Has anyone witnessed the development of science fiction music?  Science fiction has always been ahead of its time, and in being so it has often lacked the cultural manifestations of a more inter-related art-form, music—but all the same, there have been sporadic pieces of music that have fit the bill, and it seems quite possible that sf is developing, or even has developed, a music of its own.

     In fact, there has been a certain amount of music accompanying science fiction for as long as there has been science fiction.  Where there are writers, there are bound to be a few songs.  One can recall “A Whale of a Tale” from Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (it wasn't written out in the novel but was implied by the text) with its exuberant avoidance of blasphemy, its high sense of impending adventure, and its British “skiffle” effect, and compare it with even earlier verses from ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS that were easily convertible into merry songs.  William Hope Hodgson considered his novels incomplete without music, and would add fantasy dirges like “The Shoon of the Dead” to his work to make it sing.  Even George Orwell put a little lilt into his work with “Oranges and Lemons”—“Here comes a candle to light you to bed, and here comes a chopper to cut off your head.”  However, this music has to be abstracted from their works by musicians to form anything that could pass as recordable music, and no one was doing this until the 1950s, when there were early hints that science fiction topics would make good popular music---they had novelty to them, something the public might easily like.  Not that there had been nothing before them!  Hoagy Carmichael's “Stardust” and Tex Ritter's “Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes” and “Would You Like To Swing On a Star?” and Cole Porter's “How High the Moon?” all had a science fiction effect.  But it was in the mid-50s when sf ideas started popping up unexpectedly, as though betokening a musical future—“The Thing”, “Purple People Eater”, “Flying Saucer”, and fantasy and horror like “The Monster Mash”, “Dinner with Drac”, and “Adonis”.  It would cause a musicologist to remember Holst's THE PLANETS and perhaps become interested in a possible new trend in music.  Recordings like FAUST (about an alchemist) and, in the fantasy genre, SCHEHEREZADE and THE BOLERO were to be found—then, sure enough, there was more in the 1950s—Shorty Rogers' jazz piece “Martians Come Back”, Yusef Lateef's “Blues in Space”, “Unchained Melody” and others.  Music in general was not recognizing it, but in the 60s the impulse simply continued, and you'd hear jazz like “Take the A-Train” on popular stations, rock like “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” or “Dwarf Nebula Procession”, John Cage compositions, and you might note the increasing popularity of Stan Kenton's renditions of Bob Grattinger's “City of Glass” and “This Modern World”.

     By the 70s, there were groups springing up like “H.P. Lovecraft”, which could hardly be considered other than a musical group with a fantasy basis.  Now it isn't hard at all to find science fiction music.  It might not be called that on the record racks, but you'll find this distinctive, newly-popular form of music on the record racks in various categories like “show tunes” or “folk rock”---tunes like Joan Baez' “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”  or Charlie Mingus' “Tonight at Noon” or Donovan's “Season of the Witch”.   Try some of this music out, if you haven't—you might find it to be listenable music at its best.

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