History Main / FutureMusic

* Donna Summer's album ''I Remember Yesterday'' consists of disco homages to various decades of music history, but the final track, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2qI6UDD2uQ "I Feel Love"]], is supposed to represent the future of music, and drops the live orchestras of contemporary disco in favor of synthesizers. The song's production ''did'' turn out to be heavily influential on the subsequent development of electronic dance music, so in a way, the song did manage to represent the future of music.

* [[VirtualIdol Sharon Apple]]'s trippy, [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly genre busting]] songs from ''Anime/MacrossPlus'', which were part of a notable early score by Music/YokoKanno made to sound weird and future-y, and have aged considerably well.

* [[VirtualIdol Sharon Apple]]'s trippy, [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly genre busting]] songs from ''Anime/MacrossPlus'', which were part of a notable early score by Creator/YokoKanno made to sound weird and future-y, and have aged considerably well.

* The only music Galaxy Radio plays in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' is from the 1940s. Even though it is a post-nuclear world and ThreeDog claims they were the only recordings he could find, it still seems odd since the nuclear war happened in ''2077''.

** R. Talsorian's ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' games had similar popular music to ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'''s, featuring 80s-esque pop, rap, and chromatic rock, which was basically hair metal with more synthesizers and electronic beats.

* Similar to the above example, the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheaterfuturistic 3000 MST3K]] fodder ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' contains a random rave scene that is ''painfully'' [[TheEighties '80s]] (in a setting that is supposed to be ''much'' closer to ''Franchise/StarTrek''), for no other purpose than to [[MaleGaze focus on the posteriors]] of women in hi-cut leotards hula-hooping to generic synths.

* ''Film/BladeRunner'' Soundtrack ala Vangelis.

*** According to WordOfGod, the creators decided that having classical music remain popular (as it already has for centuries) was more plausible than the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''`s slightly cringeworthy habit of assuming that 1960s musical styles would endure forever. You can't forget the TOS episode with the future hippies' jam session... [[FanonDisContinuity or maybe you should.]]

* Benjamin Rosenbaum's '''The Ant King''' has Stan listening to one of Vampire’s thrash goth trance doom CDs.

* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' features a scene in which a blue-skinned alien gynoid with tentacles protruding from her head sings a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2246g7AzbMc song]] which has been described as "opera meets disco". Being ''[[WidgetSeries The Fifth Element]]'', [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome it fits perfectly]].

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/SgtFrog'' has its frog aliens enjoying synchronized croaking.

[[folder: Fanfiction]]
* The character Orbit Smurf from ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' dabbles in the creation of this with the use of his smurfesizer.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has a few:
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaPf-MRKITg band]] in the cantina scene in the first film plays a jazzy piece quite different from the "expected alien music" mentioned above. According to the liner notes in the soundtrack vinyl, Lucas asked John Williams to imagine that these aliens discovered a BennyGoodman album and tried to interpret it.
*** The unfortunate name for this style of music in canon is [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jizz jizz]].
** One of the scenes in ''Revenge of the Sith'' features some Mon Calamari opera. It is most succinctly described as "abstract."
** The music played in Jabba's palace in the 1983 version of ''Return of the Jedi'' was very 1983-ish. In the 1997 version, the music was updated to (surprise!) 1997 standards. Incongruously preceding this number is what could pass for an 18th-century minuet if not for the synthesizers. The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6vAuS0KNs yub nub]]" Ewok song at the end of the movie was also replaced with a more [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPieaFbG1N8&feature=fvst traditional]] orchestral piece (which probably was not meant to represent in-universe music).
*** The song in Jabba's throne room was "Lapti Nek," and it incorporated diverse Earthling styles, including adult contemporary, soul, and hard blues (played on a futuristic harmonica). As for "Yub Nub," Music/JohnWilliams based it loosely on reggae music.
** The finale of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' is a triumphal parade through the streets of Theed (the capital city of Naboo) accompanied by a musical extravaganza that combines the three incongruous elements of ancient Roman victory march music, a performance by the Gungans (very reminiscent of Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo music), and a pseudo-African chant. Surprisingly, they all blend together well.
*** It also helps that the theme itself is an upbeat version of the Emperor's Theme, symbolizing that a moment of great celebration is also the first step the galaxy took on the road to empire (with Palpatine getting elected Chancellor).
** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the band at Maz Kanata's palace plays something that sounds kind of like reggae.
* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' features a scene in which a blue-skinned alien gynoid with tentacles protruding from her head sings a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2246g7AzbMc song]] which has been described as "opera meets disco". Being ''[[WidgetSeries The Fifth Element]]'', [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome it fits perfectly]].
* As early as 1956, the soundtrack of the aforementioned ''Forbidden Planet'' consisted of sounds generated by "self-destructing" electrical circuits, each of which produced a single sound, then died. These sounds were mixed and layered to create an atonal score unlike anything heard before.

