The impact of early punk rock on the cyberpunk movement is undeniable. Hell, the word “punk” is in the name, right? Throughout the 1980s the authors who pioneer the genre w
The impact of early punk rock on the cyberpunk movement is undeniable. Hell, the word “punk” is in the name, right? Throughout the 1980s the authors who pioneered the genre were very aware of how music fueled their work. It was the godfather of cyberpunk himself, William Gibson, who readily admitted, “I’ve been influenced by Lou Reed, for instance, as much as I’ve been influenced by any fiction writer.” And it shows. Echoes of Reed’s lyricism can be found throughout Gibson’s work, but especially within the pages of the Sprawl Trilogy. These tales of grifters, losers, and lowlifes navigating the seamy underbelly of an over-urbanized world share more than a passing resemblance to Reed’s gritty ballads about addicts, transvestites, and prostitutes.
Likewise, the landscape of the Sprawl was largely inspired by wandering Vancouver at night with a Joy Division tape slotted into his Sony Walkman. Gibson described the experience as a sort of “merging of perceptions,” where the music became one with the skyscrapers and slums. Even Gibson’s ultimate femme fatale, the deadly Molly Millions, has musical roots—her hard-edged look and attitude was directly based Chrissie Hynde during her punk phase.