38 O2: 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.
38 O2: Sci-Fi References in Music List
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": in particular, the police car siren
and the robot dog ("Woof woof woof. Hello, my name is Rags!"). They
also took their name from the, uh, device used in that film. Other
samples include the introductory dialogue from the "Flash Gordon" movie.
Orbital:
Their first and second albums (both untitled, but known as 'the
green orbital album' and 'the brown orbital album') sample from the Star
Trek TNG episode "Time Squared". They sample Worf saying: "There is the
theory of the Moebius - a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes
a loop and from which there is no escape." This is used on 'The Moebius'
on the first album and 'Time Becomes' on the second. The track on the
first album also samples a follow-on from Geordi: "When we reach
that point, whaever happened _will_ happened again"
Another SF reference on the first album is a sample from the second
Planet of the Apes film (Beneath...?). It's spoken by a weirdo human
mutant who worships a nuclear bomb... "Let everyone go to his private
shelter... may the blessing of the bomb almighty and the <?> of the holy
fallout descend on us all, this day, and forever more". This track _may_
be called "Desert Storm". There's a track on the brown (2nd) album called
"Planet of the Shapes" (sic) too. And a track on their third album,
which _does_ have a title -- "Snivilisation" -- called "Science Friction" (sic).
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, and "Apollo XI" from
their LP "Sugar Tax", which is an instrumental with quotes from
the Apollo XI mission (ground control, astronauts, etc.).
Orion:
"Star Trek", a techno mix.
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