Rock Trivia: Science (SCIENCE) Edition (Magnus Pyke)

I was listening to Thomas Dolby's masterpiece "She Blinded Me with Science" (SCIENCE) for the millionth time this morning, and it gets better each time, when I learned something cool. Actually I knew it but I'd forgotten. 

 Magnus Pyke, who did voiceovers in the song and also played the elderly scientist, and head of the "Home for Deranged Scientists" in the classic video for the tune, was an actual scientist. He was a nutritional scientist and he worked for the British government. 

 He's also been my hero for over four decades since the song and vid came out. He hammed it up for the camera just a bit and it was perfect. He did spoken word parts, including repeating the title, saying "Good Heavens, Miss Sakamoto...you're beautiful!" but more importantly saying one word- "Science! (SCIENCE)." 

 I loved the song when it first came out and then I fell in love with him when I saw the video. Each time he says "science" (SCIENCE) he uses a different vocal inflection and it's just fantastic. It makes me really happy, sometimes so much so that I actually get a little misty, due to the sheer joy of music. That's nuts but that's music.

 He's also responsible for a disease I have which happens to be the only known case in the world- SDTS, or Selective Dolby-Tourette Syndrome. It's a rather bizarre condition where every time I see or hear the word "science" (SCIENCE) I feel compelled to type it in caps or say it in Mr. Pyke's voice or both.

 It's certainly not a debilitating condition, and if it happens in public I can make a joke out of it, at least to people old enough to remember the song, but with the amount of research I do every day it happens fairly often. There's no known cure and it doesn't bother me. I think it's funny, and it gives me a lift since I love the tune. If there's no one around to make you laugh, you have to do it yourself.

 I knew that Dolby had programmed most or all of the drums for this song and the record it was on. For the record as it were, when he programmed the drums he didn't use any crash cymbals or hi-hat, which leaves more room in the mix. Instead of a hi-hat part he added an offbeat cowbell, which adds a brilliant touch. The synth-bass part follows the drum part precisely, making the song super tight, yet somehow it still swings. Maybe that's due to the "legato-ness" of the keys but I'm not sure.

 I'm almost positive he toured this live back in the day with a real drummer, playing on Simmons electronic drums, the ones that look like stop signs and were on nearly every music video on MTV from the 80s. More trivia, and again I'm 99% certain, is that this song introduced the Simmons sound, which was sort of "rubber-bandy," to Pop music. Everyone had them for a while. 

 I Wiki'd the song to see if there was a drummer listed on the album, which I didn't think there was, and I followed the link to Mr. Pyke. Leave it to Thomas Dolby to get a real scientist. It did ring a bell that I'd heard that he was a real guy, but I didn't know anything about him. He was already old in the video, and he passed in 1992 at age 83. He had to have been a character up until the end. I mean...a British scientist, who was in a hit MTV video no less...what else do you want?

 It's a shame he didn't live long enough to see the internet and have his own YouTube channel. I'd have been his first subscriber. Scientist or not, his voice, and look in the video are absolutely perfect. God bless him.

 Learn something new every day, and when you can combine two of my favorite things- music and science (SCIENCE), it's a bonus. Although I'm the only known individual with SDTS, there must be countless people who'll never forget Mr. Pyke's contribution to Pop music, and thanks Mr. Dolby! RIP Mr. Pyke. Thanks for your service. Your voice is burned forever into my brain, and for that I'm grateful.

You can learn more about Magnus Pyke >HERE.

The classic video is >HERE.