Book:Soul Music

Soul Music
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Victor Gollancz
Publication date	May 1994
ISBN	0575055049
Pages	288
RRP
Main characters	Imp y Celyn, Death, Susan Sto-Helit, Glod Glodsson, Lias Bluestone
Series	Death Series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

Other children got given xylophones. Susan just had to ask her grandfather to take his vest off.

Yes. There's a Death in the family.

It's hard to grow up normally when Grandfather rides a white horse and wields a scythe – especially when you have to take over the family business, and everyone mistakes you for the Tooth Fairy.

And especially when you have to face the new and addictive music that has entered the Discworld.

It's Lawless. It changes people.

It's called Music With Rocks In.

It's got a beat and you can dance to it, but ...

It's alive.

And it won't fade away.

Plot

The book tells the story of Rock 'n' Roll's brief appearance on the Disc. Imp y Celyn (aka Buddy) emigrates from Llamedos to Ankh-Morpork, with a harp as his only hope of making money. He meets dwarf hornist Glod Glodsson and troll percussionist Lias "Cliff" Bluestone and they apply to join the Musicians' Guild, only to discover that the malicious secretary Clete charges a ridiculously high membership fee. To make their situation worse, Cliff accidentally crushes Buddy's harp. As a replacement, Buddy purchases a strange guitar which produces a distorted and extremely loud noise despite having no sound chamber. Although it is illegal for musicians outside of the guild to perform in public, they decide to play gigs at pubs and clubs.

The book features the first appearance of Susan Sto Helit, the daughter of Mort and Ysabell and a student in Quirm. At the beginning of the book, Mort and Ysabell have just been killed in a coach accident. Death takes leave from his post due to his grief and Susan is forced to fill in his duty. As part of the job, Susan has to attend the scheduled Death of "Imp y Celyn" in Ankh-Morpork. As the band, who later become known as The Band With Rocks In, are playing in a club, she sees a barbarian throw an axe at the stage. Instead of killing the singer however, it misses at the moment of his scheduled death. She soon discovers that the Music is a magical and almost demonic force which is artificially extending his life by manipulating his luck.

The band soon rise to prominence in Ankh-Morpork after they come under the care of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, who become the Disc's first ever Band Manager. He arranges for them to play at the Cavern Club, to a huge and enthusiastic reception. Again, the Music stops Buddy from being killed a second time by Clete's private assassins. The hypnotic power of the Music means both the band and the audience are put under a spell during the shows. Soon, more bands are being formed in Ankh-Morpork and many hopeful musicians are learning guitar and forming bands, even the Wizards at the Unseen University. Dibbler arranges them to go on a tour to several cities, and the band a greeted with huge crowds wherever they play. At the same time, Buddy is becoming increasingly tired and depleted, saying and doing almost nothing between the shows.

The band arranges a huge free concert at Hide Park in Ankh-Morpork (a parody of the Woodstock Festival, and also referencing a famous concert by The Rolling Stones), featuring other bands with varying degrees of incompetence. They then flee the city, pursued by Dibbler, the Musician's Guild, Susan and Death. Their cart falls off the edge of a cliff, but Death intervenes and drives the Music off the Disc by destroying the guitar. The fate of the band is ambiguous and it is suggested near the end that Imp may have ended up working at a chip shop in Quirm.

Characters

Main Characters

• The Band With Rocks In:
  • Imp y Celyn: Member (lead vocals & eclectric whatzit)
  • Glod Glodsson: Member (Horn)
  • Lias Bluestone: Member (Percussion)
  • The Librarian: Short-term member (Organ)
  • Asphalt: Roadie
  • CMOT Dibbler: Manager

• The Death family and associates:
  • Death
  • Susan Sto-Helit
  • Mort
  • Ysabell
  • Binky
  • Death of Rats
  • Quoth

• Ankh-Morpork Musicians Guild:
  • Mr. Clete
  • Mr. Satchelmouth Lemon
  • Herbert Shuffle
  • Grisham Frord Close Harmony Singers

• The Wizards:
  • Mustrum Ridcully
  • The Dean
  • The Bursar
  • Lecturer in Recent Runes
  • Senior Wrangler
  • Chair of Indefinite Studies
  • Ponder Stibbons
  • Adrian Turnipseed

