07 B3: 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.
07 B3: Sci-Fi References in Music List
Boiled in Lead:
Minneapolis-based folk-rock-world outfit. They record some
folk/fantasy-sounding numbers. Their latest album, Antler Dance,
includes some songs co-written by SF author Steven Brust (or is it Stephen?).
There's also a "soundtrack" that they've released which is for
the Steven Brust/Megan Lindholm novel "The Gypsy".
Boney M.:
"Night Flight to Venus" (title track of LP), and "Steppenwolf",
a werewolf story, on the same LP.
Bone, Richard:
Early 80's synth-pop musician, has an LP called "Brave Tales" which
contains songs like "Prelude to Mothra", "Alien Girl" and "Mutant Wisdom".
Bonzo Dog DooDah Band:
"Urban Spaceman" from "Tadpoles" and "There's a Monster Coming" from "Gorilla".
Boom Crash Opera:
Australian band whose song "The Best Thing" from "Look! Listen!"
describes an astronaut's experiences in flight.
Bored Games:
Song "Joe 90". Classic Kiwi underground pop.
This schoolboy band was one of the early proponents of the "Dunedin Sound"
associated with the Flying Nun label, and band members went on to play
in virtually every important Dunedin band, including the Chills,
the Verlaines, the Clean, Straightjacket Fits etc.
Boston:
The LP "Third Stage" has a track emulating a spaceship take-off.
(All three of their album covers tell the story of the Guitar Spaceship
and its quest for a new home.)
Bow Wow Wow:
Punk. "I want my baby on Mars", "Giant sized baby thing!".
Bowie, David:
"Space Oddity" (most emphatically NOT "Major Tom") discusses eerie
experiences in orbit. Also has a film, "The Man who Fell to Earth".
See also "Diamond Dogs" (mutated life on earth after the bomb)
and "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", about a rock band on
an earth with five years left; this LP also contains "Five Years"
and "Starman". From "Hunky Dory", see "Life on Mars", and from "Station
to Station", see "TVC15". See also "Ashes to Ashes", "Memory of a
Free Festival", and "1984". Also, "Cat People (Putting out the Fire)"
from "Let's Dance", the title song to the movie. His collaboration
with the Sales Brothers (Tin Machine), released an album with some
SF-oriented tracks, such as "Tin Machine", "Video Crime", and "I Can't Read".
--- Some commentary on Bowie...
Bowie, David:
A lot of his albums contain at least a few sf songs. The major ones are:
"Space Oddity", the title track (often mistakenly referred to as "Major Tom")
was apparently played on the BBC broadcast of Neil Armstrong's moon walk;
"The Man Who Sold the World"; "Hunky Dory" which contains 'Life on Mars';
"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", the first
side has sf songs, the second is about a rock band whose lead singer self-
destructs (presumably the band which sang the first side); "AladdinSane";
"Diamond Dogs", a sort of Orwellian '1984' album which contains the song
'1984' and other songs about big brother; "Heroes", "Scary Monsters (and
super creeps)" which contains the title track and 'Ashes to Ashes', a
followup to 'Space Oddity'. Also, 'Cat People (Putting out the Fire)'
(tenuosly sf) from "Let's Dance", the title song to the movie of the same
name. "Tonight" contains a song, 'Loving the Alien" and his latest
album, "Never Let Me Down", has another. (But "Loving the Alien" is
apparently addressed to the Christians and Moslems meeting each other
at the time of the Crusades, and is a plea for understanding.)
"Station to Station" was originally written, but not used, as the soundtrack to one
of his films, "The Man who Fell to Earth", a classic about an alien stranded on earth.
Bowie has done a couple of other sf films, "The Hunger", about vampires, and
"Labyrinth", where he plays the goblin king who has kidnapped a young girl's baby
brother after she brattishly announces, "I wish the goblins would take him away!"
-- Scott Butler
---
Note that "Diamond Dogs" started as a "1984" project, but the Orwell Estate
denied permission, so the project mutated into "...Dogs".
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