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Everybody Wants To Live Together Now
150 Plays8 months ago
It’s a Space and Sci-Fi special!
Brothers Steve and Giles embark on a journey to the furthest reaches of their musical galaxy and discuss three songs from the Johnny Domino back catalogue with a vaguely Spacey theme, just for a bit of fun.
Unfortunately, Giles is most definitely wearing his "grumpy pants", which as you will hear threatens to endanger the entire mission. Will brotherly banter and music save the day? You'll have to listen and find out!
Conflicts which may or may not be resolved in this episode include:
- Plan 9 v Magnolia
- Celestial v Abrasive
- Ghastly v Eclectic
- Oasis v Wham
- Wilma vs Ardala
Related video material is available on the This Are Johnny Domino blog
A clip from Plan 9 From Outer Space
Close the window and move the TV before watching this clip from Magnolia with Steve
Remembering Moist
The epic Buck Rogers futuristic disco scene
There's a Moon in The Sky Called the Moon by The B-52s LIVE with Talking Heads
Visit the Johnny Domino website
Connect with Johnny Domino on Facebook and Instagram
Podcast artwork by Giles Woodward
Edited by Steve Woodward at PodcastingEditor.com
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Transcript
Introduction with Plan 9 Quote
00:00:00
Speaker
Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing you the full story of what happened that fateful day.
00:00:52
Speaker
Hello, Steve. Hello, Giles. Hello. With the immortal words from the start of Plan 9 from Outer Space, we welcome you to the newest episode of this, our Johnny Domino.
Is Magnolia Worse than Plan 9?
00:01:11
Speaker
Apparently the worst film ever made. I don't agree. I don't think that can be true in a world where Magnolia exists.
00:01:21
Speaker
I've not seen that. Oh, God, it's awful. Okay. You see, Plan 9 From Out of Space knows what it is. Magnolia thinks it is great art. Yeah. And it's awful. There's some really funny bits in Plan 9 From Out of Space. Yeah. I won't have a word said against it. It's a very enjoyable film. But it's enjoyable because it is terrible.
00:01:50
Speaker
But then how can it be bad? If you enjoy it, if you get something out of it, there's nothing in magnolia. It's terrible. It's pretentious. I mean, I hate to say it, but you're going to have to watch it, but you will hate me for watching it. I don't know anything about it. What is it?
00:02:09
Speaker
It's a, it's Paul Thomas Anderson, isn't it? That's his name. I think it was one of his breakout films. And basically what it is saying, as far as I can work out, there's all these disparate stories that are linked across the city. And they all kind of joined together. And the worst bit is nothing against her.
00:02:31
Speaker
individually as a person, but Amy Mann does the soundtrack and there's a song that she sings on the soundtrack. And at one point, all of these characters who don't know each other inexplicably sing along with the soundtrack. And I nearly threw the television out the window at that point. It's so pretentious. I don't know why I've never heard of it. When is it from?
00:02:57
Speaker
90s. I mean, there's a pre-credit sequence, which is really great. And after that, it's awful.
Podcast Premise and Format
00:03:05
Speaker
There's loads of famous people in it. I know that there will be somebody listening to this who thinks it's a brilliant film. But for me, that's absolutely hands down the worst film I've ever seen. And I've seen Batman and Robin. Okay.
00:03:20
Speaker
You know what you are. You're a law unto yourself because I kind of wanted to have a conversation about Plan 9 from out of space at the start of this episode. And now you've just turned it into a conversation about a film that I've never seen that you're telling me I should never see. But you've got to see it to know why you should never see it. Okay, okay.
00:03:40
Speaker
I very much enjoy it as a film and those bits of dialogue from that film used to pepper all of the compilation tapes I used to make for people, friends, girls I was trying to impress when I was at college. Yeah, you and your quotes on your tapes. Compilation tapes, baby.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, so here we are. This is all about tapes. Yes. So this is a podcast where we're going to listen to some old music that we made and we are listening to it and talking about it and deciding which track is going to end up on a best of compilation. Yes. I'm Giles. And I'm Steve. Yeah, and we're brothers. There you go. As if you couldn't tell.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, last episode, I've got to mention it in passing that I think you confused the listener somewhat by talking about the fact that you don't have a tape player and the entire premise of the podcast is the fact that we're listening to our old tapes.
