Courtesy Leonard Pierce.
I may not be good for much, but I would have had a decent career as a music supervisor if I’d been born at the right time and place. I approached this not as an actual score, since we don’t know what’s going to happen in the game and we haven’t actually played yet, but as a sort of theoretical soundtrack to a TV show based on it, using these songs as musical cues for potential “scenes”.
What was the selection process like? I had a few rules: the music had to be both period-appropriate (that is, nothing after 1973) and contemporary (I arbitrarily made a five-year cutoff, so nothing before 1969, which works in a meta sense because I also didn’t exist before 1969). It couldn’t be anything that was already from a motion picture or television score or soundtrack, or that I knew for a fact had already been used as a scene cue by a real music supervisor, though I probably missed a few here and there. It should have a bit of international flair (we’re fighting a global conspiracy, after all), but also be somewhat location-appropriate, and I couldn’t just stick in music that I liked; I had to be able to justify its use in a possible “scene”. I wanted to lean a bit towards the psychedelic and experimental, for obvious reasons, and I didn’t want it to be all music with lyrics. I also wanted to avoid letting it be strictly governed by my personal taste (which is why it isn’t just all heavy funk, which was at its zenith during the years 1968-1974, and which would be my pick if you told me I could only listen to one kind of music as long as I lived.) And it had to be both a song I already owned and available on YouTube.
Why 52 songs? It’s a very versatile figure, with lots of numerological significance, and stop asking me pointless questions! Here we go.
Argent, “Hold Your Head Up” (1972). I generally try to avoid ringers, but you gotta have a few to bring in the crowds. This is a fave proto-glam anthem of mine, nicely triumphant but with lots of weird edges (those organ solos!) that could fit into a good group scene.
Derek Bailey, “Improvisation #8” (1971). I actually wanted to use the creaking, scratching “#9”, but it’s not on YT, so this’ll do in a pinch. Something is trying to communicate with us. Something is trying to break through our linguistic walls, but it doesn’t know the language.
Black Sabbath, “Paranoid” (1970). I know, another pure ringer, but what, am I not gonna use this one? This one comes, I think, at the nadir of a climb from despair to victory, a low point as everyone preps for a battle they’re almost certain they’re going to lose.
David Bowie, “Saviour Machine” (1970). Wait, what? Are these all ringers? No, I just put them in alphabetical order, but again, I had to use a Bowie song on this playlist. Project SANDMAN probably uses all kinds of savior machines, and has a few President Joneses in storage.
Vytas Brenner, “Araguaney” (1972). Now we’re getting to some obscure, tasty music-cue meat! This weird experimental number from a Venezuelan folk/pop performer has a nice little cosmic-ladder vibe to it. Someone’s ascending to something!
Sammy Burdson, “Action One” (1971). If you know me (and a lot of you don’t), you know that I love library music. This rare cut from the Sonoton collection is a perfect rowdy fast-paced action/fight scene background. Someone’s been kicked in the face, or near as dammit.
The Byrds, “A Bad Night at the Whiskey” (1969). Seems like a ringer, but it’s actually a slightly obscure late-’60s Byrds track. Country doesn’t much fit this game, but I see this as the group slogging home after a dreadful action in Laurel Canyon that almost ended in defeat.
Can, “Father Cannot Yell” (1969). Can was for sure going to end up on this playlist, there was no question about it. I like this track for its tense high-wire feeling and the weird, creepy psychological dynamic of the lyrics. Good for a brain-hacking scene, maybe.
Comus, “The Herald” (1971). More deranged British psychedelic avant-folk. The first time I heard this, I thought, this would be a good background for a period-appropriate Cthulhu mythos campaign. Something’s coming, but it’s not something we want to arrive.
George Crumb “Black Angels: Night of the Electric Insects” (1970). I knew I wanted something on here from Crumb’s brilliant anti-Vietnam concert piece. This one, like the Bailey track, sounds to me like something alien trying to break through into our reality.
Czar, “Tread Softly on My Dreams” (1970). This is a strange little proto-doom metal song from a nearly forgotten Tacoma psychedelic act. Gets weirder as it goes along; once the chanting starts, you’ll know why I picked it as a good scene marker.
Dies Irae, “Another Room” (1971). Lots of good early experimental psych of the NWW-List variety to choose from for this. Menacing German band. I see this as the introduction of an innocent but dangerous kid brainwashed by the Anunnaki.
Ned Doheny, “Labor of Love” (1973). It was a real stretch to try and get some yacht rock on this list, but damn it, I had to try. Probably fits best in a downtime/candid day-in-the-life scene, but really, what is Project SANDMAN but a labor of love? Or this campaign, for that matter?
Nick Drake, “Three Hours” (1969). Really wanted to get some Nick Drake on here without going for something really obvious. I like the slightly sinister downkey tuning on the guitars, and the timeline implied by the lyrics and title make it a good countdown scene fit.
