songs about some sort of utopian/dystopian world, or utopian concept

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I'm trying to put together some songs to use in conjunction with a utopian literature unit I am doing with my students....Grandaddy springs to mind, but I'm trying to find something that maybe takes it a little further...any ideas?

Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Monday, 7 November 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Nicolette 'No Government'

Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 7 November 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

Jackson and his Computer Band! from "Utopia": "Have you really thought about/Utopia?" (in awesome female choral vox!) Granted, that's about the only concrete lyric, but I'm guessing it's a great one to get your utopian literature party started. Plus it's such a terrific tune...

willem (willem), Monday, 7 November 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

Surely some album by Voivod? NB: I don't actually know enough about Voivod to know if it's true.

Also: Queensryche, Operation Mindcrime?

Actually: all metal, ever?

alext (alext), Monday, 7 November 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

imagine

älänbänänä (alanbanana), Monday, 7 November 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

what are you teaching them? SHITTY PROG-ROCK 101??????

ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Monday, 7 November 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

would "In the Year 2525" count for this?

The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 7 November 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

i'd like to buy the world a coke

Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

"Footprints in Snow" by Disco Inferno

owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

Oh! and the whole of "Replicas" by Tubeway Army.

owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

what are you teaching them? SHITTY PROG-ROCK 101??????

man prog rock sucks so much.

2112--Rush
California Uber Alles--Dead Kennedys
Vision Creation Newsun--Boredoms
Anarchy in the UK--Sex Pistols
After the Goldrush--Neil Young

stale style 101, Monday, 7 November 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, but:

"Utopia, Me Giorgio" - Giorgio Moroder

Tony Bleach (blackshoeswhitesocks), Monday, 7 November 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

The Church - "Dome"

"I saw this film about some people who lived in a dome..."

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 7 November 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

I think that's about all Ray Davies wanted to write about for a time. Try the Kinks' "Shangri-La," and then dig into the whole Village Green album.

Also: Big Star's "India." All utopian concepts should include gin & tonics.

footlog, Monday, 7 November 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

"Australia" and "Shangri-La" should be considered a package deal.

What about the Talking Heads' "The Big Country"?

footlog, Monday, 7 November 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

Oingo Boingo - Perfect System

mayhaps, Monday, 7 November 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

Our Happiness is Guaranteed--Quasi

It's the Stairway To Heaven of songs about living in underwater domes.

Also...
1983 A Merman I Should Turn Out To Be--Jimi Hendrix

kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

David Bowie, "The Saviour Machine"?

ryanhupp, Monday, 7 November 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

ELO - Xanadu

dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

paranoid android's apparently about the fall of the roman empire. actually, most of the song's on 'ok computer' would probably qualify.

jonnyblank (jonnyblank), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Deltron 3030

Binjominia (Brilhante), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

"Imagine" (Lennon) is an obvious choice for utopianism and good for context--post-60s vacuousness/surrender

The recent Kelly Osbourne hit had a dystopian video but I don't know if the song had anything to do with the images--still text is text eh

These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)


The Who's Lifehouse concept, which evolved into Who's Next after their studio utopia turned into more of a Stanford Prison Experiment.

The entire Kobaïan Universe of Magma albums.

theo, Monday, 7 November 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

yea, pretty much every Radiohead song ever written... well, that's what people tell me. i never know what thom yorke is saying. if i'm trying to sing along, i usually just go "pushhyouuudooowwnnnnyeaaayeaaawhooahhh" over and over.

poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:21 (twenty years ago)

Loads of Prince applies here.

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

Pet Shop Boys, "Go West"
Belinda Carlisle, "Heaven is A Place On Earth"

brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

opus III - "it's a fine day" maybe?

joseph (joseph), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

'The Ikon' by Todd Rundgren's Utopia

avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

Nas - If I Ruled the World

tremendoid (tremendoid), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

Jelllo Biafraq with DOA: Power Is Boring

Ben Dot (1977), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

Bowie - 1984 (pretty much all of Diamond Dogs really)
Goldfrapp - Utopia

The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/tR-MotM.jpg

Oh No, It's Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Except that Mark of the Mole is not really dystopian. I mean there are elements of the story that are also featured in more properly dystopian narratives (e.g. oppressed people working underground, a la Metropolis), but the story itself isn't about a utopia gone awry. Not all stories of alternate universes or fictional races are utopias or dystopias, though utopias often describe alternate universes and fictional races (this quibble may apply to other stuff cited above, but I'm not familiar with most of it)

4klsk, Wednesday, 9 November 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

Wham! - "Club Tropicana"
Talking Heads - "Nothing But Flowers"
Genesis - "Get 'em Out by Friday"

Patchouli Clark (noodle vague), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)


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