Music / Information Society

Jim Cassidy, Kurt Harland, and Paul Robb.

Information Society (a.k.a. InSoc) is an Alternative Dance/Synthpop/Dark Wave/Techno/Industrial/Latin Freestyle/Futurepop band from Minnesota. Best remembered for their incredibly '80s hit, "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)", and for "Ozar Midrashim", the theme of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, a series frontman Kurt Harland would compose.

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Tropes Society:

• Cover Version: several. ABBA's "Lay All Your Love On Me"^note On their 1988 debut album. This was decided by the label; Harland wanted to cover Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll", but they never did., Devo's "Beautiful World"^note On their 2014 album _hello world, with a Remake Cameo by Gerald Casale, Tubeway Army's "Are 'Friends' Electric?"^note On their 1997 album Don't Be Afraid, "Praying To The Aliens"^note A Hidden Track on _hello world, also featured on their 2016 Cover Album Orders of Magnitude, and "I Die: You Die"^note For the 1998 compilation Gary Numan: The Mix, Madonna's "Express Yourself"^note For the 1999 compilation Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 1, U2's "One"^note For the 1999 compilation We Will Follow: A Tribute to U2, Prince's "Controversy"^note For the 1999 compilation Party o' the Times: A Tribute to Prince, Tuxedomoon's "Dark Companion" and "What Use", Aretha Franklin's "14 Angels"^note For the 1998 compilation Control.Alt.Delete: Y2K Compliant, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft's "Kebabträume"^note A bonus track on the 2008 re-release of Don't Be Afraid — and finally a full cover album, 2016's Orders Of Magnitude.
• Cyberpunk: Kurt has confirmed that "Mirrorshades" is about Molly Millions, a character from William Gibson's Neuromancer.
• I Am the Band: Temporarily. For the 1997 album Don't Be Afraid Kurt Harland Larson, lead singer for most of Information Society's history, was the sole member of the band.
• Madness Mantra: "Ending World 1.1"'s lyrics are nothing but these. Between them, the dialogue clips, and the ominous marching instrumentals that steadily degenerate into noise, it's painfully clear just where he's headed.
  I am absolutely right. I am absolutely certain I am absolutely right. I am absolutely certain I am absolutely right. I am absolutely certain of all the mistakes I've made.
• Peace & Love Incorporated: "Peace And Love, Inc." is the Trope Namer.
• Sampling: Very often.[1] Not only from existing musical works, but vocal samples from various media.[2] For example:
  • "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)", "Walking Away", "Something In The Air", "Over The Sea", "Come With Me", and "Hack 1" sample the 1966 TV series Star Trek.
  • "Attitude" samples the 1940 animated movie Pinocchio
  • "Think": the album version samples a Brazilian radio ad for an Information Society concert.^note More precisely an ad for the Rock in Rio II festival, at which they played. The music video reuses the same Star Trek sample as "Hack 1" instead.
  • "Still Here" samples the 1963 TV series The Outer Limits (1963), along with Star Trek.
  • "Mirrorshades" samples the 1989 movie Moontrap.
  • "Ending World" samples the 1976 movie The Man Who Fell to Earth
  • "The Prize" samples the 1984 computer game Impossible Mission.
  • "Where Were You?" samples the 1951 movie Show Boat.
  • "Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds" samples recordings of cult leader / mass murderer Jim Jones.
• Shout-Out: Quite a few. Besides the aforementioned Star Trek reference, there's also "White Roses," whose lyrics seem to be inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. However—unlike most other songs about Lewis Carroll's books—Kurt Harland does not insert any very obvious references to Alice's dreamscape (this song is about depression, not hookah-smoking caterpillars). This makes looking for the connections even more fun. (The line "can't get from here to there" might be a reference to the scene in Through the Looking Glass in which the Red Queen explains to Alice how it's often impossible for Looking Glass World's inhabitants to move from one chessboard square to another of their own accord.
  And you know that her tears were taken
  And cooked up for the queen
  …And every single moment feels like everything is wrong
  And everything around you says that this is not your home
  And everybody else just seems to be already there
  And you can't get from here to there
  Without some sort of help you've never seen
  It's the white roses
  It's a spinning sky
• Stage Names: the band's members used fake surnames early on. They dropped the idea before hitting it big... except for Kurt Harland, who was stuck with Tolkien-inspired "Valaquen" for years.[3]
• Step Up to the Microphone:
  • Murat Konar sang on several tracks of Creatures of Influence.[4]
  • James Cassidy sang "Can't Slow Down", "Mirrorshades", and "If Only".
• Subliminal Seduction: their cover of Gary Numan's "Are 'Friends' Electric" contains a backmasked message: "Obey your parents. Do your homework. Winners don't do drugs."
• The Band Minus the Face: In 2007 Kurt Harland Larson temporarily left the band and new frontman Christopher Anton took his place.