Soundtrack Your Life

Award winning composer and host of the Piecing It Together Podcast, David Rosen is our guest for this episode. Ryan and David talk about the score to the 2014 Alex Garland film, Ex-Machina.  They discuss how Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury’s score has influenced David’s own score work as well as the rise in  experimental electronic scores and how the duo continues to push in that direction even though Salisbury’s background is in traditional piano/string based scores. They also chat about the importance of the ambient nature of the score in the film and how effective Alex Garland uses music in the film.

David also shares about some of his other influences as well as some exciting future projects that he’s working on. 

To learn more about David Rosen: 

https://bydavidrosen.com 

https://piecingpod.com

Author of the international best selling books, Excelsior, and Ever Upward, George Sirius shares about how Steve Jablonsky’s score to the 2011 Michael Bay film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has directly inspired scenes in the Excelsior Journey series. While George is a fan of the majority of Jablonsky’s work for Transformers, he explains why the score Dark of the Moon stands out in particular. 

We also chat about Jablonsky's filmography dating all the way back to when he was an understudy of Hans Zimmer and we discuss about how different composers from the Harry Potter franchise have helped inspire other scenes in his books and he shares about his quest to complete the Excelsior Journey trilogy and beyond! 

He is also the host of the Excelsior Journey Podcast and the From Duck Til Dark: Outside the Marvel Studios Podcast.

More information about George and his work can be found at http://www.hesgotit.com He can be found on FB/IG/Twitter @georgesirois.

Happy Valentines Day! For this week's episode, Ryan, Brandice, and Nicole talk about a film where a character tells another character "This song will change your life." which seems like the perfect film to discuss on this podcast! That's right, we discuss Zach Braff's 2004 film, Garden State, and it's Grammy Award Winning Soundtrack. Ryan and Nicole originally saw the movie in its original theatrical run, while Brandice had never seen the film until she was tasked to for the podcast, so there's an interesting discussion about how the movie spoke to our 3 hosts. We talk about whether the soundtrack and film have aged gracefully, the influence that they had on popular culture, and why this film didn't lead to bigger and better things for our actor/writer/director triple threat. Of course we talk about The Shins, and Ryan shares about trying to help someone write their own version of Garden State.

We kick off Season 3 with a very special guest, John Munson of Semisonic. (Also of Trip Shakespeare, The New Standards, Munson Hicks Party Supplies, The Twilight Hours). Instead of talking about one soundtrack, we talk about the different soundtracks that Semisonic has appeared in. While John doesn't have all the details about how the band ended up on every soundtrack, he shares some fun behind the scenes stories. We chat about the excitement of being placed on a soundtrack for the first time (The Long Kiss Goodnight), what soundtracks John regrets the band passing on, and his favorite placement of "Closing Time" in a film/tv show. We also talk about some film score related projects that John is working on outside of Semisonic and he shares about a soundtrack that has changed his life.

It's the holiday episode and Austin and Jenn from I Hate Your Taste in Movies stopped by to join Brandice, Nicole and myself to discuss the 2003 Richard Curtis film, Love, Actually. This holiday get together with our friends to The North turned into a bit of a holiday massacre as we pick apart how both the film and the soundtrack haven't aged particularly well. From Bill Nighy's "Christmas is All Around" to the Mariah Carey (but not Mariah Carey) Christmas sing along, we jump from storyline to storyline and from song to song on the soundtrack. If this movie / soundtrack has a special place in your heart, this episode may not be for you. 

As 2020 comes to an end, we're ending our season with a B-Sides (outtakes) episode where we showcase some fun conversations that didn't make the final cut or our Season 1 episodes. We're happy to share clips from our Trainspotting, Baby Driver, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, and Life Aquatic with Stevie Zissou episodes. 

Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow are back to discuss the 2001 Wes Anderson film, The Royal Tenenbaums, and it's much celebrated soundtrack. It begins with the Mark Mothersbaugh score, and from there it ranges from Vince Guaraldi's iconic "Christmas Time Is Here" to Elliott Smith's Needle in the Hay with a lot of great classic and punk rock in between. We talk about Margot Tenenbaum getting off Greenline bus to Nico's "These Days", the use of two Rolling Stones' tracks (that aren't on the soundtrack), and the story behind Wes Anderson trying to get the rights to the original version of "Hey Jude". Nicole also shares a story about she doesn't connect Bob Dylan's "Wigwam" with this film but with a bizarre event that all three of us attended.

Lily and Hannah return as guests to talk about Cameron Crowe's 2000 Rock'n'Roll classic, Almost Famous. We dive into the early 70s, talking about everything from Alvin and the Chipmunks to Zepplin. With over 120 songs featured in this film, we cover a lot of ground, but we make sure to talk about the fictional band in the film, Stillwater (which is also a real band), which features Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and Peter Frampton. We talk about Cameron Crowe, both as a music journalist, and as a filmmaker. We talk about how this film relates to his other Rock'n'Roll film Singles, (which also has a strong Pearl Jam presence). From there, we wonder why Cameron Crowe's hot streak as a director ended with this film. 

