List of cyberpunk works

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William Gibson's "Sprawl Trilogy" of novels
William Gibson's "Sprawl Trilogy" of novels

The following is a list of works commonly ascribed to the cyberpunk genre of science fiction. While some of these works—such as Neuromancer and Blade Runner— have become accepted as archetypal examples of cyberpunk, the classification of others can be debated, or considered as examples of Postcyberpunk. Science-fiction theory, criticism, and fandom are all known for their contentious nature, just as SF writers are often celebrated for inventiveness. Consequently, all categorizations are likely to be incomplete, contested or provisional.

Several observers, including the SF writer David Brin, have commented that cyberpunk was not as original as the genre's boosters once claimed. Such works as Fritz Lang's movie Metropolis (1927) contain elements that a 21st-century viewer might call "cyberpunk", even though they predate the cyberpunk canon by many years. These works could be labeled cyberpunk's "precursors", but a causal connection is not always clear.

Furthermore, it should be noted that works published after 1993 are increasingly likely to be labeled "postcyberpunk", a term first applied to Stephenson's Snow Crash.

Contents

[edit] Notable precursors to the genre

Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968
Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968

[edit] Print media

[edit] List of novels

[edit] List of short story anthologies

[edit] List of poetry

  • Gathered on This Beach - Poems & Perspectives for a Converging World (2000) by Adrian McO-Campbell

[edit] List of graphic novels / comics

[edit] List of conceptual design

[edit] List of non-fiction / critical studies

  • Profiles of the Future (various editions) by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Storming the Reality Studio (1991) by Larry McCaffery
  • The Hacker Crackdown : Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992) by Bruce Sterling
  • Cyberpunk : Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier (1995) by Katie Hafner & John Markoff
  • In The Beginning...Was The Command Line (1999) by Neal Stephenson
  • Cyberpunk and Cyberculture (2000) by Dani Cavallaro
  • Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History (2002), ed. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson, and Alessio Cavellaro.
  • Virtual Geographies: Cyberpunk at the Intersection of the Postmodern and Science Fiction (2003) by Sabine Heuser.

[edit] Audiovisual media

[edit] Notable film precursors

[edit] List of cyberpunk films

Note: most of the films listed are cyberpunk-related either through narrative or by thematic context.

[edit] List of films borrowing some cyberpunk elements

It is interesting to note that the more recent Star Trek movies, particularly Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), draw upon cyberpunk themes: malevolent cyborgs in the first case and malevolent clones in the second. Oddly, the Borg — arguably the most widely recognized cybernetic organisms in popular culture — originated as space opera villains in a distant-future story, not as characters from a dystopian near-future Earth. This may serve as a testament to the difficulty of categorizing science fiction.

[edit] Documentary films

[edit] List of TV series

Note that TV series, by their very nature, can incorporate stories from a variety of different genres. For example, the original Star Trek included episodes of military science fiction ("Balance of Terror"), comedy ("The Trouble with Tribbles") and character-driven SF drama ("Is There in Truth No Beauty?"). It is therefore debatable whether an entire series can be classified as "cyberpunk" (or as any other SF sub-genre) based on a subset of its episodes. Furthermore, according to Lawrence Person's postcyberpunk thesis, writers since the mid-1990s have been incorporating cyberpunk tropes into their SF simply because those tropes are familiar — the same way a writer who grew up reading Asimov's Foundation series would write space opera stories full of hyperspatial Jumps. This behavior leads, presumably, to works which include cyberpunk themes in less dystopian contexts, with a wider variety of characters (not just razorgirls and burnt-out, drug-addicted hackers), and embracing other SF settings. Joss Whedon's Firefly series might be a good example: while its overall form is a "space western", individual episodes deal with human beings used as black-market organ carriers and with malevolent megacorps.

[edit] List of anime

  • .hack//SIGN: TV series about an online, massively-multiplayer fantasy role playing game.
  • A.D. Police: After earthquake Tokyo setting with a battle over stolen “Boomers."
  • Aeon Flux:(1995) Howard E. Baker and Peter Chung. A short MTV series.
  • Akira: A biker given psychic powers in a Post-Apocalyptic setting.
  • Armitage III: Two cops, one human one “third type robot” trying to stop robot murders.
  • Battle Angel Alita
  • Bubblegum Crisis: Fight by the Knight Sabers against android-like “Boomers” controlled by a corporate conglomerate.
  • Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: a 90s remake of the previous, with 26 episosed and a much more complex plot and meaning.
  • Eatman: a TV and OAV series featuring Bolt Crunk, a bounty hunter in a futuristic setting able to eat metal and produce various tech devices, mostly weapons.
  • Ergo Proxy
  • Ghost in the Shell: Do cyborgs still retain their human side? Cybernetically enhanced cops try to track down Puppet Master.
  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
  • Serial Experiments Lain: (1998) – A Middle School Student’s journey into "The Wired."
  • Silent Möbius: Attacked Mystification Police Department has to protect post-Silent Crisis Tokyo. The Police are enhanced in order to fight “Lucifer Hawk,” beings from a parallel world.
  • Texhnolyze

