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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.401


"Caress of Steel" and "Anthem" from "Fly by Night" -- both songs deal
with individuality.  See also "Natural Science" from "Permanent Waves",
which deals with future dystopias, utopias, etc.

Russell, Leon:
"Stranger in a Strange Land" -- based on the Heinlein novel.

Saga:
Canadian progressive synth-rock band with a series of songs which
combine to tell a single story spread out over four albums, to wit:

    From "Saga": Chapter 4: Will It Be You?,
         and Chapter 6: Tired World;
    From "Images At Twilight":
             Chapter 1: Images,
         and Chapter 3: It's Time;
    from "Silent Knight":
             Chapter 2: Don't Be Late,
         and Chapter 7: Too Much To Lose;
    and from "Worlds Apart":
            Chapter 5: No Regrets,
        and Chapter 8: No Stranger.

Roughly speaking, the story tells of space war, alien encounters,
and the aftermath of war.

Sanders, Ed:
(A member of the Fugs at one time) released "Beer Cans on the Moon",
which contains such gems as a song about a yodeling robot in love with
Dolly Parton as well as some more topical songs.  "Dark Carnival"
sets a number of Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" stories to music.

Sandy Bradley and the Small Wonder String Band(?):
"Interstellar Sweetheart"

Sangster, John:
Australian jazz musician, has two albums "The Hobbit Suite" and "Lord of
the Rings" which are jazz tone poems based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Satriana, Joe:
"Surfing with the Alien" and "Back to Shalla-Bal" are about the
Silver Surfer of comic book fame.

Schilling, Peter:
"Major Tom (Coming Home)"; perhaps a sequel to or re-telling of
Bowie's "Space Oddity"? from "Error in the System" (originally
titled "Fehler im System") [also possibly based on the Bradbury story
Kaleidescope]; also "The Noah Plan" (about an exodus from Earth),
"Error in the System" (Earth as lost interstellar colony),
"Only Dreams" (computers plotting to take revenge on humans),
"Lifetime Guarantee (mind-controlled Utopia) and others.
There is some speculation that the translator may be responsible for the
SF content of some of these; for instance, the original (German) version
of "Only Dreams" ("...dann truegt der Schein") seems to be a non-SF song.
"Things to Come" includes "Zone 804" (aliens come to bring peace) and
"Lone Survivor" (man hides in bomb shelter, but war is averted; he's stuck).
Also, the song "Berlin, City of Night" (about fighting to reunite Belin
and Germany) was speculative fiction at the time that it was written.

Scorpions:
"Robot Man" on "In Trance". See ex-Scorption Uli Jon Roth.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band:
See "The Tale of The Giant Stone-Eater" from "Tomorrow Belongs to Me",
and "Nightmare City" from "Rock Drill".

Seventh Wave:
"Things to Come"

The Shamen:
The album "Boss Drum" contains "Space Time" and "Scientas".

Sigue Sigue Sputnik:
The album "Flaunt It" includes "21st Century Boy" along with other
SF-sounding stuff; the lyrics are difficult to decipher.  Their
song "Love Missile F-11" includes samples from "A Clockword Orange".

Skinny Puppy
"200 Years" from the album "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse" is
based on and contains samples from a Twilight Zone episode.

Smithereens:
Just a quick note to mention that "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is *not*
a Lovecraft adaption (see the entry for Black Sabbath) but is about
having an obsession with a woman bass player.

Sonic Youth:
On the album "Daydream Nation," a lot of sci-fi/cyberpunk
themes, and direct references to 'jacking in' as in Gibson's "Neuromancer".
See also the songs "Eric's Trip", "Hyperstation" and "Silver Rocket".
Sonic Youth draws heavily on the material of Phillip K. Dick and
William Gibson, in general; see "The Sprawl".

Southwind:
"The Green Hills of Earth" -- lyrics by Heinlein (or Rhysling, if
you prefer) from the story of the same name.

Spacemen3:
Covered "Starship" by Sun Ra and the MC5.

Sphynx:
Another band led by Nik Turner, produced the album "Xitintoday" which
was based on the Egyptian book ofthe dead.  The flute was recorded
inside the sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid.

