Top 10: Science Pop Songs

I nominate "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby. Anybody remember the video on MTV?

"...and thrilled me with technology." Not the video - but enjoyable nonetheless!

I'm partial to Suede's Electricity, but that could just be because I'm a fan of the band. This isn't a song, it's an album title, but I like the cover - Roger the Engineer by the Yardbirds.

This is a wild guess Moose (YouTube has lots of versions ) , but was it "She Blinded Me With Science " with video of Washu ?

The Only ones spring to mind with Another girl, Another planet (leave that to the imagination I think!)

My personal favorite is Why Does the Sun Shine by They Might be Giants.

EDIT: This video is even better!

WOW!!! Fifties Flashback!

This song was on a set of ancient 78 RPM records that my Dad gave us. They were by the Singing Scientists, and they were way beyond cool. Serious science, catchy tunes, you couldn't help but learn the science.

A quick Google didn't find them, alas, but here's a link you folks might enjoy:
http://community.livejournal.com/_scientists_/452846.html#cutid1

Terrific link Astronut ! I haven't listened yet , but you've certainly covered the bases.

On my way home last night I remembered another favorite from the Singing Scientists:

"There is no refutin' - there is no disputin' - We're all indebted to Sir Isaac Newton!"

A quick Google brought me to the Astronomy Songbook site:

http://www.ircc.edu/pdf/planetarium/AstronomySongbook.pdf

(Sorry, my browser freezes when I try to embed links.)

I like the Physics Guy...

Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles sort of fits. A cover using a Theramin is great to see , even though the TV show Doctor Who was the first to use the instrument (?). Kraftwerk could be up for more nominations single-handed than all others (even If I can't figure their point ! )

This thread has huge diversionary fun potential. I don't like any of the songs I suggest , so I'll just have to return with an offering that I do like .

Not a pop song but I always find Tom Lerher's "Elements" amusing - see Www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html

Incidentally, the Beach Boys are sometimes credited with using a theramin on their hit single Good Vibrations (1966), but that instrument was a so-called "electro theramin" - a mechanically-controlled audio oscillator invented in 1958 by actor/electronics whiz Bob Whitsell for Paul Tanner - and not the two-antennae, purely electronic kind shown in the video above. Still my favorite BB tune, tho...

A few movies in which you'll hear a theramin:

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Did you know Gort was one of the founding members of Daft Punk? Did you know that? Klaatu Barada Niktologic)

It Came From Outer Space

The Delicate Delinquent

Spellbound

The Ten Commandments

Mars Attacks (Mars always attacks, like. Non?)

(Did you know Gort was one of the founding members of Daft Punk? Did you know that? Klaatu Barada Niktologic)

You'd have to explain your meaning to me. If you have the ability to do so.

I do, but I am withholding the explanation on the grounds that it might incriminate me.

Blame somebody else . I always do because I'm a scoundrel !

Gorton Bennett

Scoundrel, hmm? I have an affinity for scoundrels, nonconformists, anarchists, hippies, beatniks, and the Intelligent Fringe. Just so long as you're not amongst the easy-believist, pseudo-science, free-energy, I-have-a-100000-mpg-motor-but-the-govt-suppressed-it type wacko packing a mammoth credibility deficit and a boatload of bullshit, I'll probably like you.

Scoundrel? Cool.

My fringe keeps well out of my eyes , and thus demonstrates exceptional intelligence.

Having just played a google-fight , I now prefer to be a 'Rogue'.

Results :

Scoundrel - 1,700,000

Rogue -33,000,000

Rogue also has the advantage of nice associations such as 'lovable rogue' etc .

Oh this is fun !

Kris : 33,200,000

anon: 1,690,000

I've got a horrible feeling my mother-in-law is going to do me some damage.

Why Google-fight when you can have a good Bang Bang?

That's really neat ! I wonder if it was Duracell in the red bot and that's why it was the best ? Very cool .

+1 for Kraftwerk! How about Pocket Calculator, Computer Love, Home Computer, It's More Fun to Compute. I hear they are really impressive in concert with the stage covered in huge tube synthesizers.

Not that I actually listen to them. I get a kick out of the fact that such music actually exists and people listen to it.

This one is nicely topical , both to the first named song and tonights sky (You'd have to follow threads on CR4 to see why. OK then , tonight is a good view for "The Moon Illusion revisited ! ") . Forget the video , and just chill to JJ Cale - Cajun Moon. I'm also going to claim tenuous topicality for Travellin' Light since nobody is here to argue !

I can concurr - having driven from my East of England abode to my West of England roots on Friday night, contemplating the CR4 thread to which Kris refers.

How about Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles?

Machine Head (album) by Deep Purple.

And the mispronunciation of Centifugal as centriffigal in This Kiss by Faith Hill is a particular favourite of mine.

The Eagles -LOL

Deep Purple* - Head bangs on floor

Kris is more Heart than Faith , though the pronunciation was funny. ('secretive' was once used to hilarious unintended effect on a movie). Somewhere recently there was a vote on the worst ever rhymed words in music.