Lily and Hannah helped kick off season 2 back in January where we covered Empire Records. New episodes of Society Owes Me a Gen-X Podcast drop on Fridays.

Brandice is back to talk about the 1996 Joe Pytka film, Space Jam, and the blockbuster soundtrack that accompanied the film. We manage to spend our time talking about everything from The Quad City DJs "Space Jam" theme to Bugs Bunny's "Buggin", while avoiding talking about that one song by that one very problematic artist. We also discuss how some of the artists featured on the soundtrack had major soundtrack hits the year before (Coolio, Seal), and how stacked the soundtrack was with big name artists.

We also chat about composer James Newton Howard, who scored Space Jam right after being nominated for an Oscar for his score for The Fugitive. From there, we take a stab about why Joe Pytka stopped making feature films after Space Jam, and we talk about a forgotten Saturday morning cartoon featuring a crime fighting Michael Jordan (along with Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky).

We're almost done with Season 2 so here's our B-Sides compilation of this season. We have conversations with regulars Brandice and Nicole as well as clips from many of our many entertaining guests. From some of our favorite podcasters to a writer / actor / director triple threat and a horror comic book writer, we've had a lot of great people stop by the podcast this season as we're forever grateful for ALL OF THEM! Conversations in this episode range from geeking out about Asian American hip hop artists to the weird plot of Yes Man to Richard Linklater's sneaky underrated reputation as a director who has a great taste in music for his films.

This week we welcome Robert and Steven Sklansky, brothers, and co-hosts of The Simpsons Did It Podcast, to talk about the 1997 soundtrack, Songs in the Key of Springfield, which is the first official Simpsons soundtrack. We chat about all kinds of music from the show, from Danny Elfman's iconic Simpsons theme to the recent Morrisey parody episode, and everything in between. We discuss some of our favorite musical guests, some musical guests we hope cameo on the show one day, and all the different classical musical references that pop up in the "golden age" of The Simpsons. Robert and Steven even give us some working theories on where Springfield actually is. 

Brandice and Nicole are back to talk about the Stephen Frears film High Fidelity (2000), and we debate whether it really qualifies as a romantic comedy or not. We break down the soundtrack and whether all of it works or whether some of the songs are too on the nose even if you look at the soundtrack as a mixtape for the movie. For a film set in Chicago, we question why there weren't more references to the Chicago indie scene since the original setting of High Fidelity (the book) is in London. 

We give props to the soundtrack supervisor of the film, Kathy Nelson, and how she was able to help get the film made. Somehow, we also get on the subject of thruples, bangs, and Tim Robbins' wig.

Austin, from the podcast, I Hate Your Taste In Movies, is our guest to talk about the 1982 John Huston musical, Annie, which boasted hit songs such as "Tomorrow" and "A Hard Knock Life" as well as a loaded cast including Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry. We talk about the negative critical reception that film initially received, including a Golden Raspberry nomination for star Aileen Quinn as worst actress.

We touch on many of the different iterations of Annie over the years, including the Broadway musical that preceded the film, and we trace Jay-Z's sample of "A Hard Knock Life" to his role as a producer of the 2014 version of Annie. Austin talks about how the 1999 film seemed to be the version of choice amongst her peers in school and I share about an educational film I watched in school starring Aileen Quinn.

We're back for the 2nd half of season 2! We're discussing the 1998 Todd Haynes film, Velvet Goldmine, which pays tribute to glam rock through both original songs and covers. We discuss how the movie is more or less based on David Bowie and Iggy Pop, though Haynes couldn't get Bowie to sign off on the film, therefore nixing any use of his music. We talk about the two super groups on the soundtrack, The Venus in Furs and The Wylde Ratttz, how Shudder to Think's original contributions created a new career path for them, and about the the many references to Oscar Wilde in the film. 

Obviously, since Nicole picked the soundtrack, we also talk about Ewan MacGregor, one of the many stars in this very stacked cast. 

Actor/Director/Writer, Peter Gardner returns to the podcast to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Mel Stuart film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which while technically not a musical, it boasts such classic songs as "Pure Imagination", "Candy Man", and the Oompa Loompa songs. All of these songs were written by Leslie Bricusse, who has also penned so many other memorable film songs like "Goldfinger", "Thank You Very Much" from Scrooge, "Talk Like the Animals" from Dr. Doolittle, and the "Love Theme" from Superman (co-written with John Williams). We do a deep dive into both the film and the career of Leslie Bricusse, and Peter also shares his childhood connection to both the film and the marketing blitz that came with it.

This week, Raymond Luu of Reel Asian Podcast and I cover the Kendrick Lamar curated soundtrack for the 2018 Ryan Coogler film, Black Panther. We talk about the vibrancy of the album and how  Coogler’s request for a couple of songs evolved into an entire soundtrack and how that soundtrack is such a great companion piece to this Oscar nominated MCU film. We cover some of our favorite songs from the film such as SOB x RBE's "Paramedic", SZA and Kendrick Lamar's "All the Stars", as well as the Grammy winning song "King's Dead", among many others. We also do a deep dive into the film, highlighting many of the great performances, including the late Chadwick Boseman's King T'Challa and Michael B. Jordan as Eric Killmonger. 