Spirit:
"Future Games" has interspersed fragments of old "Star Trek" episodes
between tunes.  Also see "Potatoland" -- the songs aren't at all SF,
but are strung together by "The Adventures of Captain Copter and
Commander Cassidy" in a totalitarian state -- very bizarre.

Spizzenergi:
"Where's Captain Kirk"; band renamed "Athletico Spizz '80".

Stackridge:
UK band from the 70's: see "Purple Spaceships over Yatton", "Slark" (monster
gets boy, boy gets girls), and "Frankenstein's Pillow".

Starcastle:
A Yes clone.  First album has a nice piece, "Lady of the Lake".

Steeleye Span:
Folk-rockers who tend to sing traditional songs with modern instruments.
"Elf Call" is about elves; "The Demon Lover", a well-known song,
appears on the LP "Commoner's Crown" along with "Elf Call".

Steve Miller Band:
"Brave New World" and "Space Cowboy" from the album "Brave New World".

Stevens, Cat:
"Freezing Steel" from "Catch Bull at Four"; also "Longer Boats"
from "Tea for the Tillerman" is about flying saucers.  (It may
not be implicit in the lyrics, but Cat Stevens discussed it in
an interview.)

Stevens, Steve:
The title track "Atomic Playboys" is about nuclear war; there are
 probably a few more cuts of a similar nature on the rest of the album.
Album artwork by H R Giger, of "Alien" fame.

Stewart, Al:
"The Sirens of Titan" (Vonnegut); also "Merlin's Time" from "24 carrots".
See also the title track from "Last Days of the Century" and "Red Toupee"
from that same album -- apparently he cited it as SF in an interview.

Sting:
"Dream of the Blue Turtles" has the track "Moon Over Bourbon Street" based,
according to the liner notes, on Anne Rice's "Interview With A Vampire".

Strange Advance:
See "Nor Crystal Tears" from "Strange Advance 2wo" (not a typo).
See also the album "Worlds Away"; several tracks with SF allusions and
themes, notably the title track, "One Chance in a Million", and "Sister Radio".
Cover artwork had examples of Arcologies for futurist-architect Paulo Soleri.

Stranglers, The:
The album "The Gospel According to the Meninblack" is about a race of
people from another planet who are raising humans on Earth for their
food.  Considering there are over 5 billion people now, they should be
very happy.  The Meninblack are first introduced in the song "Meninblack"
on the album "The Raven".  See also "Rockit to the Moon", a B-side.

Stubbs, Levi:
"Mean Green Muther from Outer Space", from the musical "Little Shop
of Horrors", in which it is revealed that Audrey II is actually
an alien planning to take over the earth.

Styx:
Usually has one sf-ish piece on each album.  All of "Kilroy was Here" is
a fable (this is the LP with "Mr. Roboto").  See also "Man of Miracles"
and "Come Sail Away".  There is some speculation that "Lords of the Ring"
on "Pieces of Eight" is Tolkien-derived.

Sudden Sway:
Little known synthesizer based independent band.
Their "Spacemate" double album contains some futuristic advertising jingles
for imaginary products. The LP comes with some instructions on how to
"spacemate" which stands for "Super Dimensional Perceptive Aid Combining
Every Manner and Type of Everything".  A note of explanation from the LP
cover - "which means it helps you expand your dimensions".
There are some puzzles and other goodies included by the previous 'owners'.
A non-musical track from a Peel session named "A Walk in the Park from the
Hypno-stroll" has a very "Hitchhiker's" feel to it.

Sun Ra:
An unusual jazz musician who has been obsessed with space travel; his
band is the "Arkestra". Some of his songs from the 70's are
"Rocket Number Nine to the Planet Venus" and "We Travel the Spaceways".

Supertramp:
Album "Brother Where You Bound".  "Fools Overture" is about the threat
of nuclear war.  Possibly "Crime of the Century".

Swann, Donald:
"The Road Goes Ever On".  This album has a note on it that says "Poems
by J.R.R. Tolkien, music by Donald Swann".  (Flanders, Swan's
sometime partner wasn't involved.)  The flip side is him reading
"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil".

Sweet, Matthew:
"Children Of Time (Forever)" from "Earth" is a story of the future.

Symphonic Slam:
One album, with tracks "Universe" and "Fold Back".

