Two songs about trying to survive after the apocalypse:
40. David Bowie, “Sunday” (2002):
41. Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime” (1979):
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SciFi SongFest, Songs 38-39
These are the mystical voyages ….
38. David Bowie, “Did You Ever Have a Dream?” (1967):
39. Jon Anderson, “Flight of the Moorglade” (1976):
SciFi SongFest, Songs 36-37
36. David Bowie, “Within You” (1986)
This song is from Bowie’s role as the Goblin King in the movie Labyrinth. “But that’s fantasy, not science fiction! And the fantasy aspect isn’t even part of the lyrics, it’s just part of the context!” Yeah, well, I said at the start that I was going to be interpreting “science fiction” generously.
37. Sting, “Moon Over Bourbon Street” (1985):
Makes sense to follow up a song about a seductive, morally ambiguous goblin with a song about a seductive, morally ambiguous vampire. And technically this one does count as science fiction, since it’s based on Anne Rice’s vampire novels, and in those novels she eventually (long after the song’s release, of course) gave vampirism a science-fiction-y origin.
Another version:
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 7: The Magic Flute
From a man swallowed by a giant fish to a man nearly swallowed by a giant snake – Mozart’s Magic Flute (1995), part of the Middelboeverse “Operavox” series. The animation is batshit crazy – but no crazier, really, than the loony plot of the opera it’s adapting (complete with sexist and racist bullshit, Masonic rituals, and characters dressed as birds for no obvious reason).
The stylised, elongated figures seem to be influenced by such art nouveau and art deco artists as Erté and Aubrey Beardsley, with perhaps some influence from the likes of Ferenc Helbing, Gustav Klimt, and Jean Giraud as well – and maybe even a touch of the art from “The Yellow Submarine” and Monty Python?
The dancing hippos and crocodiles are of course a nod to Disney’s Fantasia:
SciFi SongFest, Songs 34-35
34. David Bowie, “Life on Mars” (1971):
It could be argued that this song isn’t really about life on Mars in any obvious sense. But who would be so monstrous?
35. Def Leppard, “Rocket” (1987):
The list of references includes Ziggy, Major Tom, and Rocket Man:
SciFi SongFest, Songs 32-33
What these two songs have in common is … well, I’ll give you a hint:
David Bowie, “Fashion” (1980):
Leslie Fish, “Surprise” (1983):