Line #37 ThePowerOfRock/Literature


1	* Basically the main premise of "Heavy Metal And You".
2	* ''Ode for St. Cecilia's Day'', a poem by John Dryden, most famously set to music by George Frideric Handel, follows the old Pythagorean idea of music being a central force in the creation of the world if not the universe -- and extends it to the end of the world, when "music shall untune the sky."
3	* Creator/MercedesLackey's works:
4	** In the UrbanFantasy novel ''Literature/MusicToMySorrow'', the protagonists stop a riot and defeat the villain by staging an emergency magical rock concert. It helps that the main character is an elven-trained Bard who can rip holes in local spacetime with his music and their lead singer is gifted with the ability to influence the emotions of anyone who hears her sing.
5	** ''Literature/JinxHigh'' contains a magirock battle between two demon-infested electric guitars supported by a dark sorceress and a hippie-infested guitar and a guardian/witch. It ends when the speakers, not intended for arcane use, explode.
6	* ''Literature/WarForTheOaks'' is another UrbanFantasy novel in which the main character is a bard, though in this case she is an out-of-work rock band leader putting together a new band when she is recruited as the required mortal for the titular Faery war. In the course of things she discovers her magical powers and [[spoiler: ends up challenging the [[TheFairFolk Queen of the Unseelie Court]] to a musical duel to determine the outcome of the war]].
7	* And then there's the often-overlooked (but excellent) ''Literature/GossamerAxe'' by Gael Baudino, whose harper heroine was taken by [[TheFairFolk the Sidhe]] from ancient Ireland - she escaped (to modern Denver), but was forced to leave her lesbian lover behind. Her rescue attempts have always failed, as the immortal Sidhe's [[MagicMusic harp skills]] simply overpower her own...until she discovers a new weapon in [[LoudOfWar heavy metal]].
8	* In the ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' series by Alan Dean Foster, the most powerful force in the world is ''[[spoiler:Fly Like An Eagle]]''.
9	* Terry Pratchett. Literature/{{Discworld}}. ''Literature/SoulMusic''. However, ''Soul Music'' is more or less about something for which the Disc isn't quite ready, and it ends up distorting reality to the point that history itself gets rewritten. Not that that's all that unusual in Discworld. (The book is filled with punny references; the primary singer of Music With Rocks In goes by "Buddy" since his first name means "bud" in his language; his last name, of course, means "holly".)
10	** In a non-rock variant, Sybil's timely rendition of a venerated dwarfish aria in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' persuades every dwarf in Bonk that Vimes is entitled a hearing with the Low King. Not supernatural Power in this case, just a ''very'' potent cultural precedent.
11	** ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'' utilises the Power of ''Folk'', when the Lancre Morris Men hypnotise the music-obsessed [[TheFairFolk Elves]] with a non-stop accordion performance while [[DanceBattler repurposing their morris-dancing moves]] to deadly effect.
12	* In ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', the heroes disguise themselves as a band to get past security at a Las Vegas hotel in order to confront a demon. They end up facing a swarm of monsters that are "natural dischordians", meaning they can't stand melody due to their hellish origin. The heroes proceed to play an original song written by the titular John himself: ''Camel Holocaust!''
13	** To which the lyrics go. "''I knew a man No / I made that part up / Hair! Hair! Haaaairrr! / Camel Holocaust! Camel Holocaust!''"
14	*** However, in the original version, the heroes perform Music/GunsNRoses' "Sweet Child O' Mine." This was changed for copyright reasons when the story was physically published.
15	* The "[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]" Croshaw short story ''[[http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/features/spiritofrock.htm The Spirit of Rock]]''.
16	* ''Literature/SongsOfEarthAndPower'': Any sufficiently great piece of music (or {{art}} in general) has inherent magical properties. In particular, there's a piece called the ''Infinity Concerto'' which legendarily transported a group of people to another world; later in the book, Mozart ([[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy yes, the real one]]) improvises another piece to transport them all back.
