What would an alternative soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey sound like?
Soundtrack Project
For this project, I created an alternate soundtrack for three scenes from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I specifically picked the songs to match the tone and themes of the film and then overlaid the music onto the film itself.
1.) Apes Discover the Monolith; “Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd
In this scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a group of primates discover the monolith, a supernatural artifact that appears several times throughout the film. A pivotal moment in the movie, this scene depicts the first appearance of the rectangular, black monolith, a catalyst for the development of apes to man. As Kubrick puts it, “You begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the man-apes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression” (Rothman). For such a surreal and epic scene, Kubrick chooses to use “Atmospheres” by György Ligeti, a piece that not only sounds “otherworldly…, but also frightening,” mimicking the emotions felt by both the apes in the scene and the audience: first fear, then curiosity (Dillon).
“Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd is a progressive rock song from their concept album, Dark Side of the Moon. The song is almost entirely instrumental, with only a few barely audible lyrics in the background. Beginning with a soft piano playing a faint but growing melody, the song starts quiet and subdued. The peaceful beginning parallels the visual of the apes at night, falling asleep and unsuspecting of what they will awaken to. Then comes the most prominent part of the song, Clare Torry, who gives this song its screamingly powerful vocals. Torry’s vocals vary from beautiful to almost terrifying and haunting. As the vocals of the music continue, they rise in volume, like the apes rousing from their sleep and witnessing the appearance of the strange monolith. The primates are confronted with fear and confusion, but also a sense of hope or wonder as they circle this artifact from another world, a catalyst of human evolution. The feelings evoked by the song perfectly match the beautiful, controlled chaos of the scene, although in a different way from Kubrick’s original score. Kubrick’s use of Ligeti’s “Atmospheres” mainly rouses a sense of fear of the unknown; Pink Floyd’s music provides both that fear and hope, inspiring curiosity surrounding the intent of this mysterious object in the desert. As the music fades and the soft piano returns, the apes have calmed and seem to accept the monolith as Kubrick cuts to landscape shots of the surrounding desert.
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2.) Deactivation of HAL 9000; “Moonlight Sonata (1st Movement)” by Ludwig van Beethoven
This scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey depicts the deactivation, or death of HAL 9000, the artificially intelligent supercomputer onboard the spacecraft headed to Jupiter. HAL has malfunctioned and killed off all of the crew members except Dave Bowman. The only way to prevent HAL from causing more damage to the mission is to deactivate him from inside the ship’s memory core center. As Dave marches his way through the ship towards the computer, HAL acknowledges his loss and attempts to plead for his life as a human would. In this scene, HAL transforms into more than just a supercomputer on a spaceship, as he seems to show human emotion and acknowledges that his time has come. In this way, the genius of this scene is to transform the act of turning off a machine into murder or the killing of a sentient being. Kubrick chooses not to use music in this scene to focus the audience’s attention on Dave’s breathing, the consistent white noise of the air in his spacesuit, and HAL’s begging and final words. The absence of music adds to the humanity of the scene and brings the audience closer to the characters involved in that it feels more real rather than just a scene in a film (Rothman).
“Moonlight Sonata,” or “Piano Sonata No. 14,” is a classical piece of music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. The sonata is divided into three Movements, so I have chosen the 1st Movement for this scene. The song is entirely played on a piano and consists of a simple piano melody with some variations throughout. While Kubrick deliberately chose not to put music in this scene, the piano melody in “Moonlight Sonata” echoes this choice for simplicity in the scene. The song’s piano melody is beautiful, soft, and a bit somber. It maintains this feeling for its entirety, contrasting with the prominently dark act of the deactivation of the sentient HAL 9000 occurring in the film. The contrast between the soft, melodic music of Beethoven’s sonata and the darkness in Kubrick’s movie creates a clash in feelings that are evoked in the film; as the audience is actively rooting for Dave to shut down HAL, we also feel sadness and guilt for cheering on the murder of a machine that can think for itself. This clash is also emulated in the dissonant sounds in the piano’s deviations within the melody, which sticks out from the flow of the theme the listener is used to hearing.
3.) Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite; “Starless” by King Crimson
In this scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dave Bowman, the last survivor of the Jupiter Mission, encounters a floating, black, rectangular monolith near Jupiter and enters a mysterious stargate to the unknown. Before Dave enters the wormhole, we are presented with landscape images of the vastness of space and Jupiter and its moons compared to the spacecraft. The monolith appears for the third time in this scene; this time, however, it opens up a portal for Dave and his ship to travel through. A series of flashing lights follows as Dave is warped into another dimension. As Kubrick describes it, “When the surviving astronaut, Bowman, ultimately reaches Jupiter, this artifact sweeps him into a force field or stargate that hurls him on a journey through inner and outer space and finally transports him to another part of the galaxy.” The visuals of the stargate are extremely disorienting and are not meant to be understood by the audience. The stargate sequence itself evokes feelings of fear and discomfort as it goes on for nearly fifteen minutes (Rothman). Accompanying the striking visuals of the wormhole is György Ligeti’s “Atmospheres,” the same piece of music used at all appearances of the mysterious monolith, also evoking feelings of fear and confusion as both Dave and the audience are thrust into the unknown (Dillon).
“Starless” by King Crimson is a progressive rock song released in 1974. The song begins with a synth accompanied by a guitar riff melody that sounds otherworldly. The riff consists of smooth slides and slow moving arpeggios that create a sound that transforms the guitar into an entirely new instrument. The beginning of the song parallels the beginning of 2001’s “Jupiter and Beyond” section as the Bowman’s spaceship arrives within the Jupiter’s orbit. Then, the lyrics of the song come in: “Sundown dazzling day, Gold through my eyes, But my eyes turned within, Only see, Starless and bible black.” The songs opening lyrics match the visuals of the sun shiining through the edges of Jupiter and its moons as the miniscule spaceship passes by. Then the song begins to shift into its second section with a dark and brooding bassine accompanied by disonant guitar sounds. The shift perfectly aligns with the visuals of the film as Dave enters the stargate. The chaotic noises which follow in music parrallel with the chaos happening in the wormhole as flashing lights and psychedelic visions of galaxies flow past Dave in his spacecraft. As the lengthy and chaotic middle section comes to a close, the song returns once again to the familiar melody at from the beginning, echoing the themes of Kubrick’s film that no matter how far the human race ventures out and evolves we always return to the beginning, as shown by the ending “starchild” scene. As Kubrick describes the end of his film: “In a timeless state, (Dave’s) life passes from middle age to senescence to death. He is reborn, an enhanced being, a star child, an angel, a superman, if you like, and returns to earth prepared for the next leap forward of man’s evolutionary destiny” (Rothman).