A few years ago, Warren Zevon released an album, Transverse City, that clearly seemed to have been inspired by Thomas Pynchon. (Dead giveaway: the lyrics "Started thinkin' about entropy" in the song "Run Straight Down.") Zevon acknowledges the influence in the liner notes of his recent "Best Of" collection -- I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, available from Rhino Records.

Transverse City [IMPORT]
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1998
Our Price: $19.97

Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1992
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Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1988
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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead [BOX SET]
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1996
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Learning To Flinch
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1993
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Mr. Bad Example
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1991
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Mutineer
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1995
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A Quiet Normal Life - Best Of Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1987
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Sentimental Hygiene
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1987
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Wanted Dead Or Alive
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1996
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Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon / Audio CD / Released 1992
Our Price: $11.49 ~ You Save: $0.48

Official Warren Zevon Page -- Maintained by his son.

All-Music Guide -- The AMG entry on Warren Zevon.

Warren Zevon Card -- At the Ultimate Band List, this page has a collection of links to Warren Zevon Web sites and information.

 

Anderson, Laurie. Famous New York performance artist Laurie Anderson dedicated a song to Pynchon on her Mister Heartbreak album.	Benatar, Pat. Believe it or not, she named a final album Gravity's Rainbow.
Benny Profane. English hard rockers from Liverpool, they took their name from a character in V.	Blowtorch, Eric Reggae influenced artist putting Pynchon's lyrics to music.
Cassiber. An avant garde German group used Gravity's Rainbow to tell a different tale.	Corey, Prof. Irwin. The man who was the infamous stand-in for Thomas Ruggles Pynchon.
Dangtrippers. They recorded Maxwell's Demon Box on their album, Days Between Stations.	Ed Hall. An early 90's band influenced by Pynchon, they named a song Roger Mexico.
Fariña, Richard. An long-time friend of Pynchon, this folkie named an instrumental work after a Pynchon novel.	Fool, The. Surely not Slothrop's band, this was a short lived group which did, in fact, have a harmonica player.
Frith & Kaiser. An instrumental pair with a piece called The Kirghiz Light.	Forked Yew. Independent, highly experimental rockers and Pynchon fans from the American South.
Insect Trust. This jazzy, psychedelic group mined V. for lyrics to The Eyes of a New York Woman.	Jazz Butcher. AKA Pat Fish, who named a track Looking for Lot 49 on his Fishcoteque album.
Jones, Spike. Pynchon himself wrote the liner notes for Spiked!	Lot 49 (Ontario). This now retired hardcore outfit hailed from the hometown of Spermatikos Logos' own Laurence Daw.
Lot 49 (NYC). Indie NYC rockers named after Pynchon's second novel.	Lotion. A New York group whose liner notes were penned by the Man himself.
Maas. A visit to San Narciso.	Nirvana. Was the famous tune Smells Like Teen Spirit acutally inspired by a song from Gravity's Rainbow?
Nova Mob. A "Rock Opera" filled with references to Gravity's Rainbow.	Okasek, Ric. Ride The Rocket with the former frontman of The Cars.
Pere Ubu. David Thomas' legendary, seminal band shows some Pynchon influences.	PopCanon. These literate Indies hail from Flordia, and have a song about Wanda Tinasky which is highly recommended!
Poster Children. This group from Champaign, Illinois, covers a lot of Pynchon ground!	Radiohead. English art-rockers who incorporate many Pynchon motifs into their work.
Rapoon. An offshoot of Zoviet France, Robin Storey's group named Rapoon released an album called The Kirghiz Light.	Sauter & Dietrich, Moore. More liner notes written by Pynchon !!
Soft Machine. Seminal "proggies," they recorded a full-scale work called Esther's Nose Job in 1969.	Time in Malta. A California metal group with a name taken from V.
Ware, Tim. Pynchon scholar, Web master, and MIDI Musician.	Yo La Tengo. Making music indebted to The Crying of Lot 49.
Yoyodyne. Related to New York's Lot 49, ths Florida group also takes their name from Pynchon's work.	Zevon, Warren. He recently released an album containing work inspired by Pynchon.

--Dr Larry Daw
& A. Ruch
21 May 2000