History Music / ThomasDolby

* AlbumTitleDrop: "All I want is the keys to your Ferrari / because ''Aliens Ate My Buick''"

** The line "Good heavens Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful" in "She Blinded Me With Science" is a reference to Ryuichi Sakamoto's wife Akiko Yano who was in the studio at the time (she had previously sung backing on "Radio Silence", and Dolby would collaborate with Ryuichi Sakamoto on Field Work a couple of years later).

In 1990 Dolby played (or perhaps ([[EvilIsHammy overplayed]]) the role of the villain Stanley in the cult film ''Film/{{Rockula}},'' as well as contributing the songs "Stanley's Death Park" and "Budapest by Blimp". In 1993, Dolby successfully established the Headspace company. Headspace developed a new downloadable file format designed specifically for Internet usage called Rich Music Format with the RMF file extension. It had the advantage of small file size like MIDI but allowed recorded sampled sounds to be included at a higher bitrate for better overall reproduction. RMF music files could be played in a browser using the free Beatnik Player plug-in. Later versions of RMF permitted artists to place an encrypted watermark in their files that were supposed to prevent unauthorized duplication. In 1999, Headspace, Inc. was renamed Beatnik, Inc., and now specializes in software synthesizers for mobile phones, which it has licensed to mobile phone manufacturers including Nokia.

* AnswerSong: Dolby intentionally invoked this trope with the remix "Airhead's Revenge". The song features a female rapper criticising Dolby for spending money on women but having no charm, and a male rapper defending Dolby for being hardworking.

* MoodWhiplash: Deliberately done on The Flat Earth, where the smooth and jazzy I Scare Myself is followed by the loud and raucous Hyperactive!. This is made more jarring by the fact that Hyperactive! begins with two scarechords.

Thomas Dolby is an award-winning English musician .

Dolby is member #00001 of the current incarnation of the Flat Earth Society, a pseudoscientific group.[[note]]He was offered the membership by the founder due to his album The Flat Earth, and for a time opened his concerts with a tongue-in-cheek TheyCalledMeMad-variety lecture on the subject.[[/note]] His best known song came from the album "The Golden Age of Wireless" (1982), frequently re-released and revision with varying tracks available - it was released five times, in fact! He has produced a variety of albums since then, along with video games based on his steampunk settings.

In 1990 Dolby played the role of the villain Stanley in the movie Rockula as well as contributing the songs "Stanely's Death Park" and "Budapest by Blimp". In 1993, Dolby successfully established the Headspace company. Headspace developed a new downloadable file format designed specifically for Internet usage called Rich Music Format with the RMF file extension. It had the advantage of small file size like MIDI but allowed recorded sampled sounds to be included at a higher bitrate for better overall reproduction. RMF music files could be played in a browser using the free Beatnik Player plug-in. Later versions of RMF permitted artists to place an encrypted watermark in their files that were supposed to prevent unauthorized duplication. In 1999, Headspace, Inc. was renamed Beatnik, Inc., and now specializes in software synthesizers for mobile phones, which it has licensed to mobile phone manufacturers including Nokia.

* ObviousBeta: [[WordOfGod Dolby]] says that the original mix of "Urban Tribal" (B-Side of "The Jungle Line" single under the alias Low Noise) was rushed out before he could put his planned harmony vocal on it. When it came to doing "The Golden Age Of Wireless" remaster, he asked his son Harper to add the harmony vocal.
** Dolby says in The Flat Earth remaster booklet that he rushed the album out after only completing 7 songs to his satisfaction, due to having to run off to the US to do a tour for his breakthrough hit "She Blinded Me With Science".

* {{Sampling}}: In the 80s, Dolby was rather fond of a sample of night birds, used to simulate night. He first used it in "The Jungle Line", then as linking material between "White City", "Mulu The Rain Forest" and "I Scare Myself" on The Flat Earth, and then a few years later at the end of "Pulp Culture".
** Dolby composed a soundtrack for the Comic Strip movie Summer School which featured a recurring bongo motif. He later sampled this at the start of "The Flat Earth".