* supposedly a colour that has no rhyming word. GMTV declined my suggestion of Turtle one morning. I only rang because... Hang on , I don't know why the heck I did.

It would be interesting to know which science related word crops up most in music. Moon is probably nearish the top.

Nor has orange

I just looked at Wiki on 'Orange' that damned Lehrer bloke is there with a terrible ditty. I am not convinced about 'surple' being invalid yet.

Orange eh ,

<struts off in a humpph>

I am fairly confident that none of these will win any competition. Pre-Schoolers may enjoy though.

I'm definitely partial to Particle Man by They Might Be Giants. Not as science-y as Why Does The Sun Shine but it's fun nonetheless!

I have just discovered Dr Rhythm. Dr 55 seems to be programmed to copy one of my favourite artists in all of it's efforts . If I ever meet Dr 55 I will be severely tempted t. No . Stop. Technology be damned , I Will put it in a car crusher. I present for your distress , DR-55 covers Stevie Morris.

What about "Einstein a go go" by Landscape, I think this is pure pop about some science dude. It's really different but I love it.

Dream the impossible dream - by a PM poster.

What about:

scientist by coldplay ?

clocks by coldplay ?

time by pinkfloyd ?

speed of sound by coldplay?

are these considered science songs ?

Or AC/DC cracking out a bit of High Voltage or Who made who!

I dunno if Frank Zappa can be considdered as a "pop" artist .... but I would give Him the honnor to be THE absolute number one, for his whole oeuvre.

But Stairway to heaven from Led Zeppelin is my life time no. 1

Talking about "science" music : what about "Pierre Henry" ? He made synthesiser music popular with his "Messe pour le temps présent". An album specially made for the "ballet of the 20th century" from Maurice Béjart (album from the early sixties)

"I dunno if Frank Zappa can be considdered as a "pop" artist .... but I would give Him the honnor to be THE absolute number one, for his whole oeuvre."

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Hmmm...might you be thinking of Catholic Girls? -- The Central Scrutinizer

Even if you were called moon-unit would you ? OMG , it's the tip of an iceberg.

Catholic Girls is a good song, but not the best of Him.

Or Claptons White rooms

"We all live in a Yellow Submarine, a Yellow Submarine, a Yellow Submarine."

"Rocket Maaaaaaaaan, burnin' out his fuse up here alone...."

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind: the answer is blowing in the wind."

Neuromancer, by Billy Idol

"Birth control to Ginger Tom....."

New Maths by Tom Lehrer

Take It To The Limit by The Eagles. That's what you do in Calculus, non?

ATOMIC-Blondie ooooooh!

Bridge over Troubled Waters - S&G

Leaning on a Lampost (at the corner of our Street) - the incomparable George Formby

"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" - S&G

[I seem to have a Bridge thing going on!]

Hands down, Boy in the Bubble

"It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder"

If you play Boy In The Bubble backward, you get Dubya's autobiography set to the music of the Horst Wessel song.

Dude! What are you drinking? That would take intelligence..............

Walking on sunshine by KC and the sunshine band

Rocket Man-Elton John

I thought Walking On Sunshine was by Katrina And The Waves. Strangely, it didn't get much airplay in NOLA.

...according to Wiki it did get played in New Orleans . Eddy Grants original title (ie not words) was a much better tune some years earlier.

I stand corrected!

I will just have to ´walk down to electric avenue´ Eddy Grant (I think!) cos that will take me higher!

I would nominate "I hate my Frickin' ISP" by Todd Rundgren, although it is getting a bit dated with its complaints about dial-up.

No guesses what I'm going for!

"Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the The Cryptkickers!

Igor! To the guitar!.....

David Bowie - "Space Oddity"

Major Tom (Coming Home) by Peter Schilling.

'Time' - Pink Floyd

Run; Rabbit run

Together in Electric Dreams by Giorgio Moroder with Philip Oakey (he of the uneven haircut)

Which of course leads to the question: Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Rosebud asks: "Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

-----

Can't say for sure. But I do know one android who has several pen-pals. Hehehe.

I Don't know how well this fits in here - maybe more relevant to this thread.

How about "Ghost in the Machine" by the Police?

Paranoid Android by Radiohead from the album OK Computer

Anything by Rage Against the Machine

Canadian Pacific

Working on the Railroad

Anything by Sheryl Crowe and Union Station

The song of the Scottish motor industry:

"Do we have to roam the world
To prove how much it hurts?
Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Irvine no more."

I know a guy who races an Imp - bludy quick!

P.S. Congrats on your new national hero,

Hero and Hero 2

I saw a clip on you-tube last knight where some wag had edited the soundtrack from Braveheart onto his TV interview!

He gets my vote for goal of the year.

Aye, Glasgows always been a place to go for a laugh - and come back in stitches.

Only 3 years worth of production in a 12 year history. It's no wonder we no longer have a UK car industry (truck industry bus industry, ship-building industry....)

Interesting article, thanks for the link.

