Hear a cauldron-full of evil, spectral, and fantastic tunes from 1956 to Today,
in chronological order!
Rockabilly! Doo Wop! Blues!
Soundtracks! Soul! Garage Rock!
Psychedelic! Funk! Prog!
Punk! New Wave! Goth!
Psychobilly! HipHop! TripHop!
and more!
Featuring: Gene Vincent, Sceamin' Jay Hawkins, Howlin' Wolf, The Ventures, The Who, The Sonics, The Doors, Black Sabbath, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Parliament, The Damned, The Cramps, The B-52's, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Cure, Captain Beefheart, Misfits, Ramones, TWIN PEAKS, Tom Waits, Portishead, The Kills, Gnarls Barkley, St. Vincent, Radiohead, and hoary hordes more!
Early Golden Age sci-fi was rollicking space opera, from John Carter to the Gray Lensman. But in the Silver Age '50s and New Wave '60s, the challenges of modernity made sci-fi more reflective and philosophical.
The practical lessons learned in the first space flights (weight, design, expense, safety) ran parallel with the spiritual turmoil of the Space Age (humanism, politics, wars, existentialism). All of our dreams of the future now lay in a fragile space between hope and heartbreak.
Of course, from Odysseus to Robinson Crusoe>, all travel tales had explored the sea and the self; asking, what was our place in the natural world, and the natural order? But speculative writers of the rocket era expanded this to its widest, deepest possible range; what are we really, and what is our place in the universe?
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, legitimized science fiction in the world mainstream by crafting speculative fiction into fine art; asking, our tools have led us to progress, but are we too flawed as a fledgling race to take our place in the cosmos?
SOLARIS (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky's adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's book, explored the spiritual gulf between revelation and ruin; will we actually fail at comprehending the abstracts in alien life and in our own minds?
The concept of the existential explorer, at the mercy of environment and emotion, thus permeated culture: from STAR TREK (1966-'69, etc.), SILENT RUNNING (1972), DARK STAR (1974), and SPACE: 1999 (1975); to David Bowie's "Space Oddity", Harry Nilsson's "Spaceman", and Black Sabbath's Supernaut".
STAR WARS (1977) brought Golden Age fun back, and greenlit decades of action spectacles instead. (In truth, STAR WARS is subversively as deep as 2001 and SOLARIS, but with more swing.) But in recent years, film students and cinephiles are bringing back the elements of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and SOLARIS: spaceflight procedurals, vérité practicality, desert landscapes, Ron Cobb set designs and Trumball miniatures and Moebius messiness, along with social critique, solipsism and alienation, and the bold struggle between fruition and ruin.
Here's a shortlist of recent films, and then short films, that reflect the influence of 2001 and SOLARIS.
3
Now It's Time To
Leave the Capsule
If You Dare
Have substance, will travel.
Independent creators are countering the CG spectacles with bigger ideas on smaller budgets.
(Note: these are existential explorer/cosmic fruition films in the stylistic mode of 2001 and SOLARIS, as distinguished from general explorer/survival films like ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS or ENEMY MINE. Some listed are both, but the imprint of the former is too clear to disqualify them.)
█ STRANDED (2001)
A Spanish production, with some wooden acting but interesting ideas, about astronauts marooned on Mars; from star/director María Lidón, with Vincent Gallo.
█ SOLARIS (2002)
A streamlined remake by Steven Soderbergh, with George Clooney.
█ THE FOUNTAIN (2006)
Darren Aronofsky's subjective meditation on One Life vs. All Life, with Hugh Jackman.
█ SUNSHINE (2007)
Danny Boyle's moody thriller that plays like a far better version of EVENT HORIZON (1997).
█ MOON (2009)
The full-blown return of the lonely astronaut with Sam Rockwell. Director Duncan Jones deliberately used the styles, techniques, and themes of Space Age-era films in homage.
█ UP IN THE AIR (2009)
Jason Reitman's indie comedy has an ambitious sequence, where George Clooney dreams of his alienation by drifting through Las Vegas in a spacesuit, that was unfortunately cut for time.
█ APOLLO 18 (2011)
A fictional moon flight and imminent disaster, told in found footage.
