The Man Who Sold The Future

I just read Strange Stars.  What a strange book.  It's about how rock and sci-fi melded in the 70s.  Who would have come up with that as a theme?  Hugo Award-winning author Jason Heller, that's who.

And when you think about it, there's something there.  The patron saint of rock and sf--the star of the book--is David Bowie.  I never put it together before, but certainly science fiction played a major part in his music.  He was a fan as a young man, and it regularly came out in his work.

Just before the 70s, Bowie was starting to gain fame with his single "Space Oddity." The title, of course, is based on Kubrick's Space Odyssey, which came out the year before, and the song was released around the time Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. (Alas, Major Tom doesn't do quite as well as Armstrong.)

A few years later, Bowie was doing a whole album with an sf concept--The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which include his classic "Starman." A bit later, he did another science fiction-concept album, Diamond Dogs, which includes his Orwellian "1984."

Next thing you know, he was actually starring in a sci-fi film, The Man Who Fell To Earth.  His music also had a futuristic feel to it at the time.  And then he ended the decade with Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), which includes "Ashes To Ashes," the song that catches us up with Major Tom of "Space Oddity."

And that's just Bowie.  There's a lot more in the book.  I'm not sure who Strange Stars is for, but there must be some quirky subset of rock and sci-fi fans that have been waiting for this.