For the last of the Soundtrack Saturday reruns, I thought I’d resurrect one of the first posts. You guys enjoyed this the first time around (it was posted more than three years ago), so I hope it still holds up. Maybe this is the movie you’ll watch if you’re spending New Year’s Eve at home this year? And then you can jam to some Rupert Hine. This one’s short — Soundtrack Saturday posts used to be, back in the day — so you don’t have to do a lot of pesky reading to get to the music.

This week I give you a classic John Cusack film: 1985′s Better Off Dead. The first of his two movies with director “Savage” Steve Holland, and probably my favorite, Better Off Dead tells the tale of down-on-his-luck Lane Meyer. Lane’s beautiful and popular girlfriend, Beth (Amanda Wyss), has just broken up with him for jerk ski jock Roy Stalin (Aaron Dozier). He begins thinking of elaborate ways to kill himself, only to fail miserably in the execution.

In addition to dealing with Stalin, who constantly goads Lane until he throws down a challenge to ski one of the most dangerous slopes in the area, Lane has to contend with his bizarre family, his crazy neighbors, and the overly persistent paperboy. In the midst of all this, Lane manages to find someone he can truly connect with: his wacko neighbors’ French exchange student, Monique (Diane Franklin). She shows him that there’s more to life than Beth and helps him stand up for himself and realize he has the confidence to beat 12 Roy Stalins at their own game.

Better Off Dead was always one of my favorite movies growing up. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “I want my TWO DOLLARS!” around my household. Not only did my brother and I recite the film’s more famous quotes, so did my parents. Of course, I have two of the coolest parents in existence, but that’s beside the point. If you’ve never seen this movie, you should run out and rent it right now. I promise, you won’t regret it.

There was an official soundtrack released; however, it appears that A) it’s out of print, and B) it’s woefully incomplete. Only ten songs are on it, leaving off some of the more memorable tracks featured in the film. I’ve compiled as many of the songs as I could, so hopefully this will be a more complete soundtrack for you to enjoy. There were a few Christmas tunes in the movie, but I left them off — you’ve had enough of Christmas music already.

Rupert Hine – Better Off Dub (Title Music)
Neil Sedaka – Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Daryl Hall & John Oates – She’s Gone
Paul Simon – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Foxy Lady
Elizabeth “E.G.” Daily – One Way Love (Better Off Dead)
Elizabeth “E.G.” Daily – A Little Luck
Rupert Hine – The Falcon Beat
Van Halen – Everybody Wants Some!!
Howard Jones – Like to Get to Know You Well
Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy
Martin Ansell – Shine
Rupert Hine – Arrested by You
Terri Nunn – Dancing in Isolation
Thinkman – Come to Your Rescue
Simple Minds – Street Hassle
Rupert Hine – Race the K-12
Rupert Hine and Cy Curnin – With One Look (The Wildest Dream)

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I wasn’t going to resurrect another holiday Soundtrack Saturday post, but I couldn’t help it. A) This is such a great movie, B) It has a great soundtrack and C) I wanted an excuse to reintroduce you all to that bananas Unicef “Put a Little Love In Your Heart” clip. This was originally posted in December 2009, and was the last installment of A Soundtrack Saturday Christmas. Enjoy and have a great holiday!

Since the moment I first saw Scrooged (1988),  it instantly became one of my favorite holiday films. I mean, you have to love any adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that includes the Solid Gold Dancers and casts once-and-future New York Dolls frontman David Johansen as the Ghost of Christmas Past.

The problem I faced was that the soundtrack album for Scrooged is woefully out of print. I was having a hell of a time finding most of the tracks, and I really thought I might have to scrap this post altogether and find another film. But I was determined to write about the movie, so I soldiered on and managed to find the entire soundtrack, thus saving my dream of A Perfect Soundtrack Saturday Christmas.

If you’ve never seen Scrooged, I’m sure you have your reasons, e.g. you don’t like Christmas movies, you hate Bill Murray, you’re angry at Johansen for the Buster Poindexter years. If that’s the case, then maybe I can change your mind, because this is a funny film whether Christmas is your thing or not.

By telling you that Scrooged is a Reagan-era update of A Christmas Carol, I probably don’t need to dig too deep to describe the movie’s plot. Directed by Richard Donner (Murray reportedly asked Sydney Pollack, who directed him in 1982′s Tootsie, to take the reins first), with a screenplay by Mitch Glazer and former Saturday Night Live writer Michael O’Donoghue, it stars Murray as Ebenezer Scrooge surrogate Frank Cross, a ruthless TV network executive.

Frank is a miserable son of a bitch. He overworks his poor assistant, Grace (Alfre Woodard), who gets to spend very little time with her family, including her troubled, mute son, because of her boss’s demanding schedule. When one of Frank’s employees, Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), disagrees with an approach Frank wants to take to advertise the network’s live Christmas Eve broadcast of “Scrooge,” the umpteenth adaptation of A Christmas Carol (wink wink), Frank fires him. He also neglects his relationship with his brother, James (Murray’s real-life brother John), thinking so little of it that he tells Grace to send him a bath towel emblazoned with the network’s logo for Christmas.

After many displays of dickish behavior, Frank gets a special visit from his dead mentor, Lew Hayward, played by Dynasty‘s John Forsythe. (Side note: when I first saw this movie, I was 100 percent shocked that it was Blake Carrington under all that makeup.) Lew tells his former protegé that if he doesn’t change his ways, he’ll end up just like Lew, a prospect Frank doesn’t really seem to mind. Since the network honcho needs a little convincing, Lew tells him that he’ll be visited by three ghosts.

The whole experience shakes Frank up, prompting him to leave a message on the answering machine of his ex-girlfriend Claire (Karen Allen), who he hasn’t seen or spoken to in years.

Now, you know how the rest of this goes, right? The first ghost to arrive is the Ghost of Christmas Past (Johansen), and in this version of the story he takes the form of a New York City cab driver. (Personally, if I were to be visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, I would want it to look and sound exactly like David Johansen.) He takes Frank on a supernatural trip to revisit his childhood, his first job at the network, his first year with Claire, and their subsequent breakup.

He then meets the Ghost of Christmas Present, a masochistic fairy played by the glorious, scene-stealing Carol Kane. She delights in beating the crap out of Frank as she shows him Christmas Eve at Grace’s home and his brother’s.

Before the third and final ghost gets a chance to visit, a very drunk and angry Eliot returns to the network’s offices with a shotgun, threatening to kill Frank, who’s momentarily saved by the Ghost of Christmas Future, a grim-reaper type with a TV screen for a head.

This specter shows Frank a future in which Grace’s mute son winds up in a mental institution and do-gooder Claire turns into a bitter, uncaring social climber, not unlike Frank. Finally, he witnesses his own cremation, then begins experiencing it from inside his coffin. As he feels the heat of the flames, he finally realizes what a jerk he’s been and asks for a second chance in order to make things right.

Frank wakes up in his office just as the live “Scrooge” broadcast is ending. The new-and-improved network exec rehires Eliot and enlists his help in securing the control booth as he steps in front of the rolling studio cameras and proceeds to deliver a lengthy monologue about his discovery of the true meaning of Christmas.

Scrooged marked Murray’s first lead role in a comedy since Ghostbusters four years earlier. It opened the day before Thanksgiving in 1988 and was a sizable hit, debuting at number one and earning $60 million, which was pretty good for a holiday movie back then. It even got an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup.

I’d like to say that I saw it when it was in theaters, but I’m not 100 percent sure I did. I do know that when it came out on video my brother and I demanded our parents let us rent it — three weekends in a row. And we watched it pretty much every time it aired on cable.

