# Tubular Bells **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2001, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151 "2001-10-03T09:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/1 "2001-10-03T09:28:48Z")
The discussion actually started in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=86432) but in order to avoid a hijack, I’ll start a new one here. A few people had mentioned “Tubular Bells” as being the scariest movie music ever. I actually heard it _before_ I saw _The Exorcist_ (and it turned me into a _major_ Mike Oldfield fan) so its use in the movie didn’t seem that scary to me. But I think the entire piece got a rather bad repuation because of its use. I was taking a trip to Shawnee, Oklahoma with a preacher friend after the movie came out and had a copy of the tape which he _refused_ to let me play in the car because he claimed it was “the devil’s music.” So, I’m curious if you would still had found the music “scary” if it had not been associated with that film. ---
**Author:** ![meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@meyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meyer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/2 "2001-10-03T10:04:51Z")
I too heard ‘Tubular Bells’ years before seeing The Exorcist. I always thought it was a little bit scary…I mean, there are those eerie voices when you least expect them…but in general, I just thought it was nice music for relaxing or studying. After seeing The Exorcist thought, I can hardly listen to it without looking over my shoulder. Makes my skin crawl! ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/3 "2001-10-03T11:07:41Z")
Nah. It’s a great piece of music, and I listen to it quite a bit. One piece I can no longer listen to is Arvo Part’s [Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, for string orchestra & bell](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000262K7/qid=1002106279/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_7_3/103-3991330-8659826). A really great piece, but a local theatre director used it with some rather horrifying images in a production of “MacBeth”. Too damned effective, if you ask me. (It’s only a sample on the site, but it’s a very long piece - add to that a darkened theatre, shadows, odd scratching noises on the back of your chair, an actor brushing by you in the dark, and oversized evil-looking witch puppets. My verbal desciption does the production no justice: suffice to say it was a very effective use of sound, space, fear, and unfortunately, one of my former favorite pieces of music.) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/4 "2001-10-03T13:25:26Z")
I really like Tubular Bells and Mike Oldfield. I heard it years before I saw the Exorcist at a drive-in late in my high school career. Dunno if it was the Bud or what, but my posse thought the Exorcist was pretty dang funny and certainly not scary. But maybe that’s what being a drunken 17 year old guy with his buddies is all about. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/5 "2001-10-03T13:45:04Z")
Like most here, I heard Tubular Bells before seeing The Exorcist. Nope, not scary at all; I associate it with sitting on the balcony watching the weather at my uncle’s house, mostly. Particularly awesome watching a storm sweep in over the ocean, with that playing in the background (although having to get up and turn the album over did kind of mess up the mood). There’s tension inherent in some passages though, and it did work well in the movie, but that can’t overcome the earlier impression. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/6 "2001-10-03T13:52:59Z")
I’ve seen The Exorcist and I’ve heard Tubular Bells, but I’ve never associated them the way other people have, I guess. Actually, I find Tubular Bells to be perfect for relaxing, reading, working, or falling asleep to. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/7 "2001-10-03T18:19:13Z")
I like the music enough to have bought the CD. I don’t think it’s scarey, but I’ve never seen the movie. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/8 "2001-10-04T00:24:02Z")
At the time i thought that it was scary and kickass, but now i think that it’s tripe, trite and inane! Some clown announcing the instrument before he begins playing it…it sounds like some k-tel commercial or something! ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/9 "2001-10-04T12:53:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bumbazine \* > \*\*I like the music enough to have bought the CD. > I don’t think it’s scarey, but I’ve never seen the movie. \*\* Ditto - but I also have never listened to the whole of the original, having first heard Tubular Bells II, started listening to TB1 and not ejoying it as much and never finishing. My recollection of the original was a little creepier, less soothing than II Gp ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/10 "2001-10-05T08:03:29Z")
The only scary music to me is during the shower scene in “Psycho.” Tubular Bells is great, but never saw the Exorcist. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/11 "2001-10-05T11:33:46Z")
Big mistake, and I too, am an Oldfield fan. I also liked the Orchestral TB. “Grand Piano…” Man, I _loved_ that voice introducing all the instruments! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![FriendRob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecc23a/32.png) [@FriendRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendRob)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/12 "2001-10-05T16:26:40Z")
I also heard and loved _Tubular Bells_ before I ever saw the movie, and didn’t think of it as scary. I have a similar problem with Bach’s _Tocatta and Fugue_ for organ. I love this piece and used the absolutely incredible chord from the end of the introduction as the “tone” on my answering machine. I got all these complaints about “that vampire music”!!! Never realized that it was the piece that Dracula is playing on the organ when we first see him. Hmm…, anyone know which version(s) of the movie that happens in? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/13 "2001-10-06T02:34:24Z")
No, nice music. I bought the album after I saw the movie. I dislike his speaking on it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Town\_Drunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Town\_Drunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Town_Drunk)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/14 "2001-10-06T02:44:30Z")
Just saw an ad in a magazine where you can use Tubular Bells as the ring tone for your cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/15 "2001-10-06T03:46:57Z")
I always associated Tocatta and Fugue with Phantom of the Opera, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/16 "2001-10-06T04:22:57Z")
It is spooky music in context of the movie. When it started playing when I saw The Exorcist the first time it gave me shivers. On it’s own, it’s just beautiful and I’ve listened to it just because. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/17 "2001-10-06T07:57:49Z")
I have the _Mike Oldfield Boxed_ set, which consists of his first four albums. The _Tubular Bells_ album has a different ending - It’s still ‘The Sailor’s Hornpipe’, but it starts with an introductory section where Mike, Vivian Stanshall (the guy with the voice, **Quasimodem** ), and Tom Newman (another quitarist) wandered around the Manor House studio at 2 in the morning, drunk, with Vivian commenting on the various rooms they come across, and the paintings in them, while Mike and Tom played the Hornpipe. Very bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/18 "2001-10-06T09:24:44Z")
Please correct me if I’m wrong. Here Goes: Mike Oldfield was the originator of Virgin Records, which begat Virgin (?)Record Shops, both of which were then bought out and all of a sudden we had Virgin Airlines. Not sure of the chronology, but that’s the way I thought it happened. Can someone set me straight? Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/19 "2001-10-06T09:45:26Z")
Not the originator, but the first artist/release by the company (V0001?). ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151/20 "2001-10-06T09:51:41Z")
Oh, and this from the _Boxed_ booklet: > [@](#): > > [Oldfield] played his work to resident engineer Tom Newman. Newman was sufficiently impressed to bring it to the attention of Virgin’s Richard Branson and Simon Draper, whom he knew had the eager, if financially remote, intention of launching a reord label to complement the company’s already existing retail and export divisions. So Richard Branson has been there since the beginning. He also founded the Airline as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tubular-bells/85151.md?page=2)