Really poor placement of music in films

(twenty-somethings will kill me now)

As far as other bad placement of music in films, the use of "Can We Still Be Friends" in Vanilla Sky is terrible, but I only saw that movie once and I seem to remember that movie being chock full o' terrible things.

i think wes anderson's use of pop music in his movies (and the mothersbaugh scores, to boot) has been really really sharp at times, and really really grating at other times. i think its easy in hindsight to say that all his song use has been cloying and lame, what with the somewhat cloying and/or lame use of some songs in RTs/lifeacquatic. i really think it was great in bottle rocket, brilliant in rushmore, and good, but a little too self-satisfied in tenenbaums. by the time i saw life acquatic, all the songs felt like he was flailing about, looking for some familiar device to express tone or mood. but i dont know, i think thats not a bad characterization of that movie in general. ok, fine, i cant help it. i believe in him.

hello Lost In Translation

Really? I thought that Bottle Rocket only got picked up by a major after an executive saw it in a indie-film festival. Maybe this was his uncle or something, I dunno.

-- rentboy

whaaaat! for one, i thought "sometimes" was impeccable for the scene where it was used. or was i just really happy to hear it regardless of circumstances? and i forget what two songs play during the credits (JAMC and someone else?) but those were well-chosen too. i forget everything else except the air song, which i was never really crazy about.

I half expected Portman to turn toward the camera.
-- jaymc

hahah gold

Stence OTM!

Maybe Easy Rider?

-- Matos-Webster Dictionary

you really think so? what films of his have you seen? I think the music in "scorpio rising" (which i guess you're referencing) is brilliant and was obv. way ahead of its time re: camp, irony, appropriation, etc. Also, i haven't seen it (it doesn't get screened much) but the score for "lucifer rising" by bobby beausoleil is totally awesome: pink floyd meets miles davis in prison.

I def. think Easy Rider or the Graduate were pioneers of this in the Hollywood sense tho, I can't think of much else before then that epitomized this reverent use of rock/pop as a narrative trope which we see so often these days.

i wanna see Doran's version of Watchmen

"Magic Carpet Ride" in Go always stuck out like a sore thumb, like it was filler for a song that couldn't get copyright approval.

remember the shitty cover of magic carpet ride that was in reservoir dogs?

Not really what this thread is about, but I was fairly irked by the total balls-up / late failure to secure rights / studio pressure / whatever it was that led Steve Carrell's character in Seeking A Friend For The End of the World to cue up side A of Scott Walker's solo debut and yet hear... two Walker Brothers songs. The first track on that LP is "Mathilde" and that's the name of asteroid coming to destroy the earth and the last track on side A is "My Death", so it was intended to work that way, I think. Instead, we get "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Stay With Me Baby".

does the really poor placement of the album cover of miles davis' 1986 album 'tutu' in the 1950s-set 'the talented mr ripley' count?

When the guy does heroin and they play "Heroin" in Killing Them Softly.

― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Wednesday, January 2, 2013 1:22 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark

srsly, such an eyeroll moment

Love the Manhunter soundtrack, especially the Shriekback, but here's the "studio pressure" closing-credits song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBWSocJMChA

"Studio pressure" in the sense that "We need a new song to go with the Iron Butterfly." Hearing it again, though, something about it sounds a whole lot like the Audioslave that shows up in Collateral.

In my version of Watchmen Chevy Chase is getting it on to Hallelujah by the Happy Mondays.

iirc there are like five audioslave songs in miami vice

what happened to u mann

Katy Perry usage in Rust And Bone is pretty cringe. actually that soundtrack is just full of huge weird contrasts of song placement. for example when the lead french dude was suddenly listening to a 30 year old John Cooper Clarke track whilst jogging.

500 days of summer

I mean all songs in that movie

Had "Heartbeat" been an instrumental I would be jamming it right this minute.

remember the shitty cover of magic carpet ride that was in reservoir dogs?

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, January 2, 2013 4:19 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yessss, it's like a big black mark on tarantino's track record with soundtracks

Scott Pilgrim's botched use of Broken Social Scene's "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" since we're talking insufferable indie films/soundtracks.

Terrible cover of "Ruby Tuesday" (I think?) in "Children Of Men" .

I had a really terrible dream last night about my Watchmen going over budget. The bit where the giant squid materialises in New York however will still be soundtracked by Voltigeurs' Defiling Their Temples With Bestial Lust. No matter what the cost.

I find the idea of Buffalo Bill listening to Hip Priest by The Fall ludicrous to the extent that it always ruins that scene in Silence Of The Lambs for me.

