A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a fiction 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess, and forms the basis for the 1971 film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick. The novel is widely regarded as a successor to earlier great fiction novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and We.

Influence

Both the story and individual elements have had a strong influence on popular culture in general and popular music in particular, although this is probably due to the movie's popularity rather than the novel's. Examples of this are the Droog image of punk band The Adicts, the 1980s British electropop band Heaven 17 taking their name from an eponymous band in the book. British dance act Moloko's name simply means "milk" in Russian, but 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. The English band New Order also have a track on their 1983 album, Power, Corruption, & Lies, entitled "Ultraviolence". 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.

Related Topics:
Popular culture - Popular music - Droog - Punk - The Adicts - 1980s - British - Electropop - Heaven 17 - Moloko - Russian - Nadsat - Blur - The Universal - Damon Albarn - New Order - 1988 - German - Die Toten Hosen - Concept album

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Popular cartoon series The Simpsons references the movie version in several episodes, most notably placing Bart in an Alex-type role. The episode entitled Dog of Death shows Bart's dog, Santa's Little Helper, with his eyes propped open watching disturbing movies as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony plays. During one of the Halloween episodes, the Simpson family throws a costume party where Bart is dressed as Alex DeLarge.

Related Topics:
The Simpsons - Halloween

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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 Korova Milk Bar in New York City references the same, and even features decor similar to that of the movie, as well as milk and iced-cream themed drinks. Moloko is also the name of a vodka bar in Salisbury, in the English county of Wiltshire, specialising in Russian, Polish and Scandinavian vodkas. 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' tattoos. Countless other references can be traced in books, movies, and even computer games. The rock band The White Stripes may have been influenced by the movie. Some consider the music video for Seven Nation Army to be a homage to the movie.

Related Topics:
2002 - Poland - Alternative - Myslovitz - Moloko - Streetpunk - Oi! - Lower Class Brats - The White Stripes

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R&B Singer Usher's outfit was influenced by the main character in which he wears the bowler hat and has the trademark drawn eyelash on his left eye. In the video, "My Way" he plays the protagonist to singer, Tyrese Gibson, where he playfully flirts with his girlfriend. He has a street gang who all wear bowler hats and dance in this neon-graffiti-street-gang world. Norwegian punk band Turbonegro's lead singer is seen with trademark eyelashes on both eyes and also wears a bowler hat during performances.

Related Topics:
R&B - Usher - Tyrese - Norwegian - Punk - Turbonegro

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More contemporary Oi/Skinhead bands such as the Clockwork Crew consistently use themes from Alex' appearance in their logos and artwork; Also, the novel and movie remains hugely popular among street skins and punks.

Related Topics:
Clockwork Crew - Skins - Punks

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Clockwork Orange is also the name of a progressive rock band from Bangalore, India. There was a surf rock band in the 1960s called The Clockwork Oranges.

Related Topics:
Bangalore, India - Surf rock - 1960s

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Rob Zombie made his music video for the song "Never Gonna Stop" as a tribute to the film. He was dressed like Alex, and had the original milk dispensers from the film. The song's full title was "Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)", red kroovy being Nadsat for blood.

Related Topics:
Rob Zombie - Milk

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Shihad, a band from New Zealand, also made their video clip for "Pacifier" (1999) as a tribute to the film. The band appeared as gang in costume, in the milk bar, playing as the band and driving in the Lotus. The song had widespread success as a single in New Zealand and Australia, and the video has had large rotation on television stations.

Related Topics:
Shihad - New Zealand - 1999 - Lotus

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In 1991, U2 released the single The Fly. On the CD single, a "B" side track was entitled Alex descends into hell for a bottle of milk/Korova 1.

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In 1982, Californian punk band TSOL used the Clockwork Orange film logo font (Timepiece) for their album 'Beneath The Shadows'.

Related Topics:
Californian - TSOL

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