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From: barnett@ut-sally.UUCP (Lewis Barnett)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Science Fiction in Music
Message-ID: <2317@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 22:34:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2317
Posted: Wed Jul 10 22:34:05 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 16:03:12 EDT
References: <2655@topaz.ARPA>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 36

> From: Alan Greig 
> 
> 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,
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