17	* The Disaster Area concert in ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse''. Calculated to turn the planet Kakrafoon into, well, a disaster area, the inhabitants are only hosting it as a last-ditch distraction from their curse of telepathy. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakrafoon#Kakrafoon The effects are rather more wide-ranging]]. The band's agent afterwards labels it "a good gig".
18	* In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', [[spoiler:the Americans set up in a defensive formation, then blast Music/IronMaiden's "The Trooper" as loud as they can to attract the Zombies and fire up the troops]]. This is more of a knowing nod to the trope, on the part of the characters as much as the writer, given that it's mentioned any similarly loud, sustained noise works just as well; the British, for example, use Highland bagpipes to much the same effect.
19	* In ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'', the [[TrappedInThePast uptime forces]] get a Spanish army to surrender by demoralizing them with rock. Also country, opera, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich#War Shostakovich]] and a small amount of napalm.
20	** In ''1636: The Devil's Opera" Marla uses [[Theatre/LesMiserables "Do You Hear the People Sing"]] to rally the USE against Oxenstrienrna's attempt at a legal coup.
21	* The extreme example is probably the opening of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', in which the Ainur '''create the entire universe''' by singing.
22	** Also, according to some obscure prophecies about the end of the world, the Children of Eru (Elves and Men--and by then, Dwarves, who, one supposes, can be thought of as His adoptive children) will be participating in the Second Music and either create a better world, or fix the marring of the extant one.
23	** The power returns when Lúthien raises Beren from the dead (usually impossible) by singing so movingly that Mandos (Ainu keeper of dead souls) relents. The genre of the music is unspecified.
24	*** Which is basically the Greek legend of Orpheus and Euridice gender flipped.
25	** Lúthien also knocks out [[BigBad Morgoth's]] entire fortress with a song. She apparently had some pretty good pipes.
26	** ''None has ever caught him yet, for Tom he is the master / His songs are stronger songs and his feet are faster''
27	** Also in ''The Silmarillion'': The sorcerous duel between Sauron and Finrod Felagund takes the form of a song contest.
28	--->''He chanted a song of wizardry, of piecing, opening, of treachery; revealing, uncovering, betraying.''
29	* In ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'', Aslan sings Narnia into existence.
30	* In ''[[Literature/IntoTheLookingGlass Claws that Catch]]'', written by Creator/JohnRingo and Creator/TravisSTaylor, the crew of the Vorpal Blade II discover a giant artifact in a very strange star system that turns out to be a [[spoiler: giant concert venue, they then proceed to defeat an attacking alien fleet with songs such as ''Freebird'' and ''Black Unicorn'' used to control the star system scale laser lightshow.]] There is also a major ''Anime/Macross7'' ShoutOut in the piece with the anime zone causing it to switch to Macross style J-Pop for a bit.
31	* In Creator/EstherFriesner's ''Unicorn U.'' the apocalypse is averted with the power of ''samba''.
32	* In Creator/LEModesittJr's ''Spellsong Cycle'', a classically trained opera soprano is transported to a world in which music is magic. And nobody there has any training. And combined with some fancy lute playing, is powerful enough to [[spoiler:create a city-sized nuclear fusion explosion from thin air.]]
33	* In ''[[Literature/TheIlluminatusTrilogy The Illiminatus! Trilogy]]'', the Illuminati rock group American Medical Association intends to play an outdoor festival near a lake where Nazi Occultists sunk an invincible army. The power of rock will raise the army, which will slaughter the fans and allow the Illuminati to ascend to a higher plane of existence. ItMakesSenseInContext -- as much as anything in the book does anyway.
34	* Gwyneth Jones's ''BoldAsLove'' series.
35	* In ''Wrack and Roll'', the power of rock is used to stop a nuclear war.
36	* In ''[[{{Literature/Nightside}} Nightingale's Lament]]'', an exploited diva turns this trope on her CorruptCorporateExecutive bosses as a ShutUpHannibal.
37	** Also from Creator/SimonRGreen, the embodied spirit of [[spoiler: Jim Morrison]] leads a cadre of rock musicians who'd died young onto a battlefield, where their performance drives much of an invading army to desertion or flight, while reinvigorating the defenders of ''Shadows Fall''.
