Less Than Zero - The Soundtrack Poll

The first actual CD I ever bought. Still own it for that reason!

Great album, wouldn't know what to pick.

I do remember always being cheesed at the sequencing, though -- "Life Fades Away" should have been at the end of the album like it was for the movie, reflecting on the tragic death of Robert Downey Jr. from drugs...again!

not gonna watch this movie bc of my gen. feelings abt BEE adaptations but this soundtrack looks pretty good, thats all i got.

Give in to the atmosphere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQSGS5-7QI4

Pause at :49 or :51 for true drama.

If Roy Orbison doesn't run away with this thing, I just don't know what to think. The Danzig and LL Cool J songs are also excellent, though.

Half the album consists of cover versions!

Going Back To Cali was a big deal to me when it came out - something about that black and white video was really cool and unexpected.

a bunch of cover versions is a pretty standard soundtrack trope though innit?

During the nineties and after, yes, but was it such a big thing when this came out? (Probably was, I'm not sure -- I am pretty sure I first learned about the Chi-Lites through the "Are You My Woman?" cover, at least.)

why is there no X on this?

An impossible choice b/w two of my favorite songs: "Hazy Shade of Winter" and "Life Fades Away."

if you vote for anything but "Bring The Noise" and are not geir, you need to take a serious look at the decisions you've made in life

I'm surprised the Elvis Costello song isn't on the soundtrack ... isn't that where BEE got the title?

yeah though whiney that is the best song on here, but i feel like goin' back to cali is more "from" this soundtrack and unique to this soundtrack at the time while bring the noise is more "from" nation of millions IMO....

both are great obv but noise is greater

also the bangles s&g cover is tuff stuff

bring the noise is more "from" nation of millions IMO....

True but it came out some months before Nation and I always associated it more with the soundtrack because I heard it first. (Also the first time I ever heard PE, so there's that.)

i didn't know that was before but yeah i guess that makes sense.

I'm surprised the Elvis Costello song isn't on the soundtrack ... isn't that where BEE got the title?

it is in the film iirc. this movie is not so good. but there is lots of people having sex with their clothes on (now THERE'S a song that shoulda been on the sdtk lolz)

Voting P.E.'s best song -- a very easy choice. Though the Bangles actually improve on Simon & Garfunkel, and Slayer's Iron Butterfly cover might be my favorite thing by them. (Haven't thought about that Black Flames cut for forever; they were a sort of soul/doo-wop revival group, right? Are they any good on here, and if so, did they ever put out an album of their own?)

i didn't know that was before but yeah i guess that makes sense.

Yeah, the soundtrack was out in the fall of 1987 but Nation wasn't released until April 1988.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmQYxkTN8PA

This is the epitome of the 80s 12-inch remix to me. EXTENDED BONGO SOLO!

the Bangles actually improve on Simon & Garfunkel,

so otm

oh man i have no idea

am able to eliminate anything that features oran "juice" jones or steven tyler

btw sorry for stealing one of your future polls from you

how's that Joan Jett song?

xpost no issue, i am mostly looking for soundtracks no one other than me was dumb enough to buy.

also, exclusively doing stuff i had on casette, and i have this on LP

how's that Joan Jett song?

Pleasant, not deathless, she's done better.

"Goin' Back to Cali" is one of the best songs ever. FACT.

http://www.dailypilot.com/content/articles/2007/07/01/business/dpt-cosi01.jpghttp://www.gn.com/SiteCollectionImages/Press%20Room/Download%20images/GN_300dpi.jpg

Hahaha

JOHN BY SAYING WHAT YOUR ARE SAYING YOUR ARE FORESAKING "THE RAIN" AND THEREFORE BEING A VERY VERY SILLY RABBIT.

^^^

also lol at whiney

how's that Joan Jett song?

it's godawful. though not as godawful as the oran juice jones song.

i am eliminating oran "juice" from this poll, not my ears in the rest of the world, so no stress dudes, the rain remains safe and unbesmirched.

might vote for the slayer tbh

oran "juice" jones is pretty cool when he's being a dick, like "the rain" or "cold spendin' my money." but i don't remember his song on this at all.

voted danzig cause "goin' back to cali" is going to get a lot of votes anyway. and lounge-danzig is pretty cool.

oran "juice" jones is pretty cool when he's being a dick, like "the rain" or "cold spendin' my money." but i don't remember his song on this at all.

An extremely dull and sappy duet. God knows what Rubin was thinking.

Crossover potential?

No one wants to vouch for Orbison, eh? Fine. I'll remember where you guys live.

No one wants to vouch for Orbison, eh?

Sounds like someone missed unperson's post upthread (and mine, more implicitly admittedly).

I always thought of that song as the spark for Rubin figuring something could work with Johnny Cash covering the work of more recent songwriters, given the Danzig co-write credit.

I was so upset with you I don’t know what to do
‘N’ my first impulse was to run up on you
And do a Rambo
Whip out the jammy and flat-blast both of you
But I ain’t wanna mess up this thirty-seven hundred dollar lynx coat
So instead… I chilled (yeah)

orbison song is great, but slayer distilling inagaddadavida to a 3.5 minute song is a great achievement imo

Having fun skipping around all these tracks again here at home. The Slayer cover is crazy great.

Sorry, Ned. Missed the first couple posts.

Christgau:

Less Than Zero [Def Jam, 1987]

Despite the execrable title song and Poison's attempted "Rock and Roll All Nite," this is one tough and imaginative soundtrack. I love the way the Bangles schlock up "Hazy Shade of Winter" (sounds like the Grass Roots song it should have been) and Slayer revs up "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (a great tune cut down to size). Even better are a debut by the Black Flames, a def and jamming answer to the Force M.D.'s, and a Public Enemy track that finally lives up to their fierce political rep (they like Farrakhan and dis critics, but nobody said you had to agree with them). "Are You My Woman"/"Bring the Noise," the resulting twelve-inch is called. Those who never trust a soundtrack should buy one. B+

Forgot that "Hazy Shade of Winter" only went to #2, why the hell didn't that top the chart.

