Dark Earth General Discussion

The above industrial area post is now complete.

Dark Earth Music Notes

In the United States, ragtime and Tin Pan Alley pop combined with a certain degree of white washed second hand jazz into big band music in the 1930s and 40s. There is swing, but it doesn’t quite swing as wildly. There are some influences from various forms of American folk that emerged independently in the 1930s as well as country and polka. The blues remain a primarily Black form of music mainly centred on the South, with jazz being its major Northern offshoot. Rock and roll had a brief life from the 1930s through to the mid 1950s before petering out; some vestigial influences can be found in other musical genres, but in the main, it fizzled; it’s variants, such as surf music, doo wop and rhythm and blues are unheard of.

There is a fair bit of influence from South/Latin American and West Indian genres, such as calypso, bossa nova, samba, Andean music and tango, have some degree of popularity, as well as several original sources: American Indian music, dwarven brass bands and choirs, electronic classical and Martian. The latter has some elements of strange 1980s ‘New Age’ music with hurdy gurdy elements; it has a certain degree of popularity as it is outside of any copyright restrictions. Mambo or other @ Cuban variants (rhumba, cha cha cha) do not exist. Foreign language novelties such as Sukiyaki and Edith Piaf aren’t quite so novel.

The main musical form favoured by the younger audience is pop, which is comparatively anodyne compared to @ 1969/70. Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Skeeter Davis, Ricky Nelson and similar artists have been in the charts.

Britain
No skiffle, no trad jazz, no beat music and no rock make for a very different 1960s sound. The predominant pop genre is a slightly more English dance band music with elements of folk, swing, show tunes and general pop. Some songs from @ would make it through, such as Petula Clark’s Downtown, Unchained Melody, Born Free and You’ll Never Walk Alone. I can see Cliff Richard still getting a bit of fame due to his combination of youthful looks and singing, but in more of a pop sense than rock. There is a strong folk element similar in some ways to Steeleye Span from @ as well as the influence of bardic music and elven elements; the latter is similar to Clannad in some ways.

In general British dance band music is rather less “swing-y” and incorporates hooks/elements from older classical music and marches. Compare In the Mood to We’ll Meet Again.

Notably, British male singers tend to adopt a distinctly British accent as compared to the more American ones used in @.

The significant differences above:

In @ 1971, the figures were 494,000 Indian, 304,000 West Indian, ~100,000 Chinese and ~35,000 Africans. In the first two cases, the 1950s and 60s saw the big waves and subsequent increases came more from growth/births of the children of immigrants in Britain. The big drivers for filling the postwar labour shortage in London transport, the NHS and northern mills also were much reduced by this point. On top of that, the numbers represented ~ 1 million out of 56 million, or 1.79%.

The situation in Dark Earth Britain is ~0.13% of the population, due to the smaller numbers and larger population. The result is that outside of London and a smattering of other large cities, there isn’t a ‘New Commonwealth’ immigrant presence, to use the @ parlance. This means there has been no drivers for racial tensions, no race riots such as the Notting Hill Riots of 1958, or associated issues. The diseased children of the BUF such as Mosley’s 1950s Union Movement don’t exist beyond a literal handful of cranks; the BUF itself doesn’t rise to prominence in the 1930s after his early death. Large parts of London, particularly in the East End, will continue to have an overwhelming majority Cockney populace and culture for some time to come, at the very least.

There will probably be a continued flow of some migration to Britain over the 1970s at a steady rate, but it will take time to grow. There are some larger tensions with the non-human races, particularly the goblinoids, and the various Martian races tend to be viewed with alarm, suspicion and hostility.

The European numbers represent a lot of skilled/professional migration and is in addition to the more transient numbers of temporary visitors, such as the ~2000 Onion Johnnies, diplomats, students, lawyers, adventurers, wizards, academics and businessmen. On top of that number are the foreign military personnel: Americans and Canadians being the big numbers, but also West Indians, South Africans, Indians, Malayans, Australians and New Zealanders; there are frequently battalion/squadron sized land and air units from the European NATO allies coming in for training at some of the battle schools and advanced fighter combat schools. London still has that character it had in WW2, with a lot of servicemen in a myriad of foreign uniforms.