T99:
Songs include "The Skydreamer", "Maximizor" (a single with some Japanese
SF-style artwork).

T'Pau:
This band is named after the Vulcan High Priestess in the (original)
Star Trek episode, "Amok Time".

T. Rex:
Before they hit it big with "Get it On (Bang a Gong)", they recorded
music dominated by sylvan fantasy themes vaugely inspired by Tolkein.
(Their percussionist went by the name Steve Peregrin Took, f'instance.)
The album entitled "T.Rex" includes "Ride a White Swan" and "Wizard";
two earlier albums, recorded when the band used the long form of their
name, i.e. Tyrannosaurus Rex, are "My people were fair and had sky in
their hair...But now they're content to wear stars on their brow"
and "Prophets, Seers, and Sages."

Talking Heads:
"Life During Wartime" from "Fear of Music", about an America at war.
"Moon Rocks" from "Speaking in Tongues", a surrealistic piece about
nuclear physics and magic.  "(Nothing But) Flowers" from "Naked",
discusses a future return to an agrarian, nature-oriented lifestyle.
"The Facts of Life" from "Naked" recapitulates human history
extending it into the future.

Taylor, Roger:
LP "Fun in Space".

Telex:
Belgian electro-pop; futuristic tracks include "Rendezvous Dans L'Espace".

Ten Years After:
"Year 3000 Blues" on "Cricklewood Green" is about someone having to report
to some sort of euthanasia center because he wasn't up to the society's
eugenic standards.  Also "Here They Come" from "A Space in Time",
which is about some visiting space travellers.

They Might be Giants:
"For Science!" is about a man willing to date "the girl from Venus'
despite the risk of radiation poisoning.  Their latest LP is entitled
"Apollo 18" (the Apollo program stopped at #17).  See also "The Guitar".
The also perform (live) a song called "Why Does the Sun Shine?" which is
somewhat Mr.Wizard-ish; it's not available on any released recording yet.
They performed it live on Nicks Rocks _ages_ ago, and some people still have
a copy floating around.  Strangely, it is a cover of an educational children's
record.  It starts out with "The sun is a mass/ of incandescent gas..."

Thorpe, Billy:
"Children of the Sun"

Titus Groan:
A band named after, and taking most of their material from,
Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" books.  Relevant songs include "The
Hall of Bright Carvings" and "Fuchsia".

Tonio K:
"Mars Needs Women" from "La Bomba".  "Life in the Foodchain" has the
songs "How Come I Can't See You in My Mirror?" (Answer: because the
subject is a vampire.)

Die Toten Hosen:
A German punk band.  Their album "Eine kleine Horrorshow" is an
interpretation of Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", the
novel which Stanley Kubrick made into film.
("Die Toten Hosen" translates to "dead pants", which is a German
slang expression for "nothing going on".  Thanks to Thomas Koenig
for pointing this out.)

Toto:
Several tracks of the "Hydra" and "Isolation" albums have SF themes;
they also handled the soundtrack for "Dune".

Pete Townshend:
"Uniform", from "All The Best Cowboys have Chinese Eyes" discusses
the use of computers in the service of the state.
"The Iron Man" LP/rock opera is about an (alien?) robot who eats
everything in sight that's made of iron, including tanks and guns;
features the song "Heavy Metal".

Toyah:
"Sheep farming in Barnet" - Near future high tech (mind to machine transfer)
Messianic story.  "Anthem", Story of a girl growing up in the present, but
uses *lots* of SF imagiary.  "The Changling" seems to be a pre-post holocaust
story but is open to other interpretations.  See also "Martin Cowboy"
from "Love is the Law".

Tubes:
"Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman", on "Completion Backward Principle";
also "Space Baby" and "Cathy's Clone".

Turner, Tina:
"Private Dancer" has the track "1984".

Twelfth Night:
"We are Sane" from "Fact and Fiction" is about state control of thoughts
by the implantation of a "component".

U2:
Bono and The Edge did the score for a new stage production of
"A Clockwork Orange." One song is available on the single of
"The Fly" -- no relation to the horror movie.

Ubangi:
Swedish band wrote "Monster ombord" (Monsters on board,
something has invaded the space ship)  Some of their albums
have English lyrics...also, the LP "Disco Baby" has a song
"They Came From Outer Space".