The Scrooged soundtrack even spun off a hit song, the Annie Lennox-Al Green cover of Jackie DeShannon’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” The single reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and was a hit in various other countries as well.

As I mentioned earlier, the soundtrack album is long out of print. It doesn’t include the wonderful score by Danny Elfman, but it does feature almost all the songs you hear in the film. For those who’ve seen Scrooged, you may have noticed that Miles Davis, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, and Paul Shaffer appear in a cameo as a street band playing a jazz rendition of the classic Christmas carol “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Luckily, it’s included on the album.

We also get a hip-hop/dance track from Kool Moe Dee, “Get Up ‘n’ Dance,” which is the song the Solid Gold Dancers are gyrating to during the rehearsals for “Scrooge,” plus there’s Natalie Cole’s take on “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” David Johansen-slash-Buster Poindexter’s cover of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” and a wonderful gospel-choir version of U2′s “Sweetest Thing” performed by New Voices of Freedom.

I’ve compiled the entire soundtrack for you, including two songs that weren’t on the album: Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs’ “Wooly Bully” and “I Second That Emotion” by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. I also thought I’d share a couple of visual representations of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”: the official video for the Lennox-Green version and a very special version sung by a motley crew during a 1979 TV special benefiting UNICEF (if you only watch one of the clips, I beg you to watch this one).

Miles Davis, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, and Paul Shaffer – We Three Kings of Orient Are
Kool Moe Dee – Get Up ‘n’ Dance
Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs – Wooly Bully
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – I Second That Emotion
Natalie Cole – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Buster Poindexter – Brown-Eyed Girl
Annie Lennox and Al Green – Put a Little Love in Your Heart
New Voices of Freedom (featuring Adriane McDonald and George Pendergrass) – The Sweetest Thing
Mark Lennon – A Wonderful Life
Dan Hartman and Denise Lopez – The Love You Take
Robbie Robertson – Christmas Must Be Tonight

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So, here we are, the last weekend before Christmas. And it would seem that a lot of you are hankering for the soundtrack to one of my favorite holiday films, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I aim to please. This piece first ran in December of 2009 and since then, has seemed to be one of the most searched for Soundtrack Saturday posts. Hopefully, it brings you as much joy now as it seemed to back then.

I know you’re all completely engrossed in the joy of Mellowmas, but I figured you might be up for some holiday music that doesn’t aurally assault you (well, for the most part, anyway).

Written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik (Benny & Joon), the third installment of the Vacation films brings us a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas” with the Griswolds: Clark (Chevy Chase), Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), Rusty (Johnny Galecki), and Audrey (Juliette Lewis). As we count down the days till Christmas, we witness the family get into one ridiculous situation after another as they try to celebrate the holiday.

Clark desperately wants to host the perfect Christmas at his house, and he goes to great lengths to do so. First, he drags his wife and kids out to the middle of the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree, almost getting them all killed in the process. Then he spends hours covering the outside of the house with Christmas lights, only to have them not work. Needless to say, Christmas isn’t turning out as Clark had planned.

Soon, the extended family arrives — Clark’s parents, Clark Sr. (John Randolph) and Nora (Diane Ladd), and Ellen’s mom and dad, Art (E.G. Marshall) and Frances (Doris Roberts) — and the holiday tension starts to mount in the Griswolds’ home. Even though a bright spot eventually emerges, literally, when Clark finally gets the Christmas lights to work — or, rather, Ellen does — things quickly go south once her redneck cousin-in-law, Eddie (Randy Quaid), arrives unexpectedly in a dilapidated RV with his wife, Catherine (Miriam Floyd); their two youngest children, Rocky (Cody Burger) and Ruby Sue (Ellen Hamilton Latzen); and their disgusting dog, Snot. Since they can’t say no to family, Clark and Ellen agree to host Eddie, Catherine, and their brood for the holidays.

As the countdown to Christmas continues, things around the Griswold house go from bad to worse. Everyone is complaining about how crowded the house has become; Clark is stressed out about whether he can afford the secret Christmas present he’s purchased for his family — a swimming pool he intends to pay for with his Christmas bonus, which hasn’t arrived yet; and Ellen and he discover that Eddie and Catherine can’t afford to buy their children gifts, forcing Clark to offer help he really can’t afford.

On Christmas Eve, Uncle Lewis (William Hickey) and Aunt Bethany (Mae Questel) arrive for dinner with a special gift for the Griswolds: Bethany’s cat, which she’s thoughtfully gift-wrapped. As the evening wears on, the holiday disasters mount: First, Catherine overcooks the turkey, which basically ruins the entire dinner. Next, Aunt Bethany’s cat gets electrocuted when it chews through a strand of Christmas lights. And Uncle Lewis burns down Clark’s beloved Christmas tree, which Clark replaces by cutting down a tree from his own yard. Unfortunately, the tree turns out to be home to a squirrel that ends up terrorizing the Griswolds.

Just as Clark thinks the night can’t get any worse, a delivery arrives from his company. Everyone expects it to be his Christmas bonus, but instead of a check, Clark discovers that he’s been enrolled in the “Jelly of the Month” club, which prompts him to angrily tell the family that if they want to get him the perfect gift, they should bring his boss back to the house so Clark can tell him what a jerk he is for giving out such a shitty bonus. Naturally, Cousin Eddie takes Clark seriously and kidnaps the boss, Mr. Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray).

After meeting the Griswolds and hearing their story — and dealing with the police, who were called by Mrs. Shirley — Mr. Shirley apologizes for suspending his employees’ bonuses. He agrees to give Clark his bonus plus 20 percent.

As the Griswolds celebrate their reversed fortune, the children think they see Santa’s sleigh streaking across the night sky. Uncle Lewis’s cigar then ignites gas from the sewage Eddie dumped down the street drain when he emptied his RV’s “shitter,” blasting a Santa Claus lawn decoration into the sky and prompting Aunt Bethany to lead everyone in a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. As he watches this bizarre sight, Clark realizes he’s had the perfect Christmas after all.

Christmas Vacation turned out to be a huge holiday hit in 1989, debuting at number one and eventually grossing $71 million. Through video and DVD and annual holiday airings on several networks, it’s become a modern holiday classic. In fact, as I write this, it’s being shown on AMC.

As far as the soundtrack goes, there actually wasn’t one at the time of the film’s release. But to celebrate Christmas Vacation‘s tenth anniversary, a limited number of soundtrack CDs were pressed and sold at Six Flags Magic Mountain, where scenes from the first Vacation (1983) were shot. That pressing included all the songs featured in the film, clips of dialogue from the movie, and portions of Angelo Badalamenti’s score (yes, that Angelo Badalamenti).

The soundtrack album also has bonus tracks, including the theme song for the first two Vacation films, Lindsey Buckingham‘s “Holiday Road”; another tune by Buckingham that appears in the first Vacation, “Dancing Across the U.S.A.”; an unnecessary cover of “Holiday Road” that the CD credits to Limp Bizkit but is apparently by a band named Limp; the audio of the film’s trailer; and the radio version of Mavis Staples’s “Christmas Vacation.” I’m not including the Buckingham tracks and because I love you, I’m not including that terrible cover of “Holiday Road.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Soundtrack Saturday. In the words of Clark Griswold, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, merry Christmas, kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah.”

