The soundtrack to our lives...
Last weekend, pre-Oscar bonanza, the oldies station in St. Louis only played songs that were part of movie soundtracks. But, let's get serious...there's probably some sort of oldie in 95% of movies made. However, the research, I'm sure, was the more tedious part: figuring out what song came from what movie scene, etc. The station provided very detailed information.
On my way to school today, I heard "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel. An old boyfriend, who severely annoyed me at his mere pontification on the following subject, pointed out several years ago that The Graduate was perhaps one of the first movies to have a famous soundtrack, or a soundtrack at all. Obviously, I'm not taking credit for this idea. But I will wholeheartedly admit to being unreasonably irritated with the conversation because this guy came up with the most random ideas just to hear himself talk. Talk, talk, talk...
Here are my top 5 favorite movie soundtracks that I OWN:
1. Reality Bites - Juliana Hatfield 3, Crowded House, Peter fucking Frampton, a great U2 song ("All I Want is You"), and the number one chick song of all time, "Stay" by Lisa Loeb
Sidenote: I kind of want to revisit all the girl bands from the early 90s like Juliana Hatfield...remember The Breeders, Veruca Salt, and Belly?
2. Magnolia - It's 99% Aimee Mann, and she's the bees' knees. It helps you look past the fact that it's raining frogs, and you don't know what the hell that means.
3. Boogie Nights - Well, I did own this one until Jables took it away 8 months ago. Can a girl get her CD back? Please? Anyhoo, it's got one of my favorite oldies, "Brand New Key" by Melanie and the rock power ballad "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger. The latter song just makes the last scene of the movie all the more perfect.
4. Garden State - Well, I have to support my celeb brother, Zach Braff, in any way I can. Plus, he's got great musical taste. It's right up my alley with perhaps my favorite Coldplay song "Don't Panic." (Which by the way, is also featured in Igby Goes Down, another movie I loved.) It's also got a great Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Only Living Boy in New York," a nod to The Graduate. (By the way, I don't credit myself with that either...Roger Ebert told me to say it.) Other artists include Frou Frou and The Shins. This soundtrack "will change your life..."
5. Beautiful Girls - Great soul music mixed with Pete Droge, The Afghan Whigs, and Neil Diamond. If I bring my old piano into Josh's new home, the first thing I have to do is learn "Sweet Caroline" to recreate the scene from the movie. I've already been told it's a prerequisite to moving in.
Other movies with great music that come to mind are anything directed by John Hughes or Cameron Crowe. They are gods in this department. There's a lot of Ryan Adams on Crowe's 2 disc soundtrack of Elizabethtown, and you know I back that 100%.
Other movie scenes that are MADE because of the song selection (I sound like the American Idol judges: it's all about song choice).
1. The final scene of American Beauty when Lester Burnham almost becomes a pedofile features Annie Lennox doing a Neil Young cover of "Don't Let it Bring You Down." It's kind of haunting. Don't make fun of me for writing that, either.
2. The motivational scene in Footloose when all the kids are hard at work in the barn, decorating for the big dance. You feel so proud of them. Kenny Loggins pumps me up.
3. At the end of High Fidelity, John Cusack's character gets back with his ex-girlfriend. As the camera pans out, "I Believe" by Stevie Wonder ends the movie on a very uplifiting note. But not in a cheesy way at all.
Ok, those are my humble opinions. Hit me with yours.
On my way to school today, I heard "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel. An old boyfriend, who severely annoyed me at his mere pontification on the following subject, pointed out several years ago that The Graduate was perhaps one of the first movies to have a famous soundtrack, or a soundtrack at all. Obviously, I'm not taking credit for this idea. But I will wholeheartedly admit to being unreasonably irritated with the conversation because this guy came up with the most random ideas just to hear himself talk. Talk, talk, talk...
Here are my top 5 favorite movie soundtracks that I OWN:
1. Reality Bites - Juliana Hatfield 3, Crowded House, Peter fucking Frampton, a great U2 song ("All I Want is You"), and the number one chick song of all time, "Stay" by Lisa Loeb
Sidenote: I kind of want to revisit all the girl bands from the early 90s like Juliana Hatfield...remember The Breeders, Veruca Salt, and Belly?
2. Magnolia - It's 99% Aimee Mann, and she's the bees' knees. It helps you look past the fact that it's raining frogs, and you don't know what the hell that means.
3. Boogie Nights - Well, I did own this one until Jables took it away 8 months ago. Can a girl get her CD back? Please? Anyhoo, it's got one of my favorite oldies, "Brand New Key" by Melanie and the rock power ballad "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger. The latter song just makes the last scene of the movie all the more perfect.
4. Garden State - Well, I have to support my celeb brother, Zach Braff, in any way I can. Plus, he's got great musical taste. It's right up my alley with perhaps my favorite Coldplay song "Don't Panic." (Which by the way, is also featured in Igby Goes Down, another movie I loved.) It's also got a great Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Only Living Boy in New York," a nod to The Graduate. (By the way, I don't credit myself with that either...Roger Ebert told me to say it.) Other artists include Frou Frou and The Shins. This soundtrack "will change your life..."
5. Beautiful Girls - Great soul music mixed with Pete Droge, The Afghan Whigs, and Neil Diamond. If I bring my old piano into Josh's new home, the first thing I have to do is learn "Sweet Caroline" to recreate the scene from the movie. I've already been told it's a prerequisite to moving in.
Other movies with great music that come to mind are anything directed by John Hughes or Cameron Crowe. They are gods in this department. There's a lot of Ryan Adams on Crowe's 2 disc soundtrack of Elizabethtown, and you know I back that 100%.
Other movie scenes that are MADE because of the song selection (I sound like the American Idol judges: it's all about song choice).
1. The final scene of American Beauty when Lester Burnham almost becomes a pedofile features Annie Lennox doing a Neil Young cover of "Don't Let it Bring You Down." It's kind of haunting. Don't make fun of me for writing that, either.
2. The motivational scene in Footloose when all the kids are hard at work in the barn, decorating for the big dance. You feel so proud of them. Kenny Loggins pumps me up.
3. At the end of High Fidelity, John Cusack's character gets back with his ex-girlfriend. As the camera pans out, "I Believe" by Stevie Wonder ends the movie on a very uplifiting note. But not in a cheesy way at all.
Ok, those are my humble opinions. Hit me with yours.
posted by quank at 3:52 PM
2 Comments:
The dolly shot in Goodfellas, when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and is soon-to-be-wife maneuver through the kitchen of the nightclub. That song ... "And then he kissed me" plays and it's all one long shot by Scorcese.
I used to rock hard to Veruca Salt. "Seether" was pretty rad back in the day, but then "Volcano Girls" really sent them down the bad egg hatch for me.
Air's soundtrack for The Virgin Suicides is really creepy and cool in that "I'm hot and I'm Kirsten Dunst" kind of way...
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