Music on Star Trek

[Dark Reality 0]

One thing I've always had a hard time swallowing about the 24th century as portrayed in Star Trek series and films is that everyone either listens to classical, jazz, or opera. It's hard to believe that rock, metal, rap, and other more upbeat styles have died out with war and poverty. Surely there are still things to be angry and passionate about, and of course there will always be discontents among us.

 

Oh, I know why they use classical, jazz, and opera. It's all about licensing... it's easier for films to license much older music than it is for them to license today's hits. I just always wondered why they didn't ever make their own. Surely the hundreds (thousands?) of people who worked on Star Trek must have included some amateur musicians. Or... maybe they didn't want to try to speculate on what popular music would be like in the 24th century?

 

From time to time, when listening to Nightwish, one of my favorite bands, I imagine them having a place in the 24th century. They're from Finland, and any American who's heard them heard them online or from a friend... they're not on TV or radio, at least not here. (The UK is a different story... their networks play them.) They're kind of like an opera/metal band... I can imagine Worf/other Klingons getting into it, especially after an episode of DS9 where Worf was listening to opera (pretty sure the episode was "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"). What he was listening to was pretty cool, but could have used some guitar and drum work in there. <_<

 

I also figure those [characters] who like classical music might also appreciate some Led Zeppelin... off camera, where licensing isn't an issue, that is...

 

 

Hardcore Trekkies... don't take this too seriously... It is something I've always wondered, but in posting it, part of me is just playing with possibilities.

[Kor37 9]

I've always felt the same way about the music they listened to. I'm sure that there is such a thing as Popular Music in the 24th century. The one exception I saw was Tom Paris who said in one episode that he listens to Rock N Roll.

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

I'd often wondered about it myself. I mean good grief.....no one in the 24th Century knows who the Beatles are? Who Frank Sinatra is? Buck Owens? Metallica?

[Takara_Soong 4]

I'm glad they stayed away from trying to create 24th century rock 'n' roll. Any movie or television series that has tried hasn't done a good job IMO. It usually is just bad pop music played on synthesizers with no lyrics.

 

When it comes to music it is much easier to believe that the classical and operatic music featured in Trek will still be around in the 24th century because many of pieces played/sung in episodes has already been around for hundreds of years. The same could be said with the many references to Shakespeare in TNG and other series. Shakespeare's plays are still widely performed after 400 years so it's not hard to imagine they would still be known in another 100 - 300 years.

[sea trooper 0]

I'm glad they stayed away from trying to create 24th century rock 'n' roll. Any movie or television series that has tried hasn't done a good job IMO. It usually is just bad pop music played on synthesizers with no lyrics. 

357502[/snapback]

I like big butts and I cannot lie. You other brothers can't deny-

"Fry, you can't just sit here in the dark and listen to classical music!"

 

But I would have loved to hear some good 90s rock music instead of all that boring classical stuff.

[Odo 0]

I think they stayed away from popular music

for a reason. as stated classical and opera have have

been around for centerties.

But whats popular today may not and usally

is not tomorrow.

The music they used is timeless todays music is not

It would also have dated the shows to a certain time.

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I think they stayed away from popular music

for a reason. as stated classical and opera  have have

been around for centerties.

But whats popular today may not and usally

is not tomorrow.

The music they used is timeless todays music is not

It would also have dated the shows to a certain time.

357506[/snapback]

Agreed.

[Dark Reality 0]

I think they stayed away from popular music

for a reason. as stated classical and opera  have have

been around for centerties.

But whats popular today may not and usally

is not tomorrow.

The music they used is timeless todays music is not

It would also have dated the shows to a certain time.

357506[/snapback]

Agreed as well, but...

 

They wouldn't have to use new music. Stuff that has come out in the last 5-10 years would be a mistake. Older stuff, though, you can pretty much judge what's timeless and what isn't. The Beatles are timeless. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix... this stuff is going to be around and popular for a very long time. It's stood the test of time. Not as long as classical, but more people today know more about Led Zeppelin than they do about Ludwig von Beethoven and his work. That's not to say classical won't outlive classic rock, but it's got the advantage of its youth.

