Because I’m a nerd, I’m aware of many varieties of nerd rock—and just so we’re clear, I’m using the term in its narrow sense. I don’t mean bands that merely take their names from, say, Tolkien’s Middle-earth, but rather hard-core superfans who root all their songs in that world and its stories and characters. (It helps if they’ve got costumes to match.) The Star Trek universe is another popular source of inspiration, as are the various My Little Pony franchises (maybe you’ve heard about the 2012 Ponystock festival or stumbled across a “dubtrot” track on YouTube). Twi-rock is an expression of devotion to the Twilight saga, and Time Lord rock (often shortened to “trock”) pays homage to Doctor Who. In 2013, in fact, the Reader ran a substantial story about a local trock group called Time Crash, perhaps better known as “that band with the TARDIS guitar.”
I can’t understand most of Wicked’s lyrics, but several of the album’s songs clearly take their names from Voldemort’s horcruxes. “The Black Stone of Gaunt House” refers to the ring that belonged to his grandfather Marvolo Gaunt, while “Salazar’s Treasure” refers to the locket made by his distant ancestor Salazar Slytherin. “What Lies Behind the Scar” is of course a reference to Harry Potter, who was unknown to Voldemort the seventh horcrux. When the dark wizard attempted to kill the young Harry, the boy’s mother sacrificed her life protecting him, causing Voldemort’s curse to rebound and tear loose a fragment of his own soul; it entered Harry’s head and left behind a lightning-bolt scar.