Mavis Staples – Christmas Vacation (Opening Credits)
Take It Russ
Clark’s Remark
The Moonglows – Hey, Santa Claus
Ray Charles – That Spirit of Christmas
Oratorio Society of New York – Hallelujah Chorus
Bing Crosby – Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian Christmas)
Shitter Was Full
Aunt Bethany’s Arrival
Feeding the Dog
Clark Explodes
Hell’s Threshold
Eddie’s Gift
Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus
Rocket’s Red Glare
Angelo Badalamenti – Joy to the World
Angelo Badalamenti – Christmas Vacation Medley
Mavis Staples – Christmas Vacation (End Credits)
Mavis Staples – Christmas Vacation (Radio Version)

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For the first TV edition of Soundtrack Saturday, I decided to write about one of my favorite TV series of all time, one that I knew a lot of other people my age, particularly women, loved, too: My So-Called Life. I’ve gotten quite a few emails in the past two years, from die-hards like me, asking me to repost this, so I just had to give in. If you missed out the first time around, I hope you enjoy.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of writing about the soundtrack to My So-Called Life for quite some time, but I kept putting it off because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take this column into the TV realm. But I think I’m ready to expand Soundtrack Saturday’s scope to give myself — and you, dear readers — a little more variety. I likely won’t be writing about TV shows very often, but I figured I’d give it a shot and see how it goes.

When what turned out to be the last episode of My So-Called Life aired almost 17 years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long), I remember how bummed I was when I heard that it might not be returning for a second season. (The last episode aired January 26, 1995, but the show wasn’t officially canceled by ABC until four months later.) And when I finally heard that it wasn’t coming back, I was devastated.

There were no shows like it on TV at the time that portrayed people my age — I was 16 and a junior in high school when it aired — in a realistic way. The characters were believable — they dressed like we did (lots of plaid shirts, combat boots, and floral granny dresses) and even wore the same outfits more than once. They even talked the way we, like, talked. And the story lines covered issues that we were actually dealing with as teenagers in the mid-’90s.

For those of you who’ve never seen My So-Called Life, it centers on 15-year-old Angela Chase (Claire Danes) and her trials and tribulations with her parents, Patty (Bess Armstrong) and Graham (Tom Irwin); her younger sister, Danielle (Lisa Wilhoit); her friends — rebellious Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer), flamboyant Rickie Vasquez (Wilson Cruz), do-gooder Sharon Cherski (Devon Odessa), and nerdy Brian Krakow (Devon Gummersall); and, last but not least, boys. Well, one boy in particular — the infamous Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto).

While I did watch the show on ABC during its one-and-only season, I also obsessively watched the reruns on MTV. I even stayed up all night once during my freshman year of college to watch a marathon of the entire series. I connected to it on so many levels and related to many of the characters, particularly Angela (even though I never had a Jordan Catalano to contend with). I don’t think a TV show had ever affected me like that before, and I know a lot of my friends who are also fans of it would say the same.

One element of My So-Called Life that I’ve always loved is its use of music and the integral part it plays in many episodes (19 were produced in all). For example, I can’t imagine any other song besides R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” playing at the end of the pilot. The Grateful Dead is the perfect band to act as a bridge between Angela, her father, and Rayanne in the fourth installment. And episode seven gives us our first taste of Leto’s musical abilities when Jordan sings a song that Angela thinks is about her.

Fans of the show will remember Buffalo Tom, as themselves, performing at a club in episode 12. An entire episode focuses on Jordan’s band, Frozen Embryos, and Rayanne’s desire to join so she can reconnect and spend more time with Angela (we get to hear Leto sing again; this time it’s a cover of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated”). And then there’s Juliana Hatfield’s appearance as an angel in the Christmas episode, performing one of my favorite songs of hers, “Make It Home.” Plus, Angela’s I’m-over-Jordan-Catalano dance, set to Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun,” is something a lot of us girls can relate to (“It’s such a relief to finally have my life back!”).

Music was so important to My So-Called Life that an official soundtrack album was released. It contained only a portion of the songs featured in the show, but also a few that never made it into any episode. I’ve managed to gather almost every song; I think I’m only missing the ones sung by the choir in the Christmas episode. I’ve also included a few YouTube clips so you can relive — or perhaps experience for the first time — the joy that is Jordan Catalano’s “Red” as well as Buffalo Tom’s cameo. And if you want to watch My So-Called Life without buying the excellent DVD box set, you can now watch episodes on Hulu, Netflix Instant Watch or on the Sundance Channel.

W.G. “Snuffy” Walden – Theme From My So-Called Life

Episode 1 (8/25/94)
Animal Bag – Everybody
R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts

Episode 2 (9/1/94)
Jawbox – Cruel Swing

Episode 3 (9/8/94)
The Cranberries – Dreams

Episode 4 (9/15/94)
Bettie Serveert – Palomine
The Grateful Dead – Althea

Episode 5 (9/22/94)
Enigma – Return to Innocence

Episode 6 (9/29/94)
TLC – What About Your Friends?

Episode 7 (10/6/94)
Jared Leto (as Jordan Catalano), “Red”

Episode 8 (10/20/94)
Buffalo Tom – Soda Jerk

Episode 9 (10/27/94)
Elvis Presley – Blue Moon
Shelley Fabares – Johnny Angel

Episode 10 (11/3/94)
Toad the Wet Sprocket – Fall Down
The Juliana Hatfield Three – Spin the Bottle
The Lemonheads – Down About It
The Juliana Hatfield Three – A Dame With a Rod

Episode 11 (11/10/94)
Archers of Loaf – South Carolina
The Lemonheads – Dawn Can’t Decide
Urge Overkill – Dropout
Sunscreem – Pressure
Haddaway – What Is Love?
Billy Pilgrim – Try

Episode 12 (11/17/94)
The Afghan Whigs – Fountain and Fairfax
Buffalo Tom - Late at Night

Buffalo Tom performed both “Soda Jerk” and “Late at Night” in a scene set at a club:

Episode 15 (12/22/94)
Juliana Hatfield – Make It Home

Episode 17 (1/12/95)
Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun
Sonic Youth – Genetic

Episode 18 (1/19/95)
Live – I Alone
Frente! – The Book Song

The following songs were included on the My So-Called Life soundtrack album but didn’t appear in any episodes:

Madder Rose – Drop a Bomb
Daniel Johnston – Come See Me Tonight
Further – Petty Core

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What’s up, guys? Bet you were surprised to see a Soundtrack Saturday post pop up today, weren’t you? Several months ago, I decided to put this column on an indefinite hiatus, but you, my faithful and lovely readers, won’t let go. So, as a gift to you this holiday season, I’m reposting some of the most popular, most requested Soundtrack Saturday posts during the month of December. You’re welcome.

For the first resurrected post, I decided to revisit my piece on Pretty in Pink, first published on June 20, 2009. I have gotten so many requests from people to re-up or send them the tracks — probably moreso than any other Soundtrack Saturday post. So, here you go. Enjoy!

I’m going to guess most of you have seen Pretty in Pink (1986), but if you haven’t, I’m sure you have a good reason — like being totally lame.

I kid, I kid. You’re not lame. (Or are you?)

Of all the movies John Hughes wrote, produced, and/or directed, this one just might be my favorite. I had wanted to see it in the theater when it was first released, but I was only eight, so that never happened. I did, however, get to watch it many times on video and cable and could probably recite every line of dialogue by the time I was 12.

Written by Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch — who also directed Hughes’s Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and The Great Outdoors (1988) — Pretty in Pink is the story of Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), a high school senior “from the wrong side of the tracks” with a new-wave fashion sense, an unemployed father, and a best friend, Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer), who’s madly in love with her.

Rich preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy) makes a visit one day to Trax, the record store where Andie works, and the two do some serious flirting. After a few more flirtatious encounters there and at school, he finally asks her out.  The two attempt to start a romance but encounter judgment and resistance from their friends, including Blane’s best friend, Steff (James Spader), who secretly likes Andie; Steff’s girlfriend, Benny (Kate Vernon); and Duckie.