In addition to that, some other predictions for the decade to come:

- No waves of strikes and industrial strife and certainly no Winter of Discontent
- Britain will bet overtaken by Japan economically, but won’t be the sick man of Europe
- Traditional heavy industries in the North, Scotland and Wales remain important and strong, rather than being allowed to die off
- A very different decade for the British automotive industry
- Few of the @ subcultures will emerge. Certainly no punks
- The Troubles in Ireland are absent here. There will be something going on there, but not of the same character
- More TV and radio stations as policies open up
- Continued progress of women’s rights, eventually catching up and surpassing Earth in some areas
- Historically, we see the rise of obesity and diet related health problems in the 1970s. Not here. If anything, they will be getting better
- Having said that, there will be the emergence of what we would consider many ‘modern’ foods. Wonka has a big decade
- Some gradual reduction of the size of the Armed Forces as costs of equipment increase, but nowhere near @
- Big changes in the way aspects social security is funded
- A lack of the circumstances that lead to the ascension of Margaret Thatcher means no PM Thatcher or what we’d recognise as Thatcherism. The Conservatives will need to find new strategies and reappraise their philosophy to take on Labour, but also to address a resurgence of the Liberals. Politically, Britain will have a genuine three way split
- Another @ issue was Europe, which won’t raise its head here. There won’t be an EEC emerging with France’s interesting decade to come, but there will be some trade related changes on the Continent. Britain, though, treads a different path
- Without twin oil shocks, it will be a more prosperous time. A lot more colour in many different ways
- Whilst a lot of oil wealth will go into various funds for the future, enough will spill over to create some interesting effects of affluence
- Supersonic air travel will begin to become more and more prevalent
- Whilst a Channel Tunnel will be thought to still be a non-starter, there will be talk of an underwater railway…
- High speed rail will branch out from the larger lines, but many of the smaller rural lines will still have more conventional services
- 1960s decisions to increase wizardly education result in more coming through and a widening use of magic and magitech
- The rise of suburbia
- African colonies that were given self government in the 1960s will now move to bona fide independence
- Increasing environmentalism
- An early 1970s fantasy boom
- Culturally, there will be a renewed folk revival in more than just music with some interesting consequences
- No decimalisation or metrication
- Around the world, the emergence of distinct mini-blocs in the Arab Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America and the Indosphere
- Some degree of gradual slowing of nuclear proliferation, given that much smaller states can’t afford The Bomb
- On nuclear matters, the advent of fusion power will see changes in this decade
- Underwater exploration…the Sea Race?

In the Imperial Almanac of 1960, there was the following line:
“The magical levitation super trains of the Grand Railway link the 10 major cities of Great Britain with dedicated 525mph passenger services. “

By 1970, the following cities are linked:
London
Birmingham
Liverpool
Glasgow
Manchester
Leeds
Newcastle
Bristol
Southampton-Portsmouth
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Cardiff
Sheffield
Middlesbrough
Leicester
Dover
Exeter
Plymouth

This would entail the following major lines of the ‘Grand Railway’:

East Coast Mainline (London-Edinburgh inc York, Middlesbrough and Newcastle) 645 miles
Midland Mainline (London-Leeds inc Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield) 319 miles
Great Central Mainline (London-Manchester inc Northampton, Leicester and Derby) 290 miles
West Coast Mainline (London-Glasgow inc Birmingham and Liverpool) 640 miles
Great Western Mainline (London-Bristol ext to Cardiff) 188/260 miles
South West Main Line (London to Plymouth inc Southampton, Bournemouth and Exeter) 382 miles
South East Main Line (London to Dover) 131 miles
Great Eastern Mainline (London to Kingston inc Ipswich, Norwich, King’s Lynn and Lincoln) 451 miles
Great Southern Mainline (Dover to Plymouth inc Brighton, Portsmouth and Portland) 522 miles
Scottish Main Line (London to Edinburgh) 620 miles

The Chinese and Japanese are currently dabbling around with 375mph maglev trains. The extra speed comes from the ‘magic’ part of the propulsion, which I envisage as drawing upon leylines as well as the engines themselves.

The last three lines are the changes, extending the Eastern line much further from Ipswich to the Humber, where Kingston (@ Hull) is a large, significant industrial port, shipbuilding centre, fishing hub and North Sea trading link; having a coastal southern line that grew out of defence purposes; and having an express line to Scotland largely separate from the East Coast Main Line of @.

