A brief history of cyborgs, superhumans and robots in pop music

The recent Wellcome CollectionSuperhuman Exhibitionhas shown how human sweetening permeates our culture from mutation to comic books . A productive seam also move through democratic medicine — a medium that has explore both the delight and the alienation of living in a humanity prevail by technology and imagining what it ’s like to become cybernetic . It ’s worth taking a expression , therefore , into the realm of the melodic robots .

While solve in the current Superhuman exhibition , I ’ve in particular enjoyed convey a closer look atFritz Kahn‘s pop printMan as an Industrial Palace . The German polymath had a huge influence on how we perceive the works of the eubstance and this attractively designed , humourous and intricate paradigm has become near - iconic .

When studying it , I could n’t help but recollect of the cover of the 1978 Kraftwerk album , The Man Machine , and wonder whether they had imbibe the influence of their fellow ruralist . Their general aesthetic and conceptual concerns seem indebted to Fritz Kahn , as well as other Teutonic great such asFritz Lang ’s MetropolisandNietzsche ’s übermensch . All of these are also tangentially relevant to the Superhuman expo .

This direct to a opinion about the worldwide proliferation of transhumanist , cyborgian and androidist message within pop euphony . It is an ever - present image within mainstream movie and telecasting – the 6 Million Dollar Man , Robocop , and Terminator are just the tip of the iceberg , so why not music too ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ

Kraftwerk were the catalyst for much transhumanist thought trickling into mainstream culture . Their uncompromising austerity introduce through their medicine and visual presentation was always infused with a vague romanticism and powerful aesthetic . Much has been write about their influence on electronic music and how , by removing traditional stone instrumentation and the eroticism associated with it , they ushered in a newfangled epoch of exploration . They play with the relationship between human beings and applied science throughout their life history , from the hench noble-mindedness of their cycling construct single Tour De France to their prophetic 1981 release Computer World . Here , most explicitly is We Are the Robots from 1977 .

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Devo have been described as a gonzoid American outfit switch off from the Kraftwerk template . Although there are some similarity ( the eroding of uniforms , the use of electronic instrument , and a intellectual , philosophic approach ) , they are a very different animate being indeed . They are not as dedicated to the cause of man - machine as Kraftwerk but songs such as “ Mechanical Man ” and “ Smart Patrol / Mr DNA ” expend the idea of the bionic woman to illustrate their theory about the current Diamond State - organic evolution of humanity . Here in the “ Freedom Of Choice ” picture , we are faced with a future robotoid Devo who have evolved into hairless , floating organism that expend Ancient Rome , skateboarding youth and doughnuts to highlight the pitfalls of consumerism .

Slovenian conceptualists Laibach have always make controversy through their role of quasi - fascistic imagery and militaristic music . Indeed , the satiric knack of this work is sometimes lost on newcomers to the band . The sampling of machinery and a stomping geometrical regularity to the euphony often make them to be collocate in with the Industrial or Industrial Metal movements ( which merit a quotation here as genres that have a large care with the man - machine , often as metaphor ) , although their stylus is too uneasy to be truly music genre - defined . Their euphony and language often chat up with the mind of man ’s relationship with engineering , most candidly with their concept album Jesus Christ Superstars , which recasts Christ in the second follow as a Judge Dredd- or Robocop - eccentric character . The video to “ Geburt Einer Nation ” ( their German cover of Queen ’s One Vision ) ascertain them delight in an Ubermensch fantasy consummate with oversized stag creatures and attack !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHkZKyEXLYg

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If you think we were getting into dominion too unsung , how about that bit in “ Moonwalker ” where Michael Jackson turns into a robot and kills all the bad guys and then turns into a spaceship ? I ’m not too certain what to say about this but it is pretty coolheaded .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=102NNwdI9i0

In the early phase angle of his life history , Gary Numan was heavily entrenched in the construct of homo - car . His 1979 album Replicas with Tubeway Army was a concept album about a Blade Runner - esque future where ‘ Machmen ’ – androids with cloned human skin – police the human public . With the individual “ Are Friends Electric ? ” the stripe grade a smash with an stern and melancholy tale of paranoid dystopia , a vein Numan explored in further item later in his calling ( most notably with his song auto , which espoused the protection and security of the machine ) . In this Top Of The Pops performance the band shun all the usual housing of shamanistic stone functioning , their stillness bestow to the mechanistic threat of the track .

