It has also inspired progressive, jazz fusion band Soft Machine's instrumental piece "Out bloody rageous". "A Rainbow in Curved Air" has also had a significant impact on the developments of minimalism, ambient music, jazz fusion, new-age music, progressive rock, and subsequent electronic music. It foreshadows the later overdubbed instrumental works composed by Steve Reich. The 1970s progressive rock band Curved Air named itself after this album. The album's title track is also featured in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV" on the in-game radio station "The Journey." Some of the music on this album was used as the background accompaniment of The Guide in the original BBC Radio 4 series of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. Was sampled/copied as the sound effects for the 1980 arcade game Moon Cresta. In 2009 the track "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" featured in the BBC documentary "". On April 26, 2007, Riley gave a live performance of "A Rainbow in Curved Air (Revisited)". Necessarily, he had to be assisted by other performers: Willi Wynant on percussion and Mikhail Graham working synthesizers and samples.