USN Ship Plans for the 1970s:

Aircraft Carriers

- The remaining Essex class CVSs (Oriskany, Reprisal, Bonhomme Richard, Crown Point, Port Royal, Valley Forge, Philippines Sea, Lake Erie) are to be decommissioned by 1972, replaced by a US version of the Anglo-American CVL 
- The Enterprise class CVAN programme of 12 ships (Enterprise, Langley, Princeton, Intrepid, Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown, Lexington, Gettysburg, Essex, Ticonderoga, Franklin) are all in service or working up.
- The Midway class CVAs' (rebuilt/refitted and reclassified from CVB) service life is due to extend to 1985, but projections are for the frontline role of the first four carriers to be reduced from 1980. Their replacement will be the new CVN design almost ready, a larger and more powerful ship with more capacity for aviation fuel and larger magazines; this is rather different from the @ Nimitz class

Battleships
- The latter half of the 1960s saw a major shift in the USN battlefleet, with the Washington class decomissioned in 1966/67 and the South Dakotas starting to go in 1968. By 1970, all 12 ships have been decommissioned, leaving the 6 Iowas and 6 Montanas as the remaining conventional WW2 built battleships in USN service.
- The 4 Texas class BBGNs (Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania) have been joined by the Virginia class (Virginia (1963), Ohio (1963), Florida (1964), Mississippi (1964)) and North Dakota class (North Dakota (1965), Colorado (1966), Tennessee (1967), Minnesota (1968)). Currently under construction are Arizona (1970), Oregon (1970), Nevada (1971), Sylvania (1971), South Carolina (1972), Arkansas (1972), Maryland (1973) and New Mexico (1973). All of these sub classes are incremental improvements upon the first BBGNs

Battlecruisers
- The Hawaii class battlecruisers are due to be decommissioned from 1976 and there have been no formal plans yet for their replacement; the Monitor class are seen as eminently capable and would probably serve as a basis thereof

Cruisers
- The wartime CLGs and last of the pure-gun Baltimores are now gone and now, with the end of Vietnam, the Des Moines class heavy cruisers will join them. The remaining 16 Baltimore and Des Moines class partial missile conversions are to decommission by 1975.
- Replacing them have been the 18 Indianapolis and 14 Birmingham class CGs (which have levelled out at ~24,000t) and steady production of the 13 Long Beach and 12 Minneapolis class CGNs (~36,000t)
- Standardizing cruiser construction on an atomic powered design is seen as the most likely outcome for the 1970s and beyond

Destroyers
- Gone are the Allen M. Sumners and going are the Gearing FRAMs. Replacing both has been the 1960s successor to the 58 Charles F. Addams class DDGs, the Halsey class DDG. 29 have been commissioned thus far with a further 16 under construction and 11 projected under the 1970 and 1971 programmes
- Conversion of the Forrest Sherman class destroyers to DDGs will be complete by 1974, with the process not expected to greatly extend the service life of the class past 1984
- The combination of these two developments is one driver among many for a new, larger DDG design for the 1970s and beyond that will begin construction later in 1970. This is will not be the @ Sprucans, but more like the Kidds with some different elements and markedly different weapons systems. The Nimitz class destroyers are designed to be the USN's backbone for the coming decades

Destroyer Escorts/Frigates
- The John C. Butler class are now gone, replaced by the Knox class/the US version of the Anglo-American-Commonwealth Joint Anti-Submarine Frigates. 28 have been completed out of a projected 84, with twelve later ships shifted to the next projected class (see below)
- Further 1960s construction of the Bradley class DEGs totaled 26 for a class of 56.
- The next vessels to be replaced are the Dealey class DEs; that will take the form of an enlarged general purpose guided missile destroyer escort, named the Spruance class after the late WW2 admiral

Submarines
- The Balaos and Tench class are now gone, leaving only the Tangs and Albacores as the vestiges of the USN conventional sub fleet
- The Sturgeon class are still in full production, but coming up is an analogue to the 688 class in terms of its advance over the Sturgeons. Larger, faster, quieter, deeper diving and carrying more weapons, including VLS SLCMs
- New boomers are starting to be thought about; the beginning of a long process

Amphibs
- Joining the Normandy class CVHAs have been the Tarawa class LHAs, a new and larger ship with a well deck
- The amphibious fleet has paid a price for Vietnam, but new major LPD and LSD designs are ready to go and older LSTs and LKAs have been replaced
- The LPAs have been decommissioned to reserve

Just as a little insight into where I get some of my ideas:



The British Pathe archives are a treasure trove of wonderful period detail in glorious Technicolor, ranging from the zany to the mundane, such as one from 1965 about caravan holidays. The BBC also has some great old news stories that give a sense of time and place, as do newspapers, books, comics and boy’s annuals (such as The Eagle) and all sorts of other written materials. To create a believable past or alternate world, one needs to inhabit it to a certain extent.