** The line "Good heavens Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful" in She Blinded Me With Science is a reference to Ryuichi Sakamoto's wife Akiko Yano who was in the studio at the time (she had previously sung backing on "Radio Silence", and Dolby would collaborate with Ryuichi Sakamoto on Field Work a couple of years later).

* SurrealMusicVideo: Most of them, though She Blinded Me With Science is particularly known for it.

* TheEighties: The rerelease of his album The Golden Age of Wireless provided one of the fundamental hits of 1982, "She Blinded Me With Science"

* WastedSong: Dolby says this about "Don't Turn Away" in The Flat Earth remaster booklet, as it had only appeared on the "Howard The Duck" soundtrack in 1986. He felt like the remaster gave it an opportunity to shine.

Dolby is member #00001 of the current incarnation of the Flat Earth Society, a pseudoscientific group. His best known song came from the album "The Golden Age of Wireless" (1982), frequently re-released and revision with varying tracks available - it was released five times, in fact! He has produced a variety of albums since then, along with video games based on his steampunk settings.

Born Thomas Morgan Robertson on 14 October 1958). His father, Martin Robertson, was an internationally distinguished professor of classical Greek art and archeology at the University of London and Oxford University, and in his youth Thomas lived or worked in France, Italy and Greece. He attended Abingdon School in 1975-76, completing his A Levels whilst there. He later married actress Kathleen Beller in 1988; the couple have three children together. He is best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", his {{Steampunk}} aesthetic, his [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly eclectic musical style]], and his ability with electronic instruments. And [[GogglesDoNothing his goggles]]. He has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician. .

Thomas Dolby is an award-winning English musician known for his {{Steampunk}} style, his [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly eclectic musical style]], and his ability with electronic instruments. And [[GogglesDoNothing his goggles]].

Thomas Dolby (born Thomas Morgan Robertson; 14 October 1958) is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician. Robertson was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s press releases that reported his birthplace as Cairo, Egypt. His father, Martin Robertson, was an internationally distinguished professor of classical Greek art and archeology at the University of London and Oxford University, and in his youth Thomas lived or worked in France, Italy and Greece. He attended Abingdon School in 1975-76, completing his A Levels whilst there. He later married actress Kathleen Beller in 1988; the couple have three children together.

* ObviousBeta: [[WordOfGod Dolby]] says that the original mix of "Urban Tribal" (B-Side of "The Jungle Line" single under the alias Low Noise) was rushed out before he could put his planned harmony vocal on it. When it came to doing "The Golden Age Of Wireless" remaster, he asked his daughter Harper to add the harmony vocal.

** Simone is about a male to female transexual. A short time after he recorded the song (but before he released it) his daughter Harper announced that she wanted a sex change. The song carries special poignancy for him now.

* RearrangeTheSong: Dolby and Ryuichi Sakamoto's collaboration "Field Work" was released in two versions. The London mix is a bombastic mix that was the single A-Side, whereas the Tokyo mix is a laidback mix that Sakamoto mixed himself, and is a B-Side. Both use exactly the same vocal track. Whilst the London mix has been on various Dolby releases, the Tokyo mix has only been released on Sakamoto's CDs.

Thomas Dolby has also worked as a producer and a soundtrack composer for both films and video games, most notably "The Gate To The Mind's Eye", the third installment of the CGI collection, the Mind's Eye (series). Dolby also wrote the songs for the 1986 George Lucas film ''Film/HowardTheDuck'' and chose the members of the film's fictional band, Cherry Bomb. Dolby wrote and produced three tracks for the 1992 soundtrack of the animated movie ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest''. He also created the score for the 1993 Sega CD interactive movie "Double Switch". Additionally, the song "Hyperactive!" is featured in the 2002 UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 videogame VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity as part of the New Wave radio station Wave 103.

