changed their name to 'Space Pilots On
|
|
Channel K' or 'S.P.O.C.K' Their synthesizer based music is heavily
|
|
SF / Star Trek inspired. Their debut album 'Five year mission' contains
|
|
the following songs: Neutral Zone, Never Trust a Klingon, Charlie X,
|
|
Mr.Spocks Brain, Black Hole, Space Race, Edge of Forever,
|
|
and Last Man on Earth.
|
|
|
|
Saga:
|
|
Canadian progressive synth-rock band with a series of songs which
|
|
combine to tell a single story spread out over four albums, to wit:
|
|
|
|
From "Saga": Chapter 4: Will It Be You?,
|
|
and Chapter 6: Tired World;
|
|
From "Images At Twilight":
|
|
Chapter 1: Images,
|
|
and Chapter 3: It's Time;
|
|
from "Silent Knight":
|
|
Chapter 2: Don't Be Late,
|
|
and Chapter 7: Too Much To Lose;
|
|
and from "Worlds Apart":
|
|
Chapter 5: No Regrets,
|
|
and Chapter 8: No Stranger.
|
|
|
|
Roughly speaking, the story tells of space war, alien encounters,
|
|
and the aftermath of war.
|
|
|
|
Sanders, Ed:
|
|
(A member of the Fugs at one time) released "Beer Cans on the Moon",
|
|
which contains such gems as a song about a yodeling robot in love with
|
|
Dolly Parton as well as some more topical songs. "Dark Carnival"
|
|
sets a number of Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" stories to music.
|
|
|
|
Sandy Bradley and the Small Wonder String Band(?):
|
|
"Interstellar Sweetheart"
|
|
|
|
Sangster, John:
|
|
Australian jazz musician, has two albums "The Hobbit Suite" and "Lord of
|
|
the Rings" which are jazz tone poems based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien.
|
|
|
|
Satriani, Joe:
|
|
"Surfing with the Alien" and "Back to Shalla-Bal" are about the
|
|
Silver Surfer of comic book fame.
|
|
|
|
Scanner:
|
|
They are a German speed-metal, and their first album, "Hypertrace", is an
|
|
SF story. 7 criminals were turned into supersoldiers during an experiment
|
|
during WWII. They went berzerk, and were shot into space, and their rockets
|
|
exploded, except one, who was found by aliens, and they taguht him to bring
|
|
peace to the world. The aliens gave him the mechanical planet Galactoss, where
|
|
he built 5 androids to send back to Earth, to collect data, so that he
|
|
could save the Earth from destroying itself. Their second album (recorded
|
|
with a new lead singer) also contains a few SF songs.
|
|
|
|
Schilling, Peter:
|
|
"Major Tom (Coming Home)"; perhaps a sequel to or re-telling of
|
|
Bowie's "Space Oddity" from "Error in the System" (originally
|
|
titled "Fehler im System") [also possibly based on the Bradbury story
|
|
Kaleidescope]; also "The Noah Plan" (about an exodus from Earth),
|
|
"Error in the System" (Earth as lost interstellar colony),
|
|
"Only Dreams" (computers plotting to take revenge on humans),
|
|
"Lifetime Guarantee (mind-controlled Utopia) and others.
|
|
There is some speculation that the translator may be responsible for the
|
|
SF content of some of these; for instance, the original (German) version
|
|
of "Only Dreams" ("...dann truegt der Schein") seems to be a non-SF song.
|
|
"Things to Come" includes "Zone 804" (aliens come to bring peace) and
|
|
"Lone Survivor" (man hides in bomb shelter, but war is averted; he's stuck).
|
|
Also, the song "Berlin, City of Night" (about fighting to reunite Belin
|
|
and Germany) was speculative fiction at the time that it was written.
|
|
|
|
Schultz, Mark:
|
|
There's a delightful short piece by Mark Schultz entitled
|
|
"Dragons in the Sky" for horn, percussion, and electronic tape. This is
|
|
supposedly the third work Mr. Schultz has written based on The Silmarillion,
|
|
though I have not encountered the first two. This one musically describes
|
|
the battle of the elves with the dragons of Morgoth. The only performance
|
|
of which I am aware is with Thomas Bacon on horn, and Richard Brown on
|
|
percussion on a Summit Records CD, DCD 135.
|
|
|
|
Scorpions:
|
|
"Robot Man" on "In Trance". See ex-Scorption Uli Jon Roth.
|
|
|
|
Screaming Blue Messiahs:
|
|
The album "Totally Religious", has some SF-related tracks:
|
|
"Mega-City One" -- Very Judge Dredd-influenced lyrics, about policeman
|
|
in a MegaCity of the future. If you're not familiar with Judge Dredd,
|
|
he is an English comic character, who is a "Judge" in a future
|
|
underground hyperviolent city called MegaCity One.
|
|
"Four Engines Burning over the USA" -- May be stretching it a bit,
|
|
but this song could be about a nuclear attack on the United States.
|
|
|
|
Sensational Alex Harvey Band:
|
|
See "The Tale of The Giant Stone-Eater" from "Tomorrow Belongs to Me",
|
|
and "Nightmare City" from "Rock Drill". Also "Vambo" and "The Faith
|
|
Healer" from "Next". Bizarre Scottish lads.
|
|
|
|
Seventh Wave:
|
|
"Things to Come"
|
|
|
|
The Shamen:
|
|
The album "Boss Drum" contains "Space Time" and "Scientas".
|
|
|
|
Shonen Knife:
|
|
A Japanese band, they often sing about space travel and other SF-ish
|
|
themes. "Parallel Woman" (Japanese) from the "Shonen Knife" album, is about
|
|
a superheroine in a parallel universe. "Riding on the Rocket"
|
|
(japanese), on "Pretty Little Baka Guy", is about visiting different
|
|
planets in a space ship. "The Moon World" (japanese), on "712", is
|
|
about visiting the Moon. "Neon Zebra", a single, is about a zebra
|
|
who gets transformed by aliens. In "Space Christmas" (english), a
|
|
single, Naoko asks for a space ship for Christmas so she can visit
|
|
Pluto. Their latest album, "Let's Knife", includes an
|
|
English-language version of "Riding on the Rocket", as well as "I am
|
|
a Cat" (english), about turning into a cat and dancing on a flying
|
|
saucer. The CD single "Riding on the Rocket" also includes an
|
|
instrumental called "Milky Way".
|
|
|
|
Shriekback:
|
|
Did a song "Nemesis" about the comics character of the same name.
|
|
(The video shows him/her/it prancing in the background.) However,
|
|
the song may also have a second meaning: "Nemesis" is the name of
|
|
the hypothetical "dark companion" to the sun which (according to one theory)
|
|
is responsible for periodically disturbing the Oort cloud and causing a
|
|
rain asteroids on the earth producing the periodic extinctions that
|
|
(some say) are present in the fossile record. Much of the lyrics
|
|
of "Nemesis" seem to refer to the death of the dinosaurs as the
|
|
result of this sort of cosmic catastrophe. On the album
|
|
"Oil & Gold" (whence Nemesis comes as well), they have "This Big Hush",
|
|
about life after nuclear war, and "Health & Knowledge & Wealth & Power",
|
|
which contains the lines "Touchdown on a different world/White eyes
|
|
look 'round". On "Big Night Music", they have the song "Underwaterboys",
|
|
whose title says it all..
|
|
|
|
Sigue Sigue Sputnik:
|
|
The album "Flaunt It" includes "21st Century Boy" along with other
|
|
SF-sounding stuff; the lyrics are difficult to decipher. Their
|
|
song "Love Missile F-11" includes samples from "A Clockword Orange".
|
|
|
|
Sinfield, Pete:
|
|
(See also Caravan, King Crimson, ELP.) His solo LP "Still" contains
|
|
the track "Song of the Sea Goat" which may or may not be fantasy.
|
|
Like much of Sinfield's work, the lyrics are very surreal and difficult
|
|
to interpret.
|
|
|
|
Sisters of Mercy:
|
|
"Black Planet" from "First and Last and Always" is another
|
|
one of those cheerful post-nuclear-holocaust ballads. :)
|
|
|
|
Skinny Puppy
|
|
"200 Years" from the album "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse" is
|
|
based on and contains samples from a Twilight Zone episode.