Every time I watched Pretty in Pink as a kid, I wanted to be Andie. I loved her clothes, I loved the fact that she worked in a record store and had such a fun boss in Iona (played by the wonderful Annie Potts), and I loved that she had all these cute boys after her, despite not being the preppy, blonde, popular girl. For girls like me, who weren’t the most beautiful or popular people in school, Andie was the type of character we gravitated toward, and Molly Ringwald was the perfect actress to play her.

Speaking of casting, I have to say that the other actors in this film were also perfectly suited to their roles, despite a few of them being noticeably older than 18. One thing that always bugged me, though, is the fact that Andrew McCarthy’s Blane always seemed more like an old gay guy than a young, rich preppy. If I were Andie I would’ve totally gone for Duckie or Steff. I mean, how can you not love a guy who does this?:

Here’s some interesting trivia I discovered while writing this post: Did you know that actress Alexa Kenin, who played Andie’s best friend, Jena, died shortly after Pretty in Pink finished filming? I couldn’t find anything about how she died, but if you watch the end credits, the film is dedicated to her and set director Bruce Weintraub, who passed away not long after she did.

Now for the soundtrack. As you may know, my aim with this column has been to write about films with soundtracks that are out of print, hard to find, or incomplete. And while the official soundtrack for Pretty in Pink is still in print and pretty easy to find, it’s definitely incomplete. I know you kids are probably sick of me writing about movies John Hughes had anything to do with, but you know what? It’s my birthday — well, not today, but Monday — and I’ll write about whatever the hell I want.  So there. (Kelly, I dare you to write about Curly Sue. Double dare, in fact. Ed.)

I managed to cobble together the entire soundtrack, minus two songs I couldn’t find: “What’s It Going to Be” by Maggie Lee and “Pursuit” by Winston Sharples. I even threw in some bonuses for you just because I’m nice. Please to enjoy.

Psychedelic Furs – Pretty in Pink (1986 Version)
Danny Hutton Hitters – Wouldn’t It Be Good
INXS – Do Wot You Do
Talk Back – Rudy (From what I understand, this isn’t exactly the version in the film. But “Talk Back” is a tough song to find, so it’ll do!)
Code Blue – Whisper/Touch
Echo & the Bunnymen – Bring On the Dancing Horses
Suzanne Vega – Left of Center
Otis Redding – Try a Little Tenderness
Jesse Johnson – Get to Know Ya
Belouis Some – Round, Round
The Rave-Ups – Rave-Up/Shut-Up
The Rave-Ups – Positively Lost Me
New Order – Shell-Shock
The Association – Cherish
The Smiths – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want
New Order – Elegia
Barry Manilow – Copacabana (At the Copa)
New Order – Thieves Like Us (A friend of mine used to refer to this as “the sewing song.”)
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – If You Leave

Bonus tracks:
Psychedelic Furs – Pretty in Pink (Berlin Mix)
Nik Kershaw – Wouldn’t It Be Good
Echo & the Bunnymen – Bring On the Dancing Horses (Extended Mix)
Suzanne Vega – Left of Center (Live at Montreaux)
New Order – Shell-Shock (Extended Mix)

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At 11:29 A.M. on Friday, July 8, 2011, just three months past the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle launch, the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched into orbit for the last time, thus beginning the final mission of the Shuttle program. It was a breathtaking, gorgeous launch — one which came very close to being scrubbed due to weather. And it was one of the most bittersweet moments of my 33 years.

If you know me at all, you know that I am a giant space nerd. I’ve been one for as long as I can remember, and it’s mostly due to NASA and the Space Shuttle. I remember watching Shuttle launches as a little girl and being fascinated by the idea that humans were going into space on what looked like an airplane. And I wanted to know when I could go up, too. As it turns out, I could never be an astronaut, for many reasons I won’t go into, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still love the space program, and in particular, the Shuttle program.

I wasn’t alive during the height of the space race in the ’60s, nor was I around for any of the Apollo missions. But I have been alive for the entirety of the Shuttle program and watching the beginning of its end yesterday made me sadder than I thought possible. I regret that I never got to see a Shuttle launch in person, though I did get to take an incredible tour of Johnson Space Center a few years ago that will always be one of the most memorable days of my life.  I wish that more people had paid as much attention to the Shuttle program in the last couple of decades as they did in the first. It would be great if we could equally take for granted space exploration and still be fascinated by it.

I’ve been hearing from a variety of sources, including NASA itself, that the end of Shuttle is making way for a new chapter for the U.S. space program, and I do believe that we are capable of great things in the future. But the Shuttle program has been a huge part of my life, so I’m very emotional about its end. Though, I’m guessing not as emotional as these guys:

Now that the Shuttle program is coming to a close, I hope that it can get as much attention in the pop culture world as the Gemini and Apollo programs have received. Maybe Tom Hanks will see fit to give us a mini-series about the Shuttle that’s as brilliant as From the Earth to the Moon (1998). Or maybe we’ll see a feature film that looks at the Shuttle program and its history, much like The Right Stuff  did for the early U.S. space program (and yes, I know that was a book first). I would love to see more quality films that celebrate the Shuttle rather than overlook it for the shinier, uninvented spacecraft of the future.

One film that does embrace the Shuttle program, even if that embrace is slightly spaghetti-armed, is SpaceCamp (1986). I saw this movie in the theater when I was was eight years old and I adored it, despite the fact that it was released just five months after the Challenger disaster, which I was still traumatized by (that disaster also doomed the film to do terribly at the box office — the rest of the world was also still traumatized, I guess).

The movie tells the tale of a group of kids — aspiring astronaut Kathryn (Lea Thompson); slacker Kevin (Tate Donovan); science lover Rudy (Larry B. Scott); smart Valley Girl Tish (Kelly Preston) and Star Wars lover Max (Joaquin Phoenix) — who spend the summer at Space Camp and, along with their astronaut instructor, Andie (Kate Capshaw) get acidentally launched into space aboard Shuttle Atlantis.

At the time, though I loved the Space Shuttle, I didn’t really know much about how it worked. So, when I watched this movie, I totally bought it hook, line and sinker. OF COURSE they let a bunch of kids sit inside a brand new Shuttle while they tested its engines for the very first time. OF COURSE the Shuttle could be “accidentally” launched into space by an annoying robot. Hell, I even believed that they shot the space scenes in zero gravity. Give me a break — I was eight.

Now that I’m older and wiser, having learned a great deal more about the Shuttle program, it’s very hard for me to watch this movie with a suspension of disbelief. There really is so much they get wrong that it’s almost painful. But first, let’s talk about some of what they got right:

• In the summer of ’85, when this movie was filmed and, presumably, set, Shuttle Atlantis had not yet made its maiden voyage. And its FRF (flight readiness firing) did happen at the tail end of the summer — early September, to be exact.
• Space Camp does exist — it’s located in Huntsville, Alabama, near the Marshall Space Flight Center. The movie was partially filmed there. Most of the activities you see during the training scenes would have been activities the campers would have likely engaged in at Space Camp.
• The Shuttle launch and landing footage was real — the launch footage came from STS-51-C (Discovery) and the landing footage came from STS-8 (Challenger).
• Upon meeting Andie, Kathryn remarks that she was the “back-up pilot for the first Discovery mission, but Coats got it instead.” Michael Coats was indeed the pilot for STS-41D, which was Discovery‘s maiden voyage, launched August 30, 1984. Interestingly, this was the first spaceflight for a female astronaut, Judith Resnick, who was one of the astronauts killed in the Challenger disaster.
• When asked by Andie why she came to Space Camp, Tish replies, “Well, I did this audit at JPL in radio astronomy. It was unbelievable.” The JPL Tish speaks of is the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It’s very possible she could’ve sat in on a lecture series of some sort given there about radio astronomy.
• The campers miss their landing window at Edwards Airforce Base, which was, for a time, the only landing facility for Shuttle — before they made Kennedy Space Center a launch and landing site. They begin discussing other possible landing sites and Kathryn brings up White Sands, New Mexico. She says that “Columbia of ’82 landed there” because of a big emergency. She’s talking about STS-3, which was Columbia‘s third mission. It was planned as a 7-day flight, but the mission was extended one day because of high winds at the backup landing site: Northrop Strip, White Sands, New Mexico. The Shuttle couldn’t land at Edwards because it had flooded after heavy rain.