You know what? I didn't even notice it the first time!

It is easy to miss. I guess it's just how everyone goes on about it. If it wasn't for that, I might not have noticed it myself - I didn't when I saw it at the pictures.

So, it was probably 'really good' placement, and its just that the track's pre-history informs some people's reaction to it, and not others.

That's one way of looking at it. I still don't see why this cross dressing, serial killing, poodle and R.E.O. Speedwagon fanboy is doing listening to The Fall.

There's this scene in Toy Story 3 where Barbie sees Ken for the first time and "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright swells up on the soundtrack. Not a bad moment for a Pixar movie.

But then, on this app my son plays with, there's a preview of the movie that shows the same scene except with "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin. REALLY POOR PLACEMENT.

they stole that from Wayne's World anyway

waynes world, top gun, same diff

nah, i meant the use of Dreamweaver

The Damien Rice song in Closer isn't poor per se but is over the top.

pop songs should be banned from films.

or maybe not?

"Sister Christian" in Boogie Nights excepted.

Enya's "Sail Away" in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also wasn't poor but was a little oh c'mon.

i believe you're referring to ORINOCO FLOW

"Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" in Away We Go. Crap film as it was, but that scene came out of nowhere, and vanished without a trace. Using a great song for it just made me angry.

scorsese has had his amazing music moment but then there's 'bringing out the dead' (a film i like vv much):

- that 10,000 maniacs song
- 'what's the frequency kenneth?'

the same movie has good use of van morrison and the clash though.

And "Bell Boy"!

remember the shitty cover of magic carpet ride that was in reservoir dogs?

I've seen Reservoir Dogs at least 10 times, and I don't remember this at all. Are you thinking of Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling" cover, or is this something playing in the background that I keep missing?

i thought the tupac song in django unchained was awful placement

I don't remember any "Magic Carpet Ride" cover either. Maybe he's thinking the remix (or mashup or w/e) that was in "Go!" ?

xp

It's listed on the RD soundtrack.

Shane Meadows does a lot of terminal damage to his own films often by using winsome folky brit-wank songs to convey 'sadness' or whatever rather than sticking to competent filmmaking. I have seen all his films but I can't be arsed searching for examples, but even if it was music I liked it still wouldn't work.

i think it was briefly heard in the film but not featured prominently. maybe a car ride scene? idk.

XP: I know what you mean about Shane Meadows but then he is, essentially, a very conservative director. His entire schtick is about the importance of the nuclear family and what happens when it is disrupted. Also, the context suits some (but certainly not all) of this Green Man/lentil bake music you're talking about.

I wouldn't normally listen to Adem or anything of that ilk to be honest but I think the song Statued fits Dead Man's Shoes like a glove, and I have nothing but love for Gravenhurst.

Also smart use of Aphex Twin in a film with a near rural setting. It's the ideal scenery for Aphex Twin... see Sleep Furiously as well.

I know it wasn't a film, but yesterday there was a Nick Knowles prog where they redecorate a deserving family's house and the community get involvet etcet, you know the sort of thing.

There was lots of instrumental music backings from Gotye, Vampire Weekend, the whistly Peter John and Bjorn track, and the final bit where they do the big reveal was Hoppipola Sigur Ros

talk about over-familiar usage...

From what I've seen of these surprise redecoration shows, normally the reveal should be chosen from Fucked On A Pile Of Corpses by Skullflower.

The whole shambling fuckup that was the director's cut of Donnie Darko. Way to ruin the best bit of the film by changing the music for no reason at all.

I saw this on another thread and though I saw that film, I don't remember "America" in it. I am pissed! This song should be about ordinary people's memories, not rock stars and groupies.

"I wonder how much of "America"'s win had to do with Almost Famous. It never really stood out to me on Bookends, but then it was used in that film and kind of earned a new heightened status"

"America" was in the scene where William's older sister leaves home with her boyfriend, before rock stars and groupies entered the picture.

According to imdb:

Song: "Magic Carpet Ride"/Performer: Bedlam/Movie Moment: This Steppenwolf cover can be heard during the bar scene when Mr. Orange tells the others his "commode story."

Well, there you go--I'm not sure if it ever registered with me what's playing in the background (starts at 3:20).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ObbvrQxAc

I remember when I first watched that, I thought that Tim Roth told such a realistic drug story. Looking back, it sounds so contrived.

Regarding the Nick Knowles DIY SOS, should the BBC be using "Young folks" seeing as everyone generally knows it as "the music from the 8 & Q adverts"?