Music Influences

[Anonymous]

Mike, you may have answered this before, but you have on several occasions noted the "structure" of music and how it realtes to writing. You have also been involved in creating music with some well-known bands.

What/who are your biggest musical influences? Do you listen to a lot of music day to day? How about when you write? I know Stephen King has said in the past that he would go into his office, crank heavy music loud, and write.

[Michael Moorcock]

My biggest musical influence is Mozart. I also like most classical music, but not baroque, much 'modern' music (Schoenberg, Ives, Berg, Mahler and so on), some minimalist music. I also relax to light music such as operetta, jazz singers like Mel Torme, Chet Baker (music and voice),
Stan Getz, Dixieland (Armstrong, Beiderbeck and so on), big bands (esp. Ellington), Rogers and Hart (more than Rogers and Hammerstein) and my favourite modern show writer is Sondheim. I like folk and 'folk' (protest, whatever) especially Dylan and Guthrie (also Jack Elliot) and I like rock and roll -- Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Beatles, Stones, Who, Small Faces (i.e. pre-Rod), also singers like Bowie, Lennox and so on. I like Joe Ely (and the Flatlanders), Willie Nelson, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and most of the great blues singers, don't like Italian opera much, but like Mozart, Wagner, Berg operas. Very fond of Weill.
But in the end it's Mozart I use for structuring mostly.
I tend to play music all the time while working, but it depends what I'm writing as to what I'll be listening to.
I tend to get the 'music' of a story in my head before I start writing the story. This tends to dictate much else, including structure, characters and choice of location.

[Arioch]

i can totally relate to your love of motzart Mr.Moorcock, but i was interested in your apparent dislike for baroque. I myself love baroque and Bach just does it for me, especially the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, is it the continuous rhythmic melody?? I've heard that it turns some people off to baroque. Just curious...