Ten Great Alternative Soundtracks

• 17th Mar 2009

Ten Great Alternative/Contemporary Film Soundtracks worth investigating
(PART 1)

This list could easily be the Top 100, and there have been many lists as such. But this being an alternative music website, we shall focus on the alternative Films/Filmmakers and Artists involved. This top ten are in no way in order, as the task is difficult enough as it is.

1: The Royal Tenenbaums-Various Artists: Director Wes Anderson is synonymous with alternative filmmaking and arguably hit his peak with this 2002 masterpiece. He opened up odd, quirky and eccentric filmmaking to a whole new generation of people; the effects of which are still in question however, as the term quirky and independent are now as mainstream and contrived as anything you may see in any movie these days.

The soundtrack though, is undeniable. Scored by long time collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh (Ex Devo). The soundtrack consists of The Clash, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Nico, Paul Simon, The Velvet Underground and Elliot Smith amongst others. The latter mentioned Elliot Smith and his song ‘Needle In The Hay’, was used during a suicide scene with such conviction, genius and now painful irony (Smith would kill himself only a year later) that it has earned its place in modern cinema history.

2: One From The Heart- Tom Waits & Crystal Gale: Francis Ford Copalla’s monumentally catastrophic Vegas movie did not do well. Shunned by both critics and fans, and it cost the world to make. However, one shining light to emerge from the broken film was the soundtrack. An unlikely matching of Waits & Gale worked gloriously. Some beautiful songs were crafted and some of the duets were a triumph. Interestingly this was almost the ending of an era for Waits, as this was recorded in 82’ a year before his artistic leap that saw him release Swordfishtrombones.

3: Trainspotting- Various Artists: Perhaps an obvious one, but an obvious one for a reason. It’s sublime. Not merely alone for it’s musical merit, but it’s ability to create an entire feeling and scene from the soundtrack that captured the essence of the characters majestically. Lou Reed and Iggy Pop feature heavily, perhaps this a clear or even obvious choice to make in relation to drug use, but a true one. I have been around Heroin users and these artists still (or did) play a huge part in their lives. The reasons why we won’t go into, as that’s another topic. But Trainspotting was painfully accurate both in it’s depiction visually and audibly of an entire sub-culture. The following artists feature: New Order, Blur, Pulp, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Joy Division, Heaven 17. The list is endless.

4: The Big Lebowski- Various Artists: Arguably the Cohen Brothers doing what they do best, at they’re very best. The soundtrack is also up there. As with any great soundtrack, you associate the songs used with scenes in the movie. The opening use of Dylan’s ‘Man In Me’ is a prime example, as we see those bowling bowls rolling down the alley. An excellent use of music in film. Equally an example is Towns van Zandt’s cover of The Stones classic ‘Dead Flowers’ for the end scene. A wonderful series of songs to accompany a wonderful movie.

5: The films of Jim Jarmusch: Not only is he content with having every cool musician in the world be in his movies (Waits, Strummer, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Iggy Pop, Jack White to name a few) he occasionally allows them to play some songs in his films too. Jarmusch is truly one of the forefathers of independent and alternative filmmaking in every sense of the word. His films are varied both aesthetically and in terms of the soundtrack. From the samurai movie ‘Ghost Dog’ scored by The Wu-Tang clan’s RZA to a Film on William Blake (Played by Johnny Depp) scored by Neil Young. Jarmusch’s films are an exploration into the musical world as much as they are the film world. Expect a multitude of genre’s and artists, spanning almost a thirty-year career.

PART 2-NEXT WEEK