The Endeavors, “I Know You Don’t Want Me” (1970). Okay, so, well, I’m not going to completely abandon hard funk/soul for this. A minor Nashville outfit did this one; it’s got a good driving beat that I think would work well in a chase scene. There’s always a chase scene.
Fanny, “Hey Bulldog” (1972). Discovered by the Beatles (who I sagely left the fuck off this playlist), this was one of the first ever all-female rock groups. They were also from the Valley, and hung around in the Canyon a lot doing drugs. They might make a background cameo.
The Flower Travellin’ Band, “Satori, Part 2” (1971). Another group I just had to get in here because of their insane psychedelia (and vague connection to radical left-wing terrorism). I wanted to use Part 6, but again, not on YouTube. Still a nasty drone-and-burn build, though.
Funkadelic, “Funky Dollar Bill” (1970). One of many bands that’s on here because I just couldn’t justify leaving them off. Some light anticapitalist sentiment, maybe good for a scene involving bribery or payoffs of people we probably shouldn’t be exploiting…
Gentle Giant, “Nothing at All” (1970). I didn’t want to lean too much on Canterbury Scene/British psych stuff, but damn, it’s so...appropriate for the vibe of this campaign. This would be in another big setback/climb out of despair-type scene, I reckon.
Gray Fox, “Hawg Frog” (1973). A mysterious song from a mysterious band, this represents me again trying to shoehorn some country onto this playlist. I think this would work great with some hick townie trying to describe a kulullu sighting.
Peter Green, “The Green Manalishi [With the Two-Pronged Crown]” (1970). Well-known, I guess, but not enough to call it a ringer. I knew from the jump I had to put this one in, a psychedelic nightmare of money literally leaking into a man’s dreams.
Grin, “Moon Tears” (1972). A minor hit for Nils Lofgren in psych drag, this is a groovy little trucking number that I think would be good for introducing a minor but menacing villain or henchman. Dig that pop-metal vibe!
Bruce Haack, “Supernova” (1970). Electronic music was kinda hard to come by during this period and I didn’t wanna over-Moog it, so I picked a track from the groundbreaking Electric Lucifer album. Good for a traveling sequence, either physical or psychic.
Halfnelson, “[No More] Mr. Nice Guys” (1972). This was the legendary Sparks in its initial configuration. A bit of a psychedelic boogie-woogie feel, if that’s a thing. This goes in a very crucial scene. I just don’t know what it is yet.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, “Feast of the Mau Mau” (1969). Jay Hawkins got strange later on in his career, folks. This might work in a comic relief scene, but it might also work for a bizarre voodoo cult that’s been turned in the direction of The Enemy.
Hawkwind, “The Black Corridor” (1973). As above, there was zero chance I wasn’t going to put a Hawkwind track on here. This shows up when someone is being, uh, ‘re-educated’, complete with portentous outer-space voiceover.
Isaac Hayes, “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic” (1969). Mr. Hot Buttered Soul in his Hendrix-ripoff mode, or, the most Funkadelic track Funkadelic never wrote. This is a long jam so it’s a good rest for when you have to convey a lot of visual info, maybe a season-finale scene.
The Inside, “The Wizzard King” (1971). I love this dark-psych protometal obscurity beyond all reason. This guy is gonna teach you to be a wizzard king! Like him! Good theme for a sleazeball cult leader who’s mixed up with the šedu. He wants to replace the Red King.
Kabbala, “Ashewo Ara” (1971). There wasn’t a lot of disco from this era to choose from, but searching for some got me this absolute banger from Burkina Faso. This stood in for another Afro-psych tune that wasn’t on YT but it’s still a real banger.
Kardašlar, “Çökertme” (1973). Turkish surf psychedelia is such a rich vein of the rockin’ and the creepy! It’s all the minor keys. Given the Sumerian origin of the Anunnaki, it’d be pretty easy to work this into a dreamy (or nightmarish) villain machination scene.
Eduard Kihl, “Winter” (1970). I really, really wanted to get some Soviet music in here. I originally wanted to do some VIA or Bard music, but honestly, that stuff is pretty dreadful, so I went for a socialist-realist folk classic. Good for any scene set in the Soviet bloc, of course.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, “The Ragman and the Junkman, They Ran from the Businessman; They Laughed and He Cried” (1971). I used all my space just writing out the title. This would be a fun avant-jazz track to use in a scene about memetic warfare.
Leaf Hound, “Freelance Fiend” (1971). I may be over-relying on menacing protometal tracks for henchman and villain themes, but hey, there’s probably gonna be a lot of henchmen and villains, right? I fuckin’ love this song.
