Talk:Nineteen Eighty-Four in popular media

Seriously bad article

It's full of spam. It's almost entirely spam. Mostly spam for bands/record companies. It's a feeding frenzy for them. Not to mention the irony in bands (who work for evil transglobal corporations) writing songs about totalitarianism, and same said evil companies then using Wikiality to spam the gullible.

And there's almost no references.

There's also very little point to this article in the first place, other than to be the placeholder for spam.

Delete it, unless someone can pull a miracle out of the crap that's here and actually create a valuable, worthy NPOV article -- which seems highly improbable.

Typical wikiality.

      No, it isn't. If you read headings you'd notice that those are refrences from the book in today's pop-culture.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.226.127.140 (talk) 13:10, 28 April 2008 (UTC) 

Four Other References

the new film Children of Men appears to have a totlaitan regimne in place should this be noted?

also justin timblerlakes new album is called "FutureSex/LoveSounds" these sound a lot like newspeak words, and his video of "sexyback" appears to have a big brother presence on the Televison Screen

On a show on british televison, "Megacites" on Adventure One, they were investigating london towards the end, the commantator said "this is not 1984, it's 2020" after the program showing that everywhere in london has cameras watching peopleSlayerx675 12:09, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Random Thoughts, Star Trek Voyager episode 78, involves a race with the ability to read the crews' minds, discovering their angry thoughts, which ultimately results in the forced removal of them (much like thoughtcrime and the Ministry of Love). Turgrid 19:17, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Technically, shouldn't the video game "Timeshift" be on the list? if you've read up on the game or played the demo, you'd agree with me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.86.248.1 (talk) 15:06, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

NIN's "Everyday Is Exactly The Same" about 1984

Really? Anyone have a source? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.21.86.190 (talk) 06:58, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 13:23, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Lists

Some of the lists have passed the spam event horizon and need to be cut down to a rational number of provably significant entries. Let's start with this one Guy (Help!) 13:48, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

References in popular music

• David Bowie's 1974 album Diamond Dogs contains three songs inspired by the novel: "We Are the Dead", "1984" and "Big Brother". Bowie originally planned a musical adaptation of the novel as a full-length theatrical production, but the author’s late widow, Sonia Brownell, denied him the rights. A television special which first aired in late 1973 and which featured musical performances by Bowie was jokingly called "The 1980 Floor Show" as a punning reference to Bowie's unsuccessful attempt.
• Psychedelic rock band Big Brother & the Holding Company takes their name after Big Brother, the novel's dictator
• CANO's 1978 album Eclipse contains the song "Bienvenue 1984", which contains references to the novel and George Orwell. The song's lyrics present a dystopian reality of economic failures and ethnic strife.
• In John Lennon's 1973 quasi-protest song "Only People", he repeatedly sings the line "We don't want no Big Brother scene..."
• In their song "WWIII", industrial rock band KMFDM declares war on perversions of society. One verse contains the lyric "I declare war on Big Brother."
• Radiohead's song "Karma Police" references the Thought Police. They also have a song called "2 + 2 = 5".
• Rick Wakeman, from Yes released the album 1984 in 1981, to lyrics by Tim Rice. This is a concept album directly based on the novel.
• Subhumans released the album The Day The Country Died in 1982, which appears to be influenced by Nineteen Eighty-Four. One of the songs is called "Big Brother", with lyrics like "There's a TV in my front room and it's screwing up my head", referring to the telescreen of the novel. Much like the novel, the album is largely dystopian, with songs like "Dying World" and "All Gone Dead", the latter of which contains lyrics like "It's 1984 and it's gonna be a war". According to Dick Lucas, the song "Subvert City" is based on the ideas of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley.
• "Nineteen Eighty Bore" is a song from the anarcho-punk band Crass, focusing on the alleged mind numbing affects of television.
• 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) is the title of an album by Eurythmics, which was originally released in November 1984 as a partial soundtrack for the film adaptation. It contains the following tracks:

(3:28) "I did it just the same"; (3:59) "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)"; (5:05) "For the love of big brother"; (1:22) "Winston's diary"; (6:13) "Greetings from a dead man"; (6:40) "Julia" (4:40) "Doubleplusgood"; (3:48) "Ministry of love"; (3:50) "Room 101".

