Music from an artist you like but that you didn't expect to hear in a film
Your watching a kids film, Small Soldiers in this case, and it suddenly gets a bit creepy with demented mutant Barbie dolls. Then, to my surprise, Led Zeppelin kicks in!
Fast forward to 4:23 and enjoy.
Have you ever been surprised by a piece of music in a film? For example, I would have gone for The Boys Are Back In Town - a song about drunkenness, fighting and sexism - used for Toy Story, but I think it was only used in the trailer.
Music from a film that introduced you to an artist
I suppose this could be an artist from a soundtrack or from a band that featured in a film. For me, it's from a film of a concert: Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense.
I can't remember if my friend had seen the band live, or if he'd just seen this film, but either way, he talked me into seeing the movie. I've a vague notion that it was a late night showing at the Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane but I might be haivering. I loved the way that David Byrne started off on his own, in a more or less empty stage and then the rest of the band and the stage set built up around him.
A great concert movie and a great introduction to a band. Who did the movies introduce to you?
I'm not sure what I make of the Manic Street Preachers. It seems that I like them in small doses, in that I quite enjoy individual tracks but find a whole album's worth a bit too much.
If you like them better than I do, or if you too like them in small doses, I can highly recommend a track currently available for free download from 7 Digital. The tune on offer is an acoustic track called This Is The Day - a cover of a song from The The.
Guitar, harmonica and vocals. Sparse and stark - it seems to suit the lyrics perfectly, but perhaps that's because I'm old and cynical and don't believe it when they sing, "This is the day your life will surely change. This is the day when things fall into place."
If you want to hear the plugged in version, check out the official video:
So what do you think? I think I prefer the unplugged version.
Music from a film that was used to promote an artist (could be film about an artist or just a soundtrack tie in)
I suspect, as with so many things, Elvis was the first to do this, so I could have gone for any of his films... or indeed Britain's answer to Elivis - Cliff. (Honest, I did consider Summer Holiday.)
In the end though, I went for The Beatles and Help!
Loved this film the first time I saw it and, although the style has dated somewhat, the music is as strong as ever. And how can anyone criticise Ringo after seeing his performance in this clip?
So what will you go for? I dare someone to choose Head from The Monkees!
I blogged about this documentary in June last year and one of the things I really liked about it was seeing the old footage of the band in their very early days. In particular, there were some snipits from a concert they played in a school hall, just after the release of their first album, while John Rutsey was still the drummer. Someone has posted a whole song's worth of this concert from the DVD extras disk, so here is more than eight minutes worth of Working Man:
Two comments. One: interesting to see that John Rutsey introduced the song. Two: what were they wearing? I mean, what is that thing Alex has round is neck? And the glittery t-shrt was surely ill advised. (Although, I must own up to wearing a glittery Blue Oyster Cult t-shirt in the late seventies!) Geddy appears to be wearing a blouse that's knotted under his moobs and those sleeves that surely contravene umpteen health and safety regulations.
Hopefully some of you at least will have a favourite bit from a music documentary.
{Update: I've altered this challenge from how it was originally posted. Hopefully, it broadens things out and will make it easier for people to join in.}
Day 02 - Music from a film scene that makes you happy.
Saw this movie on TV recently, so this scene came to mind immediately:
The Blues Brothers - a bit sweary and even blasphemous in places - but so many great musical moments. For example, just before this scene, the Blues Brothers are walking towards Aretha's cafe and pass John Lee Hooker, sitting in the street, playing and singing - it's almost thrown away but it's pure genius.
I love John Lee Hooker but the Think! sequence, more than any other musical number in the film, makes me happy. Aretha Franklin giving it laldy in her baffies. Outstanding!
{The audio is a bit out of sync with the video in the clip above... which is a shame. The only other clip I can find is this one, which seems to have been made by pointing a camera at the screen while watching the film on the telly. Odd, but it might actually be better quality than the one I've embedded above - and it includes the set up to the musical number too. What do you think? Which one should be embedded?}
Over to you then. Pick a scene with music that makes you happy.
Back in April (grief, I didn't think it was that long ago) I had a go at a 30 Day Music Challenge from a facebook page. Since then, I've been inundated with requests to do something like it again. (Well, OK... two people asked me if I was going to do it again!) I didn't want to do a repeat, so I had a look to see what else was out there.
There are other music challenges but I thought there'd be too much overlap. There are film challenges which I thought would be interesting but this is a music blog.
Since I couldn't find an existing list I wanted to try, I thought I'd invent my own. So here is the first ever posting in the Thirty Day Movie Music Challenge. So without further ado, I give you:
Thirty Day Movie Music Challenge
Day 01 - Music that is integral to an iconic movie scene.
There were a number of possibilities I considered here. But in the end, there could be only one:
Wayne's World - Bohemian Rhapsody. Simply awesome. Is it possible to reach "that point" in Bohemian Rhapsody without headbanging? Not just an iconic moment, but one of the great opening title sequences.
I acknowledge that my thirty days might be a bit more idiosyncratic than
other thirty day challenges and perhaps even a bit too tied to my own
interests but I hope the categories are general enough that others feel able to join in.
What do you think? What iconic scene would you choose?
:-)