Chain of Influence

[The New One]

I was wondering Mr Moorcock how much you have thought about the chain of influence that begins in the creation of your stories.

For example, and this is only my opinion, after reading "The Black Corridor" I passed it on to the singer/songwriter Kate Bush of Wuthering Heights fame. On her last album "The Red Shoes" there is a track called "Constallation of the Heart." She sings about waking up the captain amongst other things.

Now I am not saying this is definitely what happened but you never know who you are going to be influencing or inspiring by your creations and what can transpire from ideas.

[xidrep]

>Interrupts<

I think Kate Bush is great - her music has swept around my consciousness since I was a child. Another genuinely original, experimental artist. Her 'inner visions' seem to have a certain rapport with the Moorcockian multiverse; peculiar alternate-history vignettes ('Heads We're Dancing' springs to mind) and that eerie emotional-science fictional continuum ('Experiment IV', etc). A real genius with the Fairlight. Very influential. I sold her a pair of thermally-lined trousers once at the Rohan shop (either Kensington or Covent Garden, can't remember). Not that that's very interesting.... :D Ahem!

>Back to the plot<

[Michael Moorcock]

Well, I used to get a lot of rock and roll people claiming me as an influence and I also tended to get lumped in with the wankers being rejected by punk here and there (though generally got on well with punks, partly because Hawkwind were the only bunch of old farts the Pistols liked). The one I was least sure about was Elton John who reckoned his Yellow Brick Road phase came because Bernie Taupin was in to my books... Marc Bolan rewrote the Elric stories in verse form in his first book and sent it to me. Put me off the bugger, though I was sorry he died.

[xidrep]

Well, as Yellow Brick Road was the last half-decent thing Elton Bog did, I suspect it was due to Taupin's reading! :D

MM: 'Marc Bolan rewrote the Elric stories inverse form....Put me off the bugger, though I was sorry he died'.
I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't, but that made me laugh out loud. (Mind you, Perdix suddenly remembers the 'Eastenders-Elric' parody and the Cornelius-concord crash story he 'wrote' on this same forum. Aah! You'll be sad when I'm dead. You will. That autogyro blade's been looking a bit wobbly lately, too....)

[xidrep]

...Oh, hang on: it's supposed to wobble.
It's odd to think that The Pistols are the Old Farts now! Although John Lydon is into shark biology, so he's OK with me.
I feel like we could do with another 'Punk' renaissance. Or Neo-hippies. Or something. For someone whose adolescence was formed in the bubbling cauldron of the Punk-Industrial Transience, the follow-on to the 'Seventies Rock/ Rock-folk crossover/ Concept Album period of my childhood, and the prelude to the Acid/ Dance/ Garage/ Rap epoch of my Twenties, current music seems a bit....enervated? Perhaps the natural consequence of the fusion and convergence of the disparate 'underground' and mainstream forms, but a bit boring, nonetheless.
Perhaps you should do an album with Kate B? :roll:

[Michael Moorcock]

Somehwhere on some obscure incredibly small indie label, as I recall, there's Pierrot's Song of Positive Thinking.

It goes:

I'm glad I'm not dead!
I'm glad I'm not dead!
I'm glad I'm not dead!
I'm glad I'm not dead!
I'm glad I'm not


An album with Kate Bush ? Wow. Now you're talking!


I agree rock needs a shot in the arm. Or was that a poor choice of phrase ? Certainly needs pumping up. Bass and drums stuff seems to be the only stuff providing some vitality, some of it very positive, but I'd like to see something entirely new. Maybe Rai fusion with Bollywood could give us something. What was the name of that great Indian/Pakistani rock band who did a wonderfully ironic version of Norwegian Wood ? Anyone remember ? I loved them. Then they seemed to vanish.

[xidrep]

I remember 'Mukhta' and 'Monsoon', but I don't think they're the right ones...It's the greatest annoyance to me that I didn't learn to read music when I was a sproglet. I've always had musical compositions knocking around my head, but I'm only just learning the bass (at 37! Gah!). Oh, well. We all live longer now so never mind. I'll go and buy a DX-7 and make up a new genre I think :D

Isn't the 'I'm glad I'm not dead' song (and associated Harlequinesque songs) printed in one of the Cornelius novels? I didn't realise it had been recorded. It cheers me up no end, that song :D

[The New One]

Hey Mike, a man of myriad dreams. Try this one on:

Summer 2008, the new album from Kate Bush, her ninth features poetic introspection from the great fantasist and literary inovator Michael Moorcock on two of the tracks. The way it all came together mirrored many plot lines of his most famous stories. "Actually being in them is just as exciting as creating them." He quipped.

[Michael Moorcock]

Although I sang the demos of a lot of The Entropy Tango songs (that's probably where it appeared, Perd) many were meant to be sung by female singers (including The Brothel in Rosenstrasse, come to think of it). I demo'd them in a rather trebly voice, best I could do. Some might be on that Friends and Relatives stuff, not sure. I'm pretty sure I'm Glad I'm Not Dead and Pierrot on the Moon were put out by someone, but I know for certain they were recorded at least as demos.
I am notoriously absent-minded about my own stuff, particularly the recorded stuff, but maybe someone out there knows where they appeared. I probably have them, but don't have the patience to go through a lot of stuff. If someone tells me where to find it, I can always do a copy for you, Perd!
It would be nice to have a few tunes recorded by a lady, New. I still have a few ambitions as yet unrealised!

[Dead-Air]

Perdix, while I'll agree popular culture music is at a rather dull low, there is tons of great music being made by people all over the world every day. I'm not just bashing on stardom there either, some of the people making that music enjoy some measure of success too.

When I hear the music industry whine about how they aren't making any money and blame file sharing the way they used to blame the radio, I chuckle. I give away my music for free, and I honestly believe it's better and more interesting than a lot of the crap they sell. They spend billions of dollars hyping 5-6 artists at a time and wonder why so many people don't really care if it's Britney or Christina. Meanwhile, people put on shows together and book their own tours and play with total abandon.

The Pistols didn't consider themselves as shot in the arm for rock, they considered themselves a shot in the head. And in a way they were right. We don't really need rock stars very badly any more. Boo hoo.

(at this point I will deftly link to my own music because it's there after all... http://www.deadairfresheners.com )

[Whiskers]

I was going to say, "What I wouldn't give to hear Kate Bush sing Brothel." Now I say, "I'll give her my entire White Wolf editon omnibus collection."

"On loan," I hasten to add.

[Whiskers]

I've heard a live duet between her and Waters singing Comfortably Numb. Nice range Kate! Now, I've heard that Kate's live appearances are rare due to stage fright? Or is that Stevie Nicks? I know Stevie is blind as a bat and doesn't move around all that much. Ever fall off stage Mike?

Brazil is one of my favorite movies, and Kate sings a bit in that, and she is magnificent. I am so glad some here like Kate Bush. Perhaps you and Kate could start a new band and call it Concrete Brunette.

That would be 8)

[Dead-Air]

Huh, I didn't know that was her in Brazil. Cool, it makes perfect sense. I too love that movie, I could watch it dozens of times, and I don't usually go for watching many movies more than once.

[Whiskers]

Huh, I didn't know that was her in Brazil. Cool, it makes perfect sense. I too love that movie, I could watch it dozens of times, and I don't usually go for watching many movies more than once.

She sings part of Brazil. She doesn't appear in the movie. I may not have made that clear.

[Dead-Air]

No, I got that. I'm way too into the movie to have missed her if she was in it. But I'm enough into it to recall the song in my head, and then go, hmm... that's Kate Bush, of course!

It's interesting, I'm not sure I would ever have thought about how much of an influence Michael is on me artistically without this site. I definitely read the Elric books at a very formative time, and Behold the Man at a different one. Inspiring art can influence you on a much more subliminal level than the one a lot of go on about. Then there's that "chain" thing the title of the thread refers too: Moorcock - Hawkwind - Pistols - most interesting music afterward... I had this discussion the Rock 'n Roll forum about how I was listening to Hawkwind and my wife (who is a musician herself and hardly clueless) thought it was Nirvana.