• Oingo Boingo released a song called "Wake up (It's 1984)" on their 1983 album Good For Your Soul. Taking heavily from the movie as well as the book, it serves as commentary to current society.
• Rage Against the Machine released the album called The Battle of Los Angeles in 1999 featuring the track "Testify" containing the phrase "Who Controls the Past Now, Controls the Future, Who controls the Present Now, Controls the Past...", a slogan used by the Party. The entire track "Testify" is arguably an indirect reference to the novel. Also on the same album, the song "Voice of the Voiceless" contains the lyrics "Orwell's hell a terror era coming through, but this little brother is watching you too". The song "Sleep Now in the Fire" states "I'm deep inside your children, they'll betray you in my name," referencing Winston's neighbor.
• Bad Religion released the album called The Empire Strikes First in 2004 featuring the track "Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever" with the title of the song being a direct reference to the Nineteen Eighty-Four novel. In the novel, O'Brien suggests the image of a boot stamping on a human face forever as a picture of the future. The song seems to be referring to the hopelessness of rebellion against the Party. The lyrics of the title track also states "You don't need to be afraid, you deserve Two Minutes Hate". The lyric book art style is Orwellian themed. During live shows at the time of the release of "The Empire Strikes First," they used a banner with the words "Two Minutes Hate." In their album Suffer, The song "Part II (The Numbers Game)" makes references to the book, with lines such as "Big Brother schemes to rule the nation" and "The government observes with their own electric eye".
• Marilyn Manson's album Holy Wood includes a song called "Disposable Teens" in which he sings that he's "a rebel from the waist down". This is a direct reference to Orwell's book, when Winston accuses Julia of being "only a rebel from the waist downwards". Manson referenced 1984 in a much more explicit manner with "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" from the album, Antichrist Superstar. As well as conforming to the description of the "Hate Song" in Orwell's novel, it begins with the lines "we hate love, we love hate" and includes the spoken line of "History was written by the winners". On the same album, Manson introduces the song, "Minute of Decay", with the words "From a dead man, greetings", which is actually a line from the second film adaptation of 1984, not a line from the book, which reads instead as, "From the age of doublethink, greetings".
• Incubus's album A Crow Left of the Murder includes the song "Talk Show On Mute", about how one day, the television might be watching us instead of us watching them, showing a world where humans are monitored at all times. Among its lyrics is the line: "Come one, come all, into 1984".
• Manic Street Preachers released the album The Holy Bible in 1994, which contains the song "Faster". At the beginning of the song a voice (John Hurt, sampled from the movie version of 1984) quotes a line from the book, although not word for word: "I hate purity. I hate goodness. I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone corrupt." They also had a track called "1985", in which they make various references to the novel, such as "In 1985, Orwell was proved right".
• Benzene Jag, an obscure punk band formed in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada released a 45 rpm single called "Fuck off 1984" in 1983.
• Anaal Nathrakh's album Domine Non Es Dignus includes a song called "Do Not Speak" that opens with a sample of "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot, stamping on a human face, for ever." Due to Anaal Nathrakh's lyrics being unpublished, the exact influence of 1984 is unknown. However, the words "pain, frustration, faded memories" are intelligible, and 1984 certainly fits with the apocalyptic, despairing, anti human themes of the band.
• In the song "George Orwell Must Be Laughing His Ass Off" by Mea Culpa, the second verse begins with "If 2 plus 2 don't equal 5, I guess I'm just no fun".
• Singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke published a song called "When Two and Two are Five" with Jennifer Kimball (as The Story).
• The Pet Shop Boys have a song called "One and One Make Five" on their 1993 album Very.
• The song "The Panama Deception" by Anti-Flag begins with the text "Their two plus two does not equal four. Their two plus two equals whatever they want us to die for".
• Open Hand released a song called "Newspeak" on their 2005 album You and Me. The song title and lyrics deal heavily with the ideas of newspeak and being thought controlled.
• The Rare Earth hit single "Hey Big Brother", released in 1971, sings of the future arrival of Big Brother, first addressing this future Big Brother directly and then finishing by expressing a rebellious defiance against his arrival.