█ LOVE (2011)
A crowdfunded, impressionistic indie about the last man floating in his tin can far above the world.
█ THE EUROPA REPORT (2012)
As a sly riff on 2010: ODYSSEY TWO, this stunningly realized indie uses found footage to tell an ill-starred trip to Jupiter's moon, Europa.
█ THE COSMONAUT (2013)
A crowdfunded abstract indie about a lone cosmonaut roaming the world but cut off from everyone.
█ GRAVITY (2012)
The astronaut at the mercy of space and spirit becomes a worldwide smash, a rousing cinematic triumph, and a moving soul fable. By Alfonso Cauron, starring Sandra Bullock and the ubiquitous George Clooney.
█ THE MARTIAN (2015)
On the heels of PROMETHEUS, Ridley Scott adapts Andy Weir's 2011 bestseller about the man left behind on Mars, starring Matt Damon.
* Though not Lonely Astronaut films specifically, these recent films also implicitly reference the themes, scope, and style of 2001:
⭕ THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
⭕ PROMETHEUS (2012)
⭕ OBLIVION (2013)
⭕ INTERSTELLAR (2014)
⭕ ARRIVAL (2016)
⭕ ANNIHILATION (2018)
⭕ AD ASTRA (2019)
2
And I Think
My Spaceship Knows
Which Way To Go
The Lonely Astronaut also wanders through a landscape of recent short films.
Space suit? Check. Desert? Check. Abstraction? Check.
Blast off!
Surf the spacewaves with
ROLLING STONES, PINK FLOYD, DAVID BOWIE,
NILSSON, BLACK SABBATH, ELTON JOHN,
STEVE MILLER, THE REZILLOS, THE B-52's,
SPLIT ENZ, PETER SCHILLING, PIXIES,
SLOWDIVE, HOOVERPHONIC, RADIOHEAD,
WEILAND, MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?,
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO, NEKO CASE,
MARS VOLTA, BEACH HOUSE, WE ARE KING,
and many more!
ROCK Sex has "traveled time for the future of mankind".
Today, the culture relay of Iron Man.
_______________
The British author Ted Hughes wrote a Sci-Fi novel in 1968 called "THE IRON MAN: A Children's Story In Five Nights". It was a sociopolitical parable about a young boy who befriends a huge metal man that he finds in the forest one night, a noble soul who is met with fear and distrust. (Hughes later wrote an environmental sequel called "THE IRON WOMAN".)
Pete Townshend of The Who loved the book and wanted to develop it into a film based around his own rock opera score. When the film plans lagged, he released a solo album of the work.
PETE TOWNSEND -"A Friend Is A Friend" (1989)
After years of development hell, the film was finally made as the universally-beloved animated classic THE IRON GIANT. The name change may have been to avoid confusion with the Marvel Comics superhero, Iron Man, who was popular since 1963.
THE IRON GIANT trailer (1999)
Funnily enough, for all the comparisons to the superhero Iron Man, the film robot has a touching admiration for Superman!
In 1970, a few years after Hughes' book, Black Sabbath recorded "Iron Man". Its lyrics about a misunderstood metal man very broadly parallel the book but are purportedly coincidental. On its own merits it is one of the coolest riff songs of all time.
BLACK SABBATH -"Iron Man" (1970)
Here's a rap and metal rethink of the song.
SIR MIXALOT with METAL CHURCH -"Iron Man" (1988)
To really throw some swing on it, here is a sexy lounge take on it! (The sultry coo of "Oh! Iron Man!" never fails to make me smile.)
THE CARDIGANS -"Iron Man" (1996)
And an avant Jazz run-through!
THE BAD PLUS -"Iron Man" (2004)
And the riff is the basis for this song from Thailand.
SROENG SANTI -"Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng"
Aside from always being compared to Hughes' IRON MAN book, the Black Sabbath song was also thought to be inspired by the superhero Iron Man. Although it wasn't, everyone always associates the two anyway, so it was inevitable that the song and the lyric "I am Iron Man!" became a crucial part of the film IRON MAN (2008).
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) wearing his Black Sabbath/"Sabotage" album shirt in THE AVENGERS (2012)
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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