Iron Maiden, Fatboy Slim and Grimes have all made music inspired by Frank Herbert’s 1960s sci-fi epic. So what makes ‘Dunecore’ different to other interpretive genres?

Harry Potter might have “wrock” (AKA “wizard rock”), Doctor Who fans “trock” (“Time Lord rock”) and Star Wars “jizz” (don’t ask) but you could argue that few works of sci-fi or fantasy have influenced the history of popular music as much as Dune. Since the novel’s release in 1965, countless huge artists, from Iron Maiden to Grimes, have released songs or entire records inspired by Frank Herbert’s epic tale of war, colonialism and human morality. Although the book is particularly beloved fodder for 70s and 80s prog musicians, its influence has leached into everything from underground pop to Fatboy Slim’s No 2-charting 2001 hit Weapon of Choice, with successive generations finding new ways to reinterpret Herbert’s images of monstrous sandworms, blue-eyed freedom fighters and superhuman nuns through music.

Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris first read Dune when he was in his early teens. Despite thinking “it was a bit odd going for the first 20 pages”, because of Herbert’s unusual terminology, he ended up loving the series and reading a number of its sequels. Over a decade after reading the first novel, Harris incorporated the language of Dune into one of his songs, ending Iron Maiden’s 1983 album Piece of Mind with a churning epic inspired by the series’ messianic protagonist Paul Atreides: “He is the Kwizatz Haderach / He is born of Caladan / And will take the Gom Jabbar.”