• The Dead Kennedys' 1979 single "California Über Alles" contains the lyrics "Big Bro on white horse is near", and also "Now it is 1984 / Knock knock at your front door / It's the suede-denim secret police / They've come for your uncool niece" in reference to the thought police of the novel. Another reference to the book can be found in the song "We've got a bigger problem now" on the album In god we trust INC. The lyrics "Close your mind/ its time for the two minute warning/ Welcome to 1984 are you ready for the third world war/ You too will meet the secret police".
• The Dutch synthesizer musician Ed Starink composed and recorded a "Big Brother Suite" in 1983. He remixed that suite in July 1991 in his new digital studio and released it with the album "Retrospection" under his own Star Inc. label. In the liner notes of this album, he explains that "1984" by Orwell inspired him to create a work that was a mixture of the 12-tone system and rhythmical pop influences. The suite contains the following tracks: (8:08) "Big Brother"; (0:52) "Two and two make five"; (4:09) "Minitrue"; (1:25); "Lunatic"; (5:46) "Julia"; (0:41) "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism" (3:50); "The Ministry of Love, Including Room 101".
• The album Vistoron, released in 2004 by Japanese electronic musician Susumu Hirasawa under the name KAKU P-MODEL, contains a track titled "Big Brother". Hirasawa has offered Big Brother as a free download in MP3 file format.
• Van Halen released the album MCMLXXXIV that year.
• New Zealand band Shihad start off their debut album Churn in the song "Factory" with the quote "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever".
• Rock singer Darais Kemp released two songs on his album Sweet Sweet ("Room 101" and "Two Minutes Hate") that explicitly alluded to the novel.
• Sage Francis references "Big Brotherly love" and declares, "Don’t forget what two plus two equals" in the political song "Hey Bobby".
• Anti-Flag released a song called "Welcome to 1984", in which the band talks about the book in various ways, such as, "Mr. Orwell from the grave, adding fresh ink to the page" and "The double talk is past surreal". An acoustic version of this song appears on Punk Goes Acoustic 2.
• German band BAP referred to Orwell and 1984 in their live recording of the song "Ne schöne Jrooß" on their 1983 live album "Bess demnähx": "Leven Orwell, vierunachzig ess noh, ess mittlerweile nur noch een läppsch Johr" (Cologne dialect for "Dear Orwell, '84 is near, meanwhile it's only one more shabby year to go"). In concerts after 1984, they replaced the second verse with "Ess mittlerweile leider vill ze vill wohr" ("Unfortunately, much too much has meanwhile become reality").
• British Oi! band Combat 84 chose their name based on 1984.
• The song "1977" by British punk band, the Clash, includes imagery of civil disorder on the streets of London, similar to that described in Orwell's explanation of the Party's rise to power, and a coda that consists of a lyrical count-up from the year 1977 that ends on 1984.
• The second album, What Will the Neighbours Say? by British band Girls Aloud contained the track "Big Brother" which features the line "Big Brother's watching me and I don't really mind".
• The 2003 song, "All That's Left," by the band Thrice, includes a chorus with direct reference to 1984. ("A Ghost is all that's left, of everything we swore we never would forget. We tried to bleed the sickness, but we drained our hearts instead. We are, we are the dead.")
• The song "Freedom" from the 1987 album Raise Your Fist and Yell by Alice Cooper includes the lyrics "You want to rule us with an iron hand, You change the lyrics and become Big Brother."
• Propagandhi's 1993 album How To Clean Everything features a song titled "Head? Chest? or Foot?", stating "I'd rather be in prison in a George Orwellian world, than your pacified society of happy boys and girls." in the final verse. The band also contributed a song titled "War is Peace, Slavery is Freedom, May All Your Interventions Be Humanitarian" to the Fat Wreck Chords compilation Live Fat, Die Young.
• The band Antiba recorded a song called "Destroyed Reputation", in which they say, "In Orwell's hell, your soul you'd sell now falling, stalling,"
• The song "The Machine" by the group Darkwell talks about, "A virtual admission of guilt, confession/Orwell's future tense, libertcidal/the species enslaved, the will is broken/to avert doom - obnoxious."
• ApologetiX does the song "Look Yourself", which contains the lyric, "As he moves forward it's true George Orwell/The moral of the story is truth's ignored, emotion's most important"
• The band called Skyclad has recorded a song, which refers to 1985: "We've made tomorrows world - could George Orwell be correct?"
