Between Gordon Winslow and myself, I’m starting to think we have enough Star Trek music articles to write a book, or at least a Masters Thesis, most likely a pamphlet, on the relationship of Star Trek and popular music. We haven’t even got to the band “T’Pau” yet! Here’s another brick in the wall, Information Society’s 1988 hit What’s on Your Mind (pure energy) which included a sample of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from Star Trek, saying “pure energy,” and opened with a sample of Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), also from Star Trek, saying, “It’s worked so far, but we’re not out yet!”
MARRS (or M/A/R/R/S, or probably more accurately M|A|R|R|S as they were named on their record sleeves) was a one-off recording act from 1987, a collaboration between the groups A R Kane and Colourbox, with additional input from DJs Chris “C.J.” Mackintosh and Dave Dorrell.
However, the collaboration did not go entirely to plan. Once in the studio, the groups’ different working methods and personalities failed to gel. Producer Jon Fryer found himself in the middle and unable to resolve the conflict between the two camps. The result was that instead of working together, the two groups ended up recording a track each, then turning it over to the other for additional input.
Of the two pieces completed, one, “Anitina,” was an A.R. Kane track with drum programming by Colourbox’s Steve Young. The other, “Pump Up the Volume,” was a propulsive Martyn Young track constructed largely of samples, including one of A.R. Kane’s guitars.
The record was released under the alias M|A|R|R|S — an acronym derived from the first names of the 4AD artists involved in the project: Martyn, Alex Ayuli and Rudi Tambala from A.R. Kane; Russell, an associate A.R. Kane member; and Steve from Colourbox.
M|A|R|R|S’ sole release was the single “Pump up the Volume”, which was a number one hit in the United Kingdom. “Pump up the Volume” is considered to have been the first U.K. number one to contain samples from other songs. Plans for any follow-up material never materialised, and creative differences split up the group.
Many blogs have commented on this, but since I’ve been posting about space hippies since the early days of this blog, I couldn’t let this go unremarked upon.
George Bush had his three-fingered W salute that supporters flashed when greeting him at presidential campaign events in 2000. And now, if a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above. “Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama’s nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future,” says Rick Husong, owner of The Loyalty Inc.
* * *
“You interlace your hands in a circle, the interlacing being a symbol of different types of people coming together and the circle a symbol of unity,” he says.
The group is impressed by Mr. Spock however, who gestures with an oval “symbol of peace” the party makes with raised hands, and speaks of “The One.”
One
I hope this catches on. The sight of tens of thousands of enraptured activists making the space hippie sign at Invesco Field while Barack Obama is giving his acceptance speech would be so awesome I might explode.
Did you know that there are lyrics to the Star Trek theme? Gene Roddenberry wrote them so he could collect performance royalties on the song–they were never intended to be sung and I don’t think anyone’s ever recorded a version with his lyrics. The story is here.
Next time an episode of the original series comes on television, you will now be able to sing along:
Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand’ring in star-flight
I know
He’ll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.
Nichelle Nichols actually did record a vocal for the Star Trek theme, in a disco version. Her lyrics are different from Roddenberry’s, though.
If you have to have that, you can download an MP3 here.
I was changing CDs in my car the other day because I have not yet spent the money on an iPod compatible stereo deck, and my radio was tuned to 101X, a local rock station that mostly plays music I hate. As I was fumbling with my CD case, I heard some guy sing something about “fingerbangin’ my heart.” I thought, “Did he really just sing that?” Sure enough, he did.
I listened to the rest of the song, and I don’t know exactly how to feel about it. On the one hand, it sounds a lot like some Harvey Danger/Eve 6/Ugly Kid Joe hybrid of sucktasticness, but on the other hand, it’s a peppy, energetic, and humorous little song. I had no idea who the artist was, and I made a mental note to search the intarwebs to figure it out. Apparently that mental note was misplaced for some time, but it popped in my head this afternoon. I searched for “fingerbangin’ my heart,” and the result was a band called Ludo and their song “Love Me Dead”.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am in no way endorsing this song or this band, because I think I am probably about 15 years too old to really have any true appreciation for their aesthetic, but I thought I’d link it here just for the hell of it. I could totally see myself at 15 or 16 years old thinking this was the greatest band ever, only to grow up one day and think, “Fuck, I actually listened to Bush? I mean, Ludo?”
The video is kinda fun, though. Also, they are named after that yeti Muppet character in Gordon’s favorite film of all time, Labyrinth. How bad could they be?
"Now people, especially Arab Metalheads, are stepping up and are voicing their opinions regarding our existence, dis… http://wp.me/pgssr-1WJ2 months ago
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