|
|
|
|
Smithereens:
|
|
Just a quick note to mention that "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is *not*
|
|
a Lovecraft adaption (see the entry for Black Sabbath) but is about
|
|
having an obsession with a woman bass player.
|
|
|
|
Sonic Youth:
|
|
On the album "Daydream Nation," a lot of sci-fi/cyberpunk
|
|
themes, and direct references to 'jacking in' as in Gibson's "Neuromancer".
|
|
See also the songs "Eric's Trip", "Hyperstation" and "Silver Rocket".
|
|
Sonic Youth draws heavily on the material of Phillip K. Dick and
|
|
William Gibson, in general; see "The Sprawl".
|
|
|
|
Southwind:
|
|
"The Green Hills of Earth" -- lyrics by Heinlein (or Rhysling, if
|
|
you prefer) from the story of the same name.
|
|
|
|
Spacemen3:
|
|
Covered "Starship" by Sun Ra and the MC5.
|
|
|
|
Sparks:
|
|
LP "Kimono My House" has a hilarious fantasy song called "Here in
|
|
Heaven" dealing with a petulant teenage suicide's thoughts in heaven.
|
|
He keeps wondering why his girlfriend didn't kill herself, too.
|
|
|
|
Sphynx:
|
|
Another band led by Nik Turner, produced the album "Xitintoday" which
|
|
was based on the Egyptian book ofthe dead. The flute was recorded
|
|
inside the sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid.
|
|
|
|
Spin Doctors:
|
|
Their album "Pocketful of Kryptonite" includes the
|
|
single "Jimmy Olsen's Blues."
|
|
|
|
Spirit:
|
|
"Future Games" has interspersed fragments of old "Star Trek" episodes
|
|
between tunes. Also see "Potatoland" -- the songs aren't at all SF,
|
|
but are strung together by "The Adventures of Captain Copter and
|
|
Commander Cassidy" in a totalitarian state -- very bizarre.
|
|
|
|
The Leslie Spitt Treeo:
|
|
A Canadian band, has done a song called "UFO" about someone going to watch for
|
|
UFOs with hopes of getting picked up by one. From their first album--may be
|
|
self-titled, but I wouldn't swear to it.
|
|
|
|
Spizzenergi:
|
|
"Where's Captain Kirk"; band renamed "Athletico Spizz '80".
|
|
Spizzenergi live also used to a slower version of "Where's Captain Kirk?"
|
|
called "Who's Spock?".
|
|
|
|
Split Enz:
|
|
An New Zealander band; their song "Poor Boy" is about a romantic/sexual
|
|
encounter with an alien.
|
|
|
|
Stackridge:
|
|
UK band from the 70's: see "Purple Spaceships over Yatton", "Slark" (monster
|
|
gets boy, boy gets girls), and "Frankenstein's Pillow".
|
|
|
|
Starcastle:
|
|
A Yes clone. First album has a nice piece, "Lady of the Lake".
|
|
Believe it or not, they're from Pekin, Illinois (across the river
|
|
from Peoria). If you like Yes's Fragile-era material then you should
|
|
grab their first LP ("Starcastle") and later ones ("Citadel", "Fountains
|
|
of Light").
|
|
|
|
Starr, Ringo:
|
|
The song "Hopeless" mentions aliens.
|
|
|
|
Steeleye Span:
|
|
Folk-rockers who tend to sing traditional songs with modern instruments.
|
|
"Elf Call" is about elves; "The Demon Lover", a well-known song,
|
|
appears on the LP "Commoner's Crown" along with "Elf Call".
|
|
(See also Fairport Convention.)
|
|
|
|
Steely Dan:
|
|
Fantasy genre rather than straight science fiction: "Home At Last" is a
|
|
retelling of the story of the Trials of Odysseus from Greek mythology -
|
|
the chorus, "still I remain tied to the mast" evokes the story where he
|
|
tied himself to the mast to resist the song of the Siren. Also,
|
|
"The Caves of Altamira," fantasizing about cave dwellers who made the
|
|
cave drawings in Altamira, Spain. See also Donald Fagen.
|
|
|
|
Stevens, Ray:
|
|
Song, "Diana and the Robotics", which is about a group
|
|
of appliances that form a band.
|
|
|
|
Stepford Wives:
|
|
Apparently took their name from the old horror film.
|
|
|
|
Steve Miller Band:
|
|
"Brave New World" and "Space Cowboy" from the album "Brave New World".
|
|
|
|
Stevens, Cat:
|
|
"Freezing Steel" from "Catch Bull at Four"; also "Longer Boats"
|
|
from "Tea for the Tillerman" is about flying saucers. (It may
|
|
not be implicit in the lyrics, but Cat Stevens discussed it in
|
|
an interview.)
|
|
|
|
Stevens, Steve:
|
|
The title track "Atomic Playboys" is about nuclear war; there are
|
|
probably a few more cuts of a similar nature on the rest of the album.
|
|
Album artwork by H R Giger, of "Alien" fame.
|
|
|
|
Stewart, Al:
|
|
"The Sirens of Titan" (Vonnegut) from "24 Carrots". See also the title
|
|
track from "Last Days of the Century" and "Red Toupee" from that same
|
|
album -- apparently he cited it as SF in an interview. "Nostradamus",
|
|
from "Past, Present, and Future" is a little bit occultish.
|
|
|
|
Sting:
|
|
"Dream of the Blue Turtles" has the track "Moon Over Bourbon Street" based,
|
|
according to the liner notes, on Anne Rice's "Interview With A Vampire".
|
|
On the album "Nothing Like The Sun", "Straight To My Heart" speculates, in
|
|
7/8 time, about forms of sharing love in the future; "Rock Steady" retells the
|
|
story of Noah(which >could< be considered fantasy); "The Lazarus Heart" is
|
|
based on a dream which is apparently a form of the Fisher King story, and has
|
|
fantasy elements to it. The title track from "The Soul Cages" also has
|
|
fantasy elements.
|
|
|
|
Strange Advance:
|
|
See "Nor Crystal Tears" from "Strange Advance 2wo" (not a typo).
|
|
See also the album "Worlds Away"; several tracks with SF allusions and
|
|
themes, notably the title track, "One Chance in a Million", and "Sister Radio".
|
|
Cover artwork had examples of Arcologies for futurist-architect Paulo Soleri.
|
|
|
|
Stranglers, The:
|
|
The album "The Gospel According to the Meninblack" is about a race of
|
|
people from another planet who are raising humans on Earth for their
|
|
food. Considering there are over 5 billion people now, they should be
|
|
very happy. The Meninblack are first introduced in the song "Meninblack"
|
|
on the album "The Raven". See also "Rockit to the Moon", a B-side.
|
|
|
|
Stubbs, Levi:
|
|
"Mean Green Muther from Outer Space", from the musical "Little Shop
|
|
of Horrors", in which it is revealed that Audrey II is actually
|
|
an alien planning to take over the earth.
|
|
|
|
Styx:
|
|
Usually has one sf-ish piece on each album. All of "Kilroy was Here" is
|
|
a fable (this is the LP with "Mr. Roboto"). See also "Man of Miracles"
|
|
and "Come Sail Away". There is some speculation that "Lords of the Ring"
|
|
on "Pieces of Eight" is Tolkien-derived.
|
|
|
|
Sudden Sway:
|
|
Little known synthesizer based independent band.
|
|
Their "Spacemate" double album contains some futuristic advertising jingles
|
|
for imaginary products. The LP comes with some instructions on how to
|
|
"spacemate" which stands for "Super Dimensional Perceptive Aid Combining
|
|
Every Manner and Type of Everything". A note of explanation from the LP
|
|
cover - "which means it helps you expand your dimensions".
|
|
There are some puzzles and other goodies included by the previous 'owners'.
|
|
A non-musical track from a Peel session named "A Walk in the Park from the
|
|
Hypno-stroll" has a very "Hitchhiker's" feel to it.
|
|
|
|
Sun Ra:
|
|
An unusual jazz musician who has been obsessed with space travel; his
|
|
band is the "Arkestra". Some of his songs from the 70's are
|
|
"Rocket Number Nine to the Planet Venus" and "We Travel the Spaceways".
|
|
|
|
Supertramp:
|
|
Album "Brother Where You Bound". "Fools Overture" is about the threat
|
|
of nuclear war. Possibly "Crime of the Century".
|
|
|
|
The Surprises:
|
|
The single "Flying Attack" is about being invaded by flying saucers.
|
|
|
|
Swann, Donald:
|
|
Donald Swann provides music for a number of poems from J.R.R.
|
|
Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," and plays the piano on this album. The
|
|
piano score is also available from Houghton Miffin in book form; the
|
|
book also explains the motivation for adding music to the poems as
|
|
well as other historical notes about the pieces. The B side of the
|
|
album has J.R.R. Tolkien, reading some of the poems from his book, "The
|
|
Adventures of Tom Bombardil."
|
|
|
|
Sweet, Matthew:
|
|
"Children Of Time (Forever)" from "Earth" is a story of the future.
|
|
The video for "I've Been Waiting" is loaded with clips
|
|
from the Japanese Animation series "Urusei Yatsura".
|
|
|
|
Symphonic Slam:
|
|
One album, with tracks "Universe" and "Fold Back".
|
|
|
|
T99:
|
|
Songs include "The Skydreamer", "Maximizor" (a single with some Japanese
|
|
SF-style artwork).
|
|
|
|
T'Pau:
|
|
This band is named after the Vulcan High Priestess in the (original)
|
|
Star Trek episode, "Amok Time".
|
|
|
|
T. Rex:
|
|
Before they hit it big with "Get it On (Bang a Gong)", they recorded
|
|
music dominated by sylvan fantasy themes vaugely inspired by Tolkein.
|
|
(Their percussionist went by the name Steve Peregrin Took, f'instance.)
|
|
The album entitled "T.Rex" includes "Ride a White Swan" and "Wizard";
|
|
two earlier albums, recorded when the band used the long form of their
|
|
name, i.e. Tyrannosaurus Rex, are "My people were fair and had sky in
|
|
their hair...But now they're content to wear stars on their brow"
|
|
and "Prophets, Seers, and Sages."
|
|
|
|
Talking Heads:
|
|
"Life During Wartime" from "Fear of Music", about an America at war.
|
|
"Moon Rocks" from "Speaking in Tongues", a surrealistic piece about
|
|
nuclear physics and magic. "(Nothing But) Flowers" from "Naked",
|
|
discusses a future return to an agrarian, nature-oriented lifestyle.
|
|
"The Facts of Life" from "Naked" recapitulates human history
|
|
extending it into the future.
|
|
|
|
Taylor, Roger:
|
|
LP "Fun in Space".
|
|
|
|
Telex:
|
|
Belgian electro-pop; futuristic tracks include "Rendezvous Dans L'Espace".
|
|
|
|
Ten Years After:
|
|
"Year 3000 Blues" on "Cricklewood Green" is about someone having to report
|
|
to some sort of euthanasia center because he wasn't up to the society's
|
|
eugenic standards. Also "Here They Come" from "A Space in Time",
|
|
which is about some visiting space travellers.
|
|
|
|
They Might be Giants:
|
|
"For Science!" is about a man willing to date "the girl from Venus'
|
|
despite the risk of radiation poisoning. Their latest LP is entitled
|
|
"Apollo 18" (the Apollo program stopped at #17). See also "The Guitar".
|
|
The also perform (live) a song called "Why Does the Sun Shine?" which is
|
|
somewhat Mr.Wizard-ish; it's recently been released as a single.
|
|
(They performed it live on Nicks Rocks _ages_ ago, and some people still have
|
|
a copy floating around.) Strangely, it is a cover of an educational children's
|
|
record. It starts out with "The sun is a mass/ of incandescent gas..."
|
|
(It's originally from the album "Space Songs", an album of space songs
|
|
for children performed by Tom Glazer (a children's singer) and
|
|
Dottie Evans (a Country/Western singer). They also did an album called
|
|
"Energy and Motion Songs", about Physics.) There's also a song on one
|
|
of their CD-singles called "Moving to the Sun", sort of sf-ish.
|
|
"The Statue Got Me high" is also sf-ish, and "Actual Size" may be
|
|
about Armageddon. Another notable track: "Particle Man"
|
|
(from "Flood", 1990) combines superhero imagery with quantum physics.
|
|
TMBG were Musical Ambassadors for the International Space Year.
|
|
|
|
Thin Lizzy:
|
|
The title track of "Jailbreak" is about a (futuristic?) jailbreak.
|
|
|
|
Thorpe, Billy:
|
|
"Children of the Sun", a curiously popular song from the early 80's,
|
|
is about an massive alien ship landing.
|
|
|
|
Titus Groan:
|
|
A band named after, and taking most of their material from,
|
|
Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" books. Relevant songs include "The
|
|
Hall of Bright Carvings" and "Fuchsia".
|
|
|
|
Tomita, Isao:
|
|
Highly influential electronic musician whose works often have SF themes
|
|
or are derived from SF sources. Some citations by album:
|
|
|
|
Kosmos: "Star Wars Theme," by John Williams and "A Space Fantasy"
|
|
based on "Also Spracht Zarathustra" (R. Strauss) and
|
|
"Die Valkure" (Wagner). "The Sea Named Solaris," which is Tomita's
|
|
tribute to the Russian SF film "Solaris". The movie is about a planet
|
|
covered by a sea of lava that seems to be sentient. Cosmonauts
|
|
establish a station to study the sea, and the sea studies them by
|
|
reincarnating dead loved ones from the cosmonauts' past.
|
|
|
|
The Planets: Holst's superb work depicted as a travel through the
|
|
solar system.
|
|
|
|
"Firebird" includes Moussorgsky's classic "Night on Bald Mountain,"
|
|
which is about a witches' sabbath.
|
|
|
|
The Bermuda Triangle: A very complex work featuring compositions by
|
|
Prokofiev, Sibelius and others. The album's concept suggests that
|
|
there is a connection between the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon and
|
|
aliens visiting from outer space. The work also includes a section
|
|
with Tomita's electronic version of the famous musical dialogue with
|
|
the alien spaceship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
|
|
|
|
(Thanks to Gilead Limor and Kendal Stitzel for the writeup on Tomita.)
|
|
|
|
Tonio K:
|
|
"Mars Needs Women" from "La Bomba". "Life in the Foodchain" has the
|
|
songs "How Come I Can't See You in My Mirror?" (Answer: because the
|
|
subject is a vampire.)
|
|
|
|
Die Toten Hosen:
|
|
A German punk band. Their album "Eine kleine Horrorshow" is an
|
|
interpretation of Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", the
|
|
novel which Stanley Kubrick made into film.
|
|
("Die Toten Hosen" translates to "dead pants", which is a German
|
|
slang expression for "nothing going on". Thanks to Thomas Koenig
|
|
for pointing this out.)
|
|
|
|
Toto:
|
|
Several tracks of the "Hydra" and "Isolation" albums have SF themes;
|
|
they also handled the soundtrack for "Dune".
|
|
|
|
Pete Townshend:
|
|
"Uniform", from "All The Best Cowboys have Chinese Eyes" discusses
|
|
the use of computers in the service of the state.
|
|
"The Iron Man" LP/rock opera is about an (alien?) robot who eats
|
|
everything in sight that's made of iron, including tanks and guns;
|
|
features the song "Heavy Metal".
|
|
|
|
Toyah:
|
|
"Sheep farming in Barnet" - Near future high tech (mind to machine transfer)
|
|
Messianic story. "Anthem", Story of a girl growing up in the present, but
|
|
uses *lots* of SF imagiary. "The Changling" seems to be a pre-post holocaust
|
|
story but is open to other interpretations. See also "Martin Cowboy"
|
|
from "Love is the Law".
|
|
|
|
Tubes:
|
|
"Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman", on "Completion Backward Principle";
|
|
also "Space Baby" and "Cathy's Clone".
|
|
|
|
Turner, Tina:
|
|
"Private Dancer" has the track "1984".
|
|
|
|
Twelfth Night:
|
|
"We are Sane" from "Fact and Fiction" is about state control of thoughts
|
|
by the implantation of a "component".
|
|
|
|
U2:
|
|
Bono and The Edge did the score for a new stage production of
|
|
"A Clockwork Orange." One song is available on the single of
|
|
"The Fly" -- no relation to the horror movie.
|
|
|
|
Ubangi:
|
|
Swedish band wrote "Monster ombord" (Monsters on board,
|
|
something has invaded the space ship) Some of their albums
|
|
have English lyrics...also, the LP "Disco Baby" has a song
|
|
"They Came From Outer Space".
|
|
|
|
Ultravox:
|
|
"All Stood Still" is apparently about an accident at a nuclear power
|
|
station. "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" is about a nuclear attack.
|
|
Futuristic/surrealistic tracks from the Foxx era include "Slow Motion" and
|
|
"The Man Who Dies Every Day". Also, "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "I Want
|
|
to be a Machine".
|
|
|
|
Underground Zone 0:
|
|
A Hawkwind-connected band, did a song "Canes Vanatici" about a very
|
|
powerful alien telling us to clean up our act.
|
|
|
|
Uriah Heep:
|
|
"The Magician's Birthday", and "Demons and Wizards". Both are
|
|
concept albums, although the former is more cohesive than the latter.
|
|
Musical quality varies from subtle to bombastic wretched excess...
|
|
but then again, I tend to like bombastic wretched excess. :-)
|
|
|
|
Utopia:
|
|
(See also Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell.)
|
|
"Winston Smith Takes It on the Jaw" from "Oblivion". (Orwell's 1984)
|
|
Possibly "Adventures in Utopia". Also "Utopia", "Abandon City" from
|
|
"Oops, Wrong Planet" and "Emergency Splashdown" (which also appears on
|
|
one of Roger Powell's solo albums). "RA" is heavily fantasy, including
|
|
the epic "Singring and the Glass Guitar, an Electrified Fairy Tale".
|
|
"Zen Machine" from "POV" is cyberpunkish. "The Seven Rays" from
|
|
"Another Live" might be SF.
|
|
|
|
Vai, Steve:
|
|
"Little Green Men" and "Next Stop Earth" from his album "Flex-Able".
|
|
Vai claims his album "Passion & Warfare" is a conceptual SF story
|
|
with the plot being too detailed to publish with the CD and says that
|
|
"Passion and Warfare - The Novel" will be published soon, but until then
|
|
it's pretty disjointed.
|
|
|
|
Van Halen:
|
|
On the album "5150", the song "Love Walks In" is about falling
|
|
in love with an alien.
|
|
|
|
Van der Graff Generator:
|
|
"Pioneers Over c", and others. (c = speed of light)
|
|
See also "Still Life" (immortality) and "Childhood's End" (destiny
|
|
of mankind; presumably based on Clarke's book) from "Still Life".
|
|
Also "After The Flood" (melting of polar icecaps) from "The Least Can Do
|
|
is Wave to Each Other". From "Godbluff", see "Arrow" (fantasy),
|
|
"Sleepwalkers" and "Scorched Earth" (programmed soldier?).
|
|
|
|
Vanity 6:
|
|
"Flippin' Out" is about vampirism.
|
|
|
|
Ventures:
|
|
(Yes, those guys with the Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters and
|
|
Champ Amps with the tremolo turned up playing "Walk, Don't Run.")
|
|
Had an album entitled "The Ventures in Space" on which virtually all
|
|
tunes had sci-fi titles, like "Invasion of the Satellites" and "Moon Child."
|
|
Also, one of their best known tunes is "Journey to the Stars," which appeared
|
|
on "The Fabulous Ventures" and "The Ventures on Stage," and also (I believe)
|
|
as a single. (They also covered "Telstar", originally done by The Tornadoes.)
|
|
|
|
Violinski:
|
|
"No Cause for Alarm" (WW3 breaks out in your neighborhood)
|
|
|
|
Visage:
|
|
Redid Zager & Evans "2525"; also did some other SF-type material.
|
|
|
|
VoiVod:
|
|
Their lyrics are largely SF. Most of their albums are conceptual and
|
|
loosely based around the VoiVod character. The earliest stuff is
|
|
standard post-holocaust type business, although they developed
|
|
considerably with "Dimension Hatross", an allegorical story in which
|
|
the VoiVod creates a parallel microdimension and monitors the development
|
|
of the inhabitants from tribal societies to technocratic states eventually
|
|
to apocalyptic destruction. "Nothingface", contains more surreal
|
|
cyberpunk(ish) SF lyrics with more introspective themes. "Angel Rat"
|
|
deals with a variety of concepts from Chaos theory to robot sentience.
|
|
|
|
Wah!:
|
|
"The Seven Thousand Names of Wah!" on "Nah Poo- The Art of Bluff"
|
|
deserves a mention since its title is borrowed from Arthur C. Clarke
|
|
and finishes with the lines "One by one the stars are going out" which
|
|
is a direct quote from the Clarke story ("The Nine Thousand
|
|
Names of God"). The single "Better Scream" concerns a
|
|
future apocalyptic war.
|
|
|
|
Wakeman, Rick:
|
|
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" retells Verne's story; "No
|
|
Earthly Connection" has a fantasy slant to it. "Myths and
|
|
Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" tells
|
|
the story of Camelot. See also Yes.
|
|
|
|
Randy Van Warmer:
|
|
On the album "Terraform", the title track is a three part SF song, the last
|
|
part of which is "I'm so 21st century" (repeated ad-nauseum). The song,
|
|
as well as the album, is absolutely dreadful. ;-)
|
|
|
|
Warrior:
|
|
The LP "Fighting for the Earth" deals with saving the earth
|
|
from demonic evil by forming a band of hard-core warriors to
|
|
do battle with it. The band has been characterized as
|
|
"a nontypically environmentally concerned metal band".
|
|
|
|
Was (not Was):
|
|
"Born to Laugh at Tornadoes" contains "Man vs. the Empire Brain
|
|
Building" a cyberpunk piece in which the vocals mostly consist of
|
|
the following line repeated over and over:
|
|
"In my life there's just three things:
|
|
Man vs. Nature
|
|
Man vs. Woman
|
|
and
|
|
Man vs. the Empire Brain Building"
|
|
Of course, "Walk the Dinosaur" is about...
|
|
|
|
Waters, Roger:
|
|
"Radio K.A.O.S." is a story about a psychic who hears radio
|
|
waves in his head; he learns to control them and takes over
|
|
a military computer system. His 1992 release "Amused to Death"
|
|
exmaines mankind's fascination with television, and ends with
|
|
the arrival of "alien anthropologists" who declare that mankind
|
|
had evidently "Amused itself to death." See also Pink Floyd.
|
|
|
|
Wayne, Jeff:
|
|
"War of the Worlds". H.G. Wells' story with
|
|
Richard Burton doing narration, and awful music (purely
|
|
a personal opinion ;-) ).
|
|
|
|
Weather Report:
|
|
"I Sing the Body Electric" borrows the title from Ray Bradbury and
|
|
shows an android on the cover.
|
|
|
|
The Weathermen:
|
|
LP "Ten Deadly Kisses" features a track "Space", which is about
|
|
a space-age yuppie.
|
|
|
|
Who, The:
|
|
"Tommy" is half-fantasy, half-opera. "905" from "Who Are You?".
|
|
Also "Rael" from "The Who Sell Out". "Baba O'Riley" from "Who's Next"
|
|
seems to possibly be about some post-holocaust world. (Note:
|
|
"Baba O'Riley" and other tidbits were part of the very SF-ish
|
|
concept album "Lifehouse", which was never released.)
|
|
See also "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde" from Quadroprhenia (depends on
|
|
how you interpret it).
|
|
|
|
Winders, Wim:
|
|
The soundtrack "Until the End of the World" soundtrack from the
|
|
Wim Winders' film of the same name is listed here because a number
|
|
of artists contributed to it. The movie is a futuristic thriller
|
|
about the end of the world, and the music supports the action.
|
|
Some terrific stuff from U2, REM, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, and many others.
