Alan%DCT.AC.UK%DUNDEE.AC.UK@ucl-cs.ARPA (07/10/85)
From: Alan Greig <CCD-ARG%dct@ucl-cs.arpa>
I've been following SF-LOVERS for about 9 months now and I've seen
many forms of SF discussed with the exception of one which I find
surprising. Nobody ever seems to talk about music, either its SF
content or the influences it may have had on some piece of SF writing.
I could give a few examples of both. How about for example :
Genesis: Watcher of the Skies
Hawkwind: Sonic Attack (even written by Michael Moorcock)
David Bowie: Major Tom
Pink Floyd: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
(Did this influence Douglas Adams when he wrote of
Disaster Area? "Ford, did you know that robot can hum
like Pink Floyd ?")
Rush: 2112
Plus lots of other tracks by these or other groups.
What does everyone else think ? There seems no reason to
me why words and music are less valid as Sci-Fi than words
and paper or words and acting.
Alan Greig
Computer Centre
Dundee College of Technology
Dundee
Scotland
Janet: Alan%DCT@DDXA
Arpa: Alan%DCT@UCL-CS.ARPA
-------barnett@ut-sally.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) (07/11/85)
> From: Alan Greig <CCD-ARG%dct@ucl-cs.arpa> > > I've been following SF-LOVERS for about 9 months now and I've seen > many forms of SF discussed with the exception of one which I find > surprising. Nobody ever seems to talk about music, either its SF > content or the influences it may have had on some piece of SF writing. > I could give a few examples of both. How about for example : > > Pink Floyd: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun > (Did this influence Douglas Adams when he wrote of > Disaster Area? "Ford, did you know that robot can hum > like Pink Floyd ?") I think we can conclude that the Floyd was in the back of Adams's mind when he wrote the passage about the Special Effects used in Hotblack Desiato's shows. I would have offered the same quote from the radio show in evidence, had it not already been done... I was always fascinated and delighted by a song by Queen, whose title I can no longer remember -- either "Volunteers" or "Forty Nine." The music was reminiscent of traditional sea songs or chanteys, and the lyrics told the story of the crew of an FTL starship ... though if you didn't pay attention, it seemed to be just what it sounded like -- a song about the sea. I can't quote from the lyrics, because it's been years since I heard the song, but the crucial verse recounted how, though the protagonist has aged only slightly, the earth had grown "old and gray." It always tickled me when I recognized allusions to books I was fond of (or just genres I enjoyed) in music. Like Led Zep's use of Mordor and Gollum in "Ramble On," and the Ringwraiths in "The Battle of Evermore." Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 -- barnett@ut-sally.ARPA, barnett@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!barnett
snoopy@ecrcvax.UUCP (Sebastian Schmitz) (07/11/85)
Summary: Expires: References: <topaz.2655> Sender: Reply-To: snoopy@ecrcvax.UUCP (Sebastian Schmitz) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: European Computer-Industry Research Centre, Munchen, W. Germany Keywords: How about: Virtually all the tracks on ELO's album "Time" Alan Parsons Project: I, Robot (from Album of the same name) Queen : '39 (from the Album "A Night at the Opera") Queen: Machines World (From the Album "The Works") Eurythmics: 1984 Soundtrack Queen: Flash Gordon Soundtrack Kraftwerk: Computerworld Tangerine Dream: Alpha Centauri Just to name a few. I'm sure that if I look through my records more carefully then I'll find more. Incidentally the Tangerine Dream Album mentioned is instrumental, but listen to the track called "Sunrise in the Third System" and you'll know what I mean. -- Love, Sebastian (Snoopy) "You haven't done it, till you've done it with pointers" \!mcvax\!unido\!ecrcvax\!snoopy /* N.B. valid csh address */
freeman@spar.UUCP (Jay Freeman) (07/12/85)