[edit] List of bands

See also the article on cyberpunk music.
  • Ada (Michaela Dippel): Named after the Ada programming language (itself named after Ada Lovelace).
  • Anthony Rother: Kraftwerk-inspired electro synths and frequent use of vocoded lyrics about the relationship between humans and computer technology.
  • Alter Ego
  • Aphex Twin (Richard David James): Electronic music artist residing in the UK, Aphex Twin fuses ambience, drum & bass, and acid styles of electronica. Songs like "Green Calx" and "Vordhosbn" convey a cyberpunk style.
  • Apoptygma Berzerk
  • Arkam Asylum: UK electro-punk with goth/industrial elements, signed to Wasp Factory Recordings.
  • Atari Teenage Riot: "Digital hardcore" music fusing punk, electronic and noise elements with strong political overtones.
  • Billy Idol: on his Cyberpunk-album, inspired by Gibson's Neuromancer.
  • Baal: A Japanese group playing electronic metal. Their song "Wreckage" is tagged as real cyberpunk on the Hungarian Ghost in the Shell DVD edition.
  • Bal-Sagoth: Epic sc-fi metal with narration and black metal vocals. Tells the tale of an epic sci-fi story.
  • The Cassandra Complex: Industrial/EBM/goth/synthpop crossover band formed in the mid-80s who released an album called Cyberpunx in 1990.
  • Celldweller: Industrial rock with elements of metalcore, dance and techno.
  • Chemlab: Electro/Rock/Coldwave/Industrial with cyberpunk lyrical content.
  • Clock DVA
  • Contra: Industrial power noise electronica, with heavy references to hacker culture and political uprisings.
  • Course of Empire: Industrial/Alternative rock group from Texas with lyrics touching on technological, mystical and dystopian themes.
  • David Bowie: on his Outside album.
  • Dope Stars Inc.: Industrial/Punk group from Italy. Self-proclaimed "New Breed of Digital Fuckers". This group also has an album called "Neuromance".
  • Ed Rush & Optical: Synthetic sounds, heavy with drum and bass.
  • Ellen Allien: Synthetic sounds, lyrics oriented on a futuristic unified Berlin. Track names include Send and Data Romance.
  • The Epoxies: a new wave and punk band with synthetic sounds and themes about clones, cyborgs, future society and mass destruction in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Track names include 'Synthesized', 'Molded Plastic' and 'Stop the Future'.
  • Fear Factory: Industrial-tinged heavy metal (originally death metal) utilising samples from cyberpunk films; lyrical content often hints at dark future for mankind, with several references to the Terminator movies.
  • Front 242: Belgian industrial band heavily influenced by science fiction and synthetic sounds.
  • Front Line Assembly: Famous and influential industrial band with strong cyberpunk lyrical content and themes. Many of their songs include samples from various cyberpunk themed movies.
  • Future Sound of London: Produced and created albums ISDN and Dead Cities, both composed with varying degrees of cyberpunk themes and influences.
  • Gary Numan: New Wave artist who borrows themes from cyberpunk, making music which is predominantly cyber-related.
  • God Lives Underwater: Heavily computer synthesized rock, featured on the soundtrack to Johnny Mnemonic.
  • Goteki: EBM band, considered by many as 'cybergoth'.
  • Gridlock: Plays "noize" music.
  • Hangars liquides: Flashcore - cybercore
  • Haujobb: EBM/Industrial with cyberpunk themes and lyrical content. This German band's name is derived from the term "skinjob", Blade Runner''s slang for android.
  • Kid 606: Is one of the few artists that operate within cyberpunk both formally and functionally; using a DIY punk ethos (as exemplified in his Tigerbeat6 label) as well as harnessing contemporary technology in production and distribution.
  • Kraftwerk: One of the first bands to embrace synthesizers. Their live act includes four robotic alter egos of the band members.
  • KMFDM: Play guitar industrial and were featured on the soundtrack to Johnny Mnemonic.
  • Luca Turilli's Dreamquest: Futurist/electronic sci-fi metal set in a distant future
  • Machinae Supremacy: A Swedish Metal/Bitpop band with cyberpunk lyrical content.
  • Ministry: An American Industrial Punk Rock Band. Their album "the Land of Rape and Honey" (1988) featured the single "Stigmata" which was used in the cyberpunk movie "Hardware". Ministry's early music videos are flooded with images of gritty machinery, drugs, burning cars and a generally nihilistic attitude and "the Mind Is A Terribe Thing To Taste" with song "So What".Song "Faith Collapsing" features samples from movie "1984 - Geogre Orwell"
  • Neuronomicon: Industrial-influenced Death Metal with Apocalyptic overtones. Referred to as "Blazing Electric Death".
