"LIFE DURING WARTIME" TALKING HEADS (1979)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

The Times Square soundtrack is filled with new wave classics and sleepers. It captures a colorful era in time through a colorful collection of songs. While I’ve never seen the movie, I’ve been drawn to the soundtrack. The inclusion of “Life During Wartime” shows a dimension of new wave that Talking Heads helped create, one that was equally reliant on song structure and instrumentation.

Talking Heads was always characterized by incorporating unusual combinations into the muisc. In “Life During Wartime”, they gave us a party music vibe, but also an art rock mentality at the same time. The short musical accents were countered by Weymouth’s steady, repetitive bass line. And at the helm, David Byrne went from smooth, melodic delivery to spastic outbursts. It was a musical crossroads of sorts, making it a perfect complement to the film about the crossroads of the world.

“This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around.”

"SEA OF LOVE" CAT POWER (2000)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

In 2007, Juno made its mark with an endearing, coming-of-age film that put the story of an unplanned pregnancy at the forefront of cinematic culture. For its soundtrack, it leaned on the quirky, yet somewhat languid music of Belle & Sebastian, Kimya Dawson and others. And the banner song was Cat Power’s cover of Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love”.

In 2000, Cat Power released an album of cover songs that proved she could create a new mood and aesthetic to just about any type of song. “Sea of Love” is probably the most well-known of the batch. The original lived in a barbershop quartet universe. It was full. It was grand. It had pacing. But when I listen back to Cat Power’s version, I’m struck by the starkness. It’s a simple, beautiful recording consisting only of Marshall’s vocals, lazy guitar strums and an aura of Saturday morning in bed with your favorite cup of coffee.

“Come with me my love to the sea. The sea of love.”

"NEW DAWN FADES" MOBY (1994)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Heat is one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s not just a crime thriller. It’s the story of how hate and respect can co-exist. It’s a reminder that we might have a lot more in common with our enemies than we think. And few movies capture the dark, ominous and isolating side of L.A. as powerfully and as beautifully as Heat. Michael Mann needed an equally ominous soundscape, which he found in Moby’s cover of Joy Division’s “New Dawn Fades”.

While Joy Division’s original felt like it played out inside a dark cellar, Moby’s version sprawls across the L.A. cityscape. There’s an expansiveness felt in the performance and the production. The guitar riff soars up while the bass notes climb down. I can’t think of a better track to rear its head as Heat neared its climax.

“We'll share a drink and step outside. An angry voice and one who cried. We'll give you everything and more. The strain is too much, can't take much more.”

"THE END" THE DOORS (1967)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

“The End” is the kind of anthemic creation that many bands hope to achieve once in their career. The Doors did it right out of the gate. It has incredible depth and maturity in both the songwriting and instrumentation. And it came off their self-titled debut LP, an album that would be another band’s greatest hits compilation.

“The End” was well-suited for the storyline and mood of Apocalypse Now. It does things musically that no other song has done. In rock history, you’ll be hard pressed to find another track that makes tambourine and hi-hat hits not just integral pieces, but the driving force behind the music. “The End” is also a vocal playground - leading us in a hazy psychedelic fog with Morrison’s slow meanderings and vocal spats and outbursts. The irony of it all is that “The End” isn’t so much a final statement as it is a beginning of new ideas and expressions.

“The end of our elaborate plans. The end of everything that stands.”

"WHERE IS MY MIND?" PIXIES (1988)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

While it may not be in the upper echelon of my personal Pixies favorites, “Where Is My Mind?” has cultural implications that far outweigh the rest of this great band’s catalog. That’s mostly due to Fight Club, which was not just a terrific film, it was a cultural phenomenon. Controversial and influential, Fight Club ended with this song — and then continued on in public discourse and in private fight clubs across the U.S.

“Where Is My Mind?” is an introduction to the irresistible, jarring world of the Pixies. It’s a coming out party of loud-soft-loud dynamics that mimicked the cinematic rhythms of the movie and that would define the Pixies imprint on the music world. They weren’t Nirvana. Or Radiohead. Or Smashing Pumpkins. But they were the ones that influenced all three. We may not have any of those bands without this song.

