Presumably one of these two is named Mylo and the other Xyloto, though it’s not made clear in the lyrics. The narrative of Mylo Xyloto concerns a boy and girl who live in an conformist, grey, subterranean future world. Sticking it to "the Man" translates naturally across into fables of SF rebellions against future dystopias-Orwell's Big Brother is "the Man" par excellence. Rock, of course, is about youth rebellion, howsoever effectively that fact has been commodified and denatured over the last fifty years.
The London Daily Mirror reviewed the show memorably: "Ben Elton should be shot for this risible story." But in another sense, Elton was simply channelling one of the main modes of music-SF crossover.
This is the tradition Ben Elton plundered to write the West End musical (built about the Queen back-catalogue) We Will Rock You (2002)-a future dystopia from which the youth are redeemed by the power of music. From Rush's 2112 (1976)-a young man learns to play the electric guitar, thus breaking the power of the evil, collectivist twenty-second-century solar system-to Muse's The Resistance (2009), bands return to this narrative template. It won't be nominated for a Hugo but it is part of a vigorous tradition, not just pop music with a science fiction sensibility. Take a browse through the "music" section of the Science Fiction Encylopedia if you don’t believe me.Ĭoldplay's new release is the latest in a long line: like Kantner's, a concept album set in a futuristic and oppressive dystopia, in which young tearaways utilise the respective powers of love and music to liberate themselves. It didn't win and indeed it's hard to say why more pop and rock albums haven't followed Kantner's onto award shortlists, because contemporary pop has manifested an enduring fascination with SF.
Blows retains the distinction of being the only full-length musical release to have been nominated for a Hugo award. In 1970 "Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship" released Blows Against the Empire, a concept album about a group of countercultural hippies who rebel against the dystopian oppression of "Uncle Samuel," steal a government starship, and escape the solar system.
0 kommentar(er)