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' contains a BigLippedAlligatorMoment in the form of the citizens of Zion raving in a cave to some drum heavy ElectronicMusic. The song is called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZBIfO1FbqE "Zion/Slap It" by Fluke]]. It adds absolutely nothing to the movie but FanService.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' Soundtrack ala Vangelis.
* Similar to the above example, the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheaterfuturistic 3000 MST3K]] fodder ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' contains a random rave scene that is ''painfully'' [[TheEighties '80s]] (in a setting that is supposed to be ''much'' closer to ''Franchise/StarTrek''), for no other purpose than to [[MaleGaze focus on the posteriors]] of women in hi-cut leotards hula-hooping to generic synths.
* ''[[Film/BillAndTed Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure]]''. Contemporary music ''[[ThePowerOfRock creates utopia in the future]].'' The movie makers wisely never actually give an example of whatever composition Bill and Ted create that brings about world peace.
* ''Film/{{TRON}}''. Journey had an orchestral piece called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCGd1oEJbnQ ''1990s Theme'']]. It sounded more like "Early 1980s Theme".

* A rare example of this trope being handled tastefully comes from Wim Wenders' 1991 film (better seen as a trilogy) ''Film/UntilTheEndOfTheWorld.'' The director asked such well known artists as Music/{{REM}}, Music/DepecheMode, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/LouReed, Music/PattiSmith, Music/ElvisCostello and Music/NickCave and the Bad Seeds to come up with the kind of music they thought they would be recording [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the year 1999]]. The result was one of the most influential film soundtracks of the 1990s.
* ''Film/{{Zenon}}: Girl of [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale the 21st Century]]'' focused heavily on the music of a band called Microbe. This being a 1999 Creator/DisneyChannel movie, their biggest song sounds prezactly like modern light tween pop, except with lyrics such as -- sing along, contemporaries, you know the words -- "ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM, make my heart go BOOM BOOM, would you be my [[SciFiNameBuzzwords Super Nova Girl]]?" Slightly hilariously, the "futuristic" personal aesthetic of the FaceOfTheBand, [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/smartie145/Disney/protozoa.png Protozoa]], seems to have been adopted wholesale by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JayManuel.jpg Jay Manuel]].
** At the beginning of the movie, a couple of boys were complaining that Protozoa's music sucked because you can actually understand his lyrics. They must listen to a lot of death metal. Also, read below and judge for yourself how understandable it really is.
--> Interplanetary, mega-stellar, hydrostatic.
--> There's no gravity, between us. Our love is automatic.

* The popular Moon music in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' seems to be either really jerky or techno/pop mixed with autotuning. The dancing is also very jerky. Everyone moves for a second then freezes for half-a-second, etc.
* ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' has an inversion (see also the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' entry below): a 22nd century starship has in its music library 80s\90s rap music filled with what the alien Jaylah describes as "beats and shouting". These include Music/PublicEnemy (Scotty describes as "too old-fashioned for my taste") and Music/BeastieBoys (which apparently is now "classical").

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/TheShipWhoSang'', Music/BobDylan is a popular classical musician of the future. Singing in his style is banned on some planets, because it's too persuasive.

