Dystopian Playlist

Julia's post on Tuesday got me thinking about dystopian-inspired songs.  I did a little digging and found a lot of them.  In fact, whole albums (back when we had those) of dystopiana.  David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album was inspired by Orwell's 1984.  Pink Floyd's Animals was inspired by Orwell's Animal Farm, and the Wall is about fascism.  The songs on Radiohead's Ok Computer and Kid A are stories of dystopia. The rock-dystopian connection isn't that surprising, considering that both are often about rebellion.

I put together my own little playlist of my faves. 

In case you can't see the embedded Playlist.com player above, here are my Dystopian musical picks (in no particular order):

1.  It's the End of the World as We Know It by REM

A natural choice. It's the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.




2.  Sons & Daughers by The Decembrists

This little ditty is about crawling out of the bunker after all the bombs fade away:

3.  1984 by David Bowie

This song is from the album Diamond Dogs, which is all about Orwell's 1984 meets glam rock.


4.  Life During Wartime by the Talking Heads

This Talking Heads' song is about a war that breaks out in the US. 


5.  Panic by the Smiths

It's just a generally good song about panic breaking out in the streets.


6.  London Calling by the Clash

It's an apocalyptic, politically charge rant from my youth.  The ice age is coming, / the sun's zooming in / Meltdown expected /the wheat is growing thin...

7.  Another Brick in the Wall (pt 2) by Pink Floyd

There may be better dystopian Floyd songs, but this one captures the flavor of teen dystopia, me thinks.  We don't need no thought control .

8.  Karma Police by Radiohead

From one of Radiohead's albums all about dystopia...

9. Diamond Dogs by Beck (originally by David Bowie)

This is part of Bowie's glam-tinged version of dystopia, where killer robots hunt humans.  I included the Beck version because it's much shorter than Bowie's



10.  In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

Zager and Evans take us down the path of humanities evolution (or devolution). 

Bonus track:  The Humans are Dead by the Flight of the Concords


This is one should be watched:









What are your favorite dystopian / post-apocalyptic songs?