They might not have seemed to work much, but this was during the times of major union unrest - similar strikes were commonplace throughout the UK.

This work was not without risk.

Even once the plant was flattened, the floors were used to stockpile cars for future sale. All british manufacturers were guilty of this - I drove a Ford Cargo which was built in 1983 but not registered until 1987! (Compare that with Citroen: built in last quarter of 1983, registered 1stQ 1984.)

No wonder that BL died when "foreign" manufacturers built to sell, and the domestic market was building to store.

<nod> I'm sure the other plants have similar figures, it's just that those figures were a) in front of me and b) so stark. And, although I'm younger than you (lol), I remember the strikes, the power cuts and the winter of discontent.

Back to the car plants: I used to work with ex-BL Trucks employees, who always blaimed the car lot for the loss of the truck business. The argument was that the truck business was profitable, and that these profits were used to keep the car business afloat. When the truck side needed reinvestment (new machines etc) there was no money in the pot. The truck business started losing money and the whole lot went pop.

I daresay it wasn't quite as clear cut as that, but there's likely to be some truth in it.

The BL trucks were certainly better for driving than Bedford and ERF: the roadrunner (Later DAF45) even kept up with the majority of imports.

BMC are alive and well in Turkey (At the old LT test site I did some NVH work for them).

Drove a Roadrunner at Uni (owned by the Uni's PA&Lighting company) lovely things.

Couldn't read the second link - Nanny wouldn't let me

Best bit about them was the steering - turn on a sixpence with one finger. Biggest drawback was the soft rear suspension - fully loaded, they would catch the (very low) rear bumper on high kerbs when parking.

"Couldn't read the second link - Nanny wouldn't let me"

Oh dear! - It works for me! (OMD- Enola Gay. "You tube"-original video complete with tank-tops)

Great song , but....complete with tank-tops is even better.

Yess !! The greatest fashion ever. Bradey bunch , Frank Spencer , Dear John , OU presenters........The choice of heroes . If you've never had one then you've (to paraphrase a film ) let the best in life slip by you . Silly dancing is an absolute must when wearing such apparel.

Victor.

"Victor."

Thylvester: with the companion that thkweamed and thkweamed and thkweamed!! And as if that was not enough to scare off the daleks -

That's the internet equivalent of ABH you B*****d !

I did give some clues of what to expect - you are just a glutton for punishment.

ahh , the pain and anguish is clear ! Bonnie Scotland....I could dupe you into Chris Evans () , but following the theme I'd best say Mick hucknall since he has the redeeming feature of being able to sing. The only topical song that comes to mind is Stars (but Sad Old Red is better). You should have played it safe and dug up something Scottish such as Average White Band, KT Tunstall ('..a wooh hooo ') etc etc.

'..a wooh hooo '?

A poor copy of some other Fifers.

No no no - woooahoo then ?. If you indent me further with that bloke who used to do a Hogmanay show (not Jools Holland , the ancient one with a kilt and all that) I will cry into oblivion .

You mean Val Doonican? Rocking chair and all?

No , it's worse <gulp> - this one featured an accordion I think . The name will come back to me . A big b/w televised annual show with loads of people.

The White Heather Club?

Andy Stewart - Donald's Where's Yer Trewsers?

Val D was not a scot: I think Kris is looking for something more modern, since he apparently can't stand Andy singing.

Val was Irish - and compulsory viewing in our house when I was growing up - Saturday nights, huddled round the box, singing along with Val in his jumper and rocking chair....ahhhh, the good ol' days....

I was subjected to that, too - usually followed by this.

I used to see her before this started

Some of them found jobs after...........

OK, you've done me...you can stop now...

Kris didn't say anything about the person being a scot. Just did a hogmanay show in a kilt.

Jools Holland isn't a scot but he did a Hogmanay show and kilts (or should I say "the kilt" as the correct plural?) is not exclusive to Scotland

Al

Sorry Al, but we knew who he meant so the scot part was obvious to us...no offense intended (why am I answering for GM1964?)

"(why am I answering for GM1964?)"

Cos you're kind, and are in a position to see that my assumption is not as obvious to others as to me? - and you beat me to it!

While we are getting heavier...

quit with the youtube links - nanny won't let me watch them!

heavier? Rush aren't heavy!

Speed King by Deep Purple

Wheels of Steel by Saxon

Dumpy's Rusty Nuts must have done something about a car...

747 - Strangers in the Night by Saxon (a personal favourite)

Now, let me see.........if you don't like AC/DC, how about some Madness - Driving in my car?

Or I heard you were partial to a bit of chocolate - Hot?

From #85 on you lot have inflicted more pain than St Winifred's School Choir ever did ! Even the AC DC was a lousy recording and Hot Chocolate didn't link to a toon. . Revenge may follow , depending on whether my pleasure outweighs any painful music I can think of to inflict on you all. That clip of Andy and his dancing chums is truly eeugh. Topicality has gone to **** , but it's ... ..... ? ( You're going to have to sort that Nanny ER ! )