Sadly, those are probably the most accurate things about the movie. I’m not going to list everything the filmmakers got wrong, or just plain made up, because I don’t want to be a total bummer, but here are some of the big ones:

• In the film, Space Camp seems to be very near Kennedy Space Center in Florida, since it’s only a short car ride to get to the launch pad. As I mentioned, though, Space Camp is in Huntsville, Alabama, which is actually about 700 miles away from Kennedy.
• In order to launch the Shuttle into space, Jinx the robot initiates a “thermal curtain failure,” which supposedly meant that one of the SRB’s overheated, so they have to ignite the other one in order to launch the Shuttle and preventing disaster. However, if the SRB wasn’t really overheating — if Jinx just made it look like it was — igniting the other SRB wouldn’t launch the Shuttle safely. It would actually have caused the it to lift off and crash, which is what they were trying to avoid in the first place.
• As they are climbing into orbit, Andie tells Kevin that he has to hit the switches to initiate SRB and ET separation. In reality, these functions are done by the Shuttle’s onboard computer — neither the pilot nor commander touch anything to make these actions happen.
• In the film, Mission Control is handled entirely at Kennedy Space Center. Really, though, after the Shuttle launches, Kennedy has no more contact — communications are immediately taken over by Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Also, there really is no such thing as short-range radio communications with the Shuttle. The communication system used during FRF would be the same as for standard missions, so the crew would not have lost contact with Mission Control once they reached a certain distance from the launch site.
• Once they’re on orbit, zero gravity only seems to affect some things — their bodies, Tish’s earrings, some equipment — and their hair is not affected at all. But if you’re in zero gravity, and you have even slightly long hair, it would float just like everything else.
• They don’t open the Shuttle’s cargo bay doors until it’s time for the space walk. In reality, the Shuttle opens its cargo bay doors almost immediately after it’s in orbit so that heat is able to vent through radiators built into the doors. If the bay doors remained closed for as long as they do in the film, the vehicle would likely overheat.
• One tank of oxygen is supposed to last four hours. The display shows the capability for four tanks. So, if they had four tanks, the shuttle would only have a two-day supply. By that point, though, missions were lasting way longer than that — most of them between 4-7 days.
• Daedalus was a totally fictional space station. The name pays homage to Project Daedalus, which was was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible interstellar unmanned spacecraft.
• When Max starts floating away from Daedalus, he goes really fast and it looks like he’s about ready to crash into the moon. Using the MMU — or jet pack, for you non-techies — Andie gets to him pretty quickly. The physics of all this seems really off. And, the moon likely wouldn’t have looked THAT big.Take a look:

• After the automatic re-entry is aborted in order to save Andie, it’s stated that there isn’t enough oxygen, even with the replenishment, to make the next landing window at Edwards. By then, though, the shuttle landing facility at Kennedy was in use and landing there would’ve been the first option available to them. Edwards would’ve been the back-up. And, generally, if the first window to land at a site is missed, there’s usually another one available in about 90 minutes, so they would’ve had plenty of time and oxygen to land without immediately switching to a back-up site.

One thing that isn’t really an innacuracy, but that I find to be interesting is the exchange between Kathryn and Andie when Kathryn states that she thinks being a commander is more important than being a pilot. In the Shuttle program, at the time, before you can be a commander, you have to be a pilot. And Kathryn acts like she doesn’t know that one job is a stepping stone to the other. I can understand why she’d want to jump right to the commander position, but for someone who is as knowledgeable about the space program as she is, she would at least acknowledge that Pilot is a really important position and that she wouldn’t get to be Commander unless she was Pilot first.

Coincidentally, NASA wouldn’t see its first female Shuttle commander until 2005, when Eileen Collins became the commander of STS-114, which was the Shuttle’s return-to-flight mission after the 2003 Columbia disaster. There would be another female Shuttle commander, Pamela Melroy, who would command STS-120 two years later. Incidentally, both of these women commanded Discovery, which is the Shuttle for which Kathryn notes that Andie was the back-up pilot.

After all this blathering on, I suppose I should talk about the film’s soundtrack, right? Appropriately, since Max is a huge Star Wars nerd, the score was done by the one-and-only John Williams. It’s a fantastic, quite patriotic-sounding score that is befitting of a film about the Space Shuttle. I dare you to listen to title piece and not feel like you’re getting ready to be launched into space (coincidentally, that piece also reminds me quite a bit of the modern Olympics theme, which Williams also composed). I can’t help but be happy when I listen to this score — it’s one of my favorites of Williams’s and one that I think gets overlooked in his ouevre.

In addition to the Williams score, there were a few vocal tracks used in the film, though those did not show up on the official soundtrack album. Those include “Forever Man” by Eric Clapton, two Dire Straits songs and three songs by Joseph Williams, who, if I’m not mistaken, was the lead singer of Toto at the time this film was released and who also happens to be John Williams’s son. Of the younger Williams’s contributions, I was able to find two.

Score by John Williams:

Main Title
Training Montage
The Shuttle
The Computer Room
Friends Forever
SpaceCamp
In Orbit
Viewing Daedalus
Max Breaks Loose
Andie Is Stranded
Max Finds Courage
White Sands
Re-Entry
Home Again

Eric Clapton – Forever Man
Joseph Williams and Paul Gordon – Turn It Up
Dire Straits – So Far Away
Dire Straits – Walk of Life
Joseph Williams – Don’t Look Back

If you’ve managed to read — and enjoy — this entire, epic post, I thank you. Even though SpaceCamp isn’t a very good movie, it’s one that means a lot to me because of the era of the U.S. space program that it represents. I’m glad it exists and I hope that future generations will watch it with the same awe and wonder I did when I was a kid — you know, before they realize how terribly inaccurate it is — and will take an interest in the Shuttle program that was so important to me and many other people of my generation.

So long, Shuttle. I’m going to miss you terribly.

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Well, long time, no see! I know it’s been awhile since the last Soundtrack Saturday and for that, I’m sorry. The truth is, I’ve needed to take a break from this column for awhile, partly because I’ve been running out of movies/soundtracks I want to write about and partly because I’ve been a little burned out. But I’m back! This column will now run on a monthly basis and I’m hoping not to have any more long hiatuses in the future.

Several years ago, when this column still lived on my old blog, I went to see a band I’m friends with from Chicago play a gig somewhere outside of Indianapolis. After the show, we were having drinks and chatting and I was telling them about Soundtrack Saturday. Immediately, a couple of the band members started throwing out suggestions of films I should write about and Tapeheads (1988) was one of them.

I filed the suggestion away in the back of my brain, as I’d never actually seen the film before (yet another ’80s John Cusack film I couldn’t believe I’d never watched), though I’d heard of it. When I got home, I did a little research on it and, upon noticing that its soundtrack was out of print — criteria #1 for this column, as you know — I put it at the top of my Netflix queue.

So, why didn’t I write about it before now? Well, it’s taken awhile to get my hands on the soundtrack — out-of-print stuff isn’t as easy to find as you might think — and I still wasn’t able to snag all the tracks used in the film. But I got as many as I could, so I figured now was a good time to trot this one out.

