The five best songs inspired by Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon, one of the most celebrated contemporary American novelists, brought a beguiling postmodern lens to the literary world, exploring the hidden structures of human existence.
His work provides validating succour for the world’s conspiracists or grimly reinforces the nihilists’ outlook when nothing is found. With a series of acclaimed landmark novels, including V., Gravity’s Rainbow, and Inherent Vice, Pynchon blends high and low culture in a uniquely idiosyncratic style. His influence has earned praise from future dystopia writers like William Gibson, while psychologist and LSD ‘neuronaut’ Timothy Leary once described Pynchon’s work as cyberpunk’s ‘Old Testament’.
Weaving between fractured, seemingly incongruous subjects as disparate as astronomy, jazz, plastic surgery, a bawdy joke, or the New York sewage system’s wildlife, Pynchon’s meta-approach lifts the experimental precedent set by James Joyce’s Ulysses, dolloping layer upon layer of subtext and beckoning intense, academic scrutiny often because he simply finds it funny. Such an experimental and simultaneously passionate yet irreverent mining of disparate pop and intellectual fodder naturally has inspired many artists to grapple with Pynchon’s heady themes.
In 1982, author and literary scholar Steven Moore attempted a studious collation of Pynchon’s influence on pop under the title ‘Pynchon on Record’. This was followed by numerous additions over the years, including even unsigned bands or acts that coincidentally share names with characters or titles of Pynchon’s work. Bridging a gap between the hippies and the punks, it’s extraordinary to see how Pynchon’s presence hovers over the 1960s counterculture as well as the following new wave.
With such a furtive influence on a diverse scope of popular music, we select five great songs inspired by Pynchon’s work.
Five songs inspired by Thomas Pynchon:
‘We Suck Young Blood’ Radiohead (Hail to the Thief, 2003)
“I just started Gravity’s Rainbow. I tried reading it once before, but this time around, it’s much more fun. It’s a really early one, isn’t it? This one seems easier to get into than V,” Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke told Rolling Stone. Long been the source of enthusiastic probing, dedicated Pynchon sleuths have found all manner of hints of his mark on the Oxford group’s work, from B-side ‘Fog’ lyrics to their W.A.S.T.E. website.
V haunts most potently on ‘We Suck Young Blood’, with page 300’s “I want some young blood / Drink it, gargle it”. Given the alternative title ‘Your Time Is Up’ and recorded in Hollywood, it could be touching on predatory celebrity via Pynchon’s skewed lens.
‘W.A.S.T.E.’ – Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf (Pynchon Cycle, 2013)
German experimental composer Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf wrote several pieces based on Pynchon’s literature, including 2002’s The Tristero System and Hommage à Thomas Pynchon in 2003. Arranging starkly nebulous pieces that twist in and out of discordant shrieks and terse silences is one of the more somatic illustrations of Pynchon’s erratic thematic structures.
Teaming up with South West German Radio Experimental Studio for live electronics, Mahnkopf conjures a haunting piece with its brittle oboe and white noise interruptions, succinctly evoking The Crying Lot of 49’s subterranean ‘We Await Silent Tristero’s Empire’ shadiness.
‘Whip It’ – Devo (Freedom of Choice, 1980)
Still occasionally tagged with the ‘one-hit wonder’ tag by listicles who haven’t done their homework, synth-punks Devo‘s MTV-ready bonafide hit ‘Whip It’ still stands as their most accessible and recognised cut, deploying their angular jerky hook and catchy lyrical refrain to mainstream success.
As always with the Ohio pranksters, a core of subversion lies in their most commercial tune. Inspired by Gravity’s Rainbow, Gerald Casale sought to mimic the novel’s many parodies of ‘all-American’ cliches on capitalist motivational grind’ proffered by the likes of Horatio Alger, appealing to the band’s satirical bent.
‘Gravity’s Angel’ – Laurie Anderson (Mister Heartbreak, 1984)
Originally wishing to adapt Gravity’s Rainbow for opera, Pynchon gave permission on condition Laurie Anderson could only use the banjo. With that ambition put to bed, Anderson sought to capture the novel’s multidimensional nature on a poetic soundscape from her sophomore LP Mister Heartbreak.
Crafting a skulking Synclavier piece with chunky percussion and her distinctive soar between cool poetic delivery and siren shine, backed up with Peter Gabriel, Anderson captures Pynchon as his most metaphysical.
‘Navvy’ – Pere Ubu (Dub Housing, 1978)
Another Ohio post-punk, Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, is well known for spiking his electronic-coated avant-rock with heady literary allusions. Similar to Magazine’s Howard Devoto, Thomas’ lyrical obsessions race around philosophical labyrinths sprawling across his lengthy output.
Naming his band after Alfred Jarry’s ‘pataphysical’ play, a keen interest in Pynchon is no surprise. Dub Housing‘s opener, Navvy, touches on V semi-obliquely. Its frantic “I’ve got these arms and legs that flip” chant is certainly shaped by the novel’s McClintic Sphere’s saxophone binary concept.