Minor Characters

• The Canting Crew:
• The Duck Man
• Coffin Henry
• Foul Ole Ron
• Arnold Sideways
• Gaspode (as-yet-uncredited appearance as Ron's thinking-brain dog)

• Staff and residents of Quirm College for Young Ladies:
  • Miss Eulalie Butts
  • Miss Delacross
  • Gloria Thogsdaughter
  • Lady Sara
  • Princess Jade

Cameos and Mentions

• Nobby Nobbs
• Fred Colon
• Lord Robert Selachii, assassin
• Giamo Casanunda (mentioned)
• Owen Mwnyy (mentioned)
• Hogfather (mentioned)
• Mr. Hong (mentioned)
• The Soul Cake Duck (mentioned)
• C. H. Lavatory & Son (mentioned)
• Gorlick and Hammerjug
• Mr. Dorfl (mentioned)
• Bertie the Balladeer and His Troubadour Rascals (mentioned)

• Klatchian Foreign Legion

• Other Music With Rocks In groups:
  • Ande Supporting Bandes (Crash, Noddy, Scum & Jimbo)
  • Trollz
  • Dwarfs With Altitude
  • Boyz from the Wood
  • &U

Concepts, Items, Etc.

• Books:
  • Along the Ankh with Bow, Rod and Staff with a Knob on the End
  • Blert Wheedown's Guitar Primer

• Songs:
  • "Great Fiery Balls"
  • Don't Tread On My New Blue Boots
  • Good Gracious Miss Polly
  • Sto Helit Lace
  • Pathway to Paradise
  • Something's gotten into my beard
  • There's A Great Deal Of Shaking Happening
  • Give Me That Music With Rocks In
  • Sioni Bod Da

• Other
  • Noxeuse's Divisibility Paradox

Locations

• Ankh-Morpork
  • The Musicians' Guild
  • The Mended Drum
  • Unseen University
  • The Backs
  • Hide Park
• Llamedos
• Sto Plains
• Scrote
• Hersheba (mentioned)
• Quirm
  • Quirm College for Young Ladies
  • Three Roses Alley
• A Wandering Shop
• The Cavern Club
• Sto Lat
• Pseudopolis
• The Gritz
• Joe's Livery Stable

Television

Soul Music
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00004CW4G.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
ASIN	B00004CW4G
IMDB	0159914
First Broadcast	1996
Broadcast Channel	Channel 4
Director(s)	{{{director}}}
Producer(s)	Jean Flynn
Writer(s)	{{{writer}}}
Starring	Christopher Lee, Andy Hockley, Debra Gillett, Graham Crowden
Duration	159 minutes
Episodes	7
Series	Death Series
Annotations	Annotations for Book:Soul Music
Notes
Preceded by	Wyrd Sisters
Followed by	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
All data relates to the UK home release.

An animated mini-series adaptation was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Channel 4 in 1996. It was later released in a two-VHS box set.

An accompanying soundtrack album was released - The CD is now out of print, but the album is available through iTunes[1].

Cast

• Imp y Celyn - Andy Hockley (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
• Susan Sto Helit - Debra Gillett (The Witches, Truckers)
• Death - Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Man with the Golden Gun, Lord of the Rings trilogy)
• Mustrum Ridcully - Graham Crowden (Waiting for God)
• Mort - Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly, Bob the Builder)
• Asphalt - Bernard Wrigley

References

The TV adaptation of Soul Music takes the association of the "Band with Rocks In" with the Beatles even further than the book does. Their style evolves from 1950s rock and early 1960s beat music (and mixing-bowl haircuts) in Ankh-Morpork, to acid rock in Scrote, to spiritual hippie rock in Quirm. In Sto Lat, they sound like the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Bad Company, but are dressed in clothes similar to the Beatles on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Also in Quirm, Buddy says that the band is 'more popular than cheeses,' referring to John Lennon's famous quote proclaiming the Beatles to be more popular than Jesus. In Pseudopolis, their outfits and style resemble the Blues Brothers. Crash's band is also given the name "Socks Pastels".

External links

Soul Music Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

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