If you’ve never seen Tapeheads, it tells the tale of two childhood best friends, Ivan Alexeev (Cusack) and Josh Tager (Tim Robbins), who, after losing their shitty jobs as security guards, decide to start their own video production company, Video Aces, with the goal of eventually making a music video for their favorite band, the ’70s sould duo Swanky Modes (Junior Walker and Sam Moore).

This movie is 100% crazypants. It had been a while since the last time I’d seen it, so I’d forgotten just how insane it really is. First, Cusack’s look is totally gross-o: slicked back hair, thin, disgusting mustache, horrible, ugly suits. He’s supposed to be slimy, in both looks and actions, and I know that. But it’s still disconcerting to have him look like a used care salesman trying to impersonate Clark Gable. In some alternate universe, I think his character and James Spader’s character from Mannequin go to the same stylist.

Other than the obvious draw of the two stars, Tapeheads is chock full of cameos and unexpected supporting actors. First, and foremost, there’s Don Cornelius — yes, that Don Cornelius — deftly playing shady record producer, Mo Fuzz. Hearing him talk about tits and ass is worth the price of admission alone because it’s so unexpected and totally ridiculous. He does such a great job in this role that it makes me wonder why he never put more effort into his interviews on Soul Train. And don’t even front — you know he’s one of the worst interviewers ever.

You also have Mary Crosby, she who shot J.R., playing a tabloid music reporter; Connie Stevens and Doug McClure playing Josh’s parents; Jessica Walter, best known these days as Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development, playing Kay Mart, the wife of a sketchy presidential candidate; and Xander Berkeley with a British accent (his big line is, gloriously, “Don’t be a cunt.”).

Cameos include Coati Mundi, who makes anything he’s in better (i.e. Who’s That Girl), “Weird Al” Yankovic, Ted Nugent, Doug E. Fresh, Michael Nesmith (who also served as executive producer), Martha Quinn and, if you look real hard you’ll see an uncredited Courtney Love. But my favorite cameo, by far, is Jello Biafra as one of the FBI agents who arrest Ivan and Josh at the end because, as he’s arresting them, he says, “Remember what we did to Jello Biafra?” Priceless.

Some of my favorite crazier moments in this film:

Cube Squared:

The Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles ad that Video Aces shot:

“Tragedy hit the Greek Theater tonight when a fragment of SpyLab 14 hit the stage, killing the surprised members of the up-and-coming rock band, the Blender Children.”

This movie also contains the best girlfight ever: Mary Crosby in a leather suit WITH NUNCHUCKS vs a blonde chick in red footy pajamas with two switchblades. Sorry, I couldn’t find a clip of that scene.

As I said previously, I couldn’t find all the tracks featured in the film. I did find the complete official soundtrack album, plus a few non-album tracks. One that I couldn’t find was “Repave Amerika,” which was written and performed by Tim Robbins (as Bob Roberts). That song title might seem familiar to fans of the film Bob Roberts as it was slightly reworked to become “Retake America” for that film, which was released four years after Tapeheads.

Swanky Modes – Ordinary Man
King Cotton – Roscoe’s Rap
Bo Diddley – Surfer’s Love Chant
Swanky Modes – You Hooked Me Baby
Swanky Modes – Betcher Bottom Dollar
Devo – Baby Doll (Sung in Swedish)
Fishbone – Slow Bus A-Movin (Howard’s Beach Party)
Swanky Modes – Audience For My Pain
Swanky Modes – Language of Love
Swanky Modes – Ordinary Man (Can’t Keep a Good Man Down Mix)
Circle Jerks – Beat Me Senseless
Dead Kennedys – In Sight
They Might Be Giants – Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
The Zeros – Mr M-X 7

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Well, I now think I’ve found a new obsession: ’80s skateboarding movies. This is a genre I’ve never really explored, outside of Gleaming the Cube (1989), starring one Christian Slater. But I think I’m ready for more after viewing this week’s Soundtrack Saturday film, Thrashin‘ (1986), aka Skate Gang.

How I didn’t know about this movie when I was growing up is beyond me. I’m guessing that it probably played on cable a million times, but never bothered to stop and watch it because skaters didn’t really interest me. Well, actually, they did — I had a huge crush on a few skaters in junior high school. But, I mean, this movie features a young, hunky Josh Brolin in his first starring role (this was also his first film after The Goonies (1985). How the hell could I pass that up? Dumb.

Thrashin’ also stars a few actors who appear in other ’80s movies I love, such as Pamela Gidley (Cherry 2000, Permanent Record); Robert Rusler (Weird Science, Shag: The Movie) and Sherilyn Fenn (Just One of the Guys, The Wraith). Plus, it features a boatload of actual, for real skateboarders, like Tony Hawk Tony Alva, Christian Hosoi and Steve Caballero, just like how the breakdance movies had REAL breakdancers. You can’t go wrong, right?

I will tell you that the first time I watched this film was, um, two days ago (it’s on Netflix Instant right now if you want to partake, also), so I don’t have a lot of fond memories of this movie from my childhood. All I have is a list of things that made this movie 100% enjoyable for me now, watching it as a 30-something adult. So, here we go.

Things I Love About Thrashin’ (in no particular order):

• The opening sequence. I love it when ’80s movies contain — and especially open with — a scene featuring a teenager waking up in the morning, going through their routine and then heading out to school, work, the beach or wherever, backed by a bouncy pop song. This one is soundtracked by Meat Loaf’s “Thrashin’” (which isn’t necessarily bouncy, though Brolin’s hair certainly is) and has the added bonus of Corey (Brolin) having a rad skate champ dream before he wakes up.
• How Corey leaves his house. The front door isn’t good enough for this slice of heaven. No, this dude goes out the window and skates off his goddamned roof. THAT is how you do it, people.
• California. That’s all. Just California. I feel as though I should watch a double feature of this and Breakin’ or this and Valley Girl.
• The Big Bad Skate Gang is called the Daggers. Fuck yeah!
• Robert Rusler’s hair. This picture doesn’t do justice to the hot mess that is happening here. It’s like they tore a bunch of tails off of some stuffed Eeyore dolls, took the bows off and glued them to the back of Rusler’s head.

• Skaters vs. Breakdancers! “Breakin’ is a memory.” Hey, breakers, don’t let this fucking asshole with stuffed animal hair tell you that breakin’ is over. Fuck him.
• “Beat it, ya Val jerk.” Way to tell that boy with the bouncy hair that he doesn’t belong on your turf. Yeah!
• Sherilyn Fenn’s character. A) Her name is VELVET. How fucking awesome is that? 2) Her hair is about 8 feet tall.

• “Should I wear the skull with the dagger? Or the hoop with the dagger?” Choosing earrings is hard, dude. I feel your pain.
• Gidley and Rusler couldn’t look any further from brother and sister. Great casting job, there, guys!
• Gidley’s character, Chrissy, wears what looks like a prom dress to a skater club. She doesn’t know any better — she’s from Indiana!
• The Bangles (early, early Bangles) perform at the skater club, but you never actually see them. The band that performs right after them? Early, early Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• “Well, what do you thrash?” “Whaddya got?” That, ladies and gentlemen, is the perfect pick-up scenario.
• When he’s not wearing his skater gear, Brolin spends much of the film with his shirt off or dressed like this. Hubba hubba!

