(previously, as rationale )
(previously, as overture: Novas 0 )
(previously in Program Eleven/I: Novas 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 )
(previously in Program Eleven/II: Novas 1.1 2.2 3.3 )
So far there are nine entries in the “Program Eleven” series, each a playlist of eleven songs, and kicked off a year ago in honour of the Apollo 11 anniversary. Because I like big round numbers, naturally there would be two more, though I didn’t know what they’d be.
These final two entries turned out to be prequels filling in the story years 1978 and 1979, explaining how Susan ended up in the situation we find her in in Novas 5.3 – a singer alone, on the run from the sinister Company, haunted, and with mysterious memory gaps.
(A guiding image that came to me from the songs “Gloria” and “Shadows of the Night”, and which itself was part of finding a backstory to “Danseparc (Every Day It’s Tomorrow)”, where Susan just sort of appeared my head as an avatar of the 80s, *my* 80s, the decade as seen through wide preteen eyes, who’d been there all along… the New Wave singer with a kind of electrical halo of big-science strangeness about her. Was she an alien or a robot or a clone? Was she a spy or in space or in a nuclear war or in love or trapped inside a computer or leading a punk revolution? Why not all of those! What’s a story that can maximise all the sci-fi potentials? And there it began.)
(Look, it’s hard to explain my process here. I just go where my instinct seems to be pointing and then I stop when the songs seem to be the right ones. The music comes first. Then I play around with backstage story parameters until everything fits. Using songs as story modules is a randomiser, a bit like drawing cards, but it’s not completely random because they have to be songs I like.)
So now it’s the years 1960 to 1978, in that rock-opera continuum slightly ahead of ours where everything is a bit faster and neon-brighter and more Jim Steinman. But now it’s also sort of the Young Adult book version of that.
(You’ve also probably noticed by now that albums in the Eleven series with titles that start with “The” are inside the “System”, which is not quite strictly speaking always a VR simulation but more like a sort of Dollhouse kind of setup with both a simulated reality and a kind of cyborg-agent mode. And titles that start with “A” are fully outside the System, in the Real World of Novas. If not, then heads up, that’s a thing. I’ll explain later. There’ll be a little bit of retconning to do but not too much. The point is that spy adventure happens because there is spy music, and sometimes it works best for the story as simulated and sometimes it works best as real. The nuclear war happens in a simulation; the visit to the USSR happens for real, but it’s also kind of unreal because Susan (and later, Jack) keeps getting memory-wiped, because, cyborg. Except for The Day After Tomorrow. That one’s about the actual real world, popping a level up the stack. And The Earth Forever Turning is clearly Susan’s dream while she’s inside the System, but it’s actually also about the real Apollo 50th anniversary in 2019. It made sense at the time. Long story short, the Eleven series is broken into two sub-series, The and A. The A series happens outside of the computer. We are now in the A series at this point in time.)
BEGIN PROGRAM ELEVEN/II MODULE FOUR.
01 Grace Slick – All The Machines (1984, USA) SUSAN’S MOTHER
Doctor goes into a room with a four-foot metal box He pushes one of its buttons and he listens to it talk It tells him what he needs to know about every patient he's got Fourteen years in medical school and the machines are doing his job All the machines say, I'm ok All the machines say (whirr) All the doctors listen to what the machines have to say All the machines say, I'm ok Who wakes you up? Who makes your coffee? Who gets you to the office? Who does the work? Without your answering machine" you'd never know what anyone said Without your remote control you might have to get out of bed! All the machines say, we're ok All the people use their machines every day All the machines say, (beeps) All the machines say, we're ok Not much happening after dark without electric light Without electric blankets your body might freeze at night Without a giant scoreboard how would you know who comes in first? Without a vacuum cleaner who'd suck up all your dirt? You're taking me for granted What would you do without your doorbell, light switch headset, receiver, television, telephone, phonograph, speakers? All the machines say, I'm ok All the machines say (whirr) All the doctors listen to what the machines have to say And all the machines say, ok!
The Center for Scientific Progress, an ultra high technology medical facility which is also a front for the secret organization SKYWATCH.
I just have a thing for 1980s Grace Slick, it seems. Her warning seems even more accurate in 2020.
02 Andy Summers – 2010 (Also Sprach Zarathustra) (1984, England/USA) SKYWATCH ALPHA
Instrumental "Are you sure you are making the right decision? I think we should stop."
Susan is a star child. SKYWATCH has obtained extraterrestrial DNA sampled from early space probes and is developing a batch of human clones with the foreign genetic material woven in. The star children will develop normally and are otherwise almost completely human. Incept year: 1960.
