Oct 042010
 


One could make a strong case that Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange has had a significant impact on the literature scene (vocabulary, style, etc.). And I think many of us would agree that Stanley Kubrik‘s movie also has lasting cultural significance. But what about that novel’s impact on music? As recently mentioned in a recent RTH post, Heaven 17 is the name of a band referenced in the novel and in the movie. Other bands have also acquired their “eemyas” from characters or vocabulary in the book (see “Devotchka,” “Moloko”). The Echo and the Bunnymen label out of Liverpool was named Korova, in reference to the club, Milkbar. And The Libertines have a song called, “Horrorshow.” Blur also referenced the look of the movie in their video, “The Universal.”

Can you think of other A Clockwork Orange references in music? Are there other novels that have had an effect on Rock (eg, J. G. Ballard’s “Crash.”)?

*chepooka = nonsense in the Nadsat argot.

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  37 Responses to “A Bit of the Old Chepooka*”

  1. bostonhistorian

    “that book by Nabokov”. I’ll have to think some more about this after I have coffee.

  2. Mr. Moderator

    There was a garage-rock band called The Droogs, if memory serves.

  3. misterioso

    I got nothing here. But I wonder if I am the only one here, of a certain age (north of 40), who was tremendously impressed by this film when I first saw it (probably when I was in high school or college) but can hardly bear the thought of watching it now, with its unrelenting ugliness, (ultra)violence, and nastiness. I am not suggesting, really, that the movie celebrates these qualities. Nonetheless, it is hard to imagine I would want to endure watching it again. Charges of being “old and soft” will likely not be refuted.

  4. mockcarr

    Blue Meanie’s daughter had to read Camus’ The Stranger for a high school annotating project this past summer, and her mother referred her to the Cure song Killing An Arab for references.

  5. mockcarr

    Dover Beach by the Bangles has that line “we can come and go, and talk of Michelangelo” which is from T.S. Eliot. But I would bet stealing bits of poetry like that is rampant.

  6. I would imagine that the British groups referencing A Clockwork Orange were after some underground cool points since the film was banned in Britain until sometime fairly recently.

    Mysterioso, this might be a more wholesome literary-inspired band:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lej8pIO8zVs&feature=related

  7. The first line of XTC’s “This is Pop”: “In a milkbar…”

    I understand how you feel misterioso. I’m glad I saw Clockwork Orange, and I recognize as a good film, but I never want to watch it again for the rest of my life.

  8. 2000 Man

    I liked that movie, and I’ve watched it several times and I’ll probably keep watching it whenever I get the chance. I’m plenty old and soft, but nothing it that movie is gratuitous (not that I have any problems with gratuitous sex and violence in movies), and it’s just a great movie.

    The Stones originally owned the rights to that for film. When The Beatles had film success, that’s kind of what was expected, I suppose. I think the idea of The Stones as futuristic thugs in a movie is way cooler than it actually would have turned out.

  9. ladymisskirroyale

    The movie was also one of my favorites the first time I saw it in my Intro to Psych class. I’d then seen it in film classes and read the book/wrote a paper on it in “20th Century British Lit.” But that was many years ago, and I haven’t watched or seen it in ages, partly because I’m not sure, like misterioso, whether I could bear it. But I can tell you that a droog is a great Halloween costume.

    And good call, mockcarr, on the Bangles reference to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

  10. Mr. Moderator

    misterioso, if I saw that movie for the first time today I might feel that way (eg, the way I felt about Reservoir Dogs when that came out – I left the theater during the – SPOILER ALERT – ear-cutting scene to the tune of “Stuck in the Middle With You”), but I still love Kurbrick’s ice-cold, mostly misanthropic view of the world, which is only kept on the positive side of the ledger by his celebration of rebelliousness and whatnot. (I may be one of a few people who not only liked Eyes Wide Shut but found the closing scene to be a touching reaffirmation of marriage.) A Clockwork Orange is still satisfying, when seen every few years. I’m gearing up to turn my 13-year-old son onto it. I’m sure he’d love it, but I should probably wait a little bit. I’ve already had the joy of turning him onto The Shining.

    So here’s another possible rock tie-in to the film and possibly the book, which I must admit I’ve never finished reading! Did Pete Townshend’s white boiler suit and boots come before this style in the movie/book? Didn’t the skinheads also favor this Look? Is that related in one direction or the other?

  11. ladymisskirroyale

    Good question, Mod. Mr. Royale and I will do a bit of research on the art direction.

  12. BigSteve

    “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush

  13. BigSteve

    “Venus in Furs” by the Velvet Underground (the band’s name also come from a book, but it’s not a novel).

  14. BigSteve

    The British prog group The Soft Machine took its name from the W.S. Burroughs novel of the same name.

