Xanadu - References To Xanadu in Popular Culture

References To Xanadu in Popular Culture

Thanks to a poem by Coleridge, Xanadu became a metaphor for splendor and opulence. It was the name of Charles Foster Kane's estate in the film Citizen Kane, and also that of Mandrake the Magician in the long-running comic strip. The title name of the 1980 film Xanadu is a reference to Coleridge's poem. This film starred Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John and was widely considered a big-budget flop, but its soundtrack spawned several hit singles for Ms. Newton-John, such as the #1 hit "Magic", a duet with Cliff Richard called "Suddenly", and, with Electric Light Orchestra accompaniment, the title song "Xanadu". ELO had soundtrack hits of their own with "I'm Alive" and "All Over the World". Also the author Harold Robbins wrote a novel entitled "Descent from Xanadu" concerning the private life of plutocratic mogul.

In early 1980, the Ivory Queen of Soul Teena Marie had a US R&B top 40 hit with "Behind the Groove" that mentions Xanadu.

In 1968, UK pop/rock group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich had a UK number one hit with "The Legend of Xanadu".

Another known reference to Coleridge's poem is the song "Xanadu" by Canadian rock band Rush in their 1977 album A Farewell to Kings.

Also, in their debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome which rocketed to rank one in the UK charts in its very first week in 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood referred to the poem in the title track. While they changed the poem's starting line In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, A stately pleasure-dome decree to In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, A pleasure-dome erect, they delivered an atmospheric video that interwove contemporary mid-80's youth culture with elements of a fictitious Xanadu themepark. The name was also used as a cheat code to unlock the unicorn in Zoo Tycoon. In Xanadu is a 1989 travel book by William Dalrymple, at the age of 22 he sets off along the Silk Road from Antioch.

In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry refers to George's private bathroom, adorned with a Manhattan skyline view and a bar, as Xanadu.

In the Japanese light novel and anime series Shakugan no Shana, Xanadu is the name of the paradise to be created by the God of Creation (Snake of the Festival). An exact replica of the world located in the rift between the human world and the "Crimson World" that is said to be a paradise where Crimson Denizens will no longer be required to devour humans for their survival and live in peace with their former adversaries, the Flame Haze.

In the sci-fi/cyberpunk/fantasy novels Otherland by Tad Williams, Paul Jonas passes through a "simworld", or highly realistic simulation, of Xanadu, as described in Coleridge's poem.

In the Kurt Vonnegut novel, "Timequake," Xanadu is the name of a retreat for prolific writers in a resort on Cape Cod.

A Jon McLaughlin song titled "You Can Never Go Back" mentions Xanadu.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote a parody of Coleridge's poem, describing his tumultuous experience co-scripting the film 2001. It goes:

For MGM did Kubrick, Stan

A stately astrodome decree

While Art, the s.f. writer, ran

Through plots incredible to man,

In search of solvency....

So twice five miles of Elstree ground

With sets and props were girdled round...

A savage place! as eerie and enchanted

As ere beneath a flickering arc was haunted

By child-star wailing for her demon mother...

For months meandering with a mazy motion

Through stacks of scripts the desperate writer ran

Then reached that plot incredible to man

And sank, enSCUBA'd in the Indian Ocean.

And midst the tumult Kubrick heard from far

Accountants' voices, prophesying war!