Andy Summers of The Police doing a guitar riff on 2001’s famous Richard Strauss theme kind of sums up the feel of 2010 the movie. And I don’t mean that in a bad way! It is a goofy action movie with heart (and a pre-Prime Suspect Helen Mirren) where 2001 was a cold, clinical, beautiful camera demo that jumpstarted the FX industry. And Jupiter explodes once in 2010 and zero times in 2001. That makes 2010 one exploding Jupiter better than 2001. Based on current astronomical calculations of the mass of Jupiter, that’s a lot of better.
03 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Genetic Engineering (1983, England) SUSAN’S FATHER (Director of the Center)
Efficient, logical, sensible, and practical Using all resources to the best of our ability Changing, designing, adapting our mentalities Improving our abilities for a better way of life Babies, mother, hospital, scissors Creature, judgement, butcher, engineer These are the little children The future in our hands When all God's children on this earth Inherit all our plans These are the lies they tell us But this is the only way When all God's children on the earth Will evermore be saved Babies, mother, hospital, scissors Creature, judgement, butcher, engineer Babies, mother, hospital, scissors Creature, judgement, butcher, engineer These are the little children The future in their hands When all God's children on this earth Inherit all our plans These are the lies they tell us The future's good as sold In all the things we do and know We really must be told Ah, ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh
Susan has a normal childhood, as normal as can be expected for someone whose life is part of a secret scientific experiment. There is a slight hint of elevated ESP capability among the children, but nothing overly startling.
This one’s been circling in my stack for years now. Finally it has a home in the narrative.
04 Plastics – Robot (1981, Japan) SYSTEM ALPHA and THE ASTRADYNE CHORUS
IBM, IBM, IBM, IBM NSJ, NSJ, NSJ, NSJ TDK, TDK, TDK, TDK FBI, FBI, FBI, FBI You are robot You are robot You are robot You are robot EMI, EMI, EMI, EMI RCA, RCA, RCA, RCA NBC, NBC, NBC, NBC CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS You are robot You are robot You are robot You are robot IBM, IBM, IBM, IBM NSJ, NSJ, NSJ, NSJ TDK, TDK, TDK, TDK FBI, FBI, FBI, FBI You are robot You are robot You are robot You are robot EMI, EMI, EMI, EMI RCA, RCA, RCA, RCA NBC, NBC, NBC, NBC CBS, CBS, CBS, CBS You are robot You are robot You are robot You are robot There's no mass production today There's no mass communication today There's no mass media today You are robot
Susan’s development is watched most carefully by the defense industries.
There’s a 1979 single version of this, but it’s rougher, and for such a minimalist song, I like the more lush tone of the 1981 album version.
Discogs social graphing time: Plastics and Susan are fairly close, because the early 80s Tokyo New Wave / technopop scene seems to have been as overlapped as, say, Trevor Horn’s circle in the UK. I think perhaps the closest link is through Chico Sato and from there to the band Crap Heads with Yukihiro Takahashi (who recorded with Susan).
By the way: Did you know that Yukihiro Takahashi had an album called Neuromantic in 1981? William Gibson’s Neuromancer published in 1984 (though obviously he was writing it earlier, and so who knows exactly which way the lines of causality flux leaked). That’s what I mean about cyberpunk already being right there in the air in New Wave. Warped all our brains without even needing to read a book, and that’s before we even switched on our ZX Spectrums and got a proper head full of Bandersnatch.
05 Jane Clifton – My Machines (Australia, 1984) TEENAGE SUSAN
An LED glowing, illuminating Any data I may require Lines glowing in liquid crystal Fulfil my every desire A microchip is so reliable I'm never really alone The night's cool but I'm so warm With a machine to call my own I've got my machines To help me through the day My machines My machines Give me the information I need I feel so secure When my machines are there People have problems, clumsy emotions They try for flattery But my friends are pure devotion You just replace their batteries Now you're a man and I'm a woman I like you very much But machines don't argue in public And they respond to every touch I've got my machines To help me through the day My machines My machines Give me the information I need I feel so secure When my machines are there (machines) Got my machines My machines (my machines) A microchip is so reliable I'm never really alone The night's cool but I'm so warm With a machine to call my own I've got my machines To help me through the day My machines I've got My machines Give me the information I need My machines My machines My machines My machines My machines My machines My machines
Susan and the other children of SKYWATCH grow up in a bubble of experimental high technology and accelerated education. It all seems perfectly normal to them.