• During a skater chase scene, one of the Daggers is taken out by a street sweeper. A FUCKING STREET SWEEPER. Badass skating, asshole.
• Chrissy is supposed to be from Indiana, but she sounds like she’s from Jersey.
• The big skate “joust.” Smoke, you guys. If there’s darkness and smoke, that means trouble. Also, I want to buy whoever choreographed this shizz a billion beers.
• In one scene, Chrissy is hitchhiking and I swear to God that Large Marge picks her up.
• No member of the Daggers has taken a shower in, oh, three weeks. Sexy. SO SEXY.
• The end. It is so predictable and stupid, but that’s what makes it great.
• Johnny Depp was the original choice to play Corey. I cannot imagine this. Depp would’ve been too dark and brooding and his hair wouldn’t have been bouncy and shiny enough for this role. Interestingly, Brolin was the first choice to play Thom Hansen on 21 Jump Street, a role that ultimately went to Depp. Again, the right choice was made there.

Of course, if I didn’t also love the soundtrack, I wouldn’t be writing about this movie for this column, would I? I have to say that I was actually kind of shocked at how great this soundtrack really is. It’s surprisingly eclectic and fun, with tracks from Devo, the Bangles (the song featured is from their first EP, which I own, a fact I’m sure doesn’t surprise you), disco diva France Joli, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Circle Jerks, Animotion and Fine Young Cannibals. Even the Meat Loaf track is kind of rad. And yes, I’m saying rad now. A lot.

From what I can tell, there wasn’t an official soundtrack album released, so I ended up piecing it together with the help of various anonymous Thrashin’ fans who already had done the same. I couldn’t find four tracks, though one I did find a YouTube clip for. The tracks I don’t have at all are:

Jimmy Demers – Arrow Through My Heart
White Sister – Touch the Sky
The Tribe – Dancin’ in Jamaica

Here are the rest. Strap on your helmet and knee pads and get thrashin’! Yeah!

Meat Loaf – Thrashin’
Devo – That’s Good
Bangles – Want You
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Black Eyed Blonde
France Joli – Don’t Think Twice
The Truth – Playground
Fear – Hey
The Screaming Sirens – Maniac
Circle Jerks – Wild in the Streets
Rebel Faction – Burnin’ (For You)
Animotion – Staring Down the Demons
Fine Young Cannibals – Couldn’t Care More

Jimmy Demmers & Carol Sue Hill – Let the Love Begin

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Alright, kids, here we are — the final installment of this year’s Soundtrack Saturday Best Original Song special series. For my final special edition post, I figured it would make the most sense to explore a year from the aughts, and there were two candidates that really stuck out to me as being interesting: 2001 and 2005. Ultimately, I chose 2001 because one of my favorite artists of all time was nominated — and caused a lot of controversy upon arriving at the Oscar ceremony.

This was an interesting year for the Oscar telecast, as it received the lowest ratings in four years and dropped to second place in the Nielsen ratings for the first time in broadcasting history. Why? Because so many numskulls were watching Survivor, that’s why. This happened again in 2003 when you people decided you’d rather watch American Idol (boo!). If only my Superbowl was as popular as the actual Superbowl.

A quick recap of the 2001 ceremony:

The 73rd Academy Awards
Date of telecast: March 25, 2001
Host: Steve Martin

(Per Academy rules, all nominated films were released between January 1 and December 31, 2000, in Los Angeles County, California.)

Best Picture: Gladiator
Best Actor: Russell Crowe, Gladiator
Best Actress: Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio del Toro, Traffic
Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
Best Director: Steven Soderbergh, Traffic

And now for our category.

The Oscar went to…

“Things Have Changed” (performed by Bob Dylan; music and lyrics by Bob Dylan) from Wonder Boys.

Other nominees:

“I’ve Seen It All” (performed by Björk; music by Björk; lyrics by Lars von Trier, Sjón Sigurdsson) from Dancer in the Dark.

“My Funny Friend and Me” (performed by Sting; music by Sting; lyrics by Sting, David Hartley) from The Emperor’s New Groove.

“A Fool in Love” (performed by Randy Newman; music and lyrics by Randy Newman) from Meet the Parents.

“A Love Before Time” (performed by CoCo Lee featuring Yo-Yo Ma; music by Jorge Calandrelli, Tan Dun; lyrics by James Schamus) from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

When I read that his nomination for “Things Have Changed” was the first time (and, at present, the only time) Bob Dylan has gotten an Oscar nod, I couldn’t believe it. I thought that surely he had gotten a nomination for “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” which was written for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). Nope. It wasn’t until the 21st century that one of Dylan’s soundtrack songs would be  recognized by the Academy as the best (it also won the Golden Globe).

Wonder Boys is among my favorite films of the last decade and I think Michael Douglas should have been nominated for an Oscar for his performance — he was far more deserving than Tom Hanks, who was nominated for Cast Away. But, whatever. The film was nominated for two additional awards besides Dylan’s — Best Editing and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, but lost in both categories to Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.

As far as Dylan’s song goes, I like it, but I don’t love it. But that’s how I feel about a lot of Dylan’s music, most of the time. I appreciate him, I respect him, but sometimes, his music just makes me want to ram my head into a wall. Anyway, this is a perfectly lovely song and there was just no way the Academy wasn’t going to give Dylan an Oscar. Rumor has it that his Oscar, or at least a facsimile of it, goes on tour with him and sits on top of an amp during shows. Oh, Bob.

One thing I do love about this song is its video. Directed by Wonder Boys’s director, Curtis Hanson, the video melds  new footage of Dylan with footage from the film so that it looks like Dylan was in the movie. The first thing I thought of when I saw this video is that Hanson must have really liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s video for Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” from his film Magnolia (1999), which had been nominated for an Oscar the previous year.

As much as I liked Dylan’s song, I was rooting for Björk’s “I’ve Seen It All” to take the trophy. Not just because her acceptance speech would’ve probably been adorable and a little crazy, but because she is one of my favorite artists and I genuinely love this song.

Dancer In the Dark is one of the most depressing films I’ve ever seen; after my second viewing, I decided I didn’t think I could ever watch it again. But the soundtrack is a different story — while it makes me think of the movie, and therefore makes me sad, I have listened to it many times and find it to be one of Björk’s most heartbreaking releases.

There are several variations of this song one might enjoy. In the film, it was performed by Björk and co-star Peter Stormare. In the version that appears on the official soundtrack album, Stormare’s vocals are replaced by those of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. And if you happen to catch Björk performing this live, you will get to hear only her lovely voice, as in her performance during the Oscars telecast (note how heavily the song was edited here, most likely due to time constraints of the show):

I really don’t have much to say about Sting’s “My Funny Friend and Me.” I’ve never seen The Emperor’s New Groove and I’m really not a fan of Sting or his solo work.  It’s not a horrible song, but I think it’s terribly boring and kind of cheesy. I guess the Academy felt they had to nominate a song from an animated film, so this fit the bill.

And that brings us to the man we normally see getting Oscar nominations for songs he’s composed for animated films, but who, this time, got nominated for a live-action flick. I wonder what the Academy’s reaction is in years when no films are released with Randy Newman songs. Does it have a panic attack? Does it call him and ask him if he’s OK? Does it offer to wash his car if he writes a song for a movie next year because it’s just not the Oscars without Randy Newman?

I saw Meet the Parents once and I didn’t like it. Actually, I didn’t even watch the entire movie — I think I got bored with it about halfway through and gave up on it. With a few exceptions, I’m not really a fan of Ben Stiller and the types of comedy films he makes. I probably wouldn’t have even bothered with this one, but I came across it on cable and figured I’d give it a try. Since it had been such a big it, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I guess I must be missing something.

The original soundtrack for Meet the Parents is very Newman-heavy, featuring 14 of his songs. Though I didn’t like what I saw of the movie, I thought Newman’s soundtrack was a lot of fun and this song — possibly one of the shortest Best Original Song nominees ever — is actually pretty great. I particularly enjoy the first 45 seconds. While it wasn’t really much competition for Dylan, I can get behind its nomination. Newman is nominated again this year for the eleventy billionth time for a song from Toy Story 3 and there’s a very good chance he’ll win his second Oscar.