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjI2J2SQ528

Björk has always had very material concerns in her song - composition , from the sensualities of early Sugarcubes songs such as “ Walkabout ” ( compare the human body to a landscape ) to her album Medulla , which only used the human interpreter as its instrumentation . Although I could n’t think of a birdsong of hers which dealt lyrically with the encroach consequence of engineering science on the eubstance , it ’s gruelling to ignore the relevancy of the video to “ All is Full of Love ” where two robot Björks are manufactured and then have a effective snog . Perhaps it ’s meaning that the theater director of this video , Chris Cunningham ( famed for his humanlike videos to songs by Aphex Twin and Squarepusher ) , form on the special effects department for the Spielberg film A.I.

It ’s not surprising that there is a wealth of technology- and robot - inspired music from Japan , pay the many examples of shape - shifting humans and creature running through Japanese films , animation , comic strip , computer games and mythology . Yellow Magic Orchestra is one of the most influential and widely - reaching of these acts , finding success internationally . Like many of these artists , YMO used electronic instruments almost exclusively . Another notable Japanese musician is Tomita , whose albums of electronic re - working of Greco-Roman music have been very popular , including his Greatest Hits with a cyborgian portrait of his face on the front cover .

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OOLxGjb3dY

A New Japanese lot carrying on this lineage ( and extremely indebted to Devo ) isPolysicswho , as well as looking the part , write songs call “ I deplete The simple machine ” and “ Coelacanth Is Android . ” Here we see YMO play in a city of the hereafter below some hybrid Godhead and a spaceship .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hhm0NHhCBg

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Laurie Anderson has often used the human relationship with engineering science in both her optic art and her music . With “ O Ubermensch ” she get to number two in the UK chart with an eight - and - a - half - minute song that not only has no drum or real chorus line but also has idiosyncratic , qabalistic lyrics . The ‘ Superman ’ ( übermensch again ) in question seems to be the might of world , or the might of the West . Anderson touch to several human enhancements such as telephones , answering machines and aeroplanes . The domestic aeroplane is compared to the American battler jet , and although I think it may be reductive to call this strictly an anti - war call , the sentiment seems to be a common thread in music which uses the Isle of Man - machine as a metaphor . As we see in the video recording , robotic bm and electric light in the rima oris are used alongside the vocoder and electronic instrument to make a quietly futuristic atmospheric state . But the real cyborgian second come in the closing line : “ So hold me , Mom , in your prospicient arms . In your robotlike implements of war . Your electronic coat of arms . In your arms . Your petrochemical coat of arms . Your military arms . In your electronic arms . ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoPplpBPQxQ

Daft Punk are probably the most commercial-grade modern-day radical to assume the pretense of cyborgs . The Gallic duo take on this mantle after their second album was expel , apparently to preserve their anonymity . It ’s been a concept ( some may say a gimmick ) they have been touting ever since . This use of masking is a right way to get around the religious cult of celebrity with many artists such as The Residents , Gwar , Slipknot , The Locust and many others artists using surreal or fearful costume to run attention away from the human beings crap the music . However , only a few – such as MF Doom – use the hard associated symbol of the futurist cyber warrior . Here we see Daft Punk with a villainous little bionic guy chomping his way ( with human tooth ? ) through a characteristically bulky heartbeat .

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The Rammellzee was an interesting character : graffiti creative person , sculptor , rapper , poet , art idealogue , philosopher , discoverer of Gothic Futurism ( his theory about the warfare between letters and the ABC’s ) and all - round eccentric . Unfortunately there is not much of his music online ( at least none that has representative videos ) but the video here outlines some of the character , costume and theory that he used in his language and carrying into action . It seems that some people bind him in with the Afrofuturism thread in contemporary polish . This world should have an honourable mention here with artists such as Sun Ra , Funkadelic / Parliament and Antipop Consortium among others considered to be Afrofuturists , making unique and compelling work . The usual theme running through these creative person is an Assumption of Mary of an foreign persona , or music with a sci - fi/ futurist knack . Rammellzee , however , is one of the only creative person look up to under this streamer who explicitly weaves in a machinelike aesthetic , at least in such a complex and dense elbow room .

There are many others I could mention , such as George Antheil’sBallet Mécanique , the whole world ofMusique Concrète , Industrial music , Cybergoth and Techno artists such as Cybotron and Drexciya – and I ’m certain I am wholly unaware of some interesting stuff and nonsense . I also have missed out the great wealthiness of tech - tinged chart popping striking . Perhaps if you could think of anyone essential I have missed , you could add a comment below .

Robert Bidder is a Visitor Service Assistant at Wellcome Collection . You canfollow Robert on tumblr . Superhumanruns until 16 October .

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