Writing "Dystopian" music.

Just in case someone doesn't know what a Dystopia is, it is a failed utopia -- it is essentially an imperfect world. Dytopias are usually portrayed as oppressive societies where a false sense of uniform happiness is conveyed on the surface while everyone is oppressed and suffering from within. I would like to create a Dystopian song but I am not sure where to draw the line between Horror and Dystopian.

By horror, I mean something like this, where the innocent "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is distorted into a truly creepy song:

Although it is "cheesy" to take a well-known innocent song and mess with it, would this be considered Dystopian or strictly horror?

I was thinking of possibly writing a very beautiful and joyful theme, only to distort it later in the song. Any thoughts?

Just in case someone doesn't know what a Dystopia is, it is a failed utopia -- it is essentially an imperfect world. Dytopias are usually portrayed as oppressive societies where a false sense of uniform happiness is conveyed on the surface while everyone is oppressed and suffering from within. I would like to create a Dystopian song but I am not sure where to draw the line between Horror and Dystopian.

By horror, I mean something like this, where the innocent "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is distorted into a truly creepy song:

Although it is "cheesy" to take a well-known innocent song and mess with it, would this be considered Dystopian or strictly horror?

I was thinking of possibly writing a very beautiful and joyful theme, only to distort it later in the song. Any thoughts?

I heard Ticheli do that in his angles in the Arcitecture.. Its a cool thing really and in the forth of July pice..it really showed and was great..You could take the theme in minor, serialize it,ect.

Just in case someone doesn't know what a Dystopia is, it is a failed utopia -- it is essentially an imperfect world.

Ah! I know one, Earth!

So basically all music written on this planet is dystopian?

Just in case someone doesn't know what a Dystopia is, it is a failed utopia -- it is essentially an imperfect world. Dytopias are usually portrayed as oppressive societies where a false sense of uniform happiness is conveyed on the surface while everyone is oppressed and suffering from within.

Well, that's one manifestation of a dystopia, but a dystopia is not necessarily "a failed utopia." The definition of a dystopia is the pinnacle of a horrible, upleasant society/world. It may or may not have anything to do with an attempt at creating utopia.

I do know what you're talking about, because many dystopian societies in literature manifest themselves as the result of an attempt at chasing the pipe dream of a utopian society (Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 immediately popped to mind), usually at the expense of some vital element of humanity. If that's what you're looking for, I'd be wary of going as far as the example you posted. In the dystopian society you describe, what makes it truly dystopic is the fact that the majority of the populace is in euphorically ignorant bliss of its situation. I'd go much, much more subtle than your example. Namely I'd say distort your innocent theme in a very unobtrusive and sub-textual way. You need to make it so that if the listener is not paying attention to what he's hearing, he might miss the distortion altogether and become one of the masses who has been taken in by the false utopia.

Otherwise, it really is difficult to draw the line between dystopia and simple horror through music only.

The best way to show the theme of dystopianism in your music is to follow a few simple guideline.

First, like the music of the Busterhard monks, you need to carry a sense of other-worldly retribution - it is by the hand of God that we are afflicted by our own imperfections. Bb and C# center around these concepts, and should be used liberally in melodic ideas.

However, to mask His divine influence, we must introduce beaurocracy. A reedy, thin line, as if a solo hecklephone were muted through a harmon would be most appropriate, as it implies similarly to the left-hand margin notes in Wagner's unfinished Ring cycle sequel.

Finally, a harmonic analysis of propoganda videos should be undertaken in order to best understand how to fit underneath the psyche of the listener, but I am comfortable to always use a D# tonality with a A natural samvadi.

By horror, I mean something like this, where the innocent "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is distorted into a truly creepy song:

Although it is "cheesy" to take a well-known innocent song and mess with it, would this be considered Dystopian or strictly horror?

I was thinking of possibly writing a very beautiful and joyful theme, only to distort it later in the song. Any thoughts?

Yeah, I remember that from the game. It's totally hackneyed and I didn't think they did it well in Dead Space, but you can analyze their techniques to learn what's common here. things like:

1. intrusive high-pass filter

2. singer sings flat often

3. voice quivers very subtly

4. large reverb

to the obvious extended string technique etc.

I like the thought of distorting the 1812 Overture but I do not have access to the proper resources to modify such a monumental work to do it any (in)justice. The fact that it is such a monumental victory theme can give me the opportunity to distort the message -- that it was a Pyrrhic victory, or perhaps there was no victory at all and was simply all just bogus propaganda, which is a prominent theme in Dystopian literature.

But since I probably won't be working with the 1812 Overture, I was thinking of doing perhaps an "Amazing (Dis)grace." It's easy to go atonal and just literally mess up the harmony altogether but Peter_W made some great points about subtlety because of its association with "brainwashing." I also like Audiosprite's list of instrumentation/effects that might be helpful in making the song.

Since Amazing Grace delivers "a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God" (Wikipedia), and since it is one of most widely-recognized songs in the English-speaking world, I think it's a great song to distort. It's so ingrained in my own head that I don't know how to alter the harmonies to make it more dark. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks guys for all the suggestions!

Just in case someone doesn't know what a Dystopia is, it is a failed utopia -- it is essentially an imperfect world. Dytopias are usually portrayed as oppressive societies where a false sense of uniform happiness is conveyed on the surface while everyone is oppressed and suffering from within. I would like to create a Dystopian song but I am not sure where to draw the line between Horror and Dystopian.

By horror, I mean something like this, where the innocent "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is distorted into a truly creepy song:

Although it is "cheesy" to take a well-known innocent song and mess with it, would this be considered Dystopian or strictly horror?

I was thinking of possibly writing a very beautiful and joyful theme, only to distort it later in the song. Any thoughts?

Harmonize it it paralell tritones.