38	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' gives us probably the only instance in history of The Power of Polka. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Don't ask]]. Actually, on second thought, do. Polka will never die! And polka-powered-zombie-T-rex.
39	** Creator/JimButcher may have actually topped himself. [[spoiler: As Demonreach is under attack from [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]], Molly brings in the cavalry while using magic to play "We Will Rock You" at epic volume levels. While He Who Walks Before is caught off guard, Harry charges his Winchester with Soulfire, shoves it '''through the baddy's teeth''', and delivers an epic PreAssKickingOneLiner.]]
40	--->Harry: Hey Sharkface! '''Get rocked.'''
41	* In ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' by Creator/JohnCWright, [[TheTrickster Colin]] unlocks his powers by playing rock music. DeadpanSnarker Amelia notes that if he hadn't been playing in the middle of a war, the resultant noise would have been [[DreadfulMusician pretty bad.]]
42	* The Gutbucket Quest, a novel by Creator/PiersAnthony, involves a guitar player, TheChosenOne, from the real world being sent (by destiny/the fates/random chance) to a world where the South won the Civil War, and most of North America is called "Tejas". Everything revolves around a MacGuffin guitar called the Gutbucket. When played by The Chosen One, it granted nearly god-like powers. Instead of Rock, however, the music of choice is Blues.
43	* In Creator/KimStanleyRobinson's ''The Memory of Whiteness'', the connection between mathematics and music is taken to extremes. The world's greatest physicist has also built the world's greatest musical instrument, and some people who believe that [[spoiler: if you are the controller of this majestic instrument, you have some say over a controllable, deterministic version of spacetime]] would very much like to, uh, convert the Master of the Orchestra...
44	* The band in ''The Last Days'', by Creator/ScottWesterfeld'', somehow is able to play music that calls the worms that live under the surface out so that they can be killed. The band ends up saving the world, though it is not stated how long it took.
45	* ''[[Literature/TalesOfKolmar Redeeming the Lost]]'' has [[spoiler: Marik in the NighInvulnerable Black Dragon body]] finally dissolved and killed by all [[spoiler: three surviving groups]] of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Kantrishakrim]] singing together. Mind, the BigBad had already been killed by more conventional means.
46	* In ''[[Literature/YearZero Year Zero]]'', Earth's music is so powerfully good that it killed many aliens who first encountered it out of sheer awesomeness. Those that survived are still put into a blissful haze whenever they listen to it.
47	* The whole point of ''Literature/TheTruthOfRockAndRoll''.
48	* ''Literature/Coda2013'' has this as its focal point, with the Corp using music to control people and the hero, Anthem, using it to express freedom.
49	* It's not quite saving the world, but in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' Candayce is able to use a psychic projection of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" to keep a line of charging Triceratops from trampling her.
50	* The end of Creator/KimNewman's "Literature/TheEndOfThePierShow" involves glam-rock psychic detective Richard Jeperson defeating an army of zombie demon Nazis invoked by a spell gone wrong by rigging up a record player to a coastal town civil defense siren and having it play ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' and ''Music/LetItBe'' at them.
51	* ''Literature/SpaceOpera'' has as its climax [[ItMakesSenseInContext Space Eurovision To Save Humanity]] and as such ''requires'' this trope, combining [[spoiler:Christmas carols sung by a terrified bassist, a resurrected drummer, a [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong half-alien hybrid baby]] and ''singing wormholes'']] into a world-saving track formed of concentrated awesome.
52	* ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'': It is said the only thing short of God's intervention that can defeat discord wrought by demons is music. The narrator mentions this by reference to Orpheus playing his harp to bring peace to the Argonauts and David singing his psalms to alleviate the evils of Saul.
53	* ''Literature/PeterPanInScarlet'' features the Power of Rhythm 'n' Blues, when Slightly holds off the Heartbroken with an improvised clarinet rendition of ''Will Ye No' Come Back Again''.

Context ThePowerOfRock / Literature