Music
Steampunk music is very broadly defined, as Caroline Sullivan says in The Guardian: "Internet debates rage about exactly what constitutes the steampunk sound." This range of steampunk musical styles can be heard in the work of various steampunk artists, from the industrial dance/world music of Abney Park, the folk rock of Steam Powered Giraffe, the straightforward Punk of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, the inventor/singer-songwriter creations of Thomas Truax or of the 'mad scientist' of 1980s fame, Thomas Dolby, the Carnatic influenced music of Sunday Driver, the "industrial hip-hop opera" of Doctor Steel, the darkwave and progressive rock sounds of Vernian Process, the Unextraordinary Gentlemen, the electronic sounds of The Wet-Glass RO, Darcy James Argue's 18-piece big band Secret Society and the musical storytelling of Escape the Clouds. The British-American composer David Bruce's 2010 octet 'Steampunk' was commissioned by Carnegie Hall.
Joshua Pfeiffer (of Vernian Process) is quoted as saying “As for Paul Roland, if anyone deserves credit for spearheading Steampunk music, it is him. He was one of the inspirations I had in starting my project. He was writing songs about the first attempt at manned flight, and an Edwardian airship raid in the mid-80’s long before almost anyone else….” In 2012 the Canadian Progressive Rock group Rush released the album Clockwork Angels whose themes and stories take place within a steampunk world. Thomas Dolby is also considered one of the early pioneers of retro-futurist (i.e. steampunk and dieselpunk) music. Amanda Palmer was once quoted as saying, "Thomas Dolby is to Steampunk what Iggy Pop was to Punk!"
Steampunk has also appeared in the work of musicians who do not specifically identify as steampunk. For example, the music video of Turn Me On by David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj takes place in a steampunk universe where Guetta creates human droids.
In 2012, Thomas Dolby headlined the first "Steamstock" outdoor steampunk music festival in Richmond, CA, alongside steampunk favorites Abney Park, Vernian Process, Lee Presson and the Nails and others.
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but nature more,”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Have you ever been up in your plane at night, alone, somewhere, 20,000 feet above the ocean?... Did you ever hear music up there?... It’s the music a man’s spirit sings to his heart, when the earth’s far away and there isn’t any more fear. It’s the high, fine, beautiful sound of an earth-bound creature who grew wings and flew up high and looked straight into the face of the future. And caught, just for an instant, the unbelievable vision of a free man in a free world.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)