Thomas Dolby has also worked as a producer and a soundtrack composer for both films and video games, most notably "The Gate To The Mind's Eye", the third installment of the CGI collection, the Mind's Eye (series). Dolby also wrote the songs for the 1986 George Lucas film ''Film/HowardTheDuck'' and chose the members of the film's fictional band, Cherry Bomb. Dolby wrote and produced three tracks for the 1992 soundtrack of the animated movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest. He also created the score for the 1993 Sega CD interactive movie "Double Switch". Additionally, the song "Hyperactive!" is featured in the 2002 UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 videogame VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity as part of the New Wave radio station Wave 103.

-->''"The man who never dreams, goes slowly mad."''

''"The man who never dreams, goes slowly mad."''

''The man who never dreams, goes slowly mad.''
----

Thomas Dolby is an award-winning English musician known for his steampunk style, his eclectic musical style, and his ability with electronic instruments. And his goggles.

* StylisticSuck: The lisping girls who provide backing vocals on "The Devil Is An Englishman" seem to have been chosen specifically to throw off the gothic mood, annd are a deliberate satire of TheHumanLeague.

* {{Badass}}: In 1990, he played the Schoolmaster in ''Roger Waters: TheWall Live in Berlin 1990''. His performance in "The Trial" involved singing his lines while suspended on kirby wires in a Teacher costume with cartoonishly long arms and legs. And he pulled it off quite marvelously.

While still remaining on the company board, Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO of Beatnik Inc. to pursue other technologically innovative interests, such as founding Retro Ringtones LLC in 2002, which produces the RetroFolio ringtone asset management software suite for companies involved in the mobile phone ringtone business. At the second annual Mobile Music Awards, Miami, Florida, in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: At the time of the 2009 remasters, Dolby released two tracks that were left off for time reasons, these being a "Flying North" Demo with an extra verse, and a live "White City" with intro speech about the Flat Earth Society (which tied in with the album of the same name). Dolby's forum was later taken down due to a large amount of spam and him migrating to Facebook. Fortunately, they were both uploaded to Youtube: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOkftxNONuc FlyingNorth]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NRgK7psjpA WhiteCity]].
** Though Dolby did a good job of mopping up the rarities on his first two album remasters, he left off Jungle Line and its dub because of the cost of royalties (Joni Mitchell wrote the song), and left off the original mix of Urban Tribal because he considered it unfinished. He left an alternate mix of Puppet Theatre (that appeared on the Silk Pyjamas single) off the Flat Earth remaster because there was already the original B-Side mix on there. There are also a good number of rarities that appear on singles from his following album "Aliens Ate My Buick" and "Astronauts And Heretics", however, there is a chance remasters might be released.
** Dolby did a 1981 session for Kid Jensen that notably features a full band version of "Therapy/Growth" (which didn't feature any drums on its studio recording), as well renditions of "Radio Silence (Guitar Version)", "Urges" and "Commercial Breakup". It's unlikely this session will ever be officially released but fortunately someone who had a tape of the session was kind enough to put it onto [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5H5gPbEUtQ Youtube]].
** The song "The Mirror Song" only appears on the Toys soundtrack from 1992, making it the only song of Dolby's that does not appear on one of his own releases in some form. This is notable because it never even became a B-Side, even though it was released in the "Astronauts And Heretics" period where Dolby reissued a good number of rarities as B-Sides to singles. It's likely that if there is ever an "Astronauts And Heretics" remaster it will appear on it.

* GenreRoulette: Dolby has done songs in many different genres. His recent album Map Of The Floating City is possibly the best example of it:

** Spice Train (Dubstep / Indian Music)

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** He mentions Mars bars again in "Road To Reno", as well as the US departmnt store Sears. He also gives a Shoutout to TheBeatles and TearsForFears.

** "Road To Reno" mentions TheBeatles and TearsForFears . They are two bands that Dolby likes and whose music he's often been compared to.