    And I would say that Kerouac’s On the Road had an effect of rock culture irrespective of naming any song or album.

  15. bostonhistorian

    Madness’ ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ references Peter Ackroyd’s ‘Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem’, and certain imagery in the song is inspired by the work of Ackroyd and other London-centric authors.

  16. BigSteve

    E.L. Masters’ Spoon River Anthology is not a novel, but it was adapted as a an album by Richard Buckner, and it was surprisingly successful.

  17. ladymisskirroyale

    When we had the poll the other day, it also made me think of which bands have lyrics that mimic the style of literature writers. For example I would say that Underworld’s lyrics are very James Joycean. And Soul Coughing seems very Ginsbergian.

  18. I had mentioned a BBC show called “Synth Britannia,” and in that program, they cite the soundtrack to “A Clockwork Orange” as being highly influential upon all those bands – New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, etc.

  19. ladymisskirroyale

    Thanks again, Cher. I’m going to watch it!

  20. Don’t forget the liner notes to the Rolling Stones Now! were written in Nadsat.

  21. mikeydread

    Nick Hornby has just released an album of songs written with Ben Folds. Hornby, a novelist who has had a long time interest in music, finally gets a record of his own.

  22. bostonhistorian

    Nick Hornby, Nick Hornby. What’s the equivalent of a Lennon pass for authors?

  23. Mr. Moderator

    Hah!

  24. ladymisskirroyale

    Today’s NY Times Crossword reminded me of this literary reference from “To Kill a Mockingbird” – the band “The Boo Radleys.”

    I think Nick’s books make better movies than reading sources. I’m still a fan of “High Fidelity,” but that may also because I love/lust for John Cusack. Mod, any chance of an interview there? He must like music since many of his films have musical themes.

  25. Mr. Moderator

    I would LOVE to get an interview with Cusask. Let me see what I can do. He had Joe Strummer do the soundtrack for that Grosse Point Blank movie, and he was one celeb in the Strummer movie that Julan Temple did who seemed to sincerely love his music. I’d also have to ask him how it felt to have to hold a boombox playing that lousy Peter Gabriel song while wearing a Clash t-shirt in that early movie.

  26. Burroughs had a massive influence on Rock: two immediately come to mind

    Steely Dan: named after a sexual toy in Naked Lunch
    Joy Division: Interzone

    And lots of artists use something like his “cut up” technique for recording.

  27. ladymisskirroyale

    And how about “1984” by Bowie?

  28. I’d say the phone book, but I’ve never actually heard anyone sing it.

  29. BigSteve

    Burroughs novels that also became band names:

    The Soft Machine
    The Ticket That Exploded
    Naked Lunch

  30. ladymisskirroyale

    Thanks to Cher for the recommendation of “Synth Britannia.” I’ve watched the first 5 segments, and they flesh a lot of this stuff out to a greater degree. There are many connections to Ballad’s “Crash,” such as with “Warm Leatherette” (the Normal) and “Cars” (G. Newman). “SB” has especially been enjoyable to watch because, unlike some other documentaries, the bands/artist are respectful of each other (at least on screen). And there is some additional and helpful commentary by Simon Reynolds (and you know how much I like him!).

  31. plasticsun

    Scottish post-punk band the Scars had a song called “Horrorshow” which as I recall squeezed the entire plot of the movie/book into 3 minutes or so. I had (still have somewhere) it on a collection by Fast Records which included the Gang of Four and the Mekons. After a quick search I seem to have found it on You Tube
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jfqrWhjVf0

  32. ladymisskirroyale

    Just realized that the Mystery Date number that Mod posted, “4jg” is actually “For J. G”…as in Ballard. Thanks, “Synth Brittania.”

  33. ladymisskirroyale

    Ha, plasticsun! I went to listen to Scars, and realized that that track was later sampled in Lemon Jelly’s “The Shouty Track.” The video to that song is one of my favorites:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mTcgwKo4rQ

  34. Mr. Moderator

    How about that Mystery Date number being related to this thread? I kept looking at the title and thinking it foretold the file that would be known as the .jpg.

  35. bostonhistorian

    Don’t get me wrong–I think High Fidelity is a fantastic book. I’d even like to see a version of it filmed in England. But Hornby’s later work has left me underwhelmed.

  36. for some reason, Love & Rockets look a bit droogy on the cover of their 3rd(best) album, Earth Sun Moon. The visual referance is quite literal and unmistakable, but there are no other references to A Clockwork Orange on this album or any of their others, neither musical or lyrical.

  37. alexmagic

    An obvious Clockwork Orange reference that I don’t see mentioned here otherwise is “droogie don’t crash here…” in Bowie’s Suffragette City.

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