This song! Now I hear it again, I see why I loved it so much. Jane’s voice is just so beautiful in those luminous, sliding half-harmonies.
06 Big A – Caribbean Air Control (1978, England) JACK
Caribbean air control Caribbean air control Calling Uncle Zulu Baker Calling Uncle Zulu Baker Come in please you're overdue We're losing you Come in Uncle Zulu Baker Come in Uncle Zulu Baker Come in please you're overdue We're losing you This is Zulu Baker here I'm heading out to sea My radio is going dead There's a blue light following me Caribbean air control There's something wrong up here I can see the sea I've dropped my landing gear Hey mister lonely In your flying machine We know what you've been through Why don't you come in through The waves that lead you into Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle Come in Uncle Zulu Baker Come in Uncle Zulu Baker Come in please you're overdue We're losing you Caribbean air control There's something wrong up here I can see the sea I've dropped my landing gear Hey mister lonely In your flying machine We know what you've been through Why don't you come in through The waves that lead you into Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle We've got Uncle Zulu Baker Nobody but nobody comes through The Bermuda Triangle Nobody but nobody comes through The Bermuda Triangle Nobody but nobody comes through The Bermuda Triangle
Meanwhile, UFO sightings continue around the world, and SKYWATCH investigates.
Who the heck was Big A? Why was their A so big when Ian “Jethro Tull” Anderson only rated just the one ordinary sized A? Apparently it was someone called Alexander Everrit, but who are we kidding, this is really Trevor Horn and some other people. Also known as Chromium. Sidenote: Trevor likes UFOs. Everyone liked UFOs in 1978.
Yes, I remember this one too. I remember being confused as to pronounce the word “Caribbean” because of this song.
07 Living Links – Gathering The Forces (1985, USA) YOUNG ADULT SUSAN
Life is so comfortable What does it all mean? I'm not oppressed, I'm not at war I am well fed and I am clean But sometimes I have premonitions That soon all of this will cease Will you finish me at once Or slowly carve me piece by piece? The training is over The message has been sent Our dark forces are assembling We're all awaiting orders Too many functions Too much exposure I should narrow my scope I need some kind of enclosure I should probably be punished I don't always walk in light And I stumble in the darkness I don't always do what's right There's a glimmer of redemption That I think that you must see Will you put it to some use And tell me what you'll do with me? The training is over The message has been sent Our dark forces are assembling We're all awaiting orders The training is over The message has been sent Our dark forces are assembling We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders We're all awaiting orders
Susan as a teenager begins to feel bored and starts to question her purpose in life. She is already working as a programmer on an advanced cybernetic mind-machine simulation and control system. The implications of what she is building, and who the Center really work for, start to worry her.
I love Living Links for their extremely uncool goofiness.
08 Alien – Four Minute Warning (1980, England) THE GRADUATING CLASS OF 1978
There are four minutes to go You have four minutes Hooray! Three minutes to go You have three minutes Like a child we travel headlong through our time Fly away to darkness and Jack Frost he doesn't care What did he say? Can it be true? What does it mean? Will I need a gun? Where do I go? Will I survive? Two minutes to go You have two minutes Voices rushing through and we've heard them all before Trying to believe in the program never screened What did he say? Am I still here? What does it mean? Can it be real? Can it be true? I'm asking you Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Next minute dying, there's not gonna be a tomorrow Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Next minute dying, there's not gonna be a tomorrow Lead's gonna fly and there's not gonna be a tomorrow Fifteen seconds Five, four, three, two, one
The crisis strikes when she turns 18 and discovers that her loving parents and her privileged, exciting yet sheltered life at the Center are part of a secret military project and everything she does – even perhaps her very existence – has been a weapon.
I don’t know how or when I heard this one, but I did. There sure were lots of “four minute warning” songs in the 80s! I think this one is the best of them.
