When one thinks of cyberpunk music, one might think of Synth-wave and Outrun, works filled with synthesizers, technological sounds, MIDI tracks, and 80's nostalgia . But what about the music which inspired Cyberpunk?After completing one of my yearly rereads(I know, I know, NERD!) of William Gibson's Neuromancer, I felt compelled to do some investigative digging into the writing of the novel. I've always been fascinated in the "Making Of" aspect of things, whether in the literal manufacture of mechanisms, or the history behind Star Wars, to Christopher Tolkien's series on his father's writing of The Lord of the Rings. That last one inspired me to read through interviews and articles on William Gibson, in an attempt to identify the factors that led William Gibson to write what he did. While I am still working on a full write up on that (which hopefully you all will see some time soon), I came upon some fun little musical tidbits which developed into a full post.A common theme throughout Gibson's interviews and remarks is that he did not craft Cyberspace from careful research and review of the blossoming computer and telecommunications fields, but rather from everyday experiences and layman views of bleeding edge technology. He describes observing video game arcades and Apple posters. One experience which led to Cyberspace was using a Sony Walkman. Trying one in a electronics store, he stated "I haven't had that immediate a reaction to a piece of technology before or since". Captivated by the device, he purchased one, even though he couldn't really afford one. A problem emerged: he couldn't buy any tapes. This was solved by a friend, who gave him recordings of Joy Division. "It gave Vancouver a kind of weird totalitarian grandeur it hadn't previously had for me." he recalled, describing walking through downtown Vancouver with the Walkman. Having listened to Joy Division, one can definitely imagine how the sparse, brooding music conjured up images of dark nights lit by neon, of a future that isn't quite shiny and chrome. Listening Moby's Remix of "New Dawn Fades, for Michael Mann's crime film Heat , I couldn't help but imagine it playing in the background as Case and Molly take on Sense/Net.As for the distinctive characters that populate this future, a challenge Gibson faced was to create ones that "were exciting, stylish, and sexy" to match his brave new world. His inspiration for a solution didn't come from Punk Rock, but rather the Americana Rock of Bruce Springsteen, specifically the album Darkness on the Edge of Town. Springsteen writes about the album "I was searching for a tone somewhere between Born to Run’s spiritual hopefulness and ’70s cynicism. I wanted my new characters to feel weathered, older, but not beaten. The sense of daily struggle in each song greatly increased." For William Gibson, the characters of this album-working class people, addicts, thrill seekers- were just the ones that he needed. He describes his thought process as "What if the protagonist of Darkness on the Edge of Town was a computer hacker? What if he’s still got Springsteen’s character’s emotionality and utterly beat-down hopelessness, this very American hopelessness?" The r/cyberpunk wiki states "Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society", and after listening to the album, this definition strongly matches Springsteen's characters.Of course, the music highlighted here is only a small part of what might have gone into Neuromancer, and one can only guess what William Gibson truly might have thought of and listened to as he wrote the book. But what is undeniable is the gestalt nature of the work. Gibson assembled from a diverse mix of influences a book which founded an entire genre, and perhaps Neuromancer contains within it the impact of Joy Division and Bruce Springsteen's works.I want to thank everyone who managed to get through this oversized write up. I never intended it to grow to the size that it did, but the original quick post I originally wrote just seemed...incomplete. In writing this, I learned much about Joy Division and Springsteen, and it was quite an adventure writing my first real essay in a long time. Please feel free to respond with your own thoughts or critiques.I used the following 2 sources for the vast majority of work cited: an extensive interview of Gibson from the Paris Review ( which I highly suggest everyone read), and a short essay in the New York Times. Concerning Springsteen, This essay helped tremendously in understanding Darkness at the Edge of Town.Lastly, I present Joy Division- Unknown Pleasures and Bruce Springsteen-Darkness at the Edge of Town
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