Sci Fi radio show

Science fiction and music are my two favourite entertainments, but, apart from soundtracks they don't cross over as much as I'd like.

However, here's a single from one of my favourite sci-fi characters. Marvin is a manically depressed robot from Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have two of his singles, this is the best one. This is not in the show, on radio or tv or film or audiobook but is a great part of the history of the story.  He managed to record this despite the pain in all the diodes down his left side.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTXOW_jJdKE

Around 1978/1979, I was helping a friend of mine, called Paul. He was a dj in his spare time and had a friday night gig at The Top Of The World nightclub in Stafford, England. His latest boyfriend had left, so he asked me to help out. It was a lot of fun. One week they did a Star Wars theme and this amazing album by Meco featured heavily. The technical guy at the club even built a remote control, life-size R2-D2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRWYYt47RI

For many years the only sci-fi single people could name was a daft novelty song in early sixties pop style. Sheb Wooley was a very ordinary looking guy and nothing like I expected when I eventually saw a video of him performing this. I was thinking about Monster Mash for this, but that's more of a horror standard than sci-fi.. It looks like A Purple People Eater To Me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz7Why57qVc

Red Dwarf is the second greatest sci-fi comedy of all time. The Cat is a great comic creation. This is the song he dreamt of doing in one of the early episodes. They released Tongue Tied as a single, but it didn't sound as good as the TV version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jnTzBeQJag

Some of the greatest TV sci-fi of the 60's came from the mind of Gerry Anderson with a bunch of puppet shows. They were unmissable for a kid growing up at that time. Even though I was very young,  the end theme to Stingray always sounded quite cheesy and could have been a spoof. I'm sure it wasn't, but it is an ear worm of a tune. Marina was a mute young woman who lived in the sea, the slave of Titan, the leader of the Aquaphibians, and was "liked" by the main character, Troy Tempest.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD96RQ1-wnY

Moving on from the early 60's pop sound, we come to David Bowie and his early fixation on space stuff. Space Oddity and Life On Mars could fit in here, but I think I'll choose Starman. This particular performance on Top of the Pops is cited by many people as the reason they got into music. Just the look and the attitude and, oh yeah, the great music.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYtRp9UNx8Y

More in the easy listening bracket, were the Carpenters and their odd dalliance with sci-fi, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft. Karen Carpenter had a beautiful voice which lent itself to the, mostly, romantic songs they did. However, this was a little different.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teBV0EoJJY8

Classical music has always been used in sci-fi movies and shows, but there is one body of work that is synonymous with the genre. Strauss could not have foreseen his dance music would be used for outer space projects. Also Spracht Zarathustra is often played to set a mood for a sci-fi item in many shows nowadays. I wonder how many people are aware of its 2001 A Space Odyssey beginnings. I saw that film on a school trip and it had a huge influence on my love of sci-fi and expanded my love of music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-QFj59PON4

Combining sci-fi with fantasy and adding novelty and just plain weirdness, Leonard Nimoy singing about a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins must come near the top of the list. The video is so strange and quirky. Also seeing "Spock" smile is an unsettling experience for anybody. The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. Definitely in the so bad it's good category. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg

Crazy, camp, loud and colourful, Queen were a great band and Freddie Mercury was a wonderful performer. The showiness of the Flash Gordon movie was the ideal setting for one of their most immediate hits. "Gordon's alive!" The bits of  film dialog used on the single, became catchphrases.  Don't forget, we only have 14 hours left to save the Earth. Shouldn't that be save Earth, not the Earth?      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfmrHTdXgK4

Roy wood is one of my top 5 favourite artists, his work withn ELO, The Move and Wizzard is some of the best pop/rock music ever. However his solo work goes places that his bands never did. Could a computer fall in love with its owner? Nowadays that is less strange an idea than before. Miss Clark must have really been something for the computer to fall so hard.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTxp7cqrQjA

One of the greatest sci-fi characters ever must be Max Headroom. Starting off in a British TV play about a dystopian future, moving on to an American TV series, a chat show, a music video show and a little success in the pop charts with The Art Of Noise. Paranoimia.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6epzmRZk6UU











I know there are more sci-fi related tracks out there. Many more. It is a big universe, vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big. Wait a minute. I've read that somewhere before. There will be a sequel, but no prequels.