09 Karla DeVito – We Accelerate (1986, USA) SUSAN and THE NOVAS
Daddy loves you But he's frightened of what you know When he was your age He went out with the boys Kicked up his heels and made noise Now kids are different Faster than the speed of sound Those can't be children Who stand up to the crowd Throw up their fists and talk loud Don't look at age Look into our eyes Enter our minds But don't analyze Just visualize We keep the foot on the gas We keep our eyes on the road Keep our hands on the wheel We carry heavy loads So you wanna know where the children are? Trying to survive! We accelerate We accelerate Watch the kite soar Into the glow of the nuclear war Why aren't you sleeping? Get the world off your mind Take a deep breath and unwind But don't look back now Cause somebody's coming up from behind No time for sleeping Stay ahead of the pack Learn to stand tall and fight back When did it change? When did childhood die? Enter our minds But don't analyze Just visualize We keep the foot on the gas We keep our eyes on the road Keep our hands on the wheel We carry heavy loads So you wanna know where the children are? Trying to survive! We accelerate We accelerate Moral evolution hurries Dying minds comprise the jury Shouting, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty Guilty! Oh, we accelerate We keep the foot on the gas We keep our eyes on the road Keep our hands on the wheel We carry heavy loads So you wanna know where the children are? Trying to survive! We accelerate We accelerate Oh, we accelerate We accelerate Oh, we accelerate We accelerate We accelerate We accelerate Oh, we accelerate
Susan and a group of the other SKYWATCH children break out of the Center and after a desperate car chase against military forces, escape into the urban underground.
I don’t know this one from the 80s, but it feels like this must have been written as a film final credits theme for some kind of car-racing-teens-in-trouble with postapocalyptic overtones thriller that somehow never got made? Some kind of followup to The Breakfast Club by way of The Terminator by way of Bat Out Of Hell? I don’t know but I think I would watch that movie. But as far as I know, all there is is this song.
10 Joe Camilleri – Angel Dove (1989, Australia) SUSAN’S FATHER
I have dreamed, oh I have dreamed Saying peace, but there is no peace How can we stand when we are so small? Reaching out my hand just to break my fall Everybody wants so much love Have mercy on the young, angel dove Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel Primitive mind and a tender heart Giving love for hate, that's how it starts Refusing to fight fire with fire Lifting up the children a little higher Everybody wants so much love Have mercy on the young, angel dove Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel dove Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel dove Love, love, love To the near and the far There'll be peace on earth With forgiving hearts Let us not just with word and tongue But with deed and truth let love be done Be not silent to me Everybody wants so much love Have mercy on the young, angel dove Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel Be the fire of love Amongst these children, my God Have mercy on the young, angel dove Love, love, love Peace on earth Love, love, love To the near and the far Peace on earth With forgiving hearts Love, love, love To the near and the far Peace on earth With forgiving hearts
The SKYWATCH children will find it hard to survive in the city on their own, though they have strong courage. And perhaps other forces not of this world are also watching.
Okay, so, you may not believe this, but the woman singing backup on this 1989 Amnesty International charity single is Lin van Hek, who did the 1984 Terminator soundtrack song “Intimacy” (yah, yah, yah) as an absolutely terrifying German cyborg. (No really, you have to see this video if you haven’t). And then she turns around and does this beautiful, uplifting spiritual hymn to world peace.
This is what Australians are capable of. Do not underestimate Australians.
(Lin does poetry and art now. It turns out, like many other artists who were briefly scary cyborgs in the 1980s, that she always was a bit of a hippie.)
11 Nena – Kino (At The Movies) (1984, Germany) SUSAN
I see a movie every Saturday night I take a chance when they turn off the lights A blaze of stars out of Hollywood Me and Bogart, trenchcoat and hat That's okay Would you like it hot with Marilyn? Or better yet, with James Dean? I'm waiting for that happy end Arm in arm with Cary Grant That's okay So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night comes the midnight show So late at night, I'm watching the movie I never, never say no In the first rows, one to ten Sit the movie-crazies, pale and thin Back of me, bathed in the light They all think the monster is nice Okay! All the night, the flashing long knives The day before, came the zombies! Oh my God! The Devil too?! I saw it all, oh what can I do?? That's okay So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night comes the midnight show So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night comes the midnight show So late at night, I'm watching the movie I never, never say no So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night comes the midnight show So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night, I'm watching the movie So late at night comes the midnight show So late at night, I'm watching the movie
Susan reflects on the uncertainty of life but is determined to accept whatever comes next, now that she has her freedom.
No, I’m not going to do 99 Luftballoons. Stop asking for 99 Luftballoons. Due to constant radio airplay for all of the actual 1980s and about 1000 megaton-years of cinematic and televisual 1980s-derived-retro-product the ozone layer is now choked with 99 trillion Luftballoons. It has become a major ecological tragedy. We all need to work together to reduce global output of Luftballoons before it is too late. A Luftballoon is for life, not just for that one throwaway scene where you need to establish “it is the 1980s and people are, like, worried about nuclear war or something. Luftballoons!”
Fortunately Nena did do other songs. In the same year, even!
Also: Gabriele Susanne “Nena” Kerner is an Honorary Susan.