Ryan, Brandice, and Nicole chat about the 2017 David Leitch film, Atomic Blonde and it's very 80's soundtrack. We talk how the film's use of these popular songs are used in a way that isn't too on the nose. We break down some of our favorite scenes from the film and Brandice brings up the one scene that she feels falls flat. Brandice also reminisces about almost losing her hearing after seeing the band, HEALTH, while Nicole reminisces about the blatant product placement in the film.

It's our 25th Episode and we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Steven Spielberg's (Indiana Jones and) Raiders of the Lost Ark with actor/director/writer Peter Gardner who brings a wealth of knowledge about the film and it's soundtrack composer, the great John Williams. This is the first time this podcast has covered a film scored by John Williams so it’s fitting that we pick one of his most famous films! Peter talks about not just Williams’ score for Raiders, but he gives breaks down a lot of Williams’ work with his frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg as well as other highlights in his storied career.

Kaytie Ohashi of The Wonderful World of Disney Villains Podcast is our guest this week to talk about Aladdin, the Broadway musical. We discuss the origins of the musical and compare it to the 1992 animated version of Aladdin, and the 2019 live action adaptation of the film. Kaytie shares about seeing the musical multiple times and we discuss the new music that was written specifically for the Broadway adaptation. Kaytie also mentions some unique facts about how Jasmine differs from other Disney princesses and how she likes how the Aladdin animated TV show explores the relationship between Jasmine and Aladdin. We also discuss the iconic performance of Robin Williams in the animated film and the expectations that come with taking the form of the Genie in all other adaptations of Aladdin.

Damon Gross returns to the podcast to talk about the 2001 Richard Kelly film, Donnie Darko, which Damon saw in its original theatrical run! We chat about the 80s songs that Kelly and soundtrack composer/supervisor, Michael Andrews chose for the film including “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen. We talk about how Echo and the Bunnymen has influenced bands like Pavement and Hole, and how their earlier material was a far cry from the hits that they would eventually be known for. We chat about the revival of 80s music in films in the 2000s and whether Donnie Darko inadvertently kicked off a new emo fashion trend in the 2000s. We also talk about Michael Andrews’ career before becoming a soundtrack composer, where he performed under the pseudonym, Elgin Park. We also briefly discuss Jake Gylenhaal’s other 2001 starring role, as the title character from box office bomb, Bubble Boy.

UPDATE: Our discussion of a highly problematic musician has been removed from this episode.

It’s Part 2 of our breakdown of the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, Moulin Rouge, with Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow. In this half of the episode, we break down the film’s mashup of Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lady Marmalade, some other singing roles that Ewan MacGregor and Nicole Kidman have taken, and the legacy of Moulin Rouge. We also have some hot takes on films that were inspired by or were an inspiration to Moulin Rouge and we out Brandice as a lover of musicals.

Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow are back to talk about the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge, which happens to star Nicole's favorite actor, Ewan McGregor. We talk about how the film has aged 20 years later and we discuss whether all the "jukebox" medleys in this film still hold up. We talk about how the production of the the film seemed cursed and other tidbits related to this iconic musical. With so much music to talk about with this film, we've broken this episode into 2 parts.

Part 2 of our Moulin Rouge breakdown will be available next week.

Hannah and Lily from Society Owes Me a Gen X Podcast are the guests this week to talk about Alan Moyle’s 1995 film, Empire Records, and it’s hit soundtrack, which initially overshadowed the film. We talk about the Gin Blossoms and Edwyn Collins’ massive hits from the soundtrack, Renee Zellweger’s quick transition in film from teen turbo slut to a proper adult, and how strange it is that Liv Tyler’s stepdad is casted as fellow record store peer in this film.

We also break down songs on the soundtrack from bands such as Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Cranberries, Better than Ezra, The Martinis, Cracker and The Ape Hangers, and we also receive a brief cameo from a wounded pigeon named Chadwick that Hannah and Lily rescued before the recording of the episode.

Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow return for one of the last episodes of the season. We talk about Danny Boyle’s 1996 groundbreaking film, Trainspotting, and the 2 much loved companion soundtracks that it spawned. This is one of Nicole’s favorite films and it’s one that Brandice has just watched for the 1st time, so there are definitely some differences in opinion in this episode. We talk about some of the film’s most iconic scenes, why Oasis is not on the soundtrack, and whether Ewen McGregor’s gaunt appearance in the film is attractive or not. It all culminates with Brandice and Nicole rehashing a disastrous 4th of July concert experience from a few years ago.

Our show’s music composer, and member of Chicago bands, Percolator and Rubber Spaniel, Phil Bertulfo, returns to the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to the 1996 film Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. Phils talks about how he discovered Kids in the Hall in the pre-internet era and how excited he was for the movie and the accompanying Matador Records soundtrack. We talk about Pavement, Cibo Matto, Matthew Sweet, Stereolab and They Might be Giants, and some of the Canadian indie-rock bands (The Odds, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, The Tragically Hip) featured on the soundtrack. We dive into the history of the Kids, how the movