by Marie Victoria Robertson
A TRIBUTE TO
GEEK MUSIC
This is the
golden age of geeky music. We’re blessed with epic soundtracks for Lord of the Rings and Thor. Nerdcore (and its cousin
Nintendocore) is an actual genre. Thanks to YouTube and similar sites,
small-time artists with no radio exposure can share their music, and lucky for
us nerds, a lot of it is positively brimming with geek and pop culture
references.
What exactly is
geek music? It might go back to German band Kraftwerk in the 1970s, which
produced revolutionary electronic music using computers and gave us nerdy
classics like “Pocket Calculator”. The 1980’s gave us a few classics like
Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science” and Oingo Boingo’s “Weird Science”
(Incidentally, Oingo Boingo was fronted by Danny Elfman, well-known as a major
composer for offbeat movies and the creator of the iconic Simpsons theme.) In
the early 2000’s, nerdcore (best described as a nerdy offshoot of hip-hop) came
into being, popularized by artists like MC Frontalot and Optimus Rhyme.
Nowadays, we can turn to big names with well-known nerd tunes like They Might
Be Giants’ “Why Does the Sun Shine?” and Weird Al Yankovic’s “White and Nerdy”.
Video game
music has come such a long way in recent years, resulting in some truly amazing
soundtracks. The Zelda games have produced some timeless melodies, and the
Final Fantasy soundtracks are unparalleled. Anime music, too, is more
accessible than ever to western audiences. Show me an anime fan who hasn’t
tried singing in Japanese. It’s fun!
No song gives
me more fangirl glee than Stan Bush’s “The Touch”. I hear it and I think of
Optimus Prime charging into battle against the Decepticons in the 1986 Transformers movie. On its own, the song
is a generic 80s power ballad. Nothing geeky in its lyrics, but it makes me
giddily think of my favourite fandom, and I know anyone else listening to that
particular song makes the same connection.
That’s the
point of music: to strike an emotional chord, to give you a feeling of
connection to the people who love the same music. Like geek culture, music is
broad, and there’s room for everyone’s definition and preferences. If a song
makes you go “I get that reference! I love that movie/superhero/giant robot/etc!”—then
I say it fits the definition.
I leave you
with a few favourites. This list is not exhaustive; these are some songs I
rarely see on geek music lists and would like to share.
5. Why Aren’t Lasers Doing Cool
Shit? (Axis of Awesome)
I dare you to
dislike a song featuring a “laser solo”.
ERB is fairly
well-known, but I love to point out the awesome ludicrousness of grown people
dressing up like Batman and Sherlock to rap it out. The world is an amazingly
crazy place sometimes.
3. Geeks in Love
(Lemon Demon)
A tribute to
nerd love by the talent that brought us Potter Puppet Pals and the Ultimate
Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.
2. The Nerd Anthem (Marian
Call)
The moral:
being a geek is not about being cool, but about being who you are. Brought to
us by an amazing female artist.
1. G33k and G4m3r Girls
(Team Unicorn)
Another awesome
tribute to girl geeks. Stan Lee appearing in the video is just icing.
Marie Victoria Robertson is a speculative fiction
writer and playwright, as well as the board president of Jer’s Vision: Canada’s
Youth Diversity Initiative (www.jersvision.org). When all the other girls
wanted to marry Johnny Depp, she wanted to run away with Worf on the
Enterprise. She enjoys giant robots, time-travel paradoxes, and forcing her son
to watch Futurama.
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