--->'''Jobs:''' "Car: Stereo: Search for Opera. Neo, not Classical."
* A Creator/GrantMorrison story in a Creator/VertigoComics anthology has people in the future listening to 'freakbeat Vivaldi, skewed and chopped' which either predicted remix culture or just assumed it would continue into the future.
** He does use this "image" at one point, although it's in the ComicBook/DoomPatrol arc following Red Jack's [[DudeShesLikeInAComa abduction of the comatose Rhea]]. It's described as being intersected with [[{{Squick}} wedding bells]]. ItMakesSenseInContext. [[MindScrew Sort of.]]
* There's a James Alan Gardner novel with an interesting justification for using this trope; AfterTheEnd, all the good music [=CDs=]/tapes/records etc have been played so many times over the centuries that there are very few of them left that are still functional. The technology for making more was largely lost, in addition to other problems made obvious in the premise. The reason the "Classical" music everyone admires so much as being from the height of civilization sucks is because the only recordings left are of the godawful crap no one wanted to listen to.
* In Dan Abnett's {{Literature/Eisenhorn}} trilogy, taking place in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, there's apparently this thing called "pound", which is by [[{{Fanon}} fans]] described as a mix between house, trance and dance music turned [[UpToEleven up to over 9000]].

* Jules Verne's little-known (never published in its day) ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury'' features music of the "future": the music pieces have names relating to technology ("Thiloriade, Great Fantasia About Condensation Of Carbonic Acid") and sound like unrhythmic, jumbled masses of noise.
* Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures:
** In ''The Highest Science'', trends in 22nd century music (and associated subculture) are explicitly organised by the record companies, and one character is considered weird for continuing to listen to a genre that's been declared Last Season. "Headster" music is the equivilent of pseudo-deep, drug-based psychedelia, whereas the current trend is "Freakster", which seems more like bubblegum pop.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresTheAlsoPeople The Also People]]'', the {{Epigraph}}s at the start at of the chapters are all lines from fictional songs, including Silurian rock, Hith rap, 25th century human folk music, and Cyberman blues.
* In Dan Simmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' that takes place 700 years in the future the Consul's ship is equipped with a grand piano. He mostly plays Rachmaninov on it but in one chapter the Beatles are also mentioned along with other more traditional classical composers.
* Benjamin Rosenbaum's '''The Ant King''' has Stan listening to one of Vampire’s thrash goth trance doom CDs.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Klingon music is apparently popular in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Along with the aforementioned opera, there's Klingon metal, employed in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' as something to induce cries of "turn that racket down!"
** Klingon drinking songs are quite popular too. For alien music, they're actually quite melodious.
** Everyone who doesn't like that just listens to classical music. And reads classical literature. Sometimes it seems the 20th century never happened in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. (Until the time travel episodes, that is). An exception is Riker's fondness for classic jazz, although this is more prominent in the ExpandedUniverse.
*** According to WordOfGod, the creators decided that having classical music remain popular (as it already has for centuries) was more plausible than the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''`s slightly cringeworthy habit of assuming that 1960s musical styles would endure forever. You can't forget the TOS episode with the future hippies' jam session... [[FanonDisContinuity or maybe you should.]]
** One episode of ''TNG'' had an obnoxious teenage alien orphan come aboard; he spent most of his time sulking in his quarters playing incredibly screechy alien heavy metal.
** Realism often takes a backseat to avoid licensing fees, which would apply to pretty much any piece of media from the period in which the shows were made. Sometimes they will use a LawyerFriendlyCameo instead; ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', for instance, had Vic Fontaine, who was an amalgam of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and existed in a Las Vegas holodeck program.
** In the ''TNG'' episode "Unification, Part 2", a Ferengi has a bar entertainer play some Ferengi music (instead of the Klingon opera she was playing before), which turns out to be rather monotonous serialist twelve-tone music (whose mathematical structures are fitting for a culture of accoutants and merchants). The performer's own taste runs to (unheard) "Andorian blues".
* Rap Music and Hip Hop never seems to make it to the future, but the ''Series/AlienNation'' TV-movies (set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, after alien humanoid ex-slaves took up residence in Los Angeles and began to assimilate) featured Tenctonese Reggae.
* Series 2 of the science {{Mockumentary}} ''Series/LookAroundYou'' (set in 1980, sort-of) included a spoof competition to find the best futuristic song. Basically, there were three songs. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRMFQxd7ye8 One]] "predicted" the sexiness and electro-ness of later pop music (that fits this trope to a T), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR8qtxts1jY another]] was a really poor song which "predicted" rap, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMik9jlZDaY the third]] was just someone playing a guitar and singing gobbledygook lyrics, which "predicted" early Nineties rock.