Ultravox:
"All Stood Still" is apparently about an accident at a nuclear power
station. "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" is about a nuclear attack.
Futuristic/surrealistic tracks from the Foxx era include "Slow Motion" and
"The Man Who Dies Every Day". Also, "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "I Want
to be a Machine".

Uriah Heep:
"The Magician's Birthday", and "Demons and Wizards".

Utopia:
"Winston Smith Takes It on the Jaw" from "Oblivion".  (Orwell's 1984)
Possibly "Adventures in Utopia".  Also "Utopia", "Abandon City" from
"Oops, Wrong Planet"  and "Emergency Splashdown" (which also appears on
one  of Roger Powell's solo albums).  "RA" is heavily  fantasy, including
the epic "Singring and the Glass Guitar, an Electrified Fairy Tale".

Vai, Steve:
"Little Green Men" and "Next Stop Earth" from his album "Flex-Able".
Vai claims his album "Passion & Warfare" is a conceptual SF story
with the plot being too detailed to publish with the CD and says that
"Passion and Warfare - The Novel" will be published soon, but until then
it's pretty disjointed.

Van Halen:
On the album "5150", the song "Love Walks In" is about falling
in love with an alien.

Van der Graff Generator:
"Pioneers Over c", and others. (c = speed of light)
See also "Still Life" (immortality) and "Childhood's End" (destiny
of mankind; presumably based on Clarke's book) from "Still Life".
Also "After The Flood" (melting of polar icecaps) from "The Least Can Do
is Wave to Each Other". From "Godbluff", see "Arrow" (fantasy),
"Sleepwalkers" and "Scorched Earth" (programmed soldier?).

Vanity 6:
"Flippin' Out" is about vampirism.

Violinski:
"No Cause for Alarm" (WW3 breaks out in your neighborhood)

Visage:
Redid Zager & Evans "2525"; also did some other SF-type material.

VoiVod:
Their lyrics are largely SF.  Most of their albums are conceptual and
loosely based around the VoiVod character. The earliest stuff is
standard post-holocaust type business, although they developed
considerably with "Dimension Hatross", an allegorical story in which
the VoiVod creates a parallel microdimension and monitors the development
of the inhabitants from tribal societies to technocratic states eventually
to apocalyptic destruction. "Nothingface", contains more surreal
cyberpunk(ish) SF lyrics with more introspective themes.  "Angel Rat"
deals with a variety of concepts from Chaos theory to robot sentience.

Wakeman, Rick:
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" retells Verne's story; "No
Earthly Connection" has a fantasy slant to it.  "Myths and
Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" tells
the story of Camelot.

Randy Van Warmer:
On the album "Terraform", the title track is a three part SF song, the last
part of which is "I'm so 21st century" (repeated ad-nauseum).  The song,
as well as the album, is absolutely dreadful. ;-)

Warrior:
The LP "Fighting for the Earth" deals with saving the earth
from demonic evil by forming a band of hard-core warriors to
do battle with it.  The band has been characterized as
"a nontypically environmentally concerned metal band".

Was (not Was):
"Born to Laugh at Tornadoes" contains "Man vs. the Empire Brain
Building" a cyberpunk piece in which the vocals mostly consist of
the following line repeated over and over:
"In my life there's just three things:
    Man vs. Nature
    Man vs. Woman
    and
    Man vs. the Empire Brain Building"

Waters, Roger:
"Radio K.A.O.S." is a story about a psychic who hears radio
waves in his head; he learns to control them and takes over
a military computer system...

Wayne, Jeff:
"War of the Worlds".  H.G. Wells' story with
Richard Burton doing narration, and awful music (purely
a personal opinion ;-) ).

Weather Report:
"I Sing the Body Electric" borrows the title from Ray Bradbury and
shows an android on the cover.

The Weathermen:
LP "Ten Deadly Kisses" features a track "Space", which is about
a space-age yuppie.

Who, The:
"Tommy" is half-fantasy, half-opera.  "905" from "Who Are You?".
Also "Rael" from "The Who Sell Out".  "Baba O'Riley" from "Who's Next"
seems to possibly be about some post-holocaust world.  (Note:
"Baba O'Riley" and other tidbits were part of the very SF-ish
concept album "Lifehouse", which was never released.)
See also "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde" from Quadroprhenia (depends on
how you interpret it).