• Another song, "Into The Fire", by the group Burning Point, says, "Into the Fire You put me through hell/Twisted Desire in the world of Orwell/Total Control of body and mind/...into the fire"
• English indie band Dogs have a song named Winston Smith
• Million Dead did a song called "Charlie And The Propaganda Myth Machine", which notes, "And the BFG a propagandist for an unaccountable regime,/Orwell’s vision with a wrinkled face./Hold out the arm and quiet the voice."
• In their song "Who Makes The Nazis?", the band Fall answers their own question with, "Bad-bias TV/Arena badges/BBC, George Orwell, Burmese police/Who Makes the Nazis?"
• The group Oi Polloi has a song called "Fuck Everybody That Voted Tory", in which they claim, "Machine gun toting police on our streets/TV cameras watching your every move/George Orwell's '1984' is here and now"
• The Rutles recorded the parody, albeit fictional, song Hold My Hand, that includes the line "I'm not the kind of guy who likes to play 'Big Brother'."
• Our Lady Peace's album Spiritual Machines contained a track entitled "R.K. 1949" where the narrator states, "The year is 1949, George Orwell portrays the chilling world in which computers are used by large bureaucracies to monitor and enslave the population in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four."
• UK rap artist Jehst makes a number of references to 1984 in his lyrics "2004, its more like 1984 right here right now" and "Its 1984!” in songs with a strong political edge, he also makes reference to "Orwellian Prophecies", Thought Police and Big Brother.
• The title track on the Supertramp album "Brother Where You Bound" is a 16 and a half minute piece with a definite Orwellian feel to it - including some 1984 passages spoken at the beginning of the piece.
• Alternative jazz artist Bobby Previte released "Coalition of the Willing" in 2006 with songs such as "The Ministry of Truth", "Airstrip One", "Ministry of Love", "Oceania", "The Inner Party" and "Memory Hole" inspired by 1984.
• The band Project 86's 2002 album Truthless Heroes contains many lyrical references to 1984, including the line "These thought police coming for me" on the track Know What it Means.
• Utopia's album Oblivion contained a track entitled "Winston Smith Takes It On The Jaw" based on novel main character which includes the line I have found us a place where there's no telescreen and there's no hidden mikes and it's not too unclean.
• Coldplay's song "Spies" depicts the general society illustrated in 1984 as well as the concept of thoughtcrime (with references to the Thought Police) and lack of freedom. It includes lines such as "I awake to see that no one is free. We're all fugitives, look at the way we live. Down here, I cannot sleep from fear, no. I said, which way do I turn? I forget everything I learn." and "And if we don't hide here, they're going to find us, and if we don't hide now, they're going to catch us when we sleep, and if we don't hide here, they're going to find us." .
• Cog: Australian progressive rock band Cog use lines from 1984 in their song 1010011010 (666 in binary) referencing room 101.
• Neil Young in his song 'Living with War' states "I never bow to the laws of the thought police"
• In "Who Are You?" from the Black Sabbath album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, it has the lyrics, "You're just like Big Brother/giving us your trust/and when you have played enough/you just cast our souls into the dust."
• The music video for '...And They Obey' by Kinesis, starts with a newsreader type figure saying, "And now, it's time for your daily two minutes of hate... enjoy." This is followed by the song itself, which contains numerous political references.
• Anais Mitchell's song "1984" contains various references to Big Brother, vast files on a person's activities, the house being bugged, a USA Patriot Act and reporting people to the government.
• The Gothic metal band 2 Minute Hate's name is a reference to Two Minutes Hate.
• Ex-Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips also released an album called 1984 in 1981, but it was instrumental and a commercial flop.
• In 1981, The Plasmatics, led by shock rocker Wendy O. Williams, released the album Beyond the Valley of 1984. The album contained the charged track "Pig Is a Pig", a not too subtle reference to her arrest in Milwaukee for her near erotic stage performances (and reported beating by police officers). Her treatment by the police caused her to comment, "This is supposed to be 1981! Not 1984!"
• "B" Movie on the 1981 album Reflections by Gil Scott-Heron contains the line, "Why wait for 1984, when you can panic now and avoid the rush?"
• "Room 101" is a song by the UK extreme metal act Carcass, on their album Swansong.
• The Indie band Jr. Anti-Sex League and the country-bluegrass band Victory Gin both took their names from the novel.
