SLIPKNOT, IRON MAIDEN Influenced By Spy-Fi Series The Prisoner
November 13, 2009, 14 years ago
Wired.com is reporting:
Patrick McGoohan’s stunning spy-fi series The Prisoner only lasted 17 episodes before sadly disappearing in 1969. But its revolutionary mix of geopolitics, sci-fi and psychedelia has influenced not just television, but also music, comics, film and more. The new six-episode The Prisoner mini-series, airs this Sunday through Tuesday on AMC.
The original series made a deep impression on the most influential band of all time.
“Before Magical Mystery Tour, THE BEATLES were going to do another full movie like Help, and it was all going to be based on The Prisoner,” Dhani Harrison, son of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, told Wired.com in October, before his own Prisoner-inspired band thenewno2 kicked off its inaugural North American tour. “They were going to be in a movie written and directed by Patrick McGoohan in the same vein as The Prisoner, because they thought it was one of the best series ever. They were so into his psychedelic weirdness.”McGoohan’s show has deeply influenced contemporary music as well. Artists as different as XTC, LUKE VIBERT, THE CLASH, SUPERGRASS and more have borrowed its themes and iconography to make their musical cases. Legendary metal band IRON MAIDEN even obtained McGoohan’s permission to sample the show for its The Number Of The Beast anthem 'The Prisoner', a healthy bit of fandom that was continued when it recorded the banger 'Back In The Village' for Powerslave.
The ’60s TV series made an impression on other metalheads as well.
“I loved The Prisoner when I was a kid,” said Corey Taylor, vocalist for shock-rock group SLIPKNOT, whose members, like the human experiments trapped in McGoohan’s spy-fi series, are known not by their names but their numbers. “Patrick McGoohan was a badass. He was like Richard Burton without the messy delivery.”Read more here.