Digitizing Johnny Domino's Music
00:04:34
Speaker
So I think that might need some explanation because it just feels jarring, Steve. Okay. I don't have a working tape deck anymore.
00:04:45
Speaker
That's the fact, because I got it out a couple of months ago. We're listening to the tape mountain. Yes. Well, all of the Fortrack recordings that Johnny Domino did, I mastered from the Fortrack cassette tapes onto a DAT tape. Okay. So they're all on DAT tapes. As long as they're on tape. Yeah. And as a part of figuring out how to use the DAT,
00:05:13
Speaker
I put random bits of music onto a data tape from like bedroom recordings and things like that. So we've got lots of tapes and I've digitized some in the past as well. But if we do find that we're running out of music to talk about, I can get hold of a tape deck. I can put some more on there. They're all tapes. I don't need to change the artwork.
00:05:41
Speaker
No. Okay. They were all recorded on those sorts of tapes. Okay. Well, that's okay then. I mean, if you want to be realistic, there were max cell ones, but you know. Small details. Small detail, but... All right, I'll change it. No, it's fine. Look, I've had to swallow it since you did the logo, so... Yeah. Imagine if I'd come back to you and said, I love it, but it's the wrong tape. Yeah. Anyway, this is episode 21. 21. And this is going to be...
00:06:09
Speaker
Very exciting this. This is going to be a space and science fiction special.
Space and Sci-Fi Theme Introduction
00:06:18
Speaker
Don't worry, I'm going to put some reverb and some delay on that. Okay. So all of the songs we're listening to have ostensibly got a sort of space and science fiction theme, but we'll see about that. Yeah. And it's just an excuse to talk about that kind of stuff, I suppose. Yeah. And during the episode, I've set myself a challenge. I am going to try and drop in as many
00:06:43
Speaker
quotes from science fiction films as I can. Is it a competition? Yeah, you're going to see if you can spot them, Steve. Okay. May the force be with you. Are they going to all be as subtle as that? Possibly. Amazing. Are you going to count how many they're on? It's going to be a really exciting game. Yeah, so keep listening because you never know when they're going to come up. Yes. Shall we go for track one?
00:07:11
Speaker
I think so. This first song, this one is the Johnny Domino song. In fact, they're all Johnny Domino songs. And this one is one called Space. And I don't know, all I would say about it really is there's a lot going on.
00:07:31
Speaker
There's a lot going on in this song and I think it's got quite a nice cosmic celestial sound to it. But then I've got a bit of a problem with it because I think then the vocals just sound like a man shouting at you. So it brings you down from the cosmic celestial vibe.
Critiquing 'Space' Song
00:07:52
Speaker
But see what you think.
00:08:18
Speaker
Looks like it's unique It's the real thing All the bad times are going Meeting the Russians Drifting into space Fucked up in the past Your partners in crime Look into their eyes If you want to tell the time So come together Brothers, come together
00:08:46
Speaker
We are the sisters, everyone wants to live
00:09:21
Speaker
Over bad guys and glowing Meets in the rush, drifting into space Partners in crime are a new start Look into their eyes if you want to see their hearts When threatened at knife point I told you to re-engage your name
00:09:57
Speaker
We live together now
00:10:43
Speaker
So I'm not sure whether the mixture of cosmic and celestial and abrasive works on that track to be honest.
Recording Process of 'Space'
00:10:51
Speaker
I think you're not being very imaginative in your appraisal right there. Go on then. Because this is the kind of, I'm going to come out with the kind of crap that you normally come out with. Because I think you start off in space and then you re-enter Earth's atmosphere.
00:11:09
Speaker
when the low baseline comes in. It's like, you know, if you watch a modern science fiction film, when like, like gravity or something, they come back into Earth, it's very violent and very jarring. Okay. I think you're coming back down to Earth.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think you could picture that so you start off is very floaties or very a bit of a cliched fifty's idea of the beautiful silence of space and all this kind of thing and then. When the low baseline comes in that's it you reentering this atmosphere and you get back to reality.
00:11:43
Speaker
Okay. Well, I mean, that is a nice imaginative interpretation. I don't know. I just think that the vocals are very harsh. You know what my favorite thing about those vocals is, right? I'm going to lay it out right now. This is one of my favorite recordings we ever did, whether it's just me and you or as a whole band. Okay.
Critique of 'Alien Song'
00:12:07
Speaker
Now, right. Let me give you the two reasons why I love it. Soil and green is people.
