Thursday, March 17, 2011

Four Dystopian Songs For the Ages


As I finish reading Fahrenheit 451, I begin to wonder if there are dystopian songs just as meaningful as some of the more famous books on the same subject. Before I dive into what I consider to be four Dystopian songs for the ages, I feel that it's worth mentioning my favorite novels on that theme: The book mentioned above, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, 1984 by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies, Running Man, and A Clockwork Orange. Can we find four dystopian songs worth mentioning?

Dystopian Songs for the Ages

In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans has to be mentioned. Written in 1968, this song touches upon what the world is like in intervals of one thousand ten years. This song covers pharmaceuticals, sustainability, the dehumanization of man through the use of technology, and touches upon the second coming of Jesus Christ. This song hit number one in the summer of 1969.
Down In The Park, written by Gary Numan. This song came out ten years after the previous song hit number one. The lyrics talk of a futuristic park where humans are hunted down and destroyed by android robots. Spectators watch the carnage from a club.
Diamond Dogs by David Bowie came out in 1974, and is a nod to George Orwell's novel 1984. The song depicts a future where people live in chaos.
Radiohead first denied that the theme of the album OK Computer was based on dystopian themes, but later admitted that it was. Karma Police is a good example of that disk.

There are dozens of songs with the same theme, and I must admit that Pink Floyd certainly should be mentioned as a band that wrote songs like Animals, and The Wall. It's fairly easy to be inspired by what the future may look like.

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