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September 19, 2007

The About A Son Soundtrack Challenge

AJ Schnack's Kurt Cobain About A Son is gearing up for its October 3rd release, and the official soundtrack - a bit of musical impressionism, as every bit as indicative of Cobain himself as the visuals that make up the film - has just been released on Barsuk Records. AJ was recently prompted to come up with his own sonic autobiography, and then proceeded to invite me and a handful of other film bloggers to take up the challenge, the rules of which are as follows.

1.) It must reflect music from each part of your life, including childhood, awkward pre-teen years, all the way up to your current existence.
2.) It should be music that is not just your favorite songs, but also things that make sense thematically.
3.) It cannot be your own music.
4.) Challenge at least 2 other bloggers to do the same.

Coming up with this list was hard. Music is such an all encompassing part of my life, but when I look at the development of my tastes, it seems so very disjointed and schizophrenic. Nonetheless, here for your viewing and listening pleasure is a Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man With A Stereo:

Puff The Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul & Mary My dad used to sing songs to me and my brothers before we went to bed every night, and this was one of my favorites. Listening to it again a few years ago, I realized how terribly sad it was - and how much its influence has trickled down to the films I'm making now.

I Don't Want To Live On The Moon - Ernie
One of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Within You - David Bowie
I was so excited when I saw Labyrinth on video in kindergarten and learned that I shared a first name with this electrifying goblin king of a rock star! It would be a full decade before I began to dig into Bowie's early work, but Labyrinth made me a fan from the outset. Meanwhile, who knows what effect those precariously stuffed tights that Jareth wears in the film had on me...

Ninja Rap - Vanilla Ice
I loved the Ninja Turtles when I was a kid, and so of course I had the soundtrack to the second film, featuring this quality track from Vanilla Ice. I thought it was cool. And in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that liked MC Hammer around this time, too. Two years earlier, my only friend in the world at the time had given me a tape with Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em on one side and Michael Jackon's Bad on the other. But now that I think about it, I was a lot more interested in listening to the Little Mermaid soundtrack at that point. Anyway, as of last summer, I've got an interesting working connection to the first Ninja Turtles movie, but I still don't feel comfortable disclosing that kind of thing.

One Day More - Les Miserables
I was a big Les Miserables fan (both of the musical and of Hugo's novel, which I read in its unabridged form several times during my home school years). I still like some of the music, but the lyrics are almost unbearably banal, which is why this international version works so well.

Edward Scissorhands Theme - Danny Elfman
I grew up with lots of John Williams scores on tape and vinyl, but by the time I was eleven, I had started modeling myself after Tim Burton, and so Danny Elfman naturally was my composer of choice. This still represents both artists at their best.

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
The first rock album I ever heard was The Wall. I saw it at a friend's house when I was about twelve, and was rather shocked: it seemed oh-so-very adult. Then he played it for me, and I became obsessed. The following summer, on a family vacation to Wisconsin, I discovered that my aunt and uncle had it on vinyl, and so I sat for hours in front of their stereo with headphones on, trying to put together the narrative and officially entering puberty in the process.

Bram Stoker's Dracula Soundtrack - Wojciech Kilar
There was nothing I wanted more in the fall of 1992 than to see this movie, but my parents refused to let me. They did allow me to get the soundtrack, however, and I listened to it constantly. Someday I'll tell the story about how, in lieu of actually getting to see the film, I endeavoured to remake it, shot by assumed shot.

Zombie - The Cranberries
No Need To Argue was the first album I ever purchased. I had just discovered the alt-rock radio station that my Junior High 'friends' were all listening to, and quickly attached myself to this bit of bombastic musical melodrama (I think I liked the fact that it tied into what I saw as my cultural heritage). I rode my bike to the record store and bought the cassette. Then I tried to learn to play this song on the guitar.

Joy Divison - New Dawn Fades
My deep seated attachement to The Crow - both the graphic novel and the movie - lead me to Joy Division, as did Moby's cover of this song on the soundtrack to Heat. This is an anomoly in my musical development - given the other bands I was into at the time, it's almost hard to believe that Ian Curtis and co. meant as much to me as they did.

Spaceboy - The Smashing Pumpkins
Do I need to say anything else about The Smashing Pumpkins? I could insert dozens of songs here that meant the world to me, but I'm including this one because I used it in Lullaby, my first film.