|
|
|
|
Wings:
|
|
"Nineteen Eighty-Five" from "Band on the Run". Also "Magneto and
|
|
the Titanium Man" and "Venus and Mars (Reprise)" from "Venus and Mars".
|
|
|
|
Wishbone Ash:
|
|
"The King Will Come", "Phoenix", and "Throw Down the Sword"
|
|
(all from "Argus") are all heroic-fantasy type pieces. (By the way,
|
|
W.A.'s double/triple lead guitar work is worth hearing. ---Rsk)
|
|
Also see the title track from "Number the Brave".
|
|
|
|
Winter, Edgar:
|
|
Recorded an entire soundtrack for L. Ron Hubbards' ten-book
|
|
series 'Mission Earth'. The material was written by Hubbard and recorded
|
|
by Winter. Its available on vinyl in most record stores.
|
|
L. Ron Hubbard also collected a bunch of artists to do a soundtrack for
|
|
his novel 'Battlefield Earth'; chief among these is Chick Corea.
|
|
And don't forget the instrumental version of "Frankenstein", which
|
|
was a pop hit in the early 70's.
|
|
|
|
Wood, Roy:
|
|
"Miss Clarke and the Computer" from "Boulders" (computer falls in
|
|
love with its operator). See also The Move, Electric Light Orchestra.
|
|
|
|
Wooley, Sheb:
|
|
"Purple People Eater"
|
|
|
|
XL Capris:
|
|
Australian band, did a song called World War III on their "Where is Hank?"
|
|
album. (They have connections with New Zealand band Dragon, through
|
|
Todd Hunter.)
|
|
|
|
XTC:
|
|
"Reel by Reel" (the government can hear and record your thoughts);
|
|
"This World Over" from "The Big Express" which is a post-nuclear
|
|
holocaust cautionary tale. "That's Really Super (Supergirl)"
|
|
from Skylarking is about Supergirl's boyfriend becoming distraught
|
|
over her "other life". "Science Friction" (yes it's supposed to have
|
|
an 'r' in it) on "3D EP" (also on the CD version of "White Music").
|
|
|
|
X Ray Spex:
|
|
"Genetic Engineering" from the album "Germ Free Adolescents" is about
|
|
the dangers of creating genetically 'superior' beings.
|
|
|
|
Yankovic, Weird Al:
|
|
"I Think I'm a Clone Now" from "Even Worse" (parody of the 60's hit
|
|
"I Think We're Alone Now", recently recut by Tiffany).
|
|
"Yoda" (to the tune of "Lola") and "Slime Creatures from Outer Space",
|
|
an original music-tribute to B-movies; both are from "Dare to Be Stupid".
|
|
Also "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars"
|
|
on the soundtrack for "UHF", and "Christmas at Ground Zero" from
|
|
"Polka Party".
|
|
|
|
Yaz:
|
|
There's a song on the album "You and Me Both" about childhood
|
|
during a nuclear war.
|
|
|
|
Yellow Magic Orchestra:
|
|
"Citizens of Science" from "X Infinite Multiples".
|
|
|
|
Yes:
|
|
Much sf-oriented work. Try "Astral Traveller", "Starship Trooper"
|
|
(Heinlein? maybe), "The Gates of Delirium". (One reader commented that
|
|
this latter LP is actually based on Tolstoy's "War and Peace". I can't
|
|
confirm or deny that since I've never made it through the book.)
|
|
See also Jon Anderson's "Olias of Sunhillow" and Anderson & Vangelis's
|
|
song "Mayflower" from "The Friends of Mr. Cairo". See also "Then" with
|
|
references to telepathy. Also, "Arriving UFO" from "Tormato", "Machine
|
|
Messiah" from Drama (computer/controller), most of the entire album
|
|
"Close to the Edge" (which your editor regards as unquestionably the most
|
|
complex and finest piece of music ever written and performed by a rock band),
|
|
"South Side of the Sky" from "Fragile", and "Awaken" from "Going for the One".
|
|
"Tales from Topographic Oceans" is a 2-LP concept albums about
|
|
(possibly intelligent) life in the oceans singing to stars they can't see.
|
|
Tracks include "The Revealing Science of God", "The Remembering",
|
|
"The Ancient", and "Ritual". "Shoot High Aim Low" from "Big Generator" might
|
|
be about a futuristic war. The problem with figuring out much of Yes's work
|
|
is that the abstract poetic style often obscures the meaning
|
|
and multiple interpretations are possible. See also Rick Wakeman,
|
|
Jon Anderson, & Anderson, Wakeford, Bruford and Howe.
|
|
|
|
Young, Kenny:
|
|
LP "Last Stage for Silverworld"
|
|
|
|
Young, Neil:
|
|
"After the Gold Rush", and "Ride my Llama" from "Rust Never Sleeps".
|
|
("After the Gold Rush" ends with a line about a mothership arriving
|
|
and "...taking Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun".)
|
|
On the album "Trans", see "Computer Age", "We R In Control", and "Sample
|
|
and Hold".
|
|
|
|
ZZ Top:
|
|
Just a note to mention that the videos for the songs from their "Afterburner"
|
|
album had SF themes; also the song "TV Dinners" from "Eliminator" had
|
|
some SF references.
|
|
|
|
Zager & Evans:
|
|
"In the Year 2525"; dated but cute; was #1 when Armstrong walked on the moon.
|
|
|
|
Zappa, Frank, and the Mothers:
|
|
"Cheapnis", from "Roxy and Elsewhere", is the story of a grade Z monster movie.
|
|
"Thing-Fish" (evil scientist, etc.). "Inca Roads" from "One Size Fits All"
|
|
discusses the question of whether or not extraterrrestrials made the
|
|
huge patterns visible from the air in the Andes. See also "The Radio is
|
|
Broken" (from "The Man from Utopia") and the title track from "Drowning Witch".
|
|
See also "Billy the Mountain" from "Was Mothers Just Another
|
|
Bands from L.A.?", the story of a sentient mountain which refuses
|
|
induction into the U.S. armed forces. Also "Joe's Garage", a dystopian
|
|
operatta about a society which controls its citizens by making as many
|
|
things as possible illegal; presented as if it were an object lesson
|
|
told by an enforcer from that society.
|
|
|
|
Zevon, Warren:
|
|
"Werewolves of London" from "Excitable Boy", just for fun.
|
|
"Transverse City" is a concept album which, according to interviews
|
|
with Zevon, is based in part on "Bladerunner" and the works of
|
|
cyberpunk author William Gibson. SF tracks on the album include the
|
|
title cut, "Run Straight Down", and "The Long Arm of the Law".
|
|
|
|
Miscellaneous Notes and Comments:
|
|
---------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michael Jarre, Return to Forever, Weather Report,
|
|
Vangelis, Klaus Schultz, Deodata, Eno, Jean-Luc Ponty, Michael Urbaniak,
|
|
Stomu Yamashta & Go, The Enid, Peter Michael Hamel, Bo Hansson, Mannheim
|
|
Steamroller, Lancaster & Lumley, Lol Creme & Kevin Godley, Shadowfax,
|
|
Larry Fast aka Synergy, Kitaro, Mark Shreeve, Kevin Braheny, Steve
|
|
Roach, Constance Demby, Michael Sterns, Software and B.J. Cole:
|
|
|
|
...have all been listed down here because several people have pointed out
|
|
that "sounding like SF" doesn't make it SF music. Note that some of these
|
|
people have done some SF soundtracks, and that some of them have done
|
|
instrumental material with SF/fantasy titles. Notable works include Hansson's
|
|
"Lord of the Rings", Creme & Godley's "Consequences", an ecological parable,
|
|
Mannheim Steamroller's "Fresh Aire V", a musical retelling of Kepler's
|
|
fantasy about a trip to the moon and back, and Klaus Schulze's "Cyborg"
|
|
and "Dune". Jarre's "Rendez-Vous" album was going to have had the sax part
|
|
for the track "Final Rendezvous/Ron's Piece" played, in orbit,
|
|
by Ron McNair on the ill-fated Challenger launch.
