40 P2: 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.
40 P2: Sci-Fi References in Music List
Pixies:
"Wave of Mutilation" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven" from "Doolittle",
"Allison" and "The Happening" from "Bossanova". "Trompe Le Monde" has,
in addition to the title track, "Palace of the Brine" and
"Olympus Mons" (the large extinct volcano on Mars). Much of the whole
album may be about an alien looking for the "Planet of Sound" (Earth)...
or not. For example, "Head On" is a cover of a Jesus and Mary Chain song.
In regards to "Trompe Le Monde": "Motorway To Roswell" is in fact inspired
by the Roswell "incident" - it's about a lost alien who "ended up in army
crates/and photographs in files".
Some comments from Scott Sutton on the Pixies:
On the album "Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim" (originally an EP and
album separately) is "Tony's Theme" about a boy who fantasizes
about being a superhero. The album "Doolittle" has "Monkey
Gone To Heaven" with lines such as "Creature in the sky got sucked
through a hole, now there's a hole in the sky" about an alien and the
Ozone hole? The B-side for "Here Comes Your Man" includes "Into the
White" with "Go and you'll go real far, just past the blue quasar."
The album "Bossanova" is mostly sf. "Allison" has "From this here bar
to this here star ... when the planet hit the sun I saw the face of
Allison." "All Over the World" is about an alien sky-surfing in a
planet's upper atmosphere and wipes out, includes the lyric "when one
side is hot, the other side of the moon is not" also used in a much
earlier Pixies song, which I can't recall. "The Happening" is about a
UFO landing in Las Vegas and mentions the suspected government UFO
facility Area 51. The sound uses the classic sf sound-maker, the
theremin. "Blown Away" is also sf-themed. The album "Trompe Le Monde"
again is chock full of sf. "Trompe le Monde" mentions a song played
"for outer space and those who paid." "Planet of Sound" is about an
alien searching for Earth, source of rock n' roll radio signals with
stops on Mars and the Moon. "The Sad Punk" is about evolution and
extinction. "Palace of the Brine" is about the cloning of Sea
Monkees. "Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons" is about the martian
volcano. "Space (I believe in) includes a ride on a magic carpet.
"subbacultcha" includes the line "what you call it when you look at the
sky in a poetic kind of way, you know, when you grope for luna."
"Lovely Day" is about sending money to a "martian honey" so she can buy
a ticket on a rocket to earth to be with her love. "Motorway to
Roswell" is about the famous 1946 ufo crash near Roswell, New Mexico
with the alien's fate "he ended up in army crates and photographs in
files." Finally, "The Navajo Know" is about the navajo knowing how to
skywalk "quite high above the ground, fearless of looking down."
Planet P:
Albums: "Planet P" and "Pink World". Now known as Planet P Project.
"Planet P" is the name that Tony Carey ("A Fine Day for a Reunion")
uses when writing SF-oriented music.
Platinum Blonde:
The album Alien Shores is only half sci-fi...the B side is
supposedly dedicated to the idea of UFO sightings. Unfortunately, the A
side is Better. Earlier, on their first album, they did two great songs,
-Standing in the Dark- and -It Doesn't Really Matter-, both of which had
mild SF themes, and incredible sci-fi/post-holocaust videos, which are
really what put the band on the map.
The Pogues:
On their album "If I Should Fall from Grace with God," there's a song called
"Turkish Song of the Damned," which is about a sailor who is haunted by
the ghost of a crewman who he had let drown. Another song from that album,
"Sit Down by the Fire," is a bedtime story about demons.
The Polecats:
"Juvenile Delinquents from a Planet Near Mars"
Police:
"Synchronicity II" (Loch Ness monster references, but not really an
SF tune) from "Synchronicity". Also "Synchronicity" (a different
song on the same LP) is about action-at-a-distance; it seems to be
part mystical, part quantum mechanics. (There's a short short SF story
called "Synchronicity", by Thomas M. Disch.)
The album cover has contains a definition of Synchronicity that goes
with the theme of the first song. Apparently it has to do with an idea
of Carl Jung's that we're all part of one conscience, etc.
Also see "Wrapped Around Your Finger", which some claim is about a spirit
trapped inside a sorcerer's ring; I tend to go with a more mundane
interpretation. "Demolition Man" (also done by Manfred Mann) from
"Ghost in the Machine"; borrowed for the soundtrack of the film.
One could also find SF in "Walking on the Moon", "Omega Man" (possibly
about the film) and "When the World is Running Down (last man of earth?),
but these song also have more down-to-earth interpretations. [I can't
help but think that somewhere Sting is reading this and chuckling
to himself over our attempts to find meanings that aren't there. ---Rsk]
Pop Will Eat Itself:
This band often samples the movie "Blade Runner"; the song "Wake Up!
Time to Die..." is built around that quote from the film. "Def Con One"
from the album "This is th Day...This is the Hour...This is This"
describes a nuclear attack. "X Y & Zee" from "Cure for Sanity"
is a description of a future world.
Porno for Pyros:
"pets" on "Porno for Pyros" is about Martians coming
to Earth and cleaning it up, making pets out of the human race.
("We'll make great pets.")
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