00:12:17
Speaker
It's a shock though Steve, it's a shock. Gone. Oh dear. Two reasons, okay. It's another example of a piece of music that we were making up where I thought this is crap.
00:12:39
Speaker
And you're sort of like noodling around on the keyboard. So we recorded the keyboards and the acoustic guitar track at the same point with one microphone in the middle of the room. And I thought, this is rubbish. And you're sort of like doing your little three or four note keyboard bit.
00:12:54
Speaker
Just I can, I can just see you pulling a daft face while you're doing it. Okay. I do that. Okay. I do that when I play the keyboard. Exactly. Well, it doesn't everyone. And I thought I'll just record it. So I love it because it's an example, again, of you hearing something that I didn't. And I also love about the fact with the vocals, you recorded the vocals on your own and you did something called dropping in.
00:13:19
Speaker
With the Tascam 4 track, you had the ability, if you had like a foot pedal, you could drop in and record, let's say if you made a mistake, you could drop in almost instantaneously. So it's like a composite vocal track. It is, because there's bits where you're kind of going low and mellow, and then at the same point you're going,
00:13:38
Speaker
immediately afterwards. And you also recorded the keyboards on that same track. So there's bits when there's like a keyboard noise, which records over a bit of vocal or vice versa. And I just really like it. I like that sort of... You're liking the lo-fi vibe of it. I just think it would have worked better with a bit of
00:14:05
Speaker
A bit more reverb on the vocals. There's a cliche. I want it to be more cliche though. I want it to be more like this is a spacey kind of song. Yeah, we didn't have access to a reverb unit. I know. Apart from the amplifier. Yeah. Okay. I do like aspects of it. Everybody wants to live together. You know, the man is shouting at the end. Everybody wants to live together. Now.
00:14:32
Speaker
Which is an interesting view of the future. Everybody wants something together now. I don't think I'm particularly positive about the fact that everyone wants to live together. I quite like living away from everybody. I think you can get that from the vocals there. Yeah, from the delivery. I'm not sure I'm positive about teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony. But it's nice to dream though, isn't it?
00:15:02
Speaker
You've got to find your positivity where you find it. There's a pretty harsh swear in that song as well. Which again, I don't really like it when I do that. When I listen back, I just tut at my younger self and go, come on, stop it. Well, you know, we're all young ones, aren't we? I know. And can we just have a word for the detune bass guitar at the end?
00:15:31
Speaker
I tuned the bass down to a scene and then just played it. I didn't sort of slow the tape down and distorted it heavily. And I just really like that when it kicks in. Great kid, but don't get cocky. There's another one!
00:15:51
Speaker
That's no moon. Okay, let's move on. Anyway, I disregard your problems with that song. Well, I think you've made a fairly decent argument for it. There you go. But I'm not completely convinced yet. So I think we need to listen to a couple more songs, which may supersede it. The only problem with space
00:16:17
Speaker
as a song on a episode of a podcast where we're talking about songs about space, its title space is possibly a little bit on the nose. But then again, the next song is called Alien Song. Yeah. Do you remember anything about this? Not really. I mean, what year was space recorded?
00:16:40
Speaker
Space was from 1996. Yeah, and what about Alien songs a bit earlier? It's from Christmas 93 into 94, so I was in the middle of my second year at university. Okay. And we were recording it on the Texan 4x4 four-track recorder,
00:17:03
Speaker
which was a gift from an old piano teacher. Now, when we first used it, it only had two tracks and then our mate Johnny P. Coolin got it to work on four tracks pretty much all the time. Not all the time, but it would normally record four tracks. But if you wanted to rerecord something again, it usually wouldn't wipe it completely. So it's got a bit of an odd sound to it.
00:18:56
Speaker
Oh, please stop it. Stop it. It's ghastly. It's ghastly. It's ghastly. Make it stop. That key is not easy for you to sing in. I don't think that's the only issue, but yeah. Oh, God. God, that was horrible, Steve.
00:19:20
Speaker
Sorry, I think we've, I think we've got a new section. New section, new section. Songs that we need to erase from tape and never listen to again. I don't hate it as much as that. I don't think there's much to it. I think we just need to get rid of it, man. I don't want to hear that in my history. That's a terrible song. That's really bad. I mean, the lyrics are like the most unoriginal and boring that I think I could possibly write. I mean, just.
