Music in T2K

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Also there are areas with power that is still on - Western NY from the generators at Niagara Falls, the area around Colorado Springs from the nuclear power plant there, etc...

How much of that power is for personal consumption is a big question though. My thoughts are priority would be given to vital industry, food production/processing, the military (again pretty heavily rationed though) and if there's anything left, then the general population might get a trickle for an hour or two.

[Raellus]

I imagine that anywhere a generator of any kind is available, you'd be likely to hear recorded music.

I also think travelling musician would become a viable career c.1998 and beyond, at least in areas where banditry wasn't a big problem. I can see road shows with musicians, actors, jugglers, magicians, and other live entertainers travelling from town to town, playing for food and shelter.

If you haven't read Station 11, by Emily St. John-Mandel, I recommend it. It's mostly set 20 years after a Swine Flu pandemic kills off most of the world's population and features a troupe of travelling performers in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I imagine that anywhere a generator of any kind is available, you'd be likely to hear recorded music.

I think you're right, provided of course it's safe to do so and the tech is available. Nobody has survived to 2000 by being stupid and attracting unwanted attention.
Some locations may be different though, but they're more situational - a religious group for example who blame technology for the destruction and death.
Another group who are quite happy using all sort of tech might naively equate "radios" with "radiation". All's going nicely with negotiations wrapping up and the PCs decide to play a little music - boom!

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

How much of that power is for personal consumption is a big question though. My thoughts are priority would be given to vital industry, food production/processing, the military (again pretty heavily rationed though) and if there's anything left, then the general population might get a trickle for an hour or two.

Both Niagara Falls and the nuclear power plant near Colorado Springs would have more than enough power to spare. And there has to be power for people to be listening to radios - most likely it would be a couple of community radios working on a trickle charger to keep the batteries going - something like Soylent Green where Saul has to ride the bike to keep the batteries charged when the power goes out. We aren’t talking a hundred houses with radios all blaring - probably one at the local gathering hole whatever that is or at the local outdoor market. And one or two others. And you don’t need a lot of power for a radio station - not if it’s low power AM radio. We aren’t talking huge FM high power radio station here - more likely one guy sitting behind a microphone and an old cassette or CD player and a transmitter and not much else

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Both Niagara Falls and the nuclear power plant near Colorado Springs would have more than enough power to spare.

We've discussed this in the past on numerous occasions. Generation isn't the problem, it's transmitting the power to where it's needed.

[Raellus]

Quite a few East Bloc youths were fascinated with Western popular music. I was aware of Billy Joel's Soviet tour and a Heavy Metal monsters of rock festival behind the Iron Curtain, but I was not aware of Depeche Mode's influence there (and I'm a fan).

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-...te-capitalism/

Music could be a language of peace. Has anyone ever used music in-game*, as a plot device?

*I have a Latvian ex-Red Army PC who was muscle for a smuggling ring in Riga before the war. As a result, he had access to Western pop music. (his favorite are Iron Maiden and Madonna).

-

[Olefin]

I can see traveling musicians and singers literally "singing" for their supper - think the Postman movie and how he was traveling around and performing Shakespeare at various towns in exchange for food and water. Most likely it would be the same in T2K. Think Jewel, who in real life literally went from place to place singing from her supper before she had her big break

Its actually mentioned in the Survivors Guide to the UK that the entertainment at most pubs was either live music/singing or someone with a record or cassette or other player.

You could also see music being played over a central loudspeaker in a town as well - a la MASH or Shawshank Redemption

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Music could be a language of peace. Has anyone ever used music in-game*, as a plot device?

*I have a Latvian ex-Red Army PC who was muscle for a smuggling ring in Riga before the war. As a result, he had access to Western pop music. (his favorite are Iron Maiden and Madonna).

In my character/team concept slush file, I have a second-tier washed-up '80s metal or hair band that was doing a USO tour for the troops when the war went nuclear. Forced to take up arms to survive, they joined the closest American unit. Most of them somehow survived the war. By 2000, they're actually somewhat-competent combatants, but they'd rather treat a trip across Europe as a concert tour than a traditional T2k katabasis.

- C.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

In my character/team concept slush file, I have a second-tier washed-up '80s metal or hair band that was doing a USO tour for the troops when the war went nuclear. Forced to take up arms to survive, they joined the closest American unit. Most of them somehow survived the war. By 2000, they're actually somewhat-competent combatants, but they'd rather treat a trip across Europe as a concert tour than a traditional T2k basis.

- C.

I can imagine that several USO units of various types got cut off by the TDM - especially since it was Thanksgiving and that is when many groups go over for troop morale purposes. Definitely be interesting to go into the local pub and there is a famous singer who every knows who has been reduced to just the local musician in order to survive - think The Postman and Tom Petty for instance - "I know you, you were famous"

[pmulcahy11b]

Now, I don't personally like metal, but I get the idea that it would be most popular with troops in T2K.