Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four (often 1984) is a political novel written by George Orwell. The story takes place in a nightmarish dystopia where the omnipresent State enforces perfect conformity among members of a totalitarian Party through indoctrination, propaganda, fear, and ruthless punishment. The novel introduced the concepts of the ever-present, all-seeing Big Brother, the notorious Room 101, the ubiquitous thought police, and the bureaucrats' and politicians' language Newspeak. Many commentators draw parallels between today's society and the world of 1984, suggesting that we are starting to live in what has become known as Orwellian society. The novel was successful in terms of sales, and has remained one of the most influential books of the 20th century.

Related Works

Literature

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• Anthem by Ayn Rand
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
• James Burnham, whose book The Managerial Revolution was a major influence on the development of Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Iron Heel by Jack London, a dystopian novel about a protofascist state, cited by Orwell biographers as an influence
• Jennifer Government by Max Barry
• 1985 by Gyogy Dalos, a "sequel" to 1984 beginning at the death of Big Brother
• 1985 by Anthony Burgess, a sequel-critique of 1984
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Film/Television

• "1984", an Apple Macintosh commercial depicting an Orwellian dystopia
• Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski's science fiction epic which features an intentionally Orwellian Earth government, as well as many homages to Nineteen Eighty-Four
• "Chain of Command", a famous episode of ' in which Jean-Luc Picard is tortured in a fashion similar to that of Winston Smith. Just as Smith is repeatedly shown a hand with four fingers and tortured until he will agree that he actually sees five, Picard is tortured by a Cardassian sadist and is as much told, as asked to see five lights when there are only four.
• The Simpsons Halloween special segment Time and Punishment.

Recordings

• Subhumans released the album The Day The Country Died in 1982, which appears to be influenced by Nineteen Eighty-Four. One of the songs is called "Big Brother", with lyrics like "There's a TV in my front room and it's screwing up my head", referring to the telescreen of the novel. Much like the novel, the album is largely dystopian, with songs like "Dying World" and "All Gone Dead", the latter of which contains lyrics like "It's 1984 and it's gonna be a war".
• 1984 (For The Love of Big Brother) is the title of an album by the Eurythmics which was originally released in November 1984 as a partial soundtrack for the film adaptation. It contained the following tracks:

:(3:28) I did it just the same; (3:59) Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four); (5:05) For the love of big brother; (1:22) Winston's diary; (6:13) Greetings from a dead man; (6:40) Julia (4:40) Doubleplusgood; (3:48) Ministry of love; (3:50) Room 101.

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• Oingo Boingo released a song called "Wake up (It's 1984)" on their 1983 album Good For Your Soul. Taking heavily from the movie as well as the book, it serves as commentary to current society.
• David Bowie released the album Diamond Dogs which contained the songs: Rebel Rebel, 1984, We Are The Dead, Sweet Thing/Sweet Thing (Repraise), Candidate, and Big Brother. The project was originally conceived as a full length theatrical production but he was denied the rights.
• Benzene Jag, an obscure punk band formed in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada released a 45 rpm single called "Fuck off 1984" in 1983.
• Rage Against the Machine released the album called The Battle of Los Angeles in 1999 featuring the track "Testify" containing the phrase "Who Controls the Past Now, Controls the Future, Who controls the Present Now, Controls the Past...", a slogan used by the Party in the Nineteen Eighty-Four novel.
• Bad Religion released the album called The Empire Strikes First in 2004 featuring the track "Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever" with the title of the song being a direct reference to the Nineteen Eighty-Four novel. In the novel, O'Brien suggests the image of a boot stamping on a human face forever as a picture of the future. The song seems to be referring to the hopelessness of rebellion against the Party.
• Marilyn Manson's album Holy Wood included a song called "Disposable Teens" in which he sings that he's "a rebel from the waist down". This is a direct reference to Orwell's book, when Winston accuses Julia of being "only a rebel from the waist downwards".
• Anaal Nathrakh's album Domine Non Es Dignus includes a song called "Do Not Spear" that opens with a sample of "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot, stamping on a human face, for ever." Due to Anaal Nathrakh's lyrics being unpublished, the exact influence of 1984 is unknown. However the words "pain, frustration, faded memories" are intelligible, and 1984 certainly fits with the apocalyptic, despairing, anti human themes of the band.
• Radiohead's album Hail to the Thief contains the song "2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm)", where not only the title refers to Nineteen Eighty-Four but the first lines of the song seem to be referring to the hopelessness of Winston's struggle:

:"Are you such a dreamer

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:to put the world to right?"

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• In the song "George Orwell Must Be Laughing His Ass Off" by Mea Culpa, the second verse begins with "If 2 plus 2 don't equal 5 I guess I'm just no fun".
• Singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke published a song called "When Two and Two are Five" with Jennifer Kimball (as The Story).
• The Pet Shop Boys have a song called "one and one make five" on their 1993 album Very.
• The song "The Panama Deception" by Anti-Flag begins with the text "Their two plus two does not equal four. Their two plus two equals whatever they want us to die for".
• Incubus's album A Crow Left of the Murder has the song "Talkshow on Mute". The song is about how one day, the television might be watching us instead of us watching them so it shows a world where humans are monitored at all times. Among its lyrics is the line

:"Come one, come all, into 1984"

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• Open Hand released a song called "Newspeak" on their 2005 album You and Me. The song title and lyrics deal heavily with the ideas of newspeak and being thought controlled.
• The Rare Earth hit single "Hey Big Brother", released in 1971, sings of the future arrival of Big Brother, first addressing this future Big Brother directly and then finishing by expressing a rebellious defiance against his arrival.
• The Dead Kennedys' 1979 single "California Über Alles" contains the lyrics "Now it is 1984, Knock knock at your front door." The band's 1981 album In God We Trust, Inc. includes the song "We've got a Bigger Problem Now", which contains the line "Welcome to 1984, Are you ready for the Third World War?!?!"
• The album "Vistoron", released in 2004 by Japanese electronic musician Susumu Hirasawa under the name KAKU P-MODEL, contains a track titled "Big Brother". Hirasawa has offered Big Brother as a free download in MP3 file format.
• Pink Floyd, paid a clear homage to George Orwell in their album "Animals", the album cover has an image of Battersea Power Station which is also an image used in the film of 1984. The songs are all deeply linked with Orwell's "Animal Farm".
• New Zealand band Shihad, started off their debut album Churn with the quote "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face ? forever." on the song "Factory".