Hey y'all, if anyone here has read Brave New World, could you do me a favor? I need five songs that go good with it and why (lyrics, themes, etc), preferably by Duran Duran, the Clash, Paul McCartney, the Beatles, David Bowie, Rolling Stones or Queen. Much appreciated!
For music, I would think trance... considering the music described in the book. Something psychodelic. Rock wouldn't fit the movie. Could you give us a little more context as to what the music will be used for?
But anyway, yeah just play Iron Maiden's Brave New World album. Specifically BLOOD BROTHERS.
You could go to the iron maiden forums on their official site and ask for a summary of the album, song by song and you'll get a ton of replies with in depth analysis. Their fanbase is insanely devoted...
I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Even though it had interesting subject matter and I could appreciate his theories from a scientific aspect, the book was very poorly written. Plus, almost every character drove me up the f**kin wall. But to each his own i guess!
Alright, sorry I didn't take any of your suggestions, but I was pressed for time. Here's what I've got (before you continue, be aware that later songs will contain spoilers)
The first song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears is a good overview of the novel's back story. "Welcome to your life, there's no turning back, even while we sleep, we will find you acting on your best behavior, turn your back on mother nature, everybody wants to rule the world" is similar to the World State's control of all aspects of life. The people have no control, the government is seemingly omnipresent, and they've given up on and turned people against all things natural. The later verse "There's a room where the light won't find you, holding hands while the walls come tumbling down, when they do I'll be right behind you" is reminiscent of the savage reservations. They're left in terrible, dirty, disgusting conditions, but regardless the people stand by each other and their traditions through all odds.
The second song is Sowing the Seeds of Love, also by Tears for Fears, and also provides some insight into the society. "Could you be, could you be squeaky clean, and smash any hope of democracy, as the headline says your free to choose, there's egg on your face and mud on your shoes" shows that the government expects perfection from each citizen and gives them no choice, but tells them that they are as happy as possible. "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels? Without love and a promised land, we're fools to the rules of a government plan" is an example of how the government was able to take control by stripping people of their emotions and ideals, giving the people no real opinion, just expecting them to live by that of the World State government. The result is a heartless, but peaceful and artificially happy world.
Another large part of society of is consumerism, which is why I chose Duran Duran's Too Much Information. Some lyrics of the song are "the pressure's on screen to sell you things that you don't need, it's too much information for me." These are fitting with the book because of the encouraged consumerism that drives the economy. People constantly hear propaganda about items that they then feel urged to pick up, which is an exaggerated form of modern commercialism.
To describe the one positive aspect of this society, I chose the song Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. After work, the government issues everyone a drug called soma that will have them "floating around in ecstasy", whether they choose to use it to enhance recreational activities or just to enjoy a long psychedelic "holiday".
My next choice is the Queens' Somebody to Love. This describes Bernard and his being an outcast due to a mistake during his creation. This can be summed up with the lines "(He works hard) Everyday, I try and I try and I try, but everybody wants to put my down, they say I'm going crazy, They say I got a lot of water on my brain, I got no common sense." Due to his misfortune, his somewhat modern ideals that mirror modern real world ones (as opposed to the ones of the novel's society) and his physical difference from those of his caste, people regard him as a stranger and act superior to him. The chorus "can anybody find me somebody to love" could refer to his difficulty in getting with women because he is more interested in a real relationship that just sex. The lines "I got no feel, I got no rhythm, I just keep losing my beat, I'm OK, I'm alright, I ain't gonna face no defeat" refer to his standing by his ideals, even if they set him apart from everyone else.
I believe that the song Slow Burn by David Bowie could represent John and Linda's feelings towards the savage reservation. " Here shall we live in this terrible town…These are the days, these are the strangest of all, these are the nights, these are the darkest of all," could describe their feelings. In the reservation, they are constantly harassed for being outsiders and so they suffer a "slow burn", a painful life until their death, or so it seems before Bernard arrives.
To describe John the Savage's feelings about moving to the new world, I've chose The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go. He knows that "if [he goes] there will be trouble" of him fitting into the new world with its ideas, but 'if [he stays] it will be double]" because of the miserable life he lives in the reservations. Additionally, "one day is fine, the next is black" could describe his troubled relationship with his mother because of the man she sees and her seemingly bipolar attitude towards him. Anger because having him made her an outcast and love because of her maternal instincts. As a result "this indecision" bugs John to no end.
When Bernard brings the savage back to London, he becomes somewhat a celebrity from knowing such an interesting character. He gets almost royal treatment among many people who once looked down on him. However he lets it all go to his head. For this part, I chose David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. When he brings back the Savage, Bernard "became the special man" and takes advantage of all the favors and women he has and lets it all go to his head like the line "making love to his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind, like a leper messiah, when the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band." Bernard takes total advantage of John the Savage, showcasing him whenever he pleases and becomes like a leper messiah, loved, but at only for knowing John, and actually outcast. Finally, when John decides he's had enough, he calls it quits and Bernard is forced back into his miserable old life, now even more so because he disappointed everyone.
After John is brought back to London, Lenina starts to develop a love for him, and John has loved her since his first sight. I chose The Beatles' Hello Goodbye. This is because of the opposite lyrics through out the song that I believe go well with this theme because even though they come from opposite ends of the world, Lenina and John maintain a true love, which the happy upbeat feeling of the song may represent. "You say yes, I say no, you say stop I say go go go" could also be symbolic of Lenina's conditioned rushing into a sexual relationship compared to John's wish for a more loving one.
Towards the end of the book, John the Savage becomes frustrated with society's ideals, including their attitude toward death and especially the soma, which took his mother from him, and rebels and attempts to convince some low-caste workers to throw away the drug, convincing them that it is an addictive poison that enslaves them to the government. Hemholtz then joins him and they seem to be successful. However, the police then arrive and pacify them with soma gas and propaganda. This is fitting to The Clash's I Fought the Law because they go against society's ideals, but in the end, are arrested and their efforts gone to waste. He is then subjected to a miserable life, much like "breakin' rocks in the hot sun".
For my next song, I have chosen David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World. This song relates to John, Hemholtz, and Bernard's discussion with Mustapha Mond. Before this discussion, Bernard "searched for form and land, for years and years [he] roamed" due to his differences from other people. However, when he has the conversation about the exile with Mond, the lines "Oh no, not me, I've never lost control, you're face, to face, with the man who sold the world" could be related to the book. This is because Bernard denies having anything to do with John's uprising, but more importantly because Mustapha Mond reveals that he once lived on those islands and they are actually places of liberty and he had all of science available to him, but in the end he "sold the world" to become World Controller.
My final song describes John the Savage's succumbing to an orgy of sex and drugs at the end of the book. I have again decided to use the works of David Bowie, this time with this Ashes to Ashes. The lyrics "ain't got no money, ain't got no hair… ashes to ashes funk to funky, you know Major Tom's a junky strung out in Heaven's high, hitting an all-time low," may describe the once-famous character finally succumbing to the pleasures of the Brave New World, hitting an all-time low, much like former astronaut (referenced in Space Oddity) lost himself after his former glory. Finally, the lyrics "One flash of light, but no smoking pistol… Want an axe to break the ice, wanna come down right now" hints that the Major had a similar ultimate fate to the Savage's.
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