Music choices in movies. A series of reviews into the modern soundtrack of the silver screen
It’s hard to think of what certain movies could be like if certain songs had been chosen instead of others. A good example of this would be a scene from the one of my favourite movies, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ where Michael Madsen cuts the ear off of that cop and the camera tilts to the side. I fell in love with music and movies right then and there at the ripe age of 16. It was like the first time I heard The Beatles, only more gruesome and penetratingly memorable. Every time I hear that song I can see that movie in my head. Kind of like how certain smell can trigger distant memories.
Steelers Wheel had a modest career sailing their one hit wonder (‘Stuck in the Middle with You’) across the airwaves. However, it was not until Quentin Tarantino immortalized them onto the silver screen that they got massive recognition, to the point where the likes Jeff Healey covered it to bring it back into the 90’s.
On a side note, Jeff Healey was the designated bar band in the Patrick Swayze movie ‘Road House’. It seemed like a movies gimmick but it actually served the movie really well without being too flashy about it. Healey played himself essentially but he was not Jeff Healey the superstar. Having that aspect set aside, the audience can connect.
A real Gem of cinematography and musical synergy would have to be ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1’. This baby has everything from great cast to a wonderful soundtrack comprised of some of the most memorable space rock to hit the vinyl. This coincides well with the era of which these characters were created by Stan Lee in the early 60’s. One of my favourite aspects of this movie is how Young Starlord clings to his mother’s mix tape as a momento of where he comes from, this helps us connect to the main character through some bitchin rock n’ roll.
Let’s examine a few of the songs that I thought were indispensable. David Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ hands down one of his best songs off of the Ziggy Stardust album. The chorus in that song is too perfect for this movie.
“Keep your electric eye on me babe,
Put your ray gun to my head,
Press your space face close to mine, love”
Songs with lots of reverb and lo-fi seem to be the trademark ‘space movie’ sound Hollywood is going for. When considering songs such as: Normand Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the sky’, ‘10cc’s I’m not in Love’ & Rupert Holmes ‘Escape’, it’s difficult to see the aliens and space travel with the songs content in and of itself. However with clever placement of the songs and more importantly which specific cropped section of the song they want to use, it fits like a glove. I must admit ‘Escape’ (the Pina Colada song) didn’t seem to gel with the movies content overall, but the song is called ‘ESCAPE’! Placing this track when they escape the space prison makes it work!
One song I would have liked to see in this movie would be ‘Take me to the Captain’ by Prism. Hopefully we’ll hear it in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We definitely need more Bowie in the sequel. I would go with ‘Starman’ or possibly ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’.
One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of classic rock that can keep Star Lord and movies goers musically entertained while being bombarded with strange new worlds and characters throughout this cosmic adventure. Box office numbers would agree that this movie is a major hit with Marvel fans and so is the soundtrack. Successfully exposing a new generation to music that was light-years ahead of its time is a marvellous accomplishment in itself. For me, anything less would be uncivilized and anything worth doing is worth doing right.
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