“With your feet on the air and your head on the ground.”

"BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" QUEEN (1975)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

There are two general types of movie soundtrack songs — one type falls into the background and plays a supporting role to the film, the other type pushes its way to the foreground and plays a central role. The latter are few and far between, and in the case of Wayne’s World, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of them. We all have the car scene as an indelible movie memory — for better or worse. The acting and singing accentuate what is so unusual about this Queen anthem.

Like many an opera, “Bohemian Rhapsody” runs the gamut of human emotion — as demonstrated by Freddie Mercury’s monumental vocal delivery and the band’s accompanying harmonies and instrumentation. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Gaiety. The list goes on. The trick’s on us. It’s not a song about bohemians after all. It’s a song about humanity. That’s why I love it.

“Mama, life had just begun. But now I've gone and thrown it all away.”

"PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LET ME GET WHAT I WANT" THE SMITHS (1984)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

“Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” has a history with movies. First, it was covered in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’s museum scene by The Dream Academy. Then nearly 25 years later, the original recording was one of two Smiths songs to appear on 500 Days of Summer, a movie that references the greatness of the band and the unique affinity its fans had with its music.

This is a very different side to The Smiths - musically and literally. It was the b-side to the more palatable “William, It Was Really Nothing”. But “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” eventually rose to become the more renowned song and got covered by numerous artists — everyone from Deftones to Hootie & the Blowfish. The lyrics have Morrissey’s drab, morose mindset written all over it. But what made the song stand out from the rest of The Smiths canon is the instrumentation. About a minute into the track, Johnny Marr trades out his jangly guitar riffs for an unexpected interlude with a mandolin. It didn’t rock. It wallowed.

“So for once in my life let me get what I want. Lord knows, it would be the first time.”

"DEAD MAN WALKING" DAVID BOWIE (1997)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Few soundtracks have the cohesion felt and heard on The Saint. It took very different artists — Bowie, Moby, Duran Duran, Duncan Sheik, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, among others — and somehow miraculously put them all together on the same sonic wavelength. There are a ton of great tracks on the album. But my favorite is still Bowie’s “Dead Man Walking”.

As we’ve seen throughout his career, Bowie evolved with each recording — always changing, but always distinctly Bowie. With “Dead Man Walking”, his music went into hyperdrive. There are a ton of delicious electronic layers to this thing. And while it works marvelously as an electronic symphony, something in me wants to pick out and isolate each individual layer. Each one captures the mood and frenetic pace of the film in its own unique way.

“And I'm gone through a crack in the past like a dead man walking.”

"STAY" LISA LOEB & NINE STORIES (1994)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

“Stay” might be the most recognized song of 1994. And that’s not just because of Lisa Loeb’s unique persona as a singer-songwriter. It’s also because actor Ethan Hawke knew he heard something special when he walked past Loeb’s door in their apartment building. If he hadn’t noticed the magic, the Reality Bites soundtrack would have a completely different feel.

Despite featuring several well-respected acts like U2, Dinosaur Jr., Lenny Kravitz and Squeeze, this soundtrack is nothing without “Stay”. It’s the lynchpin on the album, and the identity of the movie. It’s perhaps the first thing you think of when you think of the movie Reality Bites. “Stay” veered its way into our heads with tempo changes, vocal rants and the coy, yet unforgettable guitar riff.

“And I thought what I felt was simple. And I thought that I don't belong. And now that I am leaving, now I know that I did something wrong.”

"IMMIGRANT SONG" LED ZEPPELIN (1970)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Jack Black’s love of rock & roll is well-documented. His obsession with rock is felt every time he talks about it — from Rush documentaries to his Kennedy Center honorary speech for Led Zeppelin to the movie School of Rock. It’s like he was just being himself throughout the movie, not simply acting. Jack’s passion is its clearest when he belts Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” like every fan wants to — if it weren’t for the fear of permanently damaging our vocal cords.