* Amusingly subverted in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'''s "Shindig"; the music is classical (specifically, a [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] string quartet), and the dance seemingly Victorian-esque... until you realise that it's slowed-down and fancied-up orchestral interpretations of a ''square dance''.
** Which is not that surprising; Square Dancing is related to many old traditional dances.

* The producers of the 1960s German science fiction series ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}}'' apparently figured that the people of the future will continue to invent [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJe-CdWsICY new popular dances]].
* On ''Series/NightGallery'', a character who's wandered into the future encounters some teenagers listening to music, which sounds like a random, tuneless assortment of notes being banged out on a synthesizer. Presumably the show's budget didn't cover a theremin for that one...
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has some interesting musical choices for what people will be listening to in a few thousand years. Just listen to the [[SpaceNavy High Guard]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8uE-HXASuE battle march]].
* One episode of ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'' brings us Taelon music using a light-based musical instrument translated as "tubes". Also, the show's theme music just has a OneWomanWail to a peaceful-sounding music.
* Dubstep seems to have taken over almost completely by 2048 in ''Series/AlmostHuman''.
* ''Series/{{Defiance}}'' brings us a variety of old records mixed in with some Votan music. The pilot episode also shows us how the Votan races dance (very slowly, even to fast-paced music). They actually make fun of humans for dancing to the beat, although Alak Tarr (basically, the show's version of a second-generation immigrant) happens to be a huge fan of both old Earth tunes and dancing, being completely ecstatic when a bus brings a box of records to Defiance.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The First Doctor episode "The Chase" features a clip of the Beatles. 25th-century companion Vicki has heard of them, but is surprised to learn they played "classical music".
** In the revival's second episode, "The End of the World", Music/BritneySpears' "Toxic" is described as being "a traditional Earth ballad".

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Transhuman Space'', popular music genres include Greek Fire (Greek folk music with Transhumanist themes), microtonal (music with elements outside the range of unaugumented human hearing), Soft Edge (ballads with subtle instruments and visual effects), Hard Edge (Soft Edge with heavier rythm lines). There is also still Neo-Classical, World Music and Rock.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The only song in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' game that we can be sure the characters are actually listening to comes at the beginning of VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures, when Slippy is listening to a metal arrangement of some VideoGame/StarFox 64 level music on a rather traditional jukebox, of all things.
* Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped The levels named: Future Frenzy/Gone Tomorrow have a hybrid of synth/techno music.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' has a scene where Sergeant Johnson is listening to "old-style colonial 'flip' music", which is descended from metal. All of the younger Marines complain about it being old and outdated. WordofGod has stated that the song Johnson was listening to was originally intended to be "Paint It Black" by Music/TheRollingStones, but they could not obtain licensing.
** Later, the ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' AlternateRealityGame ''ARG/ILoveBees'' placed a rather large note on the musical styles enjoyed by Jersey's father -- with clues in both timelines. "Ancient music, jazz and swing, always in the mood..."
** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' has an EasterEgg where you can hear "Never Surrender", the techno remix of the series' theme, in a club in New Alexandria, after activating a hidden switch. Also, 20th century country and jazz music is used in the elevators.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has some samples of "future" electronic music playing in bars and clubs. As well as some remixes of the main themes for the long elevator rides that don't sound too different from present-day muzak...
** However in ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' someone must have thought that the music from [[VideoGame/SimCity Sim City 4]] sounded future-like. Some samples heard in the game are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PCLH-i_-4 Transit Angst]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIXl6HAXQLs The New Hood]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmwScE2JgwA Urban Underground]].
** The second game also featured "Callista", which was originally made for ''VideoGame/NeedforSpeed: High Stakes'' in 1999.
* ''VideoGame/WarioWare DIY'' has a set of songs from Orbulon, which have an alien\futuristic theme. Many are like current video game music, just done in weird time signatures and\or more sparsely.

* "Lunatic Wisdom Laboratory," the music for Luna Labs in ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2'', has an explicitly futuristic theme to match its high-tech, garish neon lighting and metallic scaffolding. Which makes it stand out even more, since ''every other place'' in the future (100 years from Max's time) has comparatively normal music, like the jungle themes of Jurak's forest, the mystical tones of Starlight Temple, or the industrial motif of Gundorada Workshop.

* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} 3'''s soundtrack, while mainly techno [[CyberPunkIsTechno in accordance with the setting]], uses a {{Theremin}} in many of its tunes, as well as tribal and New Age instruments.
* The mall and shop musics in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers'' sound like contemporary elevator/lobby muzak, and the Rocket Bar uses 60's rock-n-roll. In the remake of ''VideoGame/{{Space Quest I|The Sarien Encounter}}'', though, the bar music sounds more like 80's dance pop.
* ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX 22 PENDUAL'' invokes this as part of its present-future DualityMotif. The Future phase, set in the year 2222, is represented by hard techno system BGM and the Future-exclusive track "CHRONO DIVER -NORNIR-", both by L.E.D., who is known for composing a lot of the BEMANI franchise's "hard" music.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** Not the first time they made that joke, either -- in "A Fishful of Dollars", Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" was referred to as classical music.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' once featured a band called The Way-Outs, claiming to be aliens from the future, who also sounded suspiciously 60s-ish.
** To the Flintstones, the 60s ''are'' in the future.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', the popular music portrayed is mostly a combination of metal and techno--but with the visual production values cranked to even more insane levels in videos and concerts.
** It appears that there's also an audience for Turn-of-the-(21st)-Century style Broadway musicals. ("A superstitious cowardly lot...")

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', "May the Best Stan Win" claims that "Japanese Funk" is what everyone listens to 1,000 years in the future. We hear a brief sample during a montage with Francine and future cyborg Stan.
** The song is Monochrome Effect by Japanese pop band Music/{{Perfume}}, which was released in 2004.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' ''"One Froggy Evening"'', the cut to the year 2056 has some atonal squalling playing that ''could'' be music...or maybe it's just that guy's disintegrator beam.
* ''Galaxy Goof-Ups'' featured disco music with frighteningly trippy [[DisneyAcidSequence visual sequences]].

[[folder: Music ]]

* Quoth Elwood (or maybe it's Dan Aykroyd in an emcee persona) at the start of the first track on The Blues Brothers' ''Briefcase Full of Blues'' album, "Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to the Universal Amphitheatre. Well, here it is, the late 1970s, going on 1985, and you know, so much of the music we here today is... pre-programmed electronic disco, we never get a chance to hear master bluesmen practicing their craft any more. By the year two thousand and six, the music known today as the Blues will exist only in the classical records department of your local public library. So tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, while we still can, let us welcome, from Rock Island, Illinois, the Blues band of Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues--The Blues Brothers!"
** This is HilariousInHindsight, since 2006 is now the past, and blues, jazz, soul and funk are still very much alive, largely thanks to the pop-cultural impact of the Blues Brothers.
* "Space Olympics" by Music/TheLonelyIsland assumes that, in the future, music will feature constant AutoTune over new age space music.
* Arguably, classical music (especially baroque and pre-baroque music) can be considered future music, not only because they are still popular hundreds of years after their composition, but also because many fans contend that classical music will last hundreds of years more, while "modern" music will die out and be replaced by new forms of music.
* Donna Summer's album ''I Remember Yesterday'' consists of disco homages to various decades of music history, but the final track, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2qI6UDD2uQ "I Feel Love"]], is supposed to represent the future of music, and drops the live orchestras of contemporary disco in favor of synthesizers. The song's production ''did'' turn out to be heavily influential on the subsequent development of electronic dance music, so in a way, the song did manage to represent the future of music.
-->'''Music/DavidBowie''': One day in Berlin ... [[Music/BrianEno Eno]] came running in and said, "I have heard the sound of the future." ... he puts on "I Feel Love," by Donna Summer ... He said, "This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years." Which was more or less right."

