Soul Music
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- This article is about the novel Soul Music. For the type of music, see Soul music.
| Terry Pratchett The Discworld series 16th novel – 3rd Death story  | |
| Outline | |
| Characters: | Death Susan Imp y Celyn Glod Glodsson Lias Bluestone |
| Locations: | Ankh-Morpork Death's Domain |
| Motifs: | Rock music and related mythologising |
| Publication details | |
| Year of release: | 1994 |
| Original publisher: | Victor Gollancz |
| Hardback ISBN: | ISBN 0575055049 |
| Paperback ISBN: | ISBN 0552140295 |
| Other details | |
| Awards: | |
| Notes: | |
It also introduces the recurring character Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Mort and Ysabell.
An animated adaptation was produced by Cosgrove-Hall Productions for Channel 4 in 1996. The soundtrack was also released on CD and is now out of production.
The cover is similar to that of the Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell.
Story outline
The story of the book follows The Band with Rocks In through their short-lived but glamorous musical career. A pun on the Rolling Stones, the band consists of the following members:- Imp Y Celyn, a young lad from Llamedos ("Sod 'em all" backwards, see Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood) who sings and plays the guitar. His name is a Welsh translation of bud Y holly ("bud of the holly"). He looks rather "Elvish" (Elvis), which is remarked upon several times in the books and leads up to the final pun on the Kirsty MacColl song "There's a guy works down the fish shop who swears he's Elvis" which was a moderate sized (#14) hit in Britain in 1981.
- Lias Bluestone, a troll who does percussion, which in typical troll fashion consists of banging rocks together. He later takes on a more rocky name, Cliff (the other members commenting that no-one with a name like that would ever be able to have a musical hit).
- Glod Glodsson, a dwarf that plays horn, and is not ashamed to admit he's in it for the money.
- The Librarian joins the Band for a little while to play the organ.
- We're Certainly Dwarfs (They Might Be Giants)
- A Big Troll and some other trolls
- Trollz
- &U (U2)
- The Whom (The Who)
- Lead Balloon (Led Zeppelin)
- Insanity (Madness)
- Felonious Monk (Thelonious Monk)
During the Band's popularity, Blert Wheedown's Guitar Primer (play your way to succeſs in three easy leſsons and eighteen hard leſsons) [sic] becomes a temporary bestseller in Ankh-Morpork. Also, C.M.O.T. Dibbler tries to make big business by selling Band with Rocks In shirts and assorted memorabilia.
Meanwhile, Death is in one of his philosophical moods, and takes a holiday in search of a way to forget his more troubling memories, such as the recent demise of his adopted daughter Ysabell and her husband Mort. In the meantime, his granddaughter Susan discovers the truth about her heritage when she's forced to stand in for her missing grandfather. Complications ensue when she falls in love with Imp, and tries to save him from his "live fast, die young" destiny as the Discworld's first rock star.
Pop Culture References
Besides the band references, there are several references to popular songs, movies, and people associated with rock 'n roll culture between the 1950s and 1990s.Songs include:
- "Don't Tread on My New Blue Boots" (Don't Step on My Blue Suede Shoes)
- "Good Gracious Miss Polly" (Good Golly Miss Molly)
- "Sto Helit Lace" and Buddy saying 'Hello, baby' (Chantilly Lace)
- "Pathway to Paradise" (Stairway to Heaven)
- The book references at least one person's thoughts on 'the day the music died,' referring both to the plane crash which claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper and to the song "American Pie" commemorating the incident
- When Death takes the leather coat and the Libarian's motorcycle the sentence "with the coat he borrowed from the Dean" comes up which is a parody of the lyrics from the song American Pie
- Buddy starting to fade away while playing onstage is reminiscent of Marty in Back to the Future.
- A Hard Day's Night - many of the band's getaway scenes, and their general lives while in the band
- Wayne's World - Blert Wheedown banning the playing of "Pathway to Paradise" in his guitar store
- The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause - the Dean's increasingly rebellious attitude, as well as his manner of dress (live fats die yognue) and hairstyle (a 'duck's arse') mirror the youth culture movies of the 1950s, as well as the association of death and motorcycles with music with rocks in. At one stage a mumbling and rebellious Dean is called the 'rebel without a pause'
- The Blues Brothers - early in the novel there is a parody of the diner scene where the characters order four fried rats and some coke (four fried chickens and a Coke); later, when stealing a piano, Cliff remarks they are "on a mission from Glod" (the Blues Brothers justified their actions by saying they were "on a mission from God.")
- Buddy starting to fade away while playing onstage is reminiscent of Marty in Back to the Future.
- One of Ankh-Morpork's premier guitar builders is a dwarf named Gibsson (Gibson produced the first pickup driven electric guitar in the 1930s)
- Glod often redecorates the band's hotel rooms, referring to the common practice, starting with the Who, of destroying hotel rooms, also parodied in This is Spinal Tap
- The University staff become 1950s teeny-boppers with beehive hairstyles
Translations
- Музика на душата (Bulgarian)
- Težké melodično (Czech)
- Zieltonen (Dutch)
- Hinge muusika (Estonian)
- Elävää musiikkia (Finland)
- Accros du roc (French)
- Rollende Steine (German)
- Muzyka duszy (Polish)
- Музыка души (Russian)
- Duševna muzika (Serbian)
- Soul Music (Spanish)
- Levande musik (Swedish)
External links
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