Jean-Luc GodardIn an interview in issue 9 of SFX magazine, author William Gibson said that Godard's Alphaville was an inspiration for the development of the movie Johnny Mnemonic (based on Gibson's own short story). [Issue 2 of SFX featured a top-ten of SF-inspired rock groups: Alphaville was number three. Issue 15 of SFX reviewed the young adult ghost novel She Fades Away, awarding it an 'A+', their highest possible mark.]
Click here for an
extensive website dedicated to Godard's movie.
Alphaville Films
There is an American movie production company called Alphaville. Some of
their more famous movies are Hard Target (1993, directed by John Woo,
starring Jean Claude Van Damme), Heart and Souls (starring Robert
Downey Jr. and Charles Grodin), Dazed and Confused and The
Jackal (Bruce Willis and Richard Gere).
Website: Alphaville Films on IMDb
The Spanish Group
In 1982 there was a Spanish group also called Alphaville, which is
apparently why WEA didn't represent our Alphaville in Spain (instead they
were signed to Sanni Records). Not much is known about the other Alphaville,
but this single (right) was recently spotted on an auction website.
Tracks:
Strontium Dog
2000 A.D. Sci-Fi Special, 1979. In Strontium Dog, Johnny Alpha
is a mutant bounty hunter. In this story Alpha saves a small town from a band
of raiders. In his honour, the citizens name the town "Alphaville".
Brazil
A search on the Internet revealed a street in Brazil called "Alphaville".
Toy Store
There is a toy store in the US called Alphaville.
The store specialises in old toys and movie memorabilia.
The Monochrome Set
Punk band The Monochrome Set released a
single called "Alphaville" back in the late seventies / very early eighties.
Comic Book
A small-press comic book called Alphaville was published in California
from 1988 to 1989 by Patrick J. Lee and Mike Lujan. There is no connection
with the group, but there was theme music composed to go with the comic strip.
Radio Production Company
There is a radio production company called AlphaVille Productions in Italy.
Stephen King
Ronen Preisler writes:
I just finished reading the latest novel from Stephen King, "Desperation".
It is a story about a bunch of people, that some force brought them together
in order to fight an ancient evil spirit. It was one of the best and exciting
books I've ever read and it's very recommended. What I wanted to mention,
though, is there is a reference to a place called "Alphaville" during the
book. It's on part 4 of the book, in chapter 5. Tak, which is the ancient
evil spirit, was searching for a place to go next. Here is the quote: "It
already knew where to go : Alphaville, a vegan commune in the Desatoyas".
The Alphaville 2001 PC
The "Alphaville 2001" self-assembly PC, pictured on the right, was launched at
the CeBIT exhibition in Hanover in 1996. A promotional single of "Forever Young" was released to coincide with the launch
of the PC.
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry - Alphaville
A very rare 16 track, 75 minute CD. 12 tracks were recorded by Bryan Ferry with
Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics, plus 4 bonus remix cuts. (Note: Alphaville
covered Bryan Ferry's song "Do the Strand" on
CrazyShow).
Tracks:
U2
U2 - Down to Alphaville
Two two-disc CD sets featuring U2 live in concert at Madison Square Garden in
June 2001. These are presumably bootleg releases - there doesn't appear to be
any information on them on U2's official website.
The Sims
As anyone who has searched for Alphaville on www.ebay.com will be only too aware,
"Alphaville" is the name of a city in the popular computer game
The Sims.