[ The line-eater is an intergalactic plot!! ] In article <2655@topaz.ARPA> Alan%DCT.AC.UK%DUNDEE.AC.UK@ucl-cs.ARPA writes: >I've been following SF-LOVERS for about 9 months now and I've seen >many forms of SF discussed with the exception of one which I find >surprising. Nobody ever seems to talk about music, either its SF >content or the influences it may have had on some piece of SF writing. Hear, hear!! >I could give a few examples of both. How about [...] And let us not forget the Moody Blues: "To Our Children's Children's Children" is a fine album, and it seems to me to have been the result of a deliberate attempt to write score and libretto for Olaf Stapledon's deep (and slightly ponderous) novel, _The_Star_Maker_. (Has anyone heard for sure?) The opening cut from the album is also an outstanding attempt to capture on media the auditory sensations of a major launch vehicle ascent (Saturn V or Proton). >What does everyone else think ? There seems no reason to >me why words and music are less valid as Sci-Fi than words >and paper or words and acting. I concur. And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. -- Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer)
allen@osu-eddie.UUCP (John Allen) (07/13/85)
> And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging > conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF > in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda > Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. > -- > Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer) One book that immediately comes to mind is _The_Songmaster_ by Orson Scott Card. If I remember correctly, _To_Name_a_Shadow_ by Ann Maxwell is also a good example of this. It's been awhile since I read this. John Allen Ohio State University (UUCP: cbosgd!osu-eddie!allen) (CSNet: allen@ohio-state)
grady@ucbvax.ARPA (Steven Grady) (07/15/85)
>> And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging >> conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF >> in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda >> Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. Ack. There was some Asimov short story in which a composer is brought in to help a psychologist who has found that music can cure depression.. Can't remember the name. Steven (.signature!?! We don't need no steenkin' .signature!)
bjanz@watarts.UUCP (Bruce Janz) (07/15/85)
>> And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging >> conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF >> in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda >> Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. >> -- >> Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer) > > One book that immediately comes to mind is _The_Songmaster_ by Orson >Scott Card. If I remember correctly, _To_Name_a_Shadow_ by Ann Maxwell is >also a good example of this. It's been awhile since I read this. Terry Brooks' third novel _Wishsong_of_Shannara_ would also count. -- Hard luck and bad news. . . watmath!watarts!bjanz OR watmath!watdcs!bbjanz
valerie@sdcc3.UUCP (Valerie Polichar) (07/15/85)
[] Many of Anne McCaffrey's works (such as _Crystal_Singer_) have music and music-making (esp. singing) as a dominant theme. This is at least partially because Ms. McC was herself a student of voice for about ten years before she became a professional writer. -- -=< Valerie Polichar >=- ...sdcsvax!sdcc3!valerie "And the Crimson Dynamo just couldn't cut it no more; you were the Law - "
lionel%orphan.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (07/15/85)
From: lionel%orphan.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Steve Lionel)
Alan Grieg restarted a discussion on Science Fiction in Music a few
issues ago. Those of us who have been reading SFL for several years may
recall this coming up before, but I'm sure there's a large turnover in the
readership, so why not discuss it again.
Anyway, Alan started a list of example songs, and included "David Bowie:
Major Tom". Frequent and natural mistake - the Bowie tune that nearly
everyone calls "Major Tom" is actually titled "Space Oddity".
Still, I'd like to dredge up a point from the earlier discussion - please
try to distinguish those songs which truly have a science fiction theme (of
which "Space Oddity" is certainly an example) from those with "spacey"
sounding titles.
Steve Lionel
P.S. Could we save a few megabytes of disk space by cutting down on the
>>>>>>>>>> quotes in this digest? Don't be lazy - learn how to paraphrase!