00:19:50
Speaker
So bad, so bad. And you're angry at your past self today. Is there something we've got to unpack? Yeah, maybe this is a therapy session. But no, the lyrics are really bad. Yeah, you are not alone.
Musical Influences and Experimentation
00:20:10
Speaker
Please stop it. It's like Bush or something.
00:20:16
Speaker
Oh, it's not as bad as that. Babylon Zoo. I watched an old episode of Top of the Pops last night, right? It was from 95 and there was a Canadian band and they were called Moist. It's like one of those bands. I've never heard them before. Yeah. Well, that's us trying to be that kind of band.
00:20:39
Speaker
And I'm glad we stopped trying. Oh yeah. We never really went for it. Yeah. But we didn't have the resources, but you know, we were trying for that sort of thing and it was just horrible. We never really tried to do anything like that. A lot of these songs, you know, this is from the same batch of songs where we did potential bong. Okay. So we were doing things like potential bong at the same time as things like that.
00:21:08
Speaker
Well, we were trying out new things, like everybody trying to try different hats on. I don't think you need to be so cross with your past self. I don't want to listen to that again. I'm not going out on a limb and saying it's an undiscovered classic or something. I'm just saying, why are you being so uptight about it? We were just doing stuff at the time. I was listening to, you know, we've talked about the fact that a lot of these songs are very, very short, but it was nothing to do with
00:21:36
Speaker
Guided by voices because I didn't know anything about them apart from the occasional song showing up on the compilation tape I was really into this band called his name is alive who were on for ad the first album was kind of like gothic folk But then the next two albums they released on for ad all the songs were incredibly short and he just kept changing all the time and I think I was trying to do that kind of thing and
00:22:00
Speaker
Oh, do you mean by the whole eclectic thing? Yeah, I think that's what I was trying to go for. And it's more fun just not really having a sound. Yeah. Because you can just do what you like. Well, that was it. And I think I was just messing around. I had a bit of music, but I can't remember us putting a huge amount of effort into it. I mean, you can probably tell that.
00:22:24
Speaker
It's just something we had to play around with. I know, but I think it's a song that we worked on a bit and we made like way better songs than that where we were just like messing around in five minutes. Oh, yeah, I don't think I don't think we worked on it that much. Anyway, it's I just really don't like it. Well, I don't like it. And this mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. What's that from?
00:22:53
Speaker
Shall we move on? Yeah, I mean, I don't know what else to say about that song. You can listen to the rest of it if you want. I don't really want to. Do you think the listener will want to listen to it? I wouldn't have thought so.
00:23:14
Speaker
I mean, there's a really bad bit at the end where I hit the distortion pedal, but I think I must have been going straight into the four track because as many home recording people will know, when you put the distortion pedal on, you look at the level and you think, oh God, it's right in the double red. And then when you play it back, it's really quiet. So when I hit the distortion pedal, it's really quiet. So it's not a particularly triumphant ending.
00:23:58
Speaker
Anyway, it's a mistake. It's a youthful era. It's an example of the fact that, you know, even we, even as we recorded some bomb tracks, even we recorded some terrible music. Yeah. Clattu Barada nicto. Yes. The Day of the Earth Stills still. Shall we go to the final song in contention?
00:24:24
Speaker
We're racing through today. I know it's 27 minutes, baby. I think we need to slow down a bit.
Discussing 'Prog 1, Sci-Fi Now'
00:24:30
Speaker
Okay. Okay, now this last song that we're going to talk about today is from the first months of 1996. This is actually from the last batch of Johnny Domino songs that were done just by me and you. And it's another example of me being a bit bored.
00:24:54
Speaker
and writing a bit of music and recording it. I think I recorded it all and then gave it to you to write some words that fit around it. So you'd recorded all of the music on this? Yeah, I've got no idea how I did it. None of this is me playing? No. I feel like I missed out there.
00:25:14
Speaker
I know because there's bass, guitar. Yeah, it's like a full band thing. There's got rooms. There is a clean guitar track, a distorted guitar track, and a lead guitar track. And if I could find, actually, while we play it, I'm going to look through some notes that I've actually got, and it might tell me what's on what track. Anyway, this is a song called Prog 1, Sci-Fi Now. We'll talk about it in a minute.