|
|
|
|
Hitchhiker's Guide:
|
|
Just a note that the theme music for THHGTTG is "Journey of the Sorcerer"
|
|
from the Eagles' "One of These Nights". Marvin is credited with a single
|
|
called "Marvin", backed with "Metal Man". Tim Souness did a single of
|
|
the HitchHiker's Guide theme. Disaster Area is credited with "Only
|
|
the End of the World Again", the B side of the theme single.
|
|
A second single called "Marvin I Love You" was released later--in it, Marvin
|
|
discovers an old recording of a female voice declaring her love for him
|
|
while perusing his memory banks. (Of course, he doesn't know where it
|
|
came from.)
|
|
|
|
Doctor Who:
|
|
Just a note to mention "Doctorin' the TARDIS" and "Gary and the TARDIS"
|
|
by the Timelords (now The KLF), "Who is the Doctor" by Jon Pertwee,
|
|
"Doctor...?" by Blood Donor, "Doctor in Distress" by Who Cares, and
|
|
"S.O.S. Daleks have landed" by ??.
|
|
|
|
SF Themes in Opera:
|
|
This section was originally posted to rec.music.classical by
|
|
ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper), who has kindly
|
|
granted permission to reproduce it here.
|
|
|
|
Benford, David & LeGuin, Ursula K. "Rigel-9"
|
|
Standard sf fare - astronauts on strange planet, one sensitive,
|
|
the rest rednecks. Only he sees the strange city in the forest etc.
|
|
|
|
Benford, David "Star's End"
|
|
A fantasy on SF themes.
|
|
|
|
Blomdahl, Karl-Birger "Aniara"
|
|
About a space ship leaving Earth (which is in an environmental
|
|
crisis).
|
|
|
|
Davis, Anthony & Atherton, Deborah "Under the Double Moon"
|
|
Attempt of a government Inspector to force telepathic twins to
|
|
accompany him to feed the powers of the Empress.
|
|
|
|
Dresher, Paul & Eckert, Rinded "Power Failure"
|
|
About an evil tycoon who has spent millions on a perpetual youth
|
|
machine for himself. When the moment comes to use it, a power
|
|
failure traps him, his assistant, secretary, and the janitor in
|
|
the underground laboratory. Despite the morality-play aspects of
|
|
what follow, it comes off as a powerful statement against rampant
|
|
materialism and exploitation of people and the environment.
|
|
|
|
Glass, Philip "Einstein on the Beach"
|
|
Has a scene where a flying saucer appears
|
|
|
|
Glass, Philip "1000 Airplanes on the Roof"
|
|
|
|
Glass, Philip "Hydrogen Jukebox"
|
|
|
|
Glass, Philip "Juniper Tree"
|
|
|
|
Glass, Philip & Lessing, Doris "The Making of the Representative
|
|
from Planet 8"
|
|
|
|
Haydn, J. "Il Mondo della Luna"
|
|
"It isn't straight sci-fi in the modern sense; the setting was meant
|
|
to provide a distant enough context to present a parody of powerful
|
|
people and institutions." But it *isn't* set on the moon; it has
|
|
someone tricked into believing they have traveled to the moon when
|
|
they haven't.
|
|
|
|
Janacek "The Excursions of Mr Broucek"
|
|
Two stories, one of which is Mr Broucek goes to the moon.
|
|
|
|
Janacek "The Macropoulous Affair"
|
|
Original by Karel Capek; the story of a 400+ year old opera
|
|
singer who possesses the formula for endless youth
|
|
|
|
Ligeti, G. "Le Grand Macabre"
|
|
I. The setting is the countryside in Brueghelland. Preceded by
|
|
the drunken Piet the Pot, the two lovers Amando and Amanda look
|
|
for a secluded place in which to make love. Out of a sepulchre
|
|
to one side of the stage emerges Nekrotzar, Angel of Death,
|
|
Great Reaper, Demon, Vampire etc, to announce the end of the
|
|
world that day at midnight.
|
|
II. Astradamors, court astrologer and hen-pecked husband, sees
|
|
apparitions through his telescope portending disaster. His wife
|
|
dreams of Venus, whom she asks to be sent a real man for a
|
|
husband. Astradamors' fears are confirmed with the arrival of
|
|
Nekrotzar, who first fulfils Mescalina's sexual desires and then
|
|
kills her.
|
|
III. The gluttonous ruler Go-Go receives word from the Chief of
|
|
his secret police ('Gepopo') that a comet is headed on a collision
|
|
course for Breughelland. Nekrotzar arrives with appropriate pomp
|
|
and ceremony to announce once more the end of the world.
|
|
Astradamors celebrates the death of his wife with Piet the Pot in
|
|
a drinking bout, and Nekrotzar, imagining the cup is filled with
|
|
sacrificial blood instead of wine, joins in. Becoming increasingly
|
|
intoxicated, Nekrotzar boasts about his cruel misdeeds and fails
|
|
to notice that midnight has already passed.
|
|
IV. With everyone wondering whether or not the world has really
|
|
ended, Mescalina breaks out of her tomb and recognises Nekrotzar
|
|
as her first husband, who then sinks into oblivion under the
|
|
weight of his failure. Having missed all the excitement, the two
|
|
lovers reappear.
|
|
|
|
Mackover, Todd "Valis"
|
|
Based on the Philip K. Dick novel
|
|
|
|
Menotti, Gian Carlo "A Bride from Pluto"
|
|
|
|
Menotti, Giancarlo "Help, Help the Globolinks!"
|
|
|
|
Monk, Meredith & Chong, Ping "The Games"
|
|
About a human society in a spacecraft that has been en route to a
|
|
distant star system for many generations. The games are simple
|
|
children's games which have acquired ritual status in the spaceship
|
|
culture. (Ballet?)
|
|
|
|
Offenbach, Jacques "Tales of Hoffman"
|
|
Robot
|
|
|
|
Offenbach, Jacques "Journey to the Moon"
|
|
|
|
Rice, Jeff "The War of the Worlds"
|
|
|
|
Swan, Donald "Perelandra"
|
|
Based on the C. S. Lewis
|
|
|
|
Swan, Donald various Tolkien songs (not opera)
|
|
|
|
? Robert Anton Wilson's stuff
|
|
|
|
? "A Wrinkle in Time"
|
|
|
|
And some random comments:
|
|
|
|
George Coates has a new work that takes place in virtual reality at
|
|
a theater in San Francisco. I don't know the name or composer, sorry.
|
|
|
|
For what it's worth I'm not sure I'd eliminate Wagner too soon: the
|
|
Ring may seem pretty fantastic, but many of the plots turn on the
|
|
appropriate use of technology (always Promethean, of course) and the
|
|
power it confers on the user.
|
|
|
|
Or sf novels with opera themes? How about Jack Vance's _Space
|
|
Opera_? As I recall the plot, it concerns the adventures of an
|
|
interstellar opera company.
|
|
|
|
Much thanks to:
|
|
alves@calvin.usc.edu@usc.edu (William Alves)
|
|
arb@martigny.ai.mit.edu (Barb Miller)
|
|
chrisi@lloyd.Camex.COM (Chris Ischay)
|
|
diarmuid@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Diarmuid Pigott)
|
|
etxmtsb@solsta.ericsson.se (Mats Bengtsson TX/DK )
|
|
gal@bnr.ca (Gene Lavergne)
|
|
gower@cis.uab.edu (Mr. Gower)
|
|
haack@iscsvax.uni.edu
|
|
hedrick@dumas.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
|
|
jefrank@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jason E Frank)
|
|
jkp@ukc.ac.uk (J.K.Pearson)
|
|
kaf8f@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Keith Andrew Falconer)
|
|
kos@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu (Bob Kosovsky)
|
|
lms@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com (Max Stern 310-524-6152)
|
|
mgresham%dscatl.UUCP@mathcs.emory.edu (Mark Gresham)
|
|
pdelafos@dsd.es.com (Peter Delafosse)
|
|
pranata@watserv.ucr.edu
|
|
rob@computer-science.manchester.ac.uk (Robert Marshall)
|
|
rp04@Lehigh.EDU (R M Price)
|
|
rtut@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Raymond Tuttle)
|
|
rwilmer@zinka.mitre.org (R. Wilmer)
|
|
steve@fid.morgan.com (Steve Apter)
|
|
zornow@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Claudia Zornow)
|
|
|
|
(end included material on SF themes in opera)
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------
|
|
|
|
One of the readers of the list (fofp@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk)
|
|
also sent along this material on Hawkwind, which I've included
|
|
here. If this isn't enough to justify the title I gave them
|
|
(all-time consensus champion for sf-oriented rock) then I don't
|
|
know what is. ;-)
|
|
|
|
(Begin included material on Hawkwind)
|
|
|
|
Re the Hawkwind entry on your music sf list.
