Do you remember actually buying soundtrack CDs in the 90’s? It’s been awhile even now where I’ve said, wow that movie had a great soundtrack, but back in the 90’s I had stacks of them: Mo Money, Friday, Forrest Gump, The Crow, Swingers, Trainspotting, and Pulp Fiction to name a few. But when those sounds were paired with the visual element of the MTV video, both the movie and the artist benefited immensely. Here’s my top 10 particularly great tracks from film and complementary videos. BTW, I don’t remember where I saw this idea first, so respect to the original blogger I read it from. Comments welcome if I missed (m)any:
From The Last of the Mohicans
The theme from The Last of the Mohicans by Randy Edelman & Trevor Jones
You know exactly what I’m talking about when I say, as soon as you start to hear those strings start up, a chill slowly creeps up your arm. The theme is perfect for building suspense at the end and is one of my many favorite films of all time – I worked in a theater when this was released and had to have seen this movie 50 times. Unfortunately there’s no traditional video but many versions of weird screen grab montages created by YouTubers with too much time on their hands. The below clip has actual video from the movie including parts of the best 2 minute, line-less climax of all film. “Stay alive. I will find you!”
From Boomerang
Hot Sex on a Platter by A Tribe Called Quest
You know the obvious choice from this movie was Boys to Men’s – End of the Road. I mean come on! If you didn’t hear this song at the end of any High School dance, then you were never there long enough (youtube link through). The video isn’t all that good, but it does highlight all the hotties from the flick and if you’re not head bobbin to this track, you just weren’t a fan of 90’s hip hop. Mmmm Robin Givens…. Strangé baby! Strangé!
From Mo’ Money
Ice Cream Dream by MC Lyte
I remember now, I owned the cassette soundtrack, and this tape was burned up in my player from use. I went through a big R&B phase and with Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Luther Vandross, Mint Condition and Janet on this soundtrack, it got a lot of play. MC Lyte, however, was a pioneer artist in hip hop, being one of the few female MCs with better flow than many of the men in the game. This video highlights the style of half the hip hop videos in the 90’s: circled dance offs in make shift street clubs, solo dancers in random corners or locations, the baggy gear, artist shots throwing down verses and the DJ. The click through to this available here on Youtube but VH1 at least knows how to promote music:
From The Lion King
Circle of Life by Elton John
I’ll secretly admit I enjoyed this film even though at the time of it’s release, there was no way I’d see an animated Disney film in the theater or at home for that matter. You gotta give props to pairing the rockstar animators with an equally representative artist in Elton:
From Reality Bites:
My Sharona by The Knack
Reality Bites, was a classic GenX film watched by anyone that also had Slacker, Breakfast Club, Threesome, Clerks and Singles in their early 90s viewing repertoire. This 1979 classic was revived by the movie and without any research would say it single handly helped sell this sound track. Click through for the video (don’t watch the whole thing, you’ll be singing it all day) – apparently the “smart” people at Image Music Group don’t like free promotion, hopefully the below still comes through:
From Trainspotting
Born Slippy by Underworld
For me this soundtrack was always in the player, and I couldn’t just pick one, so beside the defining moment track above, Lust for Life had to be included:
Lust For Life by Iggy Pop
Unfortunately the assholes at Capitol Records disabled embedding on Youtube, so here’s the video from another source. The video mashes scense of Iggy with shots of the film highlighting the wicked life style of the characters of the film. With Iggy still alive today, he’s lived harder and threw more than all the Trainspotting characters combined:
From The Crow
Burn from The Cure
I rotated this disc around my player many times, loving most of the bands here: STP, Pantera, Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage, but The Cure, and this collection of shots from the movie, gives the viewer a 6 minute preview of the entire movie. The song and video are excellent and a great argument that you don’t need added filler from the band or an additional plot line to make a good soundtrack video. RIP Brandon Lee.
From Dangerous Minds:
Gangstar’s Paradise by Coolio
Before Coolio had a reality show on the Oxygen network he was growing up in Compton and smoking through Fantastic Voyages. I love the beginning of the video with the Michelle Pfeiffer cameo. Nothing creates an ominous scene like a petite blond lady dressed in leather sitting in the dark with random babies crying. “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …” You know the words – dope video:
From Friday:
Keep Their Heads Ringin by Dr.Dre
My number one video in the Soundtrack category is Dre. Dre and crew started taking hip hop music videos to a new level, adding their own visual story that seamed like a parallel version of the lyrical flow and in this case, still adding elements of the movie to tie it all in. I can still hear my JL Audio 10s in the back of my hatchback thumping hard to this one. “I know your bobbin your head… cuz I can see it…Yeeeaaahhh!”