Adagio For Strings - Samuel Barber
My discovery of this piece of music was a mistake. I was into The Doors in a major way for a while (I modeled my wardrobe after Jim Morrsison, including one particular habit of dress that endures to this day), and I was trying to track down the piece of music adapted for the end of An American Prayer ("God makes angels of us all / and gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as raven's claws"). The piece was actually Tomaso Albononi's Adagio in G Minor, but I somehow lead to believe that it was Barber's famous work. Not that I'm complaining, of course - I'm happy to to have them both. Oddly, I never associated this with Platoon until much later.

The Man That You Fear - Marilyn Manson
I was really into Marilyn Manson towards the end of high school, although I never took him seriously the way I did Nine Inch Nails. The desiccated majesty of this song always appealed to me, as did the video, which I saw around the same time that I was getting into Fellini. Parallels abounded (although looking at it now, and knowing that Manson has been trying to make The Son Of El Topo for a while now, Jodorowsky seems a more likely influence).

Not Dark Yet - Bob Dylan
I bought Time Out Of Mind the same day I bought NIN's The Downward Spiral, and listened to both as I helped my uncle gut the house he'd just bought. It's still my favorite Dylan album.

Henry Lee - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
It's hard for me to remember life before Nick Cave. I first discovered him over at my friend Tony's place in 10th grade, via his sister, who played Stagger Lee for me. It was a little too intense an introduction and I wasn't quite sure I liked it, but this number, coming one or two songs afterwards on the Murder Ballads album, was much more my style (and it introduced me to PJ Harvey, too, whose new album I'm highly anticipating). Many years later, I would adapt this song into a screenplay.

Paper Bag - Fiona Apple
Towards the end of 1999, I was eagerly anticipating Magnolia and gradually becoming obsessed with Paul Thomas Anderson, which lead to an obsession with his then-paramour, Fiona Apple. I remember driving to multiple record stores, trying to find a copy of When The Pawn, and then listening to it nonstop for weeks afterwards. I've always had a thing for wounded chanteuses, and this album set a benchmark that really hasn't yet been met.

Everything In It's Right Place - Radiohead
Kid A radically changed my perception of what music could be. In retrospect, it's not that groundbreaking of an album - but at the time, at the age of nineteen, it was like wool had been lifted from my eyes. I remember hearing the first single and calling friends excitedly, telling them that I'd just heard something that was going to change the world. It was the first time I realized that music didn't need to fit into a neat little box of hooks and choruses. I started looking for the bands that Thom Yorke and co. listed as influences, and my musical horizons have been expanding ever since.

Ms. Jackson - Outkast
Likewise, Stankonia was sort of the Kid A of modern hip hop. It was my gateway into a whole new chapter of musical matriculation, during which I discovered Jurassic 5, Talib Kwelli, Common, Aesop Rock and dozens of other outstanding artists. And, of course, the entire oveure of Outkast, who hit their peak with Aquemeni and this album. Speakerboxx / The Love Below was strong, but it represented the dissolution of the duo. The Idlewild soundtrack was so underwhelming that I was turned off to the movie entirely -- although I watched it at home recently and was pleasantly surprised that I think I might have to write more about it at some later date.

You Know You're Right - Nirvana
My relation to Nirvana has been halfway well-chronicled on this page before. The chronology of my love for them is all out of whack. I heard this song while driving to work one day, and could barely get out of my car afterwards.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues
This list needs more Nick Cave, just because he's always been there for me.

Members Of The Show 'Em How It's Done - The Theater Fire
And I'd be remiss if I didn't include The Theater Fire, who've not only stunned me with their music, but who include in their lineup some of my truest friends. If I hadn't met them, I wouldn't be who I am now. I wanted to take this opportunity to upload the live video of Cease that goes with the other two currently available, but I don't have the proper hard drive in my possession at the moment. In its stead, enjoy this slightly shaky but nonetheless thrilling performance of the last track of their most recent album.

Only Skin - Joanna Newsom
And now let's jump way ahead, past Bjork and Antony & The Johnsons and Will Oldham, all the way up to the patch of Texan interstate between the record store and my house, where I first heard Joanna Newsom's Ys last November. I've chosen this song in particular because Bill Callahan sings on it, and at this point in my life, I feel like all I ever need to listen to again are these two artists. They're my current muse.

God. What did I leave out?

* * *

And now, in postscript, I'll pass this challenge on to Kat and Wiley.

Posted by David Lowery at September 19, 2007 06:58 PM

Comments

Posted by: Adam Donaghey at September 23, 2007 12:53 PM

Posted by: Adam Donaghey at September 23, 2007 12:55 PM