00:26:07
Speaker
I'll watch the sunrise, it's getting warmer Another conversation from last night I played
00:26:29
Speaker
It's a new
00:27:01
Speaker
I'm still down But I was feeling double-touching Lucifer You know you were that bad Said you had six ideas for films But you could only tell me
00:27:33
Speaker
Top you look close about smoking and death That was when my eyes glazed open
00:27:50
Speaker
Don't say what you want, do what you like I'm headed home, I'm flesh and bone You're only flesh, you hit me like an egg I'm frying, the earth is dying Broken glass, shines like diamonds
00:28:20
Speaker
I'm feeling great. I'm feeling bad. I'm feeling straight. Everybody's waiting for the call. Everybody's fake. Everybody. Everybody's waiting. Take a hold now. This morning, the clouds on the road
Sci-Fi's Influence on Childhood and Music
00:29:14
Speaker
Don't be afraid That I want to eat your veggie burger
00:29:32
Speaker
Sci-fi, say what you want, do what you like I'm going home, my flesh and bone Your own confession, you hit me like an egg I'm trying, the earth is dying Broken glass shines like nine
00:30:09
Speaker
I'll pull you off my arm
00:30:46
Speaker
so that was um i just added that by accident that last one i thought that was how it ended so it started and that would be a really good ending well that's just that's maybe that's it now that is going to be the ending of sticking on at the end there you go that is prog one sci-fi now by the johnny domino band by the johnny domino
00:31:07
Speaker
I'm going to be more positive. I think I like a bit of a negative. So you've been really down. I've not been really down, but you know, I'm going to try. I thought you were going to cry when I told you that you didn't play on that. I'm a bit sad about that. I thought it was me drumming. Nope. So I'm going to try to be positive and you know what? Do or do not. There is no try.
00:31:32
Speaker
Carry on. Yeah, right. So, yeah, that was me and I found sad man that I am. I've got the original mixing notes for that song. Oh, please share with us, please. Well, the vocals are on track one. You want to know? It's a volume of nine. The drums, which is obviously a composite track of bass and snare and then some like
00:32:02
Speaker
I must have done the tambourine at the same time as doing like the cymbals. Yeah. What level are they on? Well, they're on the, it's a good seven and a half. It's seven and a half. It's panned roundabout. I'd say half. There's podcasts going down there. Oh man.
00:32:22
Speaker
It's about at 11.30. That's weird. Everything's at 11.30. That's the money. In fact, I'm not even going there because that's so wrong. Anyway. You do this for every song now. No. I don't have the notes, dude. I don't even have the four track recorder at all, which is just upsetting. There are two tracks of guitars on another one. Then weirdly, the bass and the lead guitar are on the same track.
00:32:48
Speaker
Okay. But that's how we managed to get that much music on that track. I haven't listened to that for a while and I enjoyed it. So I thought that was an enjoyable listen of the band that we used to be.
Childhood Dreams vs. Present Realities
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah. And the title
00:33:04
Speaker
When I was reading the title, I was thinking, prog one, that's obviously, I thought that was obviously a reference to 2000 AD, the galaxy's greatest comic, which I've always loved. Because they always call the issues, progs, basically, if you didn't know. So I thought it was that, but I don't think it is. I think when you gave me that piece of music, it's got lots and lots of bits in it. And I just thought it sounded a bit prog.
00:33:35
Speaker
So I thought, I think I was referring really to Prague.
00:33:40
Speaker
It's like it's prog song number one, basically. Yeah. Because it is a bit of a musical journey, isn't it? And it's got lots and lots of bits in it that I would have never have learnt. So obviously, that's why you just played on it. So the detective work is there, right? I can see that it was not me playing it. Well, I've just figured out where the rest of the title comes from. I don't know why, because it's something that's been in my study in my office.
00:34:08
Speaker
for ages. I've just sent it to you on WhatsApp. Now it's a book called Sci-Fi Now. It's written by a man called Alan Frank. It's published by Octopus. They made loads and loads of annuals for, you know, around Christmas and that kind of thing. It's by Alan Frank. It's 10 exciting years of science fiction from 2001 to Star Wars and close encounters of the third kind. Now, whenever it came out, I was banging into Star Wars at the time. So me and my dad obviously bought the book for me, for Christmas.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah, I remember this book very clearly. Yeah, and there's loads of pictures of women with their boobs out. Well, that, yeah, I mean, I did spend quite a lot of time looking at this book.
