This month, I’m looking back at movies and tv shows to rediscover songs that graced the screen. The scenes and the music are inseparable. They’re engrained in our heads and our hearts. And they’re proof that the best music we have doesn’t exist in isolation. It attaches itself to a moment or an experience. #SceneSongs
Movie: Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights rode on the back of a vivid, throwback soundtrack — and Night Ranger was at the helm. Call it a glorified karaoke anthem or a cheesy power ballad, but the one thing “Sister Christian” has is that it sticks. Arguably the most memorable musical moment of Boogie Nights, it’s difficult to turn off the melody once the song comes on – and it becomes an impossible task when you get to the iconic chorus. I’m always sucked into its excessive, long-haired, hard rock world, for better or worse.
“Sister Christian” is a musical paradox to the Boogie Nights scene that it appears in. It’s steady, resolute, that’s what makes it a power ballad. But beyond the cymbal crashes and soaring 80’s guitar riffs, even the opening piano chords are unflinching. It’s the rock in a completely unstable scene that feels like it’s about to erupt at any given moment. The sounds of those gun shots are impossible for the characters to prepare for. It just happens. But with “Sister Christian”, you feel the groove and the rhythm, and you know exactly where it’s going – and when. Maybe that dynamic is what makes “Sister Christian” so likable beyond the movie, too.
“YOU'RE MOTORING. WHAT'S YOUR PRICE FOR FLIGHT IN FINDING MISTER RIGHT? YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT TONIGHT.”