When there's a song that really just makes a scene in a movie that special scene, we want to capture the feeling that we experienced when we first heard it played in that particular film. Though I can completely identify with this feeling and know that it is totally valid, I am sick and tired of my favorite bands being exploited by blockbuster films.Let it be said that I am aware that they make this choice to include their music in movies in order to gain more listeners, but I am a selfish fan. I get angry and jealous when artists that I have liked far before they were included on a soundtrack gain a following of fourteen-year-old girls that put the one song they had that film on their skull-printed iPods. It just makes me mad that these bands don't ask my permission before deciding to participate in a soundtrack (of course, this is in jest).
The adorable teenage indie love flick that is Juno came out in the winter of 2007. The Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson's original band, recorded their first self-titled album in 2001. That's a whole six years of being a band before they got any kind of major recognition outside of the major music scenes (New York, Seattle, the UK, etc.). I had been a fan of Kimya Dawson since I was fifteen, which was 2005. Then Juno happened and everyone bought the soundtrack.
"Anyone Else But You," which is actually a Moldy Peaches song, became every beanie-wearing, Hot-Topic-shopping teenage couple's "song." Oh, so cute, "I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else but you." That's just precious. What viewers didn't hear (because they didn't include it) in Michael Cera and Ellen Page's sing-a-long is the verse that says, "Squinched up your face and did a dance, you shook a little turd out of the bottom of your pants." Yeah, I guess Fox Searchlight Pictures didn't find that particular lyric nearly as charming as the rest of the tune. (Side note: It is included when they play the song during the end credits.)
Following Juno's inevitable post-release hype, hearing "Anyone Else But You" made my stomach tie itself in knots, but I had already bought tickets to see Kimya Dawson in April of the following year. I attended, completely aware that there would be masses of teenyboppers screaming, "PLAY THAT SONG FROM JUNO!" I was delighted to find that Kimya refused to play "Anyone Else But You" for the majority of her set, and then finally gave in toward the end. Mind you, I actually like this song; I'm just so bitter about it becoming huge, and it's not her best song. Regardless, seeing her live was awesome and she is still one of my favorite artists.
Other instances of some of my favorite artists being whored via soundtracks don't hit home quite as hard as the Juno incident, but it still makes me cringe a little bit. Take for instance any Wes Anderson film (i.e. The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Rushmore, etc.). Wes Anderson loves him some good ol' 60's music. Several of his films feature songs from Nico (originally of the Velvet Underground), The Kinks, and, of course, The Rolling Stones.
It's annoying enough that hipsters are convinced that every Wes Anderson film is pure genius (they apparently didn't see The Life Aquatic), but they also decide that they suddenly love these old classic bands that they hear being played in Anderson's movies. These bands' records have been collecting dust in your dad's vinyl collection since you were born, how come you didn't appreciate them until now? Oh, that's right, they weren't "cool" yet.
The classic example of a band getting big thanks to a movie in The Shin's participation in the 2004 "indie" hit Garden State. Sam (Natalie Portman) literally says "You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear" and makes Zach Braff's character Andrew listen to The Shins' "New Slang." This example doesn't bother me as much because I myself didn't know much about The Shins until I saw this movie. The Shins' career has been successful ever since, which their most recent album Wincing The Night Away selling over 53,000 copies.
Where The Wild Things Are came out in theaters this past week. Leading up to the premiere, several people were asking themselves, "What is that awesome song they play in the Where The Wild Things Are trailer? Ya know, the song with all the different sounds?" Well, that would happen to be the Canadian band The Arcade Fire, which incorporates drums, piano, viola, xylophone, accordion, hurdy gurdy, guitar, cello, mandolin, harp, double bass, French horn, and keyboard to make "all those different sounds." Yes, now rush off and download their most recent album off of iTunes while I sit in my dorm room and sob over music's dissipating integrity.
I'm a music snob, and I can accept that. I know I cannot control all of the music I listen to and keep it in a little box for no one else to discover. I am indeed happy that my favorite bands are getting some recognition; I just don't want that recognition to fall into the hands of a fifteen-year-old girl that still wears jelly bracelets and secretly listens to Fall Out Boy when no one's around. No offense.
*The Rotunda would like to apologize for printing the incorrect version of this opinion piece in this week's printed edition.
