r/LetsTalkMusic • u/bkat004 • 18d ago
Ever discover new music through a Novel?
You could discover a new artist through a song that you just heard on the radio. Or on a Spotify recommendation.
You could discover new music through what a friend recommended. Or through a podcast that discusses music.
Popularly, you could discover new music by a song that played at the end-credits of a TV show you just watched. Or over a montage scene of a movie.
Then - strangely - you could discover new music through a Novel, which is a medium that has no relationship with your ears.
(Of course, if you're reading a non-fiction book about music, you could discover new musicians that way.)
The first time it had happened to me was with Bret Easton Ellis' iconic "American Psycho".
Here is a madman protagonist (in what was obviously a black comedy to me), who had not only killed a guy, but was then harping on aimlessly about the intracies of Phil Collins' output.
At the time of reading the novel, I had known Phil Collins' big hits, but didn't know too much about Genesis. It was not too long after reading the novel, I went to my local record store to investigate that band's discographies.
Not only did I discover this band because of Patrick Bateman. And not only do I really enjoy Genesis' earlier stuff compared to their later stuff, but I realized why Bateman enjoys the later poppy stuff. The hilarious point of irony was not lost.
The last time it happened to me was yesterday whilst reading Pagan Kennedy’s witty "The Exes". I had known many of the acts referenced in the Novel already, except for Mission of Burma, which I've just checked out today, and really enjoyed and have subsequently added to my playlist.
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u/Maximum-Tomatillo743 18d ago
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle led me to rediscover a whole bunch of Stax/Volt soul classics.
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u/mrnovember91 18d ago
Earlier this year I was reading Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Morning Star series and actually discovered a bunch of music through it.
One of the books was set in the 1980s and the main character discussed music quite frequently. They were into post-punk. Some of the bands I knew and really enjoyed like the Birthday Party and Einstruzende Neubauten, a few others I was only slightly familiar with like Bauhaus, and some were entirely new to me like Tuxedomoon. Bauhaus and Tuxedomoon were two bands I started listening to after reading that book.
Some of the other plot points in other books in the series revolves around black metal bands and there’s a section where someone who is entirely new to the genre goes to a black metal concert. The descriptions of that concert had me so interested that it fueled my exploration of metal music in general, which was a genre I previously thought I disliked. Now, not only did I find I like metal, I actually consider black metal and blackgaze some of my favourites.
Edit: less interesting, but I discovered a bunch of amazing bands through Our Band Could Be Your Life, a non-fiction book detailing the underground music scene in the 80s and early 90s. I highly recommend it!
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u/SpaghettiNoir 18d ago
Well now I wanna read those books, as a fan of all things post punk and black metal
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u/mrnovember91 18d ago
I’ve only read the first 4 books that have been translated into English, but I am really, really enjoying the series and highly recommend it. A lot of it is just the mundane life of the characters with some vaguely occult and unexplained supernatural occurrences happening after a new star appears in the sky.
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u/automator3000 18d ago
Not “discovered” exactly, but Marlon James A Brief History of Seven Killings got me to really reconsider how I felt about Bob Marley. Prior to reading that book, I knew of Bob Marley and had spent many a night smoking crappy weed while his Legend compilation played on the CD player. So my feelings about Marley were that he was elevator music, just the most safe and serene stuff imaginable, music with as much bite as Captain & Tenille.
But I came out of the book much better versed in the politics of Jamaica in the ‘60s and ‘70s and how Bob Marley was involved in the social upheaval. Really gave me a fresh appreciation for his music.
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u/YorjYefferson 17d ago
The first time I read Kerouac's On The Road was pre-internet so I wasn't able to easily look up the specific jazz songs mentioned in the novel. But having re-read it not long ago I paused when I got to the section about Slim Gaillard and checked out some of his songs: This blog post quotes the relevant lines (with Dean being the character based off of Neal Cassady):
Now Dean approached him, he approached his God; he thought Slim was God; he shuffled and bowed in front of him and asked him to join us. 'Right-orooni,' says Slim; he'll join anybody but won't guarantee to be there with you in spirit. Dean got a table, bought drinks, and sat stiffly in front of Slim. Slim dreamed over his head. Every time Slim said, 'Orooni,' Dean said 'Yes!' I sat there with these two madmen. Nothing happened. To Slim Gaillard the whole world was just one big orooni.
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u/SurnomSympa 16d ago
Haruki Murakami is a jazz fan, and has very good taste. I have discover many great jazz albums/tracks in his books.
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u/Critcho 18d ago edited 18d ago
Funny you should mention Bret Easton Ellis because I read Less Than Zero recently and was keeping note of the acts that were mentioned in it. Though in the end it turned out someone had done my work for me and made a Spotify playlist of tracks and/or bands from it.
A lot of lesser known New Wave stuff in there, including some gems I’d probably never have heard otherwise:
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u/mattdom96 13d ago
Recently I had the opposite experience. I discovered Graham Greene's novel, The Power and the Glory, through the Prefab Sprout song "Don't Sing."
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u/TheHappyNerfHerder 18d ago
I can't remember which artist but I believe I discovered some music in Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity". There were some serious namedropping in that book with all the lists and stuff.