Wings:
"Nineteen Eighty-Five" from "Band on the Run".  Also "Magneto and
the Titanium Man" and "Venus and Mars (Reprise)" from "Venus and Mars".

Wishbone Ash:
"The King Will Come", "Phoenix", and "Throw Down the Sword"
(all from "Argus") are all heroic-fantasy type pieces.  (By the way,
W.A.'s double/triple lead guitar work is worth hearing. ---Rsk)
Also see the title track from "Number the Brave".

Wood, Roy:
"Miss Clarke and the Computer" from "Boulders" (computer falls in
love with its operator).

Wooley, Sheb:
"Purple People Eater"

XTC:
"Reel by Reel" (the government can hear and record your thoughts);
"This World Over" from "The Big Express" which is a post-nuclear
holocaust cautionary tale.

Yankovic, Weird Al:
"I Think I'm a Clone Now" from "Even Worse" (parody of the 60's hit
"I Think We're Alone Now", recently recut by Tiffany).
"Yoda" (to the tune of "Lola") and "Slime Creatures from Outer Space",
an original music-tribute to B-movies; both are from "Dare to Be Stupid".
Also "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars"
on the soundtrack for "UHF", and "Christmas at Ground Zero" from
"Polka Party".

Yaz:
There's a song on the album "You and Me Both" about childhood
during a nuclear war.

Yellow Magic Orchestra:
"Citizens of Science" from "X Infinite Multiples".

Yes:
Much sf-oriented work.  Try "Astral Traveller", "Starship Trooper"
(Heinlein?), "The Gates of Delirium".  (One reader commented that
this latter LP is actually based on Tolstoy's "War and Peace".  I can't
confirm or deny that since I've never made it through the book.)
See also Jon Anderson's "Olias of Sunhillow" and Anderson & Vangelis's
song "Mayflower" from "The Friends of Mr. Cairo".  See also "Then" with
references to telepathy.  Also, "Arriving UFO" from "Tormato", "Machine
Messiah" from Drama (computer/controller), most of the entire album
"Close to the Edge" (which your editor regards as unquestionably the most
complex and finest piece of music ever written and performed by a rock band),
"South Side of the Sky" from "Fragile", and "Awaken" from "Going for the One".
"Tales from Topographic Oceans" is a 2-LP concept albums about
(possibly intelligent) life in the oceans singing to stars they can't see.
Tracks include "The Revealing Science of God", "The Remembering",
"The Ancient", and "Ritual". "Shoot High Aim Low" from "Big Generator" might
be about a futuristic war. The problem with figuring out much of Yes's work
is that the abstract poetic style often obscures the meaning
and multiple interpretations are possible.

Young, Kenny:
LP "Last Stage for Silverworld"

Young, Neil:
"After the Gold Rush", and "Ride my Llama" from "Rust Never Sleeps".
On the album "Trans", see "Computer Age", "We R In Control", and "Sample
and Hold".

ZZ Top:
Just a note to mention that the videos for the songs from their "Afterburner"
album had SF themes; also the song "TV Dinners" from "Eliminator" had
some SF references.

Zager & Evans:
"In the Year 2525"; dated but cute; was #1 when Armstrong walked on the moon.

Zappa, Frank, and the Mothers:
"Cheapnis", from "Roxy and Elsewhere", is the story of a grade Z monster movie.
"Thing-Fish" (evil scientist, etc.).  "Inca Roads" from "One Size Fits All"
discusses the question of whether or not extraterrrestrials made the
huge patterns visible from the air in the Andes.  See also "The Radio is
Broken" (from "The Man from Utopia") and the title track from "Drowning Witch".
See also "Billy the Mountain" from "Was Mothers Just Another
Bands from L.A.?", the story of a sentient mountain which refuses
induction into the U.S. armed forces.  Also "Joe's Garage", a dystopian
operatta about a society which controls its citizens by making as many
things as possible illegal; presented as if it were an object lesson
told by an enforcer from that society.