Confession time: I’ve never seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I have no excuses and as a fan of foreign film, I’m a little ashamed. Regardless of the mixed reviews I’ve read, some of which have said the film is highly overrated, I still should have seen it by now. And maybe I will soon — after I watch the 80 movies at the top of my Netflix queue.

“A Love Before Time” is a perfectly fine song with lyrics co-written by screenwriter James Schamus, who was also nominated for his part in writing the film’s screenplay, and music co-written by Tan Dun, who won the Oscar for his Crouching Tiger score. I’m not terribly fond of the vocals of CoCo Lee and without ever having seen the film, I can tell that this had to have played over the end credits because there’s no way it fits in the film anywhere else. Again, a nice song that is exactly the kind of thing the Academy loves, but that had no chance against Dylan.

So, do you think Bob Dylan deserved to be the Academy’s Wonder Boy, or should they have been a fool in love for Randy Newman? Or should they have said “I’ve Seen It All” and given the Oscar to that crazy lady in the swan dress? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

That brings our final Best Original Song Soundtrack Saturday to a close. I’ve had a lot of fun exploring past years’ nominees and I hope you have, too. I don’t know if this series will come back next year, but it’s been great while it’s lasted.

Don’t forget that the 83rd Academy Awards telecast is tomorrow night beginning at 8pm on ABC. I’ll be live-tweeting the ceremony, if you feel like following me.

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Hello again, everyone! Welcome to week three of revisiting past Best Original Song nominees! I hope you had as much fun reading last week’s post about the 1985 nominees as I did writing it. What a crazy year for Best Original Song, right?

This week, I’ve decided to move on to the ’90s and discuss what I call a “downer” year. I call it that because when you look at the nominees for most of the major categories, they’re, for the most part, pretty heavy, serious films. Not that most Oscar nominees don’t tend to lean toward the serious, but this seemed to be a year in which that was especially prevalent.

The 66th Academy Awards were full of firsts. They featured the first African-American host, saw Steven Spielberg win his first Oscar for Best Director and the Best Picture tropy went to a black and white film for the first time since 1933. It also was a year of momentous seconds: Anna Paquin became the second youngest to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and Jane Campion became the second woman in history to be nominated for Best Director.

The 66th Academy Awards
Date of telecast: March 21, 1994
Host: Whoopi Goldberg

(Per Academy rules, all nominated films were released between January 1 and December 31, 1993, in Los Angeles County, California.)

Best Picture: Schindler’s List
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, Philadelphia
Best Actress: Holly Hunter, The Piano
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Paquin, The Piano
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List

Who could forget Tom Hanks’s heartfelt acceptance speech, which inspired the 1997 film In & Out?

Now, let’s take a look at our category.

The Oscar went to…

“Streets of Philadelphia” (performed by Bruce Springsteen; music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen) from Philadelphia.

Other nominees:

“Philadelphia” (performed by Neil Young; music and lyrics by Neil Young) from Philadelphia.

“Again” (performed by Janet Jackson; music and lyrics by Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis) from Poetic Justice.

“The Day I Fall in Love” (performed by Dolly Parton and James Ingram; music and lyrics by Carol Bayer Sager, James Ingram and Clif Magness) from Beethoven’s 2nd.

“A Wink and a Smile” (performed by Harry Connick, Jr.; music by Marc Shaiman; lyrics by Ramsey McLean) from Sleepless in Seattle.

This was a year of pretty solid nominees, wouldn’t you say? I actually like four out of five (I’m pretty sure you can guess which one I hate, but you’ll find out for sure in a minute) and I agree with the choice of winner. I’m going to guess that a good portion of my colleagues, and folks who read this site, do, too, because, in case you’re new, Springsteen is one of Popdose’s unofficial mascots.

“Streets of Philadelphia” was a huge critical and commercial success for Springsteen. It not only won an Academy Award, but also a Golden Globe and four Grammys. It peaked at number nine in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and did even better in Europe, topping the charts in Austria, France and Germany and making it to number two in the UK.

Written at the request of Philadelphia‘s director, Jonathan Demme, “Streets of Philadelphia” was the first song Springsteen had composed and performed specifically for a film (the first song he’d written for a film, “(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day” was performed by the fictional band the Barbusters in the 1987 film Light of Day). He would go on to write two more songs for films: “Dead Man Walkin’”  from Dead Man Walking, for which he was nominated for another Oscar in 1996, and “The Wrestler” from the film of the same name, for which he won a Golden Globe in 2009.

Here’s Bruce performing the song during the ’94 Oscar telecast.

A second song from Philadelphia was nominated, that being the title song written and performed by a whippersnapper named Neil Young. As much as I love Bruce’s song, I would’ve been equally happy if Young had won the Oscar, for his song is heartbreakingly gorgeous. According to my research, Young was asked by Demme to compose for Philadelphia a song similar to “Southern Man,” which he’d originally used to cut the title sequence of the movie. However, once Young turned in his composition, which shared the title of the film, Demme decided instead to use it at the end of the film and called upon Springsteen to compose something for the opening. Demme asked Young to change the melody a little, making it a little darker and less “pretty” than the original version (I understand that original version is quite the rarity in the Young universe).

Young’s performance of the song during the Academy Awards ceremony was understated and beautiful (though, that bolo tie is neither):

Somehow, I completely forgot that Janet Jackson had been nominated for an Academy Award. I really love this song and quite enjoyed the film from which it came, Poetic Justice. Interestingly enough, the song was featured at the end of the film, but was not included on the official soundtrack album, instead being released on Jackson’s fifth studio album, janet. Cowritten by Jackson and her frequent collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, “Again” became her seventh number one hit and was also nominated for a Golden Globe.

Here’s Janet peforming the song during the Oscars telecast in a classy white suit inexplicably surrounded by a cage of candles:

I’ve said before that Best Original Song is one category in which films that would never get nominated for an Oscar otherwise get recognized. In 1994, Beethoven’s 2nd was one of those movies. And the song for which it was nominated, “The Day I Fall in Love,” is, if you haven’t already guessed, the one I hate. This song seriously makes me want to vomit. I can’t even get past the two-minute mark listening to it — the guitar solo that kicks in at 1:45 is where the gag reflex kicks in. I love Dolly Parton, but I do not approve of her appearance here. The music is terrible, the lyrics are worse. Not only was it was nominated for an Academy Award, but also a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for Best Song from a Motion Picture.  Why? Surely there had to have been a better song from a better movie released in 1993 that was more worthy of an Oscar nomination than this dreck. Actually, I know there definitely were better songs. Here’s one of them:

And now for our last nominee, which will give me the opportunity to admit that I’m a closet Sleepless in Seattle fan. I can’t help it. While its nowhere near as good as, say, When Harry Met Sally, I think it’s a charming, harmless romantic comedy that I somehow always get sucked into watching when it’s on cable. And I find “A Wink and a Smile,” which actually sounds like a song that should’ve been in When Harry Met Sally, to be a charming, lovely little song.  It’s exactly the kind of thing that the Academy loves and had it not been up against powerhouses like the two songs from Philadelphia, it might have had a better chance at winning. Let’s just all be happy that the song performed by Celine Dion on the soundtrack was a cover and therefore not eligible for nomination.

So, what do you think? Did the Boss deserve to take home the Oscar, or should some brotherly love been bestowed by the Academy on Neil Young? What other songs should’ve been nominated instead of that bullshit from Beethoven’s 2nd? What facts did I miss that you Springsteen fanboys want to share? Tell me in the comments!

Next week will be the last week of this year’s run of Soundtrack Saturday Best Original Song special edition posts and as you might’ve guessed, we’ll be taking a look at a year from the oughts.

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