The Decline of Movie Music
You may have read a previous post on here about the use of music in movies, in which case — I love you.
Really. Thanks for dropping by.
But now that the summer blockbuster season is upon us, I started thinking again about movies and music, and a thought occured to me: Today’s movie music really sucks.
Think about it. When movies first started out, they included great original songs — tunes like “Over the Rainbow,” “White Christmas” and “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Do you have any idea what song won the Oscar last year? I’ll give you a hint: It was written by Glen Hansard and Markets Irglova.
Still don’t know? How about another hint: The song is from the movie “Once.”
It’s called “Faling Slowly.” Never heard of it? Me neither. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of last year’s nominees, which is too bad because there was a time when original movie music was really good. Of course, I’m talking about 1984 here.
Every song nominated that year was a hit single. And a legitimately good song.
I know. You’re saying, “Pat, you liked ‘Let’s Hear it for the Boy?’”
And I say, “Heck yeah.” I can even recite most of the lyrics for you.
But I’ll spare you.
My all time favorite performer, Stevie Wonder, won the Oscar that year for “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” a song Jack Black’s character eviscerated in the movie “High Fidelity” but which I still enjoy, though perhaps not as much as, say, most other Stevie hits.
Then you had “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins, “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins, and “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.
What a year.
Beginning in the 90s, original movie music started to suffer, with a few exceptions, thanks mostly to Randy Newman, the Big Daddy of movie music. Springsteen came through nicely with “The Streets of Philadelphia.” But for the most part, the age of original movie music is over.
Remember when Three 6 Mafia got an Oscar?
I haven’t heard from those guys in a while. Probably because they’re lame.
I’m not sure why original music isn’t cutting it. But I’ll blame Justin Timberlake.
Not that he had anything to do with it. It’s just that whenever I talk about the decline of music, I like to blame him for it.