[[/folder]]

** This is HilariousInHindsight, since we now live in the year 2014, and blues, jazz, soul and funk are still very much alive, largely thanks to the pop-cultural impact of the Blues Brothers.

** The finale of ''ThePhantomMenace'' is a triumphal parade through the streets of Theed (the capital city of Naboo) accompanied by a musical extravaganza that combines the three incongruous elements of ancient Roman victory march music, a performance by the Gungans (very reminiscent of Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo music), and a pseudo-African chant. Surprisingly, they all blend together well.

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' contains [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment a futuristic rave in Zion that seems to go on forever while adding absolutely nothing to the movie]] [[FanService but Fan Service]].

* Similar to the above example, the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] fodder ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' contains a random rave scene that is ''painfully'' [[TheEighties '80s]] (in a setting that is supposed to be ''much'' closer to ''Franchise/StarTrek''), for no other purpose than to [[MaleGaze focus on the posteriors]] of women in hi-cut leotards hula-hooping to generic synths.

** TheMovie from 1990 features pop and rock music which sounds like real life 1980s rock.

*** The song in Jabba's throne room was "Lapti Nek," and it incorporated diverse Earthling styles, including adult contemporary, soul, and hard blues (played on a futuristic harmonica). As for "Yub Nub," JohnWilliams based it loosely on reggae music.

** In ''The Also People'', the {{Epigraph}}s at the start at of the chapters are all lines from fictional songs, including Silurian rock, Hith rap, 25th century human folk music, and Cyberman blues.

** In one episode of ''TNG'', a Ferengi has a bar entertainer play some Ferengi music (instead of the Klingon opera she was playing before), which turns out to be rather monotonous serialist twelve-tone music (whose mathematical structures are fitting for a culture of accoutants and merchants).

Future-themed movies (especially those made in the 50s) will often feature lots of creepy {{theremin}} music, à la BernardHerrmann's score from ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951''. The soundtrack may also feature lots of weird alien-y or spaceship-y noises, which are hard to describe accurately, but if you pop in a DVD of ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'' you'll hear them going off in the background all the time.

* Amusingly subverted in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'''s "Shindig"; the music is classical (specifically, a [[LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] string quartet), and the dance seemingly Victorian-esque... until you realise that it's slowed-down and fancied-up orchestral interpretations of a ''square dance''.

* "Space Olympics" by TheLonelyIsland assumes that, in the future, music will feature constant AutoTune over new age space music.

Future-themed movies (especially those made in the 50s) will often feature lots of creepy {{theremin}} music, à la BernardHerrmann's score from ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951''. The soundtrack may also feature lots of weird alien-y or spaceship-y noises, which are hard to describe accurately, but if you pop in a DVD of ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'' you'll hear them going off in the background all the time.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

Anytime a character sings a song or turns on a radio (or the [[SubspaceAnsible futuristic movie equivalent]] of a radio) you can expect to hear music which sounds not unlike a top 40 hit dating from the decade the movie was made, with a few "futuristic-sounding" instruments (like synthesizers or the aforementioned {{theremin}}) thrown in. The [[TheJetsons Jetsons]] episode featuring Jet Screamer, a 60s-ish pop idol, singing "Epp Opp Ork Means I Love You" is a prime example of this. (Although [[WeirdAlEffect more people today may be familiar]] with the Violent Femmes' particularly faithful cover version of this song...)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The First Doctor episode "The Chase" features a clip of the Beatles. 25th-century companion Vicki has heard of them, but is surprised to learn they played "classical music".
** In the revival's second episode, "The End of the World", Music/BritneySpears' "Toxic" is described as being "a traditional Earth ballad".