Having just read Simon Reynold’s awesome 5-part piece on the use of music in Jim Jarmusch films I thought I’d write a piece about the use of music in TV/Film and what it means to you.
This is obviously a huge subject so to start you off here are the seminal soundtracks of my youth. Right at the top would be Trainspotting's uses of Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust for Live’, Blondie’s ‘Atomic’, Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ and Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ which all would easily vie for the most memorable uses of music in any film from any period. It is perhaps too good as I have had more than one director mention the film to me as a template for their use of music and in many ways I think its impact will never be able to be replicated.
Elsewhere The Big Lebowski's use of The Gypsy Kings’ cover of Hotel California is an absolute masterpiece, then there’s Tarantino’s use of Dick Dale and The Del-Tones in Pulp Fiction, Lost in Translation’s use of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Just like Honey’, Requiem For a Dream’s soundtrack by The Kronos Quartet and hundreds more to name. I could basically keep going with this list for pages and pages but I'll let you continue it with your suggestions.
So what soundtracks stand out for you? Are they Wes Anderson's soundtracks, Dario Argento's use of the legendary Goblin, Spaced's backpacker indie hip-hop approach, whatever. Let me know your favourites and we'll see if it can inspire Skins Series 4 soundtrack to even greater heights.
Alex Hancock
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