It really gets ridiculous to see FOUR levels of > in a message!clive@druri.UUCP (StewardCN) (07/16/85)
[] Ursula Le Guin has "An die Musik" in her short story collection, The Wind's Twelve Quarters. It's presumably not sf. Orson Scott Card did write the novel Songmaster (?title). I also really liked his short story (title forgotten) about Sugar, the prodigy who society tried to isolate so that his music wouldn't be corrupted by hearing another's, and later.... Spider Robinson did one about a rock singer wired for empathy. Samuel R. Delaney I believe used music in one of his short novels; the creature who would appear as a green archetypic figure, who told his story in folk-song fragments (poorly recalled). Also find something of musical sense in the premise and characters of Babel-17, nominally more about poetics/linguistics. And I don't think I have much time for sf or short stories. Must read more of both than I think.
thoth@tellab3.UUCP (Marcus Hall) (07/16/85)
The song by Queen is called '39. It is on the album "A Night at the Opera". At least most of the words go like this: In the year of '39, assembled here the volunteers In the days when the lands were few. There the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn, Sweetest sight ever seen. And the night followed day, and the storytellers say of the score brave souls inside, Through many lonely day sailed across the milky sea, N're looked back, never feared, never cried Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, Don't you hear me calling you. Write your letters in the sand for the day I take your hand In the land that our grandchildren knew. In the year of '39 came a ship in from the blue. The volunteers came home that day. And they bring good news of a world so newly born, though their hearts so heavily weigh. For the earth is old and grey, little darling went away, but my love this cannot be. Oh so many years have gone though I'm older but a year, your mother's eyes, from your eyes, cry to me. Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, Don't you hear me calling you. Write your letters in the sand for the day I take your hand In the land that our grandchildren knew. Don't you hear my call, though you're many years away, Don't you hear me calling you. All your letters in the sand cannot heal me like your hand, For my life, still ahead, pity me. It's a favorite of many people I know. I didn't expect something like this from Queen, but supposedly Brian May, I believe, who wrote the song dabbles into astronomy. marcus hall ..!ihnp4!tellab1!tellab2!thoth <-Note: not the return address of this article!
chai@utflis.UUCP (Henry Chai) (07/16/85)
In article <391@spar.UUCP> freeman@max.UUCP (Jay Freeman) writes: > .... can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF >in which music played a dominant theme? ... Let's not forget the "Harper Hall of Pern" trilogy by McCaffrey. I know it's aimed at 'younger readers', but I actually enjoyed it more then the "Dragonriders" triology. In "Crystal Singer", also by McCaffery, music plays a supporting role in that it is the tool/medium thru which 'crsytal cutting' is done. (in case anyone is not informed: McCaffery studied, directed and sang in voice/operattas before starting her career in SF/F writting) Also Ursula LeQuin's short story "Gwilan's Harp" (in her book "The Compass Rose") has music as an imporatant theme. It's not anything fancy or flashy (LeQuin's works never were) but I liked it a lot. -- Henry Chai Faculty of Library and Information Science, U of Toronto {watmath,ihnp4,allegra}!utzoo!utflis!chai
franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) (07/16/85)
>> And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging >> conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF >> in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda >> Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. Well, there was a story by Arthur C Clarke, called _The_Ultimate_Melody_ (I think). It appeared in his collection _Tales_From_the_White_Hart_. BTW, did those stories by Clarke create the "tall tales in a bar" subgenre, or did someone else do it even earlier?
robertsl@stolaf.UUCP (Laurence C. Roberts) (07/16/85)
> > Spider Robinson did one about a rock singer wired for empathy. > If you're talking about _Stone_ with Jain Snow, and the narrator the controller of the empathy circuits, I believe that was Edward Bryant... possibly in Orbit or else a Nebula anthology or a Gardner Dozois one or... in any case, a real good story. Other sf-music things are _In_Pierson's_Orchestra_ and one about a band composed of space miners in Orbit or some such, by Stanley Robinson. Also Sucharikul's Light_on_the_Sound series has a lot to do with music, as he's a composer, and working on an opera with Gene Wolfe last I heard. For really GREAT music sf, how about Anne McCaffery's _Crystal_Singer_ or even the Dragonsinger books? What about Piers Anthony's _Chaining_The_Lady_, with a whole race of aliens adapted for creating music? I really liked this stuff, before I got so highbrow. -- From the center of *~ a Paisley Pentagram... ** ** Laurence Roberts *~* ...ihnp4!stolaf!robertsl **** **~** **** **~*** *** ~ **** **~ **** **** ~@@@~**** ** ~ ~******* ~@@%&@@ ` ** *** ~ @@ ~@@@(-:@@` ~*** ***** @@@@@&@@@ **** **** ~ `~ **** ********
see1@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Cavewoman) (07/17/85)
> From: clive@druri.UUCP (StewardCN) > > Ursula Le Guin has "An die Musik" in her short story collection, The > Wind's Twelve Quarters. It's presumably not sf. It's not. It's also in _Orsinian Tales_, not _WTQ_, if memory serves. -- Ellen Keyne Seebacher ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!see1 It is later than you think. x9.xes%UChicago.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.arpa
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (07/17/85)
I haven't seen anyone mention this one yet. What about the Mule and his
multi-sense instrument in the Foundation series? That would seem to
qualify as music in SF.