Zevon, Warren:
"Werewolves of London" from "Excitable Boy", just for fun.
"Transverse City" is a concept album which, according to interviews
with Zevon, is based in part on "Bladerunner" and the works of
cyberpunk author William Gibson.  SF tracks on the album include the
title cut, "Run Straight Down", and "The Long Arm of the Law".

Miscellaneous Notes and Comments:
---------------------------------

Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michael Jarre, Return to Forever, Weather Report,
Vangelis, Klaus Schultz, Deodata, Eno, Jean-Luc Ponty, Michael Urbaniak,
Stomu Yamashta & Go, The Enid, Peter Michael Hamel, Bo Hansson, Mannheim
Steamroller, Lancaster & Lumley, Lol Creme & Kevin Godley, Shadowfax,
Larry Fast aka Synergy, Kitaro, Mark Shreeve, Kevin Braheny, Steve
Roach, Constance Demby, Wendy Carlos, Michael Sterns, and B.J. Cole:

 ...have all been listed down here because several people have pointed out
that "sounding like SF" doesn't make it SF music.  Note that some of these
people have done some SF soundtracks, and that some of them have done
instrumental material with SF/fantasy titles.  Notable works include Hansson's
"Lord of the Rings", Creme & Godley's "Consequences", an ecological parable,
Mannheim Steamroller's "Fresh Aire V", a musical retelling of Kepler's
fantasy about a trip to the moon and back, and Klaus Schulze's "Cyborg"
and "Dune".  Jarre's "Rendez-Vous" album was going to have had the sax part
for the track "Final Rendezvous/Ron's Piece" played, in orbit,
by Ron McNair on the ill-fated Challenger launch.

Hitchhiker's Guide:
Just a note that the theme music for THHGTTG is "Journey of the Sorcerer"
from the Eagles' "One of These Nights".  Marvin is credited with a single
called "Marvin", backed with "Metal Man".  Tim Souness did a single of
the HitchHiker's Guide theme.  Disaster Area is credited with "Only
the End of the World Again", the B side of the theme single.
A second single called "Marvin I Love You" was released later--in it, Marvin
discovers an old recording of a female voice declaring her love for him
while perusing his memory banks.  (Of course, he doesn't know where it
came from.)

Doctor Who:
Just a note to mention "Doctorin' the TARDIS" and "Gary and the TARDIS"
by the Timelords (now The KLF), "Who is the Doctor" by Jon Pertwee,
"Doctor...?" by Blood Donor, "Doctor in Distress" by Who Cares, and
"S.O.S. Daleks have landed" by ??.

SF Themes in Opera:
This section was originally posted to rec.music.classical by
[e-mail] (Evelyn C. Leeper), who has kindly
granted permission to reproduce it here.

Benford, David & LeGuin, Ursula K.    "Rigel-9"
    Standard sf fare - astronauts on strange planet, one sensitive,
    the rest rednecks. Only he sees the strange city in the forest etc.

Benford, David                "Star's End"
    A fantasy on SF themes.

Blomdahl, Karl-Birger            "Aniara"
    About a space ship leaving Earth (which is in an environmental
    crisis).

Davis, Anthony & Atherton, Deborah    "Under the Double Moon"
    Attempt of a government Inspector to force telepathic twins to
    accompany him to feed the powers of the Empress.

Dresher, Paul & Eckert, Rinded        "Power Failure"
    About an evil tycoon who has spent millions on a perpetual youth
    machine for himself. When the moment comes to use it, a power
    failure traps him, his assistant, secretary, and the janitor in
    the underground laboratory. Despite the morality-play aspects of
    what follow, it comes off as a powerful statement against rampant
    materialism and exploitation of people and the environment.

Glass, Philip                "Einstein on the Beach"
    Has a scene where a flying saucer appears

Glass, Philip                "1000 Airplanes on the Roof"

Glass, Philip                "Hydrogen Jukebox"

Glass, Philip                "Juniper Tree"

Glass, Philip & Lessing, Doris        "The Making of the Representative
                        from Planet 8"

Haydn, J.                 "Il Mondo della Luna"
    "It isn't straight sci-fi in the modern sense; the setting was meant
    to provide a distant enough context to present a parody of powerful
    people and institutions."  But it *isn't* set on the moon; it has
    someone tricked into believing they have traveled to the moon when
    they haven't.