 

They wouldn't have to use popular music, either. If an American audience heard some of the stuff I like in a show, it would sound very foreign, and could be passed as futuristic, because it's so far removed from popular music. Using my example, Nightwish... what's the most popular metal out today? Disturbed and Godsmack? Mudvayne and Slipknot? Nightwish are light-years away from that stuff. NW and bands like them could work well as 24th century rock, at least to American audiences.

 

...And even if something that is popular now is not popular in 10 years, music styles have a way of coming back. It's been stated on TNG at least, that their computers contain record of everything ever recorded (I know I heard that once), so the idea of the whole of 1980s or 1990s or 2000s music culture re-emerging is not a remote one. Though it does conflict with the utopian nature of the Federation.

[zipkirk1966 0]

I also agree with this the only use the music that has been around for along time there music today that could be use but the episode where made in the late 80's to the 90's but it would have been cool to hear other forms of music. But try to make new music your right they faild look at buck rogers in the 24th centray that was so sad lol.

 

Brian

[Mr.Picard 12]

I REALLY miss some good old rock music on Star Trek. I mean, come on, at least SOMEONE must still listen to it!

Remember the TNG episode "The Neutral Zone" in which this musician with that guitar shows up? Everyone looks at him as if he's some kind of very strange alien. <_<

[Takara_Soong 4]

Agreed as well, but...

 

They wouldn't have to use new music.  Stuff that has come out in the last 5-10 years would be a mistake.  Older stuff, though, you can pretty much judge what's timeless and what isn't.  The Beatles are timeless.  Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix... this stuff is going to be around and popular for a very long time.  It's stood the test of time.  Not as long as classical, but more people today know more about Led Zeppelin than they do about Ludwig von Beethoven and his work.  That's not to say classical won't outlive classic rock, but it's got the advantage of its youth.

357649[/snapback]

 

I disagree. If I had a nickel for every rock song that was described as timeless and a few years later no one remembered it, I'd be rich. Yes, some bands and songs have withstood the test of time so far but to compare rock bands to Beethoven is premature. For all we know, rock music could be a fad that no one remembers 200 years from now.

[Kor37 9]

For all we know, rock music could be a fad that no one remembers 200 years from now.

 

Tom Paris was a fan of Rock N Roll.......

[Takara_Soong 4]

For all we know, rock music could be a fad that no one remembers 200 years from now.

 

Tom Paris was a fan of Rock N Roll....... B)

357749[/snapback]

 

But he was a 20th century history buff so all that proves is some 24th century historians like rock music, not that rock music was still popular in the 24th century.

Edited October 14, 2005 by Takara_Soong

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

Rock music, indeed most popular forms, has the horrible and wrong reputation of being less than cerebral and intellectual. You find that with all forms of music, but the popular forms take the worst beating on this. Seeing as everyone in Starfleet HAS to be pretty intelligent to get where they are, the wrongful connection seems natural.

[Dark Reality 0]

I think the most likely explanation is licensing. If you look in music stores, classical and opera music is often found reproduced and is thus very cheap... with computer technology nowadays, it would not have been hard for the producers to find some public-domain classical music and synthesize it with a computer. Next to zero cost.

 

If, by some miracle of technology, I were ever transported to the world of Star Trek, I'd introduce Worf and any Klingon I could find to Nightwish and similar bands... and drop some Enya and Yuki Kajiura (Japanese new age artist similar to Enya) CDs around Picard's and Janeway's offices... I'm sure they could replicate a CD player with little trouble. :P (Being even less serious here.)

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Just wait till the latter part of season 6 of DS9 when you meet Vic Fontain, a 1960's Vegas lounge singer. He will bring in a different genera of music to the station, plus for what it's worth he mentions Elvis in an episode lol.

[Captain Holland 0]

I think it was a mistake of the writers to "forget" the 20/21st centuries. I would have liked to see captain Picard banging his head to some Metallica, or Data playing a synthesizer at ship concerts.