Spider Robinson's _Stardancer_ (?) also comes to mind.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI Common Sense is what tells you that a ten
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. pound weight falls ten times as fast as a
Santa Monica, CA 90405 one pound weight.
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
{philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombeiwm@icdoc.UUCP (Ian Moor) (07/17/85)
One LP with at least one good SF track has to be Hawkwind's
Quark,Strangeness and Charm - the vocalist has had his girl frozen
while he is away in space:
"Your android replica is playing up again, when she comes she moans
another's name".
Funny but none of the tracks sound like other Hawkwind stuff I've heard
--
Ian W Moor
The squire on the hippopotamus is equal
Department of Computing to the sons of the other two squires.
Imperial College.
180 Queensgate
London SW7 Uk.
mjv@ihu1e.UUCP (Vlach) (07/17/85)
> > Kraftwerk: Computerworld re: Kraftwerk albums Everything I've ever seen by them was tech-related. "Radioactivity" is really good (for its time (~1975), it was amazing). "Man Machine" is in a similar vein to "Computerworld", and I would recommend all SF types to get ahold of these two albums. Basically they have good songs and also make lots of great noises that make one imagine robots and etc.
hsd@uvacs.UUCP (Harry S. Delugach) (07/18/85)
>>I've been following SF-LOVERS for about 9 months now and I've seen >>many forms of SF discussed with the exception of one which I find >>surprising. Nobody ever seems to talk about music, either its SF >>content or the influences it may have had on some piece of SF writing. > >I concur. And as an attempt to come up with a gap-bridging >conversation-starter, can anyone think of interesting examples of written SF >in which music played a dominant theme? One such might be Melinda >Snodgrass's Star Trek novel, _The_Tears_of_the_Singers_. Perhaps these are more in the realm of fantasy (as opposed to science fiction), but Anne McCaffrey's Dragon series generally employ music and musicians, and a couple of them have been centered around music. Sometimes music which is unheard by the reader can create interesting moods, since the reader's imagination supplies its own sounds to the music's (written) description. -- Harry S. Delugach University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science UUCP: decvax!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!hsd CSNET: hsd@virginia
pete@stc.UUCP (Peter Kendell) (07/19/85)
Summary:
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What about John Varley's Symbs in the 8 worlds series? My
books are at home (natch) but I remember one pair, Barnum and
Bailey whose speciality was composing. All the symbs had
great artistic talent of some kind. B + B's masterwork
was catalysed by sex, if I remember right. They used an
emotion-linked synthesiser.
I *LIKE* John Varley stories, even the not_quite_so_good
ones.
And for an obscure (SF && music) title - 'I love you, Miss Robot'
by the Buggles (1980ish).