Janacek                    "The Excursions of Mr Broucek"
    Two stories, one of which is Mr Broucek goes to the moon.

Janacek                    "The Macropoulous Affair"
    Original by Karel Capek; the story of a 400+ year old opera
    singer who possesses the formula for endless youth

Ligeti, G.                "Le Grand Macabre"
    I. The setting is the countryside in Brueghelland.  Preceded by
    the drunken Piet the Pot, the two lovers Amando and Amanda look
    for a secluded place in which to make love.  Out of a sepulchre
    to one side of the stage emerges Nekrotzar, Angel of Death,
    Great Reaper, Demon, Vampire etc, to announce the end of the
    world that day at midnight.
    II.  Astradamors, court astrologer and hen-pecked husband, sees
    apparitions through his telescope portending disaster.  His wife
    dreams of Venus, whom she asks to be sent a real man for a
    husband.  Astradamors' fears are confirmed with the arrival of
    Nekrotzar, who first fulfils Mescalina's sexual desires and then
    kills her.
    III.  The gluttonous ruler Go-Go receives word from the Chief of
    his secret police ('Gepopo') that a comet is headed on a collision
    course for Breughelland.  Nekrotzar arrives with appropriate pomp
    and ceremony to announce once more the end of the world.
    Astradamors celebrates the death of his wife with Piet the Pot in
    a drinking bout, and Nekrotzar, imagining the cup is filled with
    sacrificial blood instead of wine, joins in. Becoming increasingly
    intoxicated, Nekrotzar boasts about his cruel misdeeds and fails
    to notice that midnight has already passed.
    IV.  With everyone wondering whether or not the world has really
    ended, Mescalina breaks out of her tomb and recognises Nekrotzar
    as her first husband, who then sinks into oblivion under the
    weight of his failure.  Having missed all the excitement, the two
    lovers reappear.

Mackover, Todd                "Valis"
    Based on the Philip K. Dick novel

Menotti, Gian Carlo            "A Bride from Pluto"

Menotti, Giancarlo            "Help, Help the Globolinks!"

Monk, Meredith & Chong, Ping        "The Games"
    About a human society in a spacecraft that has been en route to a
    distant star system for many generations.  The games are simple
    children's games which have acquired ritual status in the spaceship
    culture.  (Ballet?)

Offenbach, Jacques            "Tales of Hoffman"
    Robot

Offenbach, Jacques            "Journey to the Moon"

Rice, Jeff                "The War of the Worlds"

Swan, Donald                "Perelandra"
    Based on the C. S. Lewis

Swan, Donald                various Tolkien songs (not opera)

?                    Robert Anton Wilson's stuff

?                    "A Wrinkle in Time"

And some random comments:

George Coates has a new work that takes place in virtual reality at
a theater in San Francisco. I don't know the name or composer, sorry.

For what it's worth I'm not sure I'd eliminate Wagner too soon: the
Ring may seem pretty fantastic, but many of the plots turn on the
appropriate use of technology (always Promethean, of course) and the
power it confers on the user.

Or sf novels with opera themes?  How about Jack Vance's _Space
Opera_?  As I recall the plot, it concerns the adventures of an
interstellar opera company.

Much thanks to:
    [e-mail]@usc.edu (William Alves)
    [e-mail] (Barb Miller)
    [e-mail] (Chris Ischay)
    [e-mail] (Diarmuid Pigott)
    [e-mail] (Mats Bengtsson  TX/DK )
    [e-mail] (Gene Lavergne)
    [e-mail] (Mr. Gower)
    [e-mail]
    [e-mail] (Charles Hedrick)
    [e-mail] (Jason E Frank)
    [e-mail] (J.K.Pearson)
    [e-mail] (Keith Andrew Falconer)
    [e-mail] (Bob Kosovsky)
    [e-mail] (Max Stern 310-524-6152)
    [e-mail] (Mark Gresham)
    [e-mail] (Peter Delafosse)
    [e-mail]
    [e-mail] (Robert Marshall)
    [e-mail] (R M Price)
    [e-mail] (Raymond Tuttle)
    [e-mail] (R. Wilmer)
    [e-mail] (Steve Apter)
    [e-mail] (Claudia Zornow)