The New Seekers, “What Have They Done to My Song, Ma?” (1970). This is a ringer, and a corny one at that, but think about it: this song is a perfect encapsulation of the feeling of having your brain hacked and realizing the reality you’ve always believed in is just a big lie.
Open Mind, “I Feel the Same Way Too” (1969). Another ‘heavy nugget’-style psych rarity, this has a kind of light lyrical approach but it’s also throbbingly heavy on the music side. This is a good one for a scene where someone finally uncovers a plot, I think.
The Osmonds, “Crazy Horses” (1972). Look, I know. I know! I mostly just included this because I like to remind people that the Osmonds almost topped the charts once with a goofy almost-hard rock song about horses. Tell me that wasn’t part of someone’s conspiracy.
Pentangle, “Light Flight” (1969). Another British psych-folk effort. This one has a lovely vocal and lyric and the music takes you in a lot of directions, so I feel like it’s a pretty versatile track that could be used in any number of contexts.
Jean-Jacques Perrey, “Synthetic Heart” (1971). There had to be some Moog in here somewhere. I love this track, and the throbbing electronic pulse makes it a great fit for someone being healed, reprogrammed, or doing wetwork or having it done.
Usnija Redžepova, “Selîme Ternie” (1972). Another thing to know about me is that I love communist Yugoslavia, and this is a great track by its Gypsy Pop superstar. This would be a great track for meeting a contact behind the Iron Curtain. Love a spy meetup scene!
The Reg Tilsey Orchestra, “Strike Rich” (1972). Yet another great track from my absurdly oversized collection of library music, this one (from the redoubtable Reg Tilsey) would be a good one for when the plan, whatever it is, starts really coming together.
Pharoah Sanders, “Ore-Se-Rere” (1973). ‘70s avant-jazz by black-power musicians was another direction I leaned in pretty hard for this playlist. I think this one would work pretty well as a recurring theme for one of the player characters…but which one?
Sonny Sharrock, “Peanut” (1969). Speaking of black-power avant-jazz from the ‘70s! Okay, so this one is pretty personal for my specific character: this is the tune that Jocasta desperately hums to herself as a memetic device to keep herself from losing it completely when things start getting really crazy.
Ivor Slaney, “A Matter of Urgency” (1973). I wanted to have at least one library music track that was less funky/groovy and more classic-TV-score, so I went with this one, done in the traditional orchestral style that was still very common in the mid-‘70s. This is very versatile incidental music useful for all kinds of scenes.
Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra, “Lemuria” (1969). Oh, you knew I was gonna cram some Sun Ra onto here. Plus, the title is “Lemuria”! Come on! This is a great organ-driven space-jazz number that I think would be good for any scene where someone is discovering the Anunnaki for the first time.
Musavi & Kiâni Tal’âi, “Avaz-e Bayat-e Kord” (1969). Okay, I know Sumeria isn’t an exact geographical match for Iran, but I wanted something for a scene in which the Lords of History B plan their evil machinations, and traditional Iranian music seemed to fit the bill pretty nicely.
Uriah Heep, “Born in a Trunk [Unreleased Instrumental Version]” (1970). Nobody likes Uriah Heep but me. Don’t taunt me, I could have put Jethro Tull on here instead. I just like this song for a fast-moving scene of violence, it’s very heavy (and very humble, har har).
Link Wray, “Genocide” (1969). This is as close as I get to having a personal theme song. I fucking love this song. Its slow burn is just perfect. This works well in a scene that’s kind of modern-noir; someone may not be planning actual genocide, but if they get their way, a lot of people are gonna be unhappy.
Writing on the Wall, “Buffalo” (1969). The last of our British acid-folk selections is this surprisingly tuff little number. Fits well with either a psychedelic cosmic-revelation scene or the bummer aftershock of a psychedelic cosmic-revelation scene. Perfect for an encounter in a reality subduction zone.
The Ya Ho Wa 13, “To the Principles for the Children [First Section]” (1973). Of course I was going to include a song by the house band for an actual Hollywood drug cult led by a guy who definitely murdered someone and got away with it and later died in a hang gliding accident! An in-game cult is singing this.
Larry Young, “Alive” (1973). Our last avant-jazz tune is this nice, brief little head-twister. Short but disorienting, just the way I like my drug experiences. Good number for someone who’s just had a major zap put on their brain and is trying to make a quick recovery.
Neil Young, “A Man Needs a Maid” (1972). A widely misinterpreted number from old man Neil, I always like the mix of earthy and grand that comes from tossing the LA Philharmonic on a track for no reason. Coming home, exhausted and bloody, dragging back to HQ after a brutal showdown in the Valley.
Zager & Evans, “In the Year 2525 [Exordium & Terminus]” (1969). This piece of crap was the #1 song in America the day I was born. The only explanation for the mercurial rise of this bloviating garbage is that it was an Anunnaki plot to acclimate humans to a future of enslavement and disappointment.