The Music

Music was just as important as the special effects in 2001: a Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick chose classical and early postindustrial music over traditional soundtrack scores. This was not new but it is how Kubrick used music in scenes that was important to the scene than the cinephotography. Without the inseam, the suit would be cold to wear. He knew how music would be used in a film before it was shot. Thus is the brilliance in Kubrick's usage of classical music in filmmaking.

Kubrick was asked in an interview by Robert Emmett Ginna, "Is music highly important to your films?" Kubrick answered, "I think music is one of the most effective ways of preparing an audience and reinforcing points that you wish to impose on it. The correct use of music, and this includes the non-use of music, is one of the great weapons that the filmmaker has at his disposal."

Unfortunately, we could not use the music of 2001: A Space Odyssey at the San Mateo Library for our exhibition. The music of 2001 was important to represent what classical pieces of Johann Strauss and the surreal ambient sounds of Legiti. It would have been a great opportunity to introduce the music of 2001 to the children.

When I first saw 2001 in 1969, the soundtrack was something as new to me as the Beatles Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band was in the sixties. The music in the household I grew up in was a combination of Motown and Johnny Mathis. This was my parents' soundtrack at the Gonzales residence. The 2001 soundtrack was a hit in 1968 and Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra was in rotation on AM radio! In 1970, I finally received my album for Christmas with tears in my eyes. The music of 2001 opened up a new awareness in classical and experimental music other than The Beatles. Thirty years later, in Arthur C. Clarke's 2061: Odyssey Three (Del Rey, 1987), my favorite pop band of the sixties, The Beatles, were mentioned and made it to 2001 folklore.

On this page, I present reviews of 2001 music that launched a new approach in science fiction filmmaking and pop-culture like Space:1999, Rollerball, Deodato and many others.

If you want to read our "2001 Music" articles, please join our 2001 Exhibit membership.