--
Peter Kendell <pete@stc.UUCP>
...mcvax!ukc!stc!pete
'The same dudes you abuse on your way up
You might meet up
on your way down'sheppard@convexs.UUCP (07/26/85)
Michael Moorcock, author of the "Jewel in the Skull" and "Elric" sf series (among others), wrote the lyrics for at least two songs on Blue Oyster Cult's "Extraterristrial Live" album. One of them is named "Black Blade", and is based on Elric's black runesword Stormbringer. I don't happen to remember the other song at the moment. Andy Sheppard Convex Computer Corporation
ir278@sdcc6.UUCP (Paul Anderson) (08/03/85)
In article <124@ecrcvax.UUCP> snoopy@ecrcvax.UUCP (Sebastian Schmitz) writes: > >How about: > >Virtually all the tracks on ELO's album "Time" > No kidding. The whole album itself is a science fiction story about a man from 1981 who is taken into the 21st century, and all the aspects of life there. Jeff Lynne's talent for presenting moods, ideas, and images with music alone is brought into full light on this LP. Stop the article here if you don't want to read a summary of the songs. From start to end: PROLOGUE - brief sound effects of swishing, roaring, etc to a background of cathedral-like music, sounding much like waking up in a new dimension or something, while an electronic voice tells of a "message from another time". TWILIGHT - song from someone who, after disorientation (twilight, see 'Prologue') finds himself in the future. The verses suggest he was brought there ("With your head held high/ And your scarlet lies/You came down to me/From the open skies","You brought me here but can you take me back again?") YOURS TRULY, 2095 - letter from someone far away from his love, telling of a computer he fell in love with because it was modeled after her, and its cold reactions. TICKET TO THE MOON - our hero ain't lucky in love and tries escaping to a new life elsewhere; this song is his confused, regretful farewell. THE WAY LIFE'S MEANT TO BE - our hero's amusement and grieving over how the world he knew in 1981 had turned out a century later (culture shock?) after getting to know the place. ANOTHER HEART BREAKS - this is a mytic, rhythmic instrumental. I'm not sure whats it about since I rarely listen to it. RAIN IS FALLING - Basically about wet weather, although some mention again of our hero missing his lost love, and the 21st century people offering him a way back. FROM THE END OF THE WORLD - I dont listen to this one much either, but seems to be about how hard it is for our hero to reach his distant love, and its starting to get to him. THE LIGHTS GO DOWN - Not a sci-fi song, more about how he's got to get back to his love in 1981. The music isn't spacey, so I suspect this is supposed to be a song he wrote while longing for her. My personal favorite. HERE IS THE NEWS - a humor song on the turbulent world of 2095. A few bad puns. 21st CENTURY MAN - song about how a man from 1981, for all his clever adaptions, simply isn't cut out for life in the 21st century and has to return (and oh what he has to tell eveyone when he gets back) HOLD ON TIGHT (the Coffee song) - this was more designed for commercial release (it was their main release from the album and became the theme song for the Coffee Achievers commercials), but carries the theme that, in the future world, or even out of it, really anything is possible if you keep faith. EPILOGUE - first a brief romanticized rendition of "21st century man" (as if a farewell reception), into which fade choruses of the word "Time", into which fade the same mystic sound effects of the Prologue (slipping between dimensions), into which a pattering note sequence repeats louder and louder and louder and louder and silence all at once, snapping the listener back into reality. I really didn't do the album justice with the above descriptions, they're pretty weak, but the music really does follow a thematic story that carries the listener off the world temporarily, then at the very end snaps him back into it. I recommend it for Sci-fi music fans. A must-buy for ELO fans. I would review Mission: a New World from _A_New_World_Record_, but Steve Stuart already did it better than I ever could. Paul Anderson sdcc6!ir278 "Okay, take it after four........four!"
chai@utflis.UUCP (Henry Chai) (08/06/85)
I saw a video of the song "Best of Both Worlds" by the Australian group
Midnight Oil. I'm not sure what the song is about (something to do
with politics?) but there are some spacey images in the video.
In the first part of the song the singer stands in front of a matte
screen on which is projected views of stars in space. There are
spaceship-like things passing by and some of them blow up or
catch fire. I think I saw an Eagle from Space:1999 among them.
In one scene the band was standing on the moon and trying to barbeque,
but the sausages wouldn't stay on the grill (they were wearing street clothes).
--
Henry Chai
Faculty of Library and Information Science, U of Toronto
{watmath,ihnp4,allegra}!utzoo!utflis!chai