• The Austin Lounge Lizards' song "1984 Blues" is a stereotypical blues song, in which the singer describes how he "met (his) baby / in the Ministry of Love", how "Big Brother is watching / watching on the telescreen", and how he tells "Mister Thought Policeman" that he "don't wanna do no wrong".
• On the 1972 Stevie Wonder album Talking Book, there is a track entitled "Big Brother", which opens "Your name is Big Brother./ You say that you're watching me on the telly/ Seeing me go nowhere."
• The song I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor of Arctic Monkeys mentions "a robot from 1984".
• The Ozzy Osbourne song, "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" makes reference to "the ministry of truth", and "the ministry of peace" which are in the novel; it also mentions four ministries that are not in the novel: fear, grace, war, and joy.
• In the rock opera penned by The Protomen, the phrase "we are the dead" is spoken (or chanted), such as when a mob of rebels is being slain by Dr. Wily's robots.
• In the inner sleeve of The Strokes' 2003 album Room on Fire bassist Nikolai Fraiture wears a T-shirt that reads "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength", which is a quote from this book.
• The 1998 album Buy Me, I'll Change Your Life by electronic band Snog is loosely based around the George Orwell classic Nineteen eighty-four
• In 2007 symphonic rock group Aesma Daeva released the song "Since the Machine" The lyrics included direct quotes from "THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM"
• In 2005 the indie band Straylight Run released a song called "Big Shot(Hands In The Sky) in a which a line of the song says "You'll get a bullet in the back of the neck" which is a reference to the novel.
• Reset's song Big Brother refers to the novel saying the government controls the media and makes everyone think the same, and song "Pollution" says "I'm not a walking commercial, my life is not a rehearsal" which may also refer to the novel.
• The Paul Weller penned song "Standards," performed by The Jam on their 1977 album This Is the Modern World, loosely echoes the themes of the novel culminating in the lyric "Look, you know what happened to Winston!"
• The song, This is Fucking Ecstasy by the band Say Anything contains lines such as, "The cameras follow me for miles, born a slave in 1984" that come from Orwell's novel.
• The US Band InnerPartySystem's name comes from the novel and the "Inner Party" of the government in "Nineteen Eighty-Four"
• The electronic-pop band Epoxies released two songs on their 2005 album 'Stop the Future' that make clear references to 1984, "Struggle Like No Other" having the main lines 'Hush its not safe to talk that terminal could be switched on.'
• American rapper Nas references Nineteen Eighty-Four in his song Sly Fox: "watch what you say Big Brother is watching"
• The video for The Pogues' song A Pair of Brown Eyes is set in a Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque Britain, with Margaret Thatcher in place of Big Brother.
• On Lupe Fiasco's 2007 album, The Cool, the song Streets on Fire is based on the novel.
• Judas Priest's song Electric Eye contains reference to big brother, and specifically telescreens."I take a pride in probing all your secret moves" "I am perpetual, I keep the country clean" "There is no true escape, i'm watching all the time"
• Ministry's song "Faith Collapsing", from the album The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste consists almost entirely of samples from the 1984 movie version.
• The Aesop Rock song One Brick includes the lyric "Platforms have been erected, Effigies built, Slogans coined / songs have been written, Rumors have been circulated, Photographs faked, The hourglass smashed and didn't leave me an escape", most of which is taken directly out of the book. (Page 148 of the Signet Classic Edition)
• Frontman of Muse, Matt Bellemy, has said Muse's the lyrical themes of their 2009 album The Resistance were inspired by 1984.

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Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Nineteen Eighty-Four in popular media/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

I have 2 other refrences. in the television show Monk there is an episode in which the main character is sent to a mental institution. Toward the end of the show it can be noted that he says "...I just want 2 and 2 to equal 4 again." Also, in the Televisiion show, the Fairly Oddparents, the main characters teacher, who is talking about the existence of faries, says "... with faries, 2 plus two could equal... fish!" later on in the TV show, the main character, Timmy says "...he's right, 2 plus 2 could equal fish!". Wouldn't that be a corralation with Winston Smith's realizations in the book?

Last edited at 13:14, 28 April 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 01:19, 30 April 2016 (UTC)