“Immigrant Song” is Zeppelin in a nutshell. I think that’s why I love this song so much. Mythic-inspired lyrics. Plant’s larger-than-life howl. Page’s epic guitar riff. Bonzo and Jonesy driving the rhythm forward like a wrecking ball. Who else can make Nordic mythology this appealing and infectious? Nobody. Anything else would just feel and sound like a musical parody.

“We come from the land of the ice and snow from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.”

"SISTER CHRISTIAN" NIGHT RANGER (1984)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

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 it sticks. Impossible to turn off once the song comes on. I’m sucked into its excessive, long-haired, hard rock world.

“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. Maybe that dynamic is what makes “Sister Christian” so likable in life, too.

“You're motoring. What's your price for flight in finding mister right? You'll be alright tonight.”

"ALONE IN KYOTO" AIR (2003)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

The rarely mentioned Lost in Translation soundtrack is a bit underrated in my opinion. There’s some gold in there — with early Phoenix, a Jesus & Mary Chain staple and a My Bloody Valentine distortion fest. But my pick is an underrated song from an underrated soundtrack: Air’s “Alone in Kyoto”.

“Alone in Kyoto” is a powerful reminder of the simplicity and beauty of an instrumental. With no lyrics to hide behind, every single note has to be perfect. Every single note has to be critical, not fluff. “Alone in Kyoto” took a classical approach to ambient, painting a rich, delicate soundscape that captured the feelings of isolation stewing throughout the movie.

"SEYMOUR STEIN" BELLE & SEBASTIAN (1998)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

I have unreasonably high expectations for movie soundtracks — and those expectations are even higher when the movie is about music. So when High Fidelity came out in theaters, I wanted something epic. Nick Hornby’s book is one of my all-time favorite reads, mostly because it truly captured the obsessive, and often ridiculous passion we have for music. While the movie soundtrack left a lot to be desired, “Seymour Stein” was one of the few bright spots in my mind.

The Belle & Sebastian classic wasn’t even officially on the soundtrack album, but it appeared in the movie and there’s even a reference to the new Belle & Sebastian single written into the script. “Seymour Stein” is probably one of my favorite B&S songs because of that sleepy, melodic, retro vibe. It’s not something I’d listen to in large doses, but it’s a reminder of that interesting little niche that B&S has carved for itself in the music world that no one else can claim.

“Half a world away. Ticket for a plane. Record company man. I won't be coming to dinner.”

"DEAD SOULS" NINE INCH NAILS (1994)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

The Crow’s dark underworld found the right musical counterparts in its soundtrack from top to bottom. With contributions from dark, edgy bands, the songs spanned the musical spectrum — from The Cure to Henry Rollins to Rage Against the Machine. One of my favorites is the Nine Inch Nails’ cover of Joy Division’s “Dead Souls”.

The Crow comic books have been known to find inspiration from Joy Division, making the inclusion of “Dead Souls” that much more powerful. Just as the movie brought a new element to the original stories and images, Nine Inch Nails found a way to reinvent the Joy Division song with its own unique musical sensibilities. While Joy Division took to the upper registers with Hooky’s bass lines high up on the fretboards and Ian Curtis’ spastic vocal tremors, NIN found a home in the lower registers, with cyclical bass drum beats, grating electric guitar riffs and Trent Reznor’s tormented chants. It’s a thing of beauty.

“Someone take these dreams away that point me to another day.”

"WAITING FOR SOMEBODY" PAUL WESTERBERG (1992)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Few movies and soundtracks define their times better than Singles. The movie took place in Seattle, at the height of the grunge era. The music was almost all grunge or some variant of it — Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains. Then there were two tracks from Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg. They stuck out like sore thumbs on the soundtrack, but somehow sounded right at home within the movie.

“Waiting for Somebody” feels like a continuation of The Replacements musical narrative — raw, melodic, guitar-driven. minimally produced rock. The seminal alt rock sound that the band helped shape was still pumping in Westerberg’s blood. The charm of it, “Waiting for Somebody” still feels like it was recorded in your garage, untainted and spared from the record label execs and Billboard charts.

“Been down so long, doesn't really matter.”