00:34:47
Speaker
But I think also the thing I really remember about it is that it was like one of those child sort of memories of like looking at the book and reading about films I hadn't seen and looking at the pictures of these quite sort of slightly scary and disturbing films that I hadn't seen and trying to imagine what the films were like. And now I still I mean there are still times when I kind of watch a film
00:35:11
Speaker
like an old 1970s sci-fi film. And maybe I'll watch it for the first time. And it rings about with looking at this book. Yeah, it's got some great stuff in it.
00:35:23
Speaker
You're going to have to tell me what's in it because I can't remember. I haven't got the ball. Let's have a look. This is not great audio, is it? Well, there's loads of stuff about Star Wars. Logan's Run. Oh, good film. The sexiest sci-fi film, apparently. Soil and Greens in there as well. What's this one? The Little Prince. No. The Cars, The Eight Paris. Never seen that. Exactly. What else have we got?
00:35:53
Speaker
But I remember the picture from the ball. Zardoz. Zardoz, a really weird film. Phase four. The Exterminator. This is like a horrible one where there's a guy strapped up and he's being mad scientist. Jeffrey Palmer. Jeffrey Palmer's a mad scientist. And Graham Crowden, an experiment on Malcolm McDowell in Lindsay Anderson's Oh Lucky Man. Oh, yeah. Yul Brynner in Westworld. Who's that getting stabbed?
00:36:22
Speaker
You see, there was something very dark about a lot of those 1970s sci-fi films before Star Wars. And it's got artwork orange in it as well. Disturbing stuff. And I was thinking about how science fiction and space, it just really occupied
00:36:44
Speaker
our brains, you know, a huge proportion of my waking consciousness was spent between the ages of, you know, six and 13, just thinking about space and the future and stuff. Do you remember that? Yeah. It was a real thing, wasn't it? Just think about that stuff all the time. And the idea of the future being a thing. I don't want to be sad, but it's kind of like, I don't think people think like that anymore, do they?
00:37:15
Speaker
What, as in there is no future? No future.
Lyrics Analysis of 'Prog 1, Sci-Fi Now'
00:37:18
Speaker
Well, I mean, kids don't obsess about the future. No. Because they're living in it. I remember looking at books and things. I used to have a book about what the future is going to be like. And it was like pictures of robots doing the washing up and people living in underwater houses and flying cars.
00:37:44
Speaker
And I'm still waiting for the flying cars. Where's my jet pack? There was a lot of speculation and I think it influenced our recorded output. Really? Somehow. Well, they're definitely in some songs, you know, we always talk, you know, we were thinking about the future and singing about the future and ideas and future and stuff. Were we thinking about the future when we did this?
00:38:12
Speaker
No. Okay. I'll turn that off then. But were we thinking about the future in Prog 1 sci-fi now, the song we've just listened to? Not really either. Not really. Well, the song's not about space or the future. The song's about... Well, I remember exactly what the song's about, and I know I remember all the lyrics about everything. Well, do tell. Well, it's the key line is, for Lucifer, you know you weren't that bad.
00:38:40
Speaker
and let me lay the foundations. You know when you spend some time with someone and you really get on with them, it's really fun, right? And then when you spend some time with someone that you really get on with and you're under the influence of fill the gap with some kind of
00:38:58
Speaker
something that affects you in a, you know, cycle. Yeah. Okay. Which may like, would that be like, yeah, exactly. Right. It makes it even more great fun. You know, I mean, it's a great thing. It's like, it's like amazing. Right. But then on the, you know, on, on the flip side, if you're spending time with someone that you really don't like,
00:39:22
Speaker
and you're under the influence of something in brackets, whatever, right? It's really, really, really, really, really not fun. And that's what this song's about.
00:39:35
Speaker
Weird. Basically. What do you mean, weird? No, no. I had no idea what that song was about at all. No idea. It's about somebody turning into Lucifer. Okay. And telling you incredibly boring stories and going on about themselves. Cool. I'm trying to think who that would be.
00:39:59
Speaker
Well, it's not you.
Musical Inspirations and Influences
00:40:00
Speaker
Well, thanks. I mean, I always wonder sometimes listen to these songs. I think the music in a way is like a 1970s version of science fiction. You know what I mean? It's kind of, you know what I mean? It's got those sort of like sleazy Mick Ronson-esque but a bit not Gallagher-ish lead guitar bits. I'm glad you said that because I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to
00:40:28
Speaker
Look, Cards on the Table, I really liked the first Oasis album. And I convinced myself I liked the second Oasis album for a bit. And then I realised it was rubbish. I think the country was under some kind of mass hallucination at the time. Which is the Oasis song that sounds like he's completely ripped off Wham. Do you remember? There is one. Wham? Yeah, he rips off a Wham song.
