A Clockwork Orange (film)

Influence

Both the story and individual elements have had a strong influence on popular culture in general and popular music in particular. Perhaps most notably, the 1980s British electropop band Heaven 17 took their name from an eponymous band in the book. UK's Sigue Sigue Sputnik used in 1986 both the word "ultraviolence" and samples from the film on their single 'Love Missile F1-11', also adopting the film's imagery for their stage costumes and video clips. New Order had previously used "Ultraviolence" as the title of a track on its 1983 album "Power, Corruption and Lies". Although the British dance act Moloko's name simply means "milk" in Russian, it was adopted indirectly from Nadsat in which it has the same basic meaning, but also refers to a milk drink with admixed drugs. Blur paid homage to the movie version of A Clockwork Orange in the video for their song The Universal, in which Damon Albarn is dressed as Alex. References in pop music abound outside the English-speaking world as well. In 1988, the German punk rock outfit Die Toten Hosen released their breakthrough concept album Ein kleines bisschen Horrorshow (a reference to Alex's Nadsat phrase a bit of horrorshow ), having been involved as musicians in a German stage production of A Clockwork Orange. In 2002, Poland's alternative stars Myslovitz released an album entitled Korova Milky Bar, a reference to the place where Alex and his friends meet to consume their drug-enhanced moloko. The Streetpunk/oi! band Lower Class Brats has maintained a theme of both the film and the book in the band's lyrics, merchandise, and even the members's tattoos. In 2005 Stereo Total from Germany turned the film's title music into their song 'Orange mécanique'. Countless other references can be traced in books, movies, and even computer games.

Related Topics:
Popular culture - Popular music - 1980s - British - Electropop - Heaven 17 - Sigue Sigue Sputnik - New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies - Moloko - Russian - Nadsat - Blur - The Universal - Damon Albarn - 1988 - German - Punk rock - Die Toten Hosen - Concept album - 2002 - Poland - Alternative - Myslovitz - Streetpunk - Oi! - Lower Class Brats - 2005 - Stereo Total

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• In the Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror III" episode, Bart is seen wearing an "Alex" costume.
• In the Simpsons "Dog of Death" episode, Smithers props Santa's Little Helper's eyes open and forces him to watch a sequence of destructive scenes set to classical music. Santa's Little Helper transforms from playful and friendly to vicious and violent.
• In Rob Zombie's song "Never Gonna Stop" there are several references to the film in the lyrics, "My Durango 95", which is the car that was driven in the "hogs of the road" scene and "step back and watch it flow" referring to the blood that pours from Alex's victims . In the video, Rob is seen dressed as Alex, with his band as droogs. The video features an homage to the milkbar scene and the "hogs of the road" scene. The song's alternate title (and the female-sung lyric) is "Red, Red Kroovy," a Nadsat expression for blood.
• In David Bowie's song "Suffragette City," his words are directed at a "droogy." Further, in Ziggy Stardust: the Motion Picture, the pre- and post-show music playing on the house system (which Bowie is seen whistling along to backstage) is from the Clockwork Orange soundtrack.
• The Hungarian film Nexxt a/k/a The Frau Plastic Chicken Show, is loosely based on the story, treating the novel and film as documentary and follow the "real" Alex around and make parallels to a more recent sociopath murderer.