Soundtrack
Music is Life
If you’re watching Ted Lasso, then you know “football is life!”
Well, if you’re a music fan, music is life.
Music has the ability to capture certain moments in time and freeze them. It’s what makes their use in cinema so important. The right song, or music, in the right scene in the right movie can heighten the tension.
If you’ve seen The Godfather, no matter where you are, if you hear anything from Nino Rota’s haunting soundtrack, images from The Godfather will flood your psyche.
The same holds true for the Simple Minds track, “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” If you are familiar with the John Hughes movie, The Breakfast Club, then even reading this sentence may populate your head with an image from the film.
The right song or music in the right scene is transcendent and has the ability to embed both image and song in your head for life.
For me, ground zero for the modern marriage of film and popular music is Saturday Night Fever. That opening scene of John Travolta strutting down the street in his form fitting leather and polyester, holding a paint can to the Bee Gee’s “Staying Alive” is so powerful. It speaks volumes about the film that follows.
Of course there were films using pop music that predate Saturday Night Fever, American Graffiti, comes to mind; however, few captured the cultural zeitgeist as well as Saturday Night Fever. With sales of over 20 million world wide, it’s not just one of the best selling soundtracks of all time, Saturday Night Fever is one of the best selling albums of all time. It would become the gold standard for music soundtracks not just for sales, but also for quality.
Hate on “disco” all you want, but a good song is a good song — and Saturday Night Fever has plenty of good — nay great — songs that shape and propel the narrative.
That being said, this marriage of song and film is not as easy as you may think.
Sometimes the effort is so flagrantly awful, you have to wonder what the executives were thinking — Wild Wild West and Spiderman 2 come to mind. The latter of those has a story credit to Pulitzer Prize novelist Michael Chabon …and a song by Nickelback — let that marinate.
Take for a moment and consider the wildly offensive “Siamese Cat Song” from The Lady and the Tramp. The song was so bad that even Disney acquiesced and removed it from the 2019 remake. And when does Disney concede on anything?
If you’re of a certain age, I bet this one word will make you cringe — “Xanadu.”
In the right hands, the soundtrack to a film can elevate a mediocre movie to a higher level — think Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A decent enough movie, but the songs throughout capture the essence of the film almost better than the writing.
If you’ve seen the movie — close your eyes and picture Phoebe Cates walking out of the pool to The Cars “Moving in Stereo” — I rest my case.
So, what follows are songs that are both genius in their own right, but helped propel a film to a different place.
This time, I have provided the entire playlist and some commentary.
You’re welcome. ;)
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” — Simple Minds — The Breakfast Club
How could this not open a playlist on movie soundtracks — especially a playlist by a Gen X’er?
“I Would Die 4 U” — Prince — Purple Rain
Prince had so many peak periods in his career. The soundtrack to Purple Rain was arguably the first. Many people think that the song “Purple Rain” closes the movie because it is the last song on the soundtrack. The two songs that close the movie are “I Would Die 4 U” and “Baby, I’m A Star” and it’s a one two punch of the purple one’s genius — this is 50% of that punch. Now, about the movie …
“Tush” — ZZ Top — Dazed and Confused
Am I the only one that found it amazing that the band had two guys with those epic beards, guitarist Billy Gibbons and bass player Dusty Hill, and the drummers name is Frank Beard? The little band from Texas sure had a sense of ironic humor to them.
R.I.P. Dusty Hill.
“Slow Ride” — Foghat— Dazed and Confused
Come on — this is a classic jam. Roll up a jib, fire it up and sit back.
“Wise Up” — Aimee Mann — Magnolia
This song pops up in Magnolia as each character sings a part of the song acapella. It’s an awkward and powerful series of shots, but the brilliant song is handled brilliantly by director Paul Thomas Anderson, and the actors are amazingly raw singing it. So. Very. Good.
“Pinball Wizard” — Elton John — Tommy
Back off, it was Elton John who sang the song in the movie version of Tommy. You gotta love a rock opera that incorporated pedophelia and the pinball prowess of a “deaf, dumb, and blind kid.” Ah yes, the 70s — the pinnacle of sensitivity.
“Kiss From A Rose” — Seal — Batman Forever
From the 1995 Batman Forever soundtrack. You remember, the movie where Val Kilmer played Batman? The soundtrack with the shitty U2 song that they jammed down our throat trying to say it was a good U2 song. This is not that song — this is actually a good song from the soundtrack. A bit overplayed at the time, but still good. It’s also on Seal’s second album, Seal II.
“Seasons” — Chris Cornell — Singles
Honestly, you could pick almost any song from the Singles soundtrack. I picked this one because it always struck me as really powerful. And on an album of super powerful songs, it was easy to overlook this one. This song also reminds me of what a tragic loss music has with the absence of Chris Cornell.
“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” — Aretha Franklin — The Big Chill
Aretha owns this song so much that people often forget it was written by Carole King. I put it here to remind you that Aretha is unquestionably the Queen of Soul …and Carole King is one of the best songwriters of any generation. Oh, and The Big Chill isn’t a bad movie. VERY boomer-angsty but relatable.
“Streets of Philadelphia” — Bruce Springsteen — Philadelphia
A great song for a great movie. If you ever want to feel a sense of wonder, listen to any period of Bruce Springsteen. He is a lot like Carole King — one of the best songwriters of any generation.
“Jive Talkin’” — Bee Gees — Saturday Night Fever
Bee Gee manager Robert Stigwood was a force of nature. And like any force of nature, sometimes it results in good things and sometimes it does not.
THE GOOD — Now today, every publication has some kind of film/television outreach if not full-blown department. This was not the case in the 70s. So when Stigwood read a New York Magazine article about a Saturday night in Brooklyn, he optioned the rights to it. At the same time, the Bee Gees were in the process of changing their sound. All of this resulted in Saturday Night Fever. The movie would capture the club culture at the time …just before The Son of Sam murderer David Berkowitz upended it.
THE BAD — Stigwood felt compelled to produce a movie version of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heartsclub Band with Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees, and loads of other artists. This project should’ve had every artist involved see their career nosedive. Instead, it just remains a sad stain on their CV’s and on cinema as a whole.
“I’m A Man of Constant Sorrow” — The Soggy Bottom Boys — O Brother, Where Art Thou
Great song from a great movie.
“Buttercup” — Brad — Threesome
Brad is the first splinter group from Pearl Jam. PJ guitarist Stone Gossard corralled a bunch of Seattle musicians and friends together that shaped Brad. The band’s music was a wild departure from grunge and vocalist Shawn Smith has a very unique sound.
“Within Your Reach” — The Replacements — Say Anything
I know, you’d think that “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel would be the go-to song from this soundtrack, but alas, no. I consider it my mission in life for you to realize that no matter where you look, The Replacements have their fingers on the scale of culture from about 1984 to 1992.
“If You Leave” — Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (O.M.D.) — Pretty in Pink
Open with a song from a John Hughes movie — close with a song from a John Hughes movie.
I know I have left many vacancies here — what am I missing Terry Barr Rob Janicke If Ever You’re Listening Paul Combs Chris Zappa Kevin Alexander Christopher Robin S.W. Lauden David Acaster Reuben Salsa Jessica Lee McMillan and all other Riff writers I woefully forgot to mention?