00:40:58
Speaker
You're going to need to do some research on that one, because I've got no idea. Well, I'm going to look at that and you can drop it in for the baddarders. I'll drop it in for the baddarders. Yeah, but there totally is one. Okay. He completely rips off loads of people. Oh yeah, obviously, but I can't remember wham. It's the, trust me, I'd love to hear Liam Gallagher saying, you put the boom boom into my heart. It's not that one, unfortunately.
00:41:27
Speaker
After doing a minimal bit of research online, I found out that my brother is entirely correct. There is an Oasis song that completely rips off freedom by wham. It's a song called Fade Away.
00:42:11
Speaker
Amazingly it doesn't end there. There's another Oasis song where in an early form you can hear that wham influence even more clearly. Just a little bit of audio fun there.
00:42:43
Speaker
So, I'll do it on my own is how that song ends. Yes. So, kind of going back to the space song, everybody wants to live together. It's like, you know, this is like the flip side. I'll do it on my own. Let me get away from these people that are doing my head in. So that's the lyrical insight. Cool. But yeah, I don't know. I like that one. It's all right. It's pretty decent song thing. It's all right. Is it good enough to go on the best of compilation? I don't know. What do you reckon?
00:43:13
Speaker
Look, I don't. I like space. I like space, which is like such a random thing to say. Can we change the style of it, though? Can we change the style of space? We can change the title of space. Can we? Because it makes me think of the band Space. All right, let's do a bit of revisionist. The Liverpool band that did the song about Tom Jones, Tom Jones. God, I saw them, you know. Tom Jones, Tom Jones. We both did. We saw the Garak. We saw the Garak.
00:43:41
Speaker
And they were playing with catatonia. They were. It was an astounding evening. There was some very cocky, very fashion-conscious Liverpoolians there playing it. They were space and they came on first. And then they were followed by another group of people, fronted by a very striking woman with a massive face. And it's catatonia. And kettis. Yeah. And just in a little pub.
00:44:09
Speaker
Tiny little pub. It was awful. It was one of the worst gigs I've ever seen. Terrible. And I saw Carter, the Unstoppable Sex Machine. And I saw the Happy Mondays and they were terrible as well. We were both, we were all of those.
00:44:27
Speaker
Yeah, well, normally you're the one who forgets that I'm there, so it's nice to get my own back. Yeah, we were both there. But yeah, space. It reminds me of Tom Jones, Tom Jones. Change the name. Go on then. Think of a name. Call it a better name and we'll put it on the best of compilation because the name's rubbish. Well, I'll do it after the moment. No, do it now. I'm not going to do it now. Think of a name.
00:44:51
Speaker
I'm going to resume the recording because we have had an off mic discussion about what that song is going to be called. And my brother has come up with the solution, which is we're going to call it space bracket. Everybody wants to live together. Close brackets, which is a minor thing. It's a minor thing. And, uh, you know, some people might be wondering why am I listening to this pointless discussion? But I think, I think it makes it better.
00:45:20
Speaker
It's on the tape. I think it makes it better. We're going to have it on the tape. I think it's a good one. Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. You haven't done one of them for a while. Yeah. I'm just pausing you there. How is just pausing you there? Because we're going to have the end section. Okay. This could be another rambling discussion, but can you think of any good examples?
00:45:47
Speaker
of where in sci-fi and space-type movies, they show popular music. Now, there's only one example. There's only one example of it that actually cuts the mustard. I mean, if you talk about Star Wars, The Cantina, why a long time ago in the galaxy, far, far away, why are they playing kind of
00:46:12
Speaker
New Orleans Jazz. How does that work? I don't understand that. It does kind of work though. I mean, obviously it does, but especially when you're a kid, you think, wow, this is great.
Reflections on Sci-Fi Themes in Music
00:46:22
Speaker
What a weird club. But, you know, you listen to it now and you think it's kind of like if
00:46:28
Speaker
If you were watching the start of 2001 and all of a sudden they start playing the Beatles, they find the bone to kill someone. All of a sudden they play, all you need is love. That would be completely incongruous.