  • Nine Inch Nails: Popular Industrial-Rock with lyrical inspiration from cyberpunk, world dissolution and misanthropy.
  • Noisia: Neurofunk, synthetic jungle music.
  • Orbital: Heavy use of synthesizers and depersonalized lyrics. Tracks used in cyberpunk media such as Pi, Johnny Mnemonic (film), and Wipeout.
  • Orgy: Los Angeles band with sounds of alternative/synth rock and self-described "electro-pop" or "death-pop". Their sophomore album "Vapor Transmission" (2000) is most heavily considered as a form of cyberpunk.
  • Pop Will Eat Itself: British rock group in the late 1980's that traded heavily on cyberpunk themes by combining electronics and sampling with a tongue-in-cheek glam rock persona, headed by electronic composer Clint Mansell. They later took on a more industrial sound in the early '90s. Their merchandise, featuring graphics styled after corporate logos, was nearly as popular as the music they produced.
  • Powerman 5000: American Heavy Metal/Punk/Industrial music band's 1999 album Tonight The Stars Revolt! is heavily influenced by science fiction and cyberpunk. The song "The Son of X-51" is about a robot in search of a soul.
  • The Prodigy: British Punk-themed Big-Beat Techno band. Whole imagery and fashion style as well inclined toward technology and trashy lifestyle.
  • Psydoll: Japanese Industrial Rock band who incorporate many Manga and Cyberpunk elements into their imagery, musical and lyrical content.
  • Psykosonik: Paul Sebastien and Daniel Lenz band with cyberpunk themes. Many references to William Gibson's novels. For example: the song title "Dreaming Real" was taken from a line in Neuromancer.
  • Rammstein: World-famous German Metal/Industrial music band. While their lyrical context focuses more on deviant sexuality and emotional turmoil, the band has a strong connection to cyberpunk. The mood of their music, their fashion, and some of their videos convey the feeling of a bleak, futuristic, repressive, militaristic society. Rammstein songs have been featured in The Matrix and Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
  • Red Harvest: A Norwegian industrial/prog-metal band incorporating cyberpunk imagery and lyrical content.
  • Sigue Sigue Sputnik
  • Skinny Puppy: A Canadian band that pioneered cyberpunk (experimental electronica).
  • Solarstorm: A Colombian Metal band heavily influenced by cyberpunk and Hard Sci-fi and Post Apocalyptic themes as well. Their lyrics talk about a world catastrophe history and its consecuences.
  • Sonic Youth: The 1988 album Daydream Nation was heavily inspired by writer William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy.
  • Stratos (aka Bryan K. Borgman): Heavily inspired by William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick. Most notably known for the music CDs, CyberNet Official Roleplaying Soundtrack (Bailey Records, 2004) and Origin Award-Nominated Universe87 Campaign Setting Soundtrack (Bailey Records, 2005).
  • Terminal Power Company : British Cyberpunk/industrial exponants. supreme Cyberpunk movie samplers.
  • Trentemøller
  • T. Raumschmiere
  • UV: Plays new-styled EBM music with songs discussing technology. They were featured in the DVD box set of The Matrix.
  • Velvet Acid Christ: Plays in the style of aggro-industrial.
  • Vennaskond: Estonian cyberpunk, particularly their albums Warszawianka and Võluri Tagasitulek.
  • Vision Divine: Power metal.Cyberpunk only on the album The Perfect Machine. Is set in the future where humans learn how to make themselves into immortal robots.
  • VFW (Veterans of Future Wars) : USA Appalachian old-school cyberpunk (heavily influenced by Industrial music, Thrash Metal, and death trance); quartet (and rotating line up) founded in Asheville, NC in 1996. Currently defying obsolescence. Homepage@myspace.com/futurewars
  • Vitalic: Emphasizes that all of the instruments used are fake and are produced from a synthesizer.
  • Viktim: Performs grinding cyberpunk, true fuzing of hardcore punk and technology
  • VNV Nation: Plays futurepop.
  • Voivod: A thrash/progressive metal band who's lyrics usually contain a scifi edge especially on late 80's releases such as Nothingface
  • Wumpscut:: War and desolation inspired industrial with electronic edge.
  • Xykogen: UK EBM/industrial, signed to Wasp Factory Recordings.
  • Zeromancer: Their first two albums, Clone Your Lover and Eurotrash, evoke a distinctly cyberpunk atmosphere, as do the videos produced during this period. The music itself can be described as a fusion of industrial metal and synthpop.

[edit] List of computer and video games

[edit] List of massive online computer games

[edit] External links

The following links were last verified 10 October 2005.

[edit] Game websites

[edit] Band websites

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