It was inescapable, wasn't it? And my local radio station played the crazy-bongo 12" version Dan loves.

The Bangles topped the chart with their two worst songs, while two of their BEST peaked at #2 (guess the one other).

Jeez, it was too long since I heard "Goin' Back to Cali," why the hell did I think it was a lot more low key than it is?

oh hell yeah, it's a weird song. totally holds up, i think.
love LL's delivery on it, the "she said she liked the ocean" line still pops into my head sometimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdizL4on-Rc

she said
she liked
the beach

oran "juice" jones is pretty cool when he's being a dick, like "the rain" or "cold spendin' my money." but i don't remember his song on this at all.

An extremely dull and sappy duet. God knows what Rubin was thinking.

Pretty sure that the Rubin half of the Def Jam equation wasn't putting all the played-out R&B jams on here

pink cookies
in a plastic
bag
being crush
by buildings

Had/have? this on vinyl. LL vs Bangles.

Bangles topped the chart with their two worst songs, while two of their BEST peaked at #2

Oh come on -- "Walk Like An Egyptian" >>>>>>> "Manic Monday" any day of the week (Monday included.)

not otm

(Well okay, at least one >. I used to kind of hate "Manic Monday" actually, but I've grown to like it more over the years. Still, calling "Egyptian" one of their "two worst songs" is just....goofy.)

Same here, but even when I thought it sucked MM was still better than "Egyptian."

any song with whistling in the chorus is automatically awesome

"Hazy Shade of Winter" >> "If She Knew What She Wants" >>>>>>>> "Going Down to Liverpool" >>>>> "In Your Room" >>>> "Manic Monday"

I note "Eternal Flame" has been drowned in a primeval peat bog.

The Bangs > The Bangles. (Okay, I probably don't really believe that. But it's possible.)

I note "Eternal Flame" has been drowned in a primeval peat bog.

It's got its defenders 'round these parts.

Liverpool>Monday>Hazy>Room>Egyptian>>>Flame

I guess we need a Bangles singles poll.

I actually have a copy of New York Rocker from 1982 where Byron Coley reviews their live set, opening for Salvation Army and the Last, before they added the "les" part. ("The fluid vocal blend the Bangs're able to achieve at moments contrast with their instrumental rough spots while simulataneously smoothing them over, and the overall effect's mighty fuggin' pleasant.")

I love how the eighties were apparently about stacking lots of TV sets around dance floors for a combination "futuristic" and narcissistic ambience.

http://skew.dailyskew.com/uploaded_images/watchmen10-700511.jpg

xp Uh, guess they already had the "s." (Looks like their debut EP as the Bangles actually came out later that year. Coley is upset that people are already comparing them to the Go-Gos, when they remind him more of "SF's long-gone Urge -- with the difference bein' Vickie Peterson's superior songwriting and cover choices." Apparently they did "Pushin' Too Hard." The show was at the Whisky.)

http://www.allposters.com/IMAGES/RSPOD/RS496.jpg

Lookit all the purple.

"In Your Room" is an astonishingly sexy song.

voted PE btw

wtf guys, "Eternal Flame" is a great song

tough choice between PE and LL, but I voted for Cali - mainly because I still listen to the song probably once or twice a month. I've always had a soft spot for Slayer's inagaddadavida cover, but mostly because of Lombardo's awesome caveman-ish drumming.

WTF Missing Chapter of Clockwork Orange?

Yeah, the original final chapter that was excised from the American printing. (And as a consequence is not in the movie.)

in a Gadda da vida was awful. even Slayer loathe that cover.

During my lunch break I walked to the library and actually flipped through this issue on microfiche. Rolling Stone ran...content then (lots of crap too).

As much love as I have for "Bring the Noise" gotta vote Bangles on this one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not surprised to see LL Cool J win this so handily, but very surprised to see Roy Orbison poll so low.

About this soundtrack....

This soundtrack is great, the movie... not so much. I'd never seen it before last night. I like Spader and some of the locations are gorgeous though. Maybe it's just the nearly four decades of rich kids descending into addiction films since, but every single beat played out exactly like you knew it would. Interesting to read that there was apparently a lot of studio meddling to make it "less decadent", maybe there was a better film in there somewhere.

There is. The novel's trash, but its ersatz Didion-esque approach was too much at the time, therefore the Cautionary Tale approach.

film is bad yep but still worth watching for peerless 80s aesthetics and really beautiful score by thomas newman

It has a scene where Robert Downey Jr breaks into his dad's mansion's mirrored weight room to steal Robert Palmer's Riptide so he can get cocaine by selling it, what more does one want out of a movie.

Watch Bright Lights, Big City and you'll want to apologize to Less Than Zero

Tho I think BL, BC's soundtrack exposed me to New Order

The BLBC soundtrack album was pretty great. M/A/R/R/S, Donald Fagen, Konk, Depeche Mode, New Order...as a 15-year-old I was mesmerized.

I won't waste energy defending it, but I actually like Bright Lights--seen it two or three times. Mostly I like a few of the performances: Fox, Frances Sternhagen and John Houseman (more my idea of The New Yorker than a certain recent film), even Robards' hammy drunk.

I read the book but never saw the movie.

This was peak era for porno with titles that parodied popular films and yes, there was indeed a film released around the same time entitled "Bright Lights Big Titties"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161325/