00:46:44
Speaker
if you're talking about popular music being used in science fiction they can only be the galactic disco scene from the tv series book rogers from the 21st century i've got a it's got to be it's got to be that right nothing else it's got to be and it's a beautiful scene because rogers is.
00:47:03
Speaker
He's 500 years in the future. He's a maverick. He's a maverick. He's living outside the law. And he's there to kind of book the system. And everyone's very uptight in the 25th century. He's there to kind of... He's at a trade delegation. He's at a trade delegation. Hey, let's loosen it up a little bit. And they're all dancing. They're dancing in a very weird way. I'm going off my memory here. So I think... They've got spears.
00:47:28
Speaker
Are they holding spheres? It's almost like medieval dancing, the kind of things you would expect in a Tudor court, where everyone's walking around and looking at each other in very deliberate and intense and meaningful ways. And then he walks up to the musician who's playing this very stately music and he says,
00:47:51
Speaker
What does he say? Something like, can you loosen it up a little bit? Yeah, basically something like that. Something cool like that. And then he tries to play another bit, which is very harpsichordian type of music. And he said, no, no, just feel the music. And then all of a sudden it has some weird synth funk. It does. And then he teaches the princess, whose name I've forgotten, but she's the one that I used to fancy. He teaches her how to boogie.
00:48:21
Speaker
Princess Ardala. Princess Ardala. She was a dusky maiden. And he shows her how to boogie. And that scene is etched very hard into my memory.
00:48:33
Speaker
I know that you were so keen on Princess Adala, were you? It was all about Wilma Deering to me. I just thought she was so cute. I think that's the difference between me and you. Anyway, this has turned into a very sad nerdy podcast. I think this is going to take a lot of editing. No, it's not.
00:48:56
Speaker
Uh, just tell me one more thing. What's your favorite? What's your favorite space and science fiction theme song? Come on. I push. What would you, what would you choose? Come on. There's like, oh, there's like a, there's a Brazilian. Come on. Just pick one off top of your head. What's your favorite one? I can't believe you didn't think about this before we started recording. Cause obviously.
00:49:23
Speaker
Well, I don't have the vision. Well, Elton John Rocketman always makes me want to cry. Right. The, uh, urban spaceman, Bonzo, dog doodle band. Yeah. Cool song. Not really about space though. Out of space by the prodigy. Probably. Yes. That's probably my favorite one.
00:49:50
Speaker
That's one of my wife's names. I imagine you're going to say something by David Bowie, but go on, carry on. No, but that's just so obvious. You could go, you know, Starman. It's just so obvious. Life on Mars. Space oddity, blah, blah, blah, ashes to ashes. Are you going to pick one? Robots, fly to the concords. I'd rather listen to There's a Moon in the Sky Called the Moon by the B-52s.
00:50:17
Speaker
which is weirdly kind of like a forgotten B-52 song. Because on compilations of their stuff, they have pretty much a whole of the first album apart from that song. And the cover of Downtown, which we can kind of live with. But There's a Moon in the Sky called The Moon is just not there, but it's absolutely one of the best tracks on the album.
00:50:41
Speaker
But I think we've certainly exhausted the space and future theme. Well done. And I think we've come to the end of the podcast today. And it's been nice. I've enjoyed talking to you today. I haven't particularly enjoyed all of the music. So we might have to include a banger in the next one. I think we're going to.
00:51:07
Speaker
And maybe even some listeners might send something in. You never know. You can wonder, you can wish.
00:51:19
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you are enjoying the podcast, please like and subscribe wherever you are listening right now. And if you know somebody who would like it, please pass it on to them. If you recorded music in your youth and past and four days, please send us copies of it so we can maybe have a bit of a laugh at it.
00:51:41
Speaker
and share it with the people that listen and you could be entered into the eternal halls of the Fortran Gods. Yea! Hasta la vista, baby! No, can I do that again? Can I do that again? Go on. Hasta la vista, baby! You want to end it like that? Yeah.
00:52:05
Speaker
My friend, you have seen this incident based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that it didn't happen? Perhaps on your way home, someone will pass you in the dark, and you will never know it, for they will be from outer space. Many scientists believe that another world is watching us this moment. We once laughed at the horseless carriage.
00:52:31
Speaker
The airplane, the telephone, the electric light, vitamins, radio, and even television. And now some of us laugh at outer space. God help us in the future.