|
|
|
|
The sf related songs that they've done are:
|
|
|
|
Adjust Me
|
|
Angels of Death
|
|
Arrival in Utopia
|
|
The Awakening
|
|
Black Corridor
|
|
Born to Go
|
|
The Changing
|
|
Children of the Sun
|
|
Choose Your Masks
|
|
Coded Languages
|
|
Damnation Alley
|
|
The Dark Lords
|
|
Down through the Night
|
|
Dragons and Fables
|
|
Dreaming City
|
|
Dream Worker
|
|
D-Rider
|
|
Dust of Time
|
|
Elric the Enchanter
|
|
Fable of a Failed Race
|
|
Fahrenheit 451
|
|
Fall of Earth City
|
|
Fifth Second of Forever
|
|
First Landing on Medusa
|
|
The Golden Void
|
|
Green Finned Demon
|
|
Heads
|
|
High Rise
|
|
Hi Tech Cities
|
|
Horn of Destiny
|
|
Images
|
|
Infinity
|
|
In the Egg
|
|
Jack of Shadows
|
|
Joker at the Gate
|
|
Levitation
|
|
Lighthouse
|
|
Living on a Knife Edge
|
|
Looking in the Future
|
|
Lord of Light
|
|
Lords of Chaos
|
|
Lost Chances
|
|
L.S.D.
|
|
Magnu
|
|
Master of the Universe
|
|
Messengers of Morpheus
|
|
Micro Man
|
|
Moonglum
|
|
Needle Gun
|
|
Neon Skyline
|
|
Note From a Cold Planet
|
|
Nuclear Drive
|
|
Nuclear Toy
|
|
Orgone Accumulator
|
|
Oscillations
|
|
The Phenomenon of Luminosity
|
|
Processed
|
|
Psi Power
|
|
Psychosis
|
|
PsychoSonia
|
|
PXR5
|
|
Quark, Strangeness and Charm
|
|
Robot
|
|
The Sea King
|
|
Seven By Seven
|
|
Silver Machine
|
|
Sleep of a Thousand Tears
|
|
Solitary Mind Games
|
|
Song of the Swords
|
|
Sonic Attack
|
|
Space is Deep
|
|
Space Travellers
|
|
Spirit of the Age
|
|
Standing at the Edge
|
|
Star Cannibal
|
|
Starflight
|
|
Streets of Fear
|
|
Sword of the East
|
|
Ten Seconds of Forever
|
|
Time We Left (This World today)
|
|
Transdimensional Man
|
|
Uncle Sam's on Mars
|
|
Virgin of the World
|
|
Waiting for Tomorrow
|
|
Warrior on the Edge of Time
|
|
Warriors
|
|
Wastelands of Sleep
|
|
The Watcher
|
|
We Took the Wrong Step
|
|
Web Weaver
|
|
Welcome to the Future
|
|
Who's Gonna Win the War
|
|
Wings
|
|
The Wizard Blew His Horn
|
|
You Know You're Only Dreaming
|
|
You'd Better Believe It
|
|
Zarozinia
|
|
Black Hole in Space
|
|
Upside Down
|
|
Dying Seas
|
|
The War I Survived
|
|
Raping Robots in the Street
|
|
Where are They Now?
|
|
Elements
|
|
Mutation Zone
|
|
My Armour's Killing Me
|
|
The Timeship Will Not Sail Again
|
|
|
|
and a list of their albums:
|
|
|
|
1970 Hawkwind [re-released as pic disk 1980]
|
|
1971 In Search Of Space
|
|
1972 Doremi Fasol Latido
|
|
1972 The Text Of Festival: Live 1970-2 (live)
|
|
1972 Glastonbury Fayre (with various artists)
|
|
1972 Greasy Trucker's Party
|
|
1973 Space Ritual Alive (live) [double album]
|
|
1973 Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Garagin (live)
|
|
1973 Hawkwind in Concert
|
|
1974 Hall Of The Mountain Grill
|
|
1974 US Forces Radio album featuring Hawkwind & Jefferson Starship
|
|
1975 Warrior On The Edge Of Time
|
|
1976 Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music
|
|
1976 Roadhawks
|
|
1977 Quark Strangeness And Charm
|
|
1977 Hawkwind/Van Der Graaf Generator [Swedish album on Phillips}
|
|
1977 Masters of the Universe (Compilation)
|
|
1978 PXR5
|
|
1978 Hawklords - 25 Years On
|
|
1979 Repeat Performances (Compilation)
|
|
1979 Hawkwind Live (live) [British release: Live '79]
|
|
1980 Levitation [original release was on blue vinyl]
|
|
1981 Sonic Attack
|
|
1981 Hawkwind Live at the Bottom Line (New York 1978)
|
|
1981? Hawkwind at Glastonbury 1981
|
|
1981 Sonic Assassins 12EP
|
|
1981 Motorhead / Valium 10 (single)
|
|
1982 Church of Hawkwind [originally with booklet]
|
|
1982 Choose Your Masques
|
|
1982 Hawkwind Live at Stonehenge and Watchfield (Festival Records)
|
|
1982 Friends And Relations - Hawkwind
|
|
1983 Friends And Relations II (Twice Upon A Time)
|
|
19?? Friends And Relations III
|
|
1983 Zones [also released as pic disk]
|
|
1984 The Earth Ritual Preview (EP)
|
|
1984 Utopia 1984 [Material from ERP, Stonehenge, and Zones]
|
|
1984 Stonehenge (This Is Hawkwind/Do Not Panic) (live) [LP & EP]
|
|
1985 The Chronicle Of The Black Sword
|
|
1985 Needle Gun (EP)
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1985 Zarozinia (EP)
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1985 Space Ritual II
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1985 Live Chronicles
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1985? Ridicule (live 1973)
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1985 Welcome To The Future (Mausoleum Records)
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1985 Live '70/'73
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1985 In The Beginning (Live "Top Gear" BBC Session 1970)
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1986 Bristol Custom Bike Show
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1986 Angels of Death (compilation) [all tracks previously released]
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1986 The Hawkwind Collection
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1986 Hawkfan 12"
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1986 Independent Days, Vol. I
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1986 The Approved History of Hawkwind (Samurai Records)
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1986? Independent Days, Vol. II
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1987? British Tribal Music (live, compilation) [Good sound quality. Digitally
|
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1987? Early Daze
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'77-82 The Hawkwind Anthology Vol. I
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87-88? The Hawkwind Anthology Vol. II
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87-88? The Hawkwind Anthology Vol. III
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1988 Traveller's Aid Trust (with various artists)
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1987 Out And Intake
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1987 Hawkwind Box Set - The Official Picture Log Book
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1988 The Xenon Codex
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1988 Spirit of the Age
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1988 Hawkwind Live [German CD: Imtrat]
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19?? Hawkwind Zoo 12EP
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19?? Silver Machine (live) 12EP
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19?? Victoria double album
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1989 The Night Of The Hawk (compilation)
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1989 Ironstrike [Avanti Records ISTCD 004]
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1990 Stasis - The U.A. Years 1971-1975 (Compilation)
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1990 Night Riding
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1990 The Best and the Rest of Hawkwind [Action Replay records.
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1990 The Best of Hawkwind (volume #2 of Metal Classic series by EMI)
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1990 Acid daze Vol. I LP
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1990 Acid Daze Vol. II LP
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1990 Acid Daze Vol. III LP
|
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1990 Space Bandits
|
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1991 Palace Springs (live)
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1991 Hawkwind: Space Rock from London
|
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1991 The Golden Void
|
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1991 The Early Years Live EP
|
|
1991 Masters of The Universe [ Marble Arch Rock CMA CD 129]
|
|
1992 Electric Teepee
|
|
1992 Mighty Hawkwind Classics 80-85
|
|
1992 This is Hawkwind: Do Not Panic CD
|
|
1992 Psychedelic Warlords
|
|
1992 The Hawklords Live
|
|
1992 California Brainstorm
|
|
1992 Solstice at Stonehenge 1983
|
|
1992 Tales From Atom Henge
|
|
1992 Orgasmatron
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Hope this helps :-)
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FoFP
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(End included material on Hawkwind)
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---------------------------------
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Well, that's it. Remember, please send your comments, corrections
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and additions via *mail*. Thanks!
