06 B2: Sci-Fi References in Music List
Description
This article is from the SF references in music List FAQ, by Rich Kulawiec rsk@gsp.org with numerous contributions by others.
06 B2: Sci-Fi References in Music List
The Beloved:
British conglomeration group, dreamy synth music. Released album "Conscience":
"Sweet Harmony", optimistically Utopian; "Outerspace Girl", love separated by
space (well done, albeit using tired sf metaphors); "Dream On", another of the
many songs about, well, dreams.
Benatar, Pat:
"My Clone Sleeps Alone".
The Bevis Frond:
Lots of SF and fantasy imagery, eg. "The Miskatonic Variations" from
"The Auntie Winnie Album".
Big Country:
Some songs have a magical theme, but the most outstanding is "The
Seer" from the album by the same name, about a woman who foretells the Roman
invasion of Scotland.
Bjork:
Former singer for the Sugarcubes. Her '95 album "Post" includes "The
Modern Things", which suggests that all of today's modern inventions have
simply been waiting for us, inside a mountain...
Black, Frank:
Frank Black is Black Francis from the Pixies. Two solo albums, "Frank
Black" and "Teenager of the Year" with lots of SF references. On the
first, "Parry the Wind High, Low" which is about a UFO/Trekkies
convention and alien implants; "Places Named After Numbers" references
black holes; "Old Black Dawning" talks about space colonization.. On the
second, "Whatever Happened to Pong?" is about the classic video game and talks
about delivering it to H.G. Wells; "Space is Gonna do me Good" is about
colonization; "Pie in the Sky" is about travelling to the sun.
"Two Spaces" and "Place Named After Numbers" are about spacewalking
and teleporting. Also, "Ole Mullholand" may contain Bradbury references,
and "Calistan" may be about a post-apocalyptic LA (talks about LA becoming
a tar pit again).
Black Sabbath:
Sort of. Tends to black magic et. al. See "Paranoid" for
"Iron Man" (mechanical golem?), "Plant Caravan" and "Electric Funeral"
(nuclear war?);"Black Sabbath" (1st LP) for demented ravings like
"Behind the Wall of Sleep" (Lovecraft). "Heaven and Hell" is all fantasy.
Some speculation that "Iron Man" refers to the comic book hero (paraplegic
w/special iron alloy suit and powers far beyond...) The song "Computer God",
from "Dehumanizer" concerns a sinister cyberpunk-like virtual reality.
"Tyr" (released 1990) features a lot of Norse mythology.
Blake, Tim:
Electronic New Age. Albums "Crystal Machine", "Blake's New Jerusalem",
both SF. Was in Hawkwind 1979-80, and Gong 1972-1975.
Blenner, Serge:
Lotsa instrumental stuff, e.g. "Musique Esthetique", "Equateur",
"Cosmos", "Liberation". (Maybe he should be listed with the other
instrumental artists, though for example the titles of the album
"Cosmos" include for example "Espace", "Dans l'universe", "Les
Centaures", "La voie celeste"... )
Blind Guardian:
A German heavy metal band with at least one album containing lots of SF&F
stuff: "Tales of the Twilight World", released 1990. Tracks include:
"Traveller in Time" (about Dune), "Lord of the Rings",
"Tommyknockers", "Altair 4", etc.
Blitzkrieg:
The song "Blitzkrieg" talks about aliens arriving and some sort of war.
Song was covered by Metallica.
Blondie:
SF themes in some songs: e.g. the "Man from Mars" in "Rapture";
also "Dragonfly" from "The Hunter", which is a half-spoken half-sung
description of a race between spaceships that uses a collage of
sf buzzwords. See also "The Attack of the Giant Ants".
Debbie Harry (lead singer) and Chris Stein (lead guitar) sing in the
animated SF/fantasy movie _Rock and Rule_ (along with Lou Reed and Iggy Pop).
Blue Oyster Cult:
Many tracks on many albums with SF themes; "Veteran of the Psychic
Wars" (which also was on the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack; the narrator
is Corum, of Moorcock's "Chronicles of Corum") from "Fire of
Unknown Origin", "E.T.I.", "The Subhuman", "Flaming Telepaths" and most
of the rest of the LP's "Tyranny and Mutation" and "Secret Treaties".
Later work includes "Godzilla" (from "Spectres" and "Some Enchanted
Evening"), which about our favorite Tokyo-bashing reptile; "Monsters"
(from "Cultosaurus Erectus"), which is about a small group of people
who escape a ravaged Earth but wind up battling each other over one of
the women; "Black Blade" (from "Cultosaurus Erectus" and "E.T. Live",
a song done with Michael Moorcock; the nararator is Elric, from
his Elric saga) "Nosferatu" (from "Spectres"), which is a
retelling of the Dracula story; "Vengeance (The Pact)" (from "Fire
of Unknown Origin), which retells the "Taarna" segment from the movie
"Heavy Metal"; and "Sole Survivor" (also from "Fire..."), tells the
story of the last man alive on earth, who runs away when aliens come to
rescue him. The LP "Imaginos" tells the story of a sorcerer attempting
to release the demonic other-worldly beings called "Les Invisibles".
"The Great Sun Jester" from "Mirrors" is based on the novel
"The Fireclown" by Michael Moorcock (also released as "The Winds
of Limbo"). "Joan Crawford" from "Fire..." might be SF depending
on how you feel about wire hangers. Incidentally, a couple of
Karl Edward Wagner's "Kane" series contain direct references to
the BOC song "Astronomy" (from "Secret Treaties"); in particular,
there's a chapter entitled "On the Origin of Storms". "Take Me Away"
(from "The Revolution by Night") is about a guy who wants to go visit aliens.
Continue to:
My Books
