In the grand tradition of meaningless internet timewasting, I propose to draw connections between all the recording artistes in my Top 50 list. In doing this, I will have safely put off all the things I actually need to do.
Starting at Number 50, then:
50.
Wendy Carlos
Scored two Stanley Kubrick movies. Stanley Kubrick directed Barry Lyndon, which was pastiched in the video for
CC (You Set the Fire in Me) by
49.
Tom Vek
Contributed a song to the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, which also features
Godley and Creme's Cry. Godley and Creme also directed music videos, one of which was for the band
Yes, which at one time featured Trevor Horn, production mastermind behind
48.
The Art of Noise
Which also comprised Anne Dudley and Paul Morley, both of whom worked with
47.
ABC
Fronted by the inimitable Martin Fry, who performed a cover of
Tom Jones' Bond theme
Thunderball on
David Arnold's Shaken Not Stirred album, which also featured
Leftfield, who, on their track
Open Up, worked with John Lydon, frontman of
46.
Public Image Ltd.
Toured with
New Order on The Monsters of Alternative Rock tour in 1989. New Order's Peter Hook has claimed that he had been invited to perform onstage with
45.
Interpol
Who played the Curiosa festival, organised by Robert Smith of
44.
The Cure
A much credited influence on
43.
The Killers
Whose video for
Bones was directed by Tim Burton, also director of Batman. Batman: The Animated Series was graced by the voiceover talents of one Stuart Goddard, better known as the frontman of
42.
Adam and the Ants
Who recorded a song called Friends,in which Jim Morrison is namechecked. Jim Morrison had an affair with
Nico, of
The Velvet Underground, which was primarily fronted by
41.
Lou Reed
A contributor to the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway. Lynch also directed Dune, which Ridley Scott was originally intended to direct. Instead, Scott worked on Blade Runner, which was scored by
40.
Vangelis
That movie score is being performed in full at
Massive Attack's Meltdown festival, where
39.
Grace Jones
Will also be performing. Jones co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer. Schwarzenegger appears as himself (apparently) in the comedy movie Dave, which stars Kevin Kline, who recorded vocals for
Disco Clone, probably the most famous song by
38.
Cristina
One of the acts on the
Ze Label in New York. New York is also the home to
37.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
One of many bands to appear on the
Gang of Four tribute album
Return The Gift. Another was
36.
Bloc Party
Whose frontman, Kele Okereke, was born in Liverpool, home to
35.
Echo and the Bunnymen
Frontman Ian McCulloch is a fan of
David Bowie. In the late 70s, Bowie declared that his idea for a multimedia stage show had been anticipated by
34.
The Human League
Who were asked to tour with
Talking Heads. The frontman of Talking Heads was half of the informal partnership behind the
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album:
33.
Brian Eno and David Byrne
Eno produced David Bowie's
Lodger album, which featured the single
Boys Keep Swinging, covered by
32.
The Associates
Bono wrote the foreword to a book on Associates frontman Billy Mackenzie. Bono sang on a
Michael Hutchence album produced by Andy Gill of
31.
Gang of Four
Whose bassist, Dave Allen, later joined
Shriekback, which also featured members of
XTC, one of many bands covered by
30.
Nouvelle Vague
Who also covered a
Generation X song. Generation X's
Billy Idol is famous for his song
White Wedding, partially covered in a version of
What You Waiting For by
29.
Franz Ferdinand
Past recipients of the Mercury Music Prize, an accolade last bequeathed to
28.
Klaxons
Who are working with Tony Visconti, who produced
Indiscreet by
27.
Sparks
Who were covered by
26.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
An acknowledged early influence on
25.
U2
Who recorded
Achtung Baby at Hansa Studios, Berlin, the same place that
The Idiot by
24.
Iggy Pop
Was recorded some thirteen or so years earlier. Iggy Pop is one of the favourite artists of Alison
23.
Goldfrapp
Who played Coachella this year, along with
22.
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos guested on an album by
Electronic, the Johnny Marr/Bernard Sumner side project. Whilst in Joy Division, Bernard Sumner worked with Martin Hannett, who produced much of the recorded output of
21.
John Cooper Clarke
Was a friend of Mark E. Smith's. Apparently, a song on
The Fall's debut album refers to
Julian Cope of
20.
The Teardrop Explodes
Julian Cope is a much regarded historian of Krautrock, Prog and suchlike, and has written about
King Crimson. Robert Fripp of King Crimson once asked
David Sylvian of
19.
Japan
To serve as the frontman of his band. In an anecdote about the making of
Tin Drum, Mick Karn notes that
Paul McCartney asked to appear on the album. McCartney and the other
Beatles were parodied by
The Residents on their debut album. The Residents also recorded a cover of
Satisfaction by
The Rolling Stones, as did
18.
Devo
A parody of whose song
Whip It features in an episode of The Simpsons. The Simpsons devoted an entire episode to a parody of Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, who also directed a film version of The Trial by Franz Kafka. The protagonist of The Trial is
17.
Josef K
Whose song
Sorry for Laughing was covered by
ZTT band
Propaganda, one of whose members was (is?) married to Paul Morley, who wrote the liner notes for a
16.
Fad Gadget
compilation. Fad Gadget's
Frank Tovey died shortly after a tour with
Depeche Mode, who appear on the soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World, as do
15.
Talking Heads
were produced by
Brian Eno, who, in Roxy Music, released a song called
14.
Ladytron
who, along with
13.
New Order
contributed to a
Nine Inch Nails remix album. New Order were managed by Alan Wise, who also managed
12.
The Fall
Mark E. Smith had a correspondence with Iggy Pop for several years. Seeing Iggy Pop perform was the catalyst for Alan Vega of
11.
Suicide
To enter music. Suicide were instrumental in the No Wave scene, documented by
10.
Brian Eno
On the No New York album. Brian Eno composed some of the music for David Lynch's Dune, which starred the actor Everett McGill, who also appeared in the Bond film Licence to Kill, which was the first of many not to be scored by veteran Bond composer
9.
John Barry
Composed the theme tune to
The Persuaders, which featured the character Lord Brett Sinclair, the apparent namesake of
Brett Anderson of
8.
Suede
Anderson released a self-named solo album in 2007, as did
Jarvis Cocker of
7.
Pulp
The video for Pulp's
Bad Cover Version features a
6.
David Bowie
impersonator. Bowie is the credited writer of Blur's M.O.R., due to it borrowing the melody from
Boys Keep Swinging.
Blur's
Damon Albarn was the partner of Justine Frischman from
Elastica, who also plagiarised a song, albeit one by
5.
Wire
Mike Thorne produced Wire's early albums, as he did with
Honi Soit by
4.
John Cale
Who himself was slated to produce the first
3.
Roxy Music
Album. Roxy Music feature heavily on the soundtrack of Control, the biopic of Ian Curtis of
2.
Joy Division
Members of Joy Division were present at the seminal Free Trade Hall
Sex Pistols gig, organised by Howard Devoto of
1.
Magazine
I think you'll agree, pretty seamless...er...
Generation X