"APRIL COME SHE WILL" SIMON & GARFUNKEL (1968)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Some of the greatest movie soundtracks are the soundscapes behind coming-of-age films. And few can exceed the epic songwriting in one of the greatest in that film category, The Graduate. Surrounded by songwriting gems like “The Sounds of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson” and “Scarborough Fair”, it seems like “April Come She Will” flies a bit under the radar, even though it’s just as good a track as any on the album.

Written poetically, performed delicately and produced ordinarily, “April Come She Will” is the kind of ember-burning, storm-brewing song that seems only at home when played with an acoustic guitar. It’s about far more than just a fling, it’s a pause to recognize the beauty and frailty in the temporal. Like a brighter, lighter shade of Nick Drake.

“April, come she will when streams are ripe and swelled with rain. May, she will stay, resting in my arms again.”

"TALK SHOW HOST" RADIOHEAD (1996)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

The story of Romeo + Juliet is a complex one, filled with every human emotion — from pure ecstasy to torment. The soundtrack, as good as it was, was filled with tracks that erred on the happier spectrum, and gave us some great ones from Des’ree, Garbage and, of course, The Cardigans. But “Talk Show Host” steered the backend of human emotion, and did it the Radiohead way.

This is a forgotten track and one of the least celebrated Radiohead songs in their catalog. It didn’t get album face time and instead played second fiddle as a b-side for the more famous “Street Spirit”. What “Talk Show Host” demonstrated was Radiohead’s ability to create more than music. They created a mood. It felt more like a film score than a single, which made it a perfect addition for the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, bringing out emotions no other song on the album cared to explore.

“I want to be someone else or I'll explode.”

"MAD WORLD" MICHAEL ANDREWS FEAT. GARY JULES (2002)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

“Mad World” is one of my all-time favorite Tears for Fears anthems. The opening electronic beat, apocalyptic synth overtures and ominous vocal delivery gave the new wave movement a new voice and a new mood. I didn’t think a cover could ever be greater than the original, but the Michael Andrew take for the Donnie Darko soundtrack exceeded all my expectations.

By stripping down the sound and slowing down the RPMs, Michael Andrews created a unique film score that brought TFF’s profound lyrics to the forefront. Like what Johnny Cash did with Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt”, the deliberately slower pace in Andrews’ vision for “Mad World” gave the lyrics a harder, darker edge—and prove that, as great as the music was, the words of the song have always been the most powerful thing about the song.

“All around me are familiar faces. Worn out places, worn out faces. Bright and early for the daily races. Going nowhere, going nowhere.”

"WHEN DOVES CRY" PRINCE (1984)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Purple Rain will go down as one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time. The title track is a song for the ages. But “When Doves Cry” is the track that pushed musical boundaries the most. It’s the one track that packed the most punch, but never felt excessive at any given point. Prince may be considered one of the greatest pop artists of our time, but he did it by going against the mainstream, which is the essence of the song.

Play back “When Does Cry” and you’ll hear a myriad of genres. No one blended them better and so effortlessly than Prince. There’s the hard rock-infused guitar solo in the opening, the dance pop and funk blend fueling the rhythm from beginning to end, and even a classical music-inspired synth solo at the 5:00 mark. Structurally, “When Does Cry” also veered from the expected — becoming one of the few songs in pop history to be recorded without a single bass line. I love bass, but I really love what Prince did with this recording.

“Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry.”

"WISE UP" AIMEE MANN (1999)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

Most soundtrack artists are brought on to help complete a movie. But in the case of Magnolia, P.T. Anderson’s vision for the film was inspired by Aimee Mann’s songs. The music was the impetus, not the end product. Every Aimee Mann song on the album is gold, whether it was written for Magnolia or it existed before the film, which is the case of “Wise Up”.

This track stands out from the rest for one reason only: it was the one song that became part of the script. In an unexpected sequence, P.T. Anderson had each of the main characters take turns singing the verses to Aimee Mann’s song. It was masterfully directed. Instead of feeling like a music video slotted into the film, it became one of the movie’s most powerful sequences. It built a much needed pregnant pause into the narrative. It showed a different dimension to each of the characters. It put the entire ensemble together on the same wavelength. And it all started from one song.

“Prepare a list of what you need before you sign away the deed.”