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Rich Kulawiec, 2/93
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Hastily-assembled montage of names of people who sent this stuff in:
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Aaron Tucker, Al Crawford, Alan Greig, Alan Meiss, Alan Vymetalik,
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Alastair Milne, Alex Melnick, Andrew Priestley, Andrew Raphael, Andy
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Tucker, Becky Slocombe, Berry Kercheval, Bill Kaufman, Bjorn Lisper,
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Blake Sobiloff, Bob, Brad, Brandon Allbery, Breebaart, Brent Woods,
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Brian Ritchie, Brian Yamauchi, Bruce Holloway, Calle Dybedahl, Can
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Altinbay, Carl Fongheiser, Carlo N. Samson, Chisholm, Chris Klausmeier,
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Christopher Dollin, Chuck Koelbel, Corey Liss, Craig Wilcox, Dan Bloch,
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Dan Duval, Daniel Dern, Dave, Dave Berry, Dave Gourley, Dave Rosik,
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Dave Steiner, Dave Fiedler, David Adler, David Datta, David Gibbs,
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David Kuznick, David Cook, Dean Lawrence Higgins, Devin Ben-Hur, Doug
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Alan, Doug Mink, Ed Eastridge, edge!walker, Edwin Wiles, Eerke Boiten,
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Ellen Keyne Seebacher, Eric Pepke, Erland Sommarskog, Ethan Miller,
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Francini, Fricklas, Fujitsu, fyfesh, G. T. Samson, Gabrielle de
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Lioncourt, Gareth, Gerard Lachac, Greg Samson, Guy Harris, Guy
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Middleton, Hall, Hartman, Henry, Hirai, Husk, Imko Molenbuur, Jack
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Ostroff, Jay Freeman, Jed Hartman, Jef Poskanzer, Jeff, Jeff Rogers,
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Jessie Jim, Joanne Brooks, John, John, John A.Mariani, John Ockerbloom,
|
|
John Turner, John Relph, Jon Reeves, Jonathan Watts, Jonathan D.
|
|
Trudel, Joseph McLean, Kai-Miakel J{{-Aro, KarenColten, Ken, Ken
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|
Leonard, Kyle Grieser, Lance A. Sibley, larry@ssdevo, Leo, Lewis, Lewis
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|
Barnett, Lionel Marcus, Loren "Buck" Buchanan, Loring Holden, Malc,
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Malcolm Humes, Malcolm Mladenovic, Mark Schlagenhauf, Maroney, Matthew
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|
Belmonte, Mel, metlay, Michael Caplinger, Mijjil, Mike Holmes, Mike
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Swiston, Mike Linksvayer, Miles Bader, Neil Weinstock, Nicholas
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Simicich, Nick Smith, paszkows, Patrik Jansson, Paul Czarnecki, Paul S.
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R., PaulCzarnecki, Pete, Peter, Peter Alfke, Platt, Randall Shane,
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Randy Orrison, Richard Caley, Richard Smith, Robert Pietkivitch,
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RobynTarter, Romkey, Russ Williams, Ryk E Spoor, Samir Chettri, Scott
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A., Scott Butler, Sean Ellis, Seth Kadesh, Sheila Coyazo, Shelli
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Meyers, Smith Steve, Smithson, Stephen Mulrine, Stephen Pearl, Steve
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Herring, Steve Lionel, Stuart Sullivan, T. William Wells., Templeton,
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Terry Poot, The Roach Above Reproach, The Roach(dan'l), Theo Hong,
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|
Thomas Gayler, Thomas Koenig, Thomas Koenig, Tim, Tim Day, Tim Walters,
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Tim Smith, Tom Galloway, Tony Towers, Tynor, Vlach, Vogel, Walker
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Aumann, Wayne Barber, William Ingogly, William J. Richard, Dave Vernal,
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|
Ben Waggoner, Chris Mungall, Steve Greer, Jason O'Broin,
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|
Christopher Davis, Brian Kendig, Matt Maxwell, Richard Barrett, Dayne
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Miller, Mary Ellen Foster, Alfvaen, Ronny H. Arild, Paul R. Joslin,
|
|
Alexander Yok-Wai, Ronald D. White, Kjetil Wiekhorst J|rgensen,
|
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Jim Gillespie, Diarmuid Pigott, Evelyn C Leeper, Christopher Haynes,
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Jim Atkinson, Robert Chansky, wakelins@fri.cri.nz, Michael Simla,
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Ray Charbonneau, TheO O'Neal, Alex Melnick, Richard K Fox, Dion Francois.
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Derek G Bacon, Daniel F Boyd, Jeff Berry, Richard Heritage, Joe Decker,
|
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James Gillespie, Ulrich Grepel, Mark Parker, Jim Freund, Mike Alberghini,
|
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Paolo Valladolid, Francisco X DeJesus, Scott Grier, Andrew Raphael,
|
|
Steve W. Hill, Curt Wiederhoeft., Andrew Bettison, Jeff Wilson,
|
|
Michael Burstein, Dennis Sacks, Steve (steven@syacus.acus.oz.au),
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|
J.H.M. Dassen, Paul W. Grimes, James Matthew Farrow, Mike Kring,
|
|
Chuck Turner, Dave Weingart, John Purpura, Ilsa VanHook, Adrian Hassall Lewis,
|
|
Corran J. Webster, Steve Wechsler, Brian Leibowitz, Rick Scaia,
|
|
Andrew Phillips, William Rucklidge, Gregg T. Parmentier, Andrew Hatchell,
|
|
Bengt Kleberg, Brian Landwehr, Dan Johnson, ]dne Brunborg, James Hartman,
|
|
Richard C. Miske, Aaron Humphrey, Rajesh Goel, fofp@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk,
|
|
nrp@csug3.cs.reading.ac.uk (Neilski), Tony Cummins, Terry Carroll, Brad Smith,
|
|
Jeffrey L. Popyack, Steve Ward-Smith, Jerry (jerry@nick.csh.rit.edu),
|
|
Daniele (dmp1@ukc.ac.uk), Lance R. Bailey, Heather Kendrick, Bec Hamadock,
|
|
Glenn Mcdonald, David Wilkinson, Joseph Brenner, Bonnie L. Johnston,
|
|
Arthur Delano, Laurent Somers, Angelos (kyrlidis@Athena.MIT.EDU),
|
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Brent C. Williams, Brad Smith, mayoff@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (rob), Len Jaffe,
|
|
Kevin L. Wright, Chuck Jordan, Anthony J.R. Heading, Michael McAfee,
|
|
Gladys (we@sfu.ca), Robert Bowdidge, Andreas Orphanides, Marc Ortlieb,
|
|
David Wilkinson, Gilead Limor, Chandrasekhar Puranapanda, David Datta,
|
|
Stephanie M. Clarkson-Aines, Russell Morrison, Stephen Swann,
|
|
Michael S Shappe, Gary Nelson, Howard J. Browning, Michael McAfee,
|
|
Christian Treber, Thomas W. Day, Kathleen (Jocelyn) Goldfein, Ronald Carrier,
|
|
Chris Siebenmann, lwhite@rigel.econ.uga.edu, Jonathan Gowland,
|
|
Kevin Grover, Suzan Humphrey, Tim Isakson, Kendal Stitzel, Jay Shorten,
|
|
Mike McComas, Crone, Keith Neufeld, Aaron Sherman, Eli McIlveen,
|
|
Elisabeth Anne Riba, Gareth Bellaby, Jens Wall, Anders Gabrielsson,
|
|
Walter Roberson, Rich Ulisky, Bill Leue, Peter Fenelon
|
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Copyright Rich Kulawiec 1993, 1994.
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