Zang Tumb Tumb

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"Zang Tumb Tumb" is a sound poem written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian futurist. It appeared in excerpts in journals between 1912 and 1914, when it was published as a book. It is an account of the Battle of Adrianople (1913) that uses creative typography ("words-in-freedom") and other poetic impressions of the events of the battle, including the sounds of gunfire and explosions.

The poem glorifies war as "the world's only hygiene."

The poem inspired Luigi Russolo to start experimenting with noise music, and is quoted in his Manifesto in 1913, later published in his book The Art of Noises in 1916.

The ZTT Records label and the Swedish 80s new wave pop act Zzzang Tumb were named in homage to the poem. The typography has also influenced modern comics.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Further reading and listening

• Marinetti, F.T. "Geometric and Mechanical Splendor and the Numerical Sensibility" from MARINETTI: Selected Writings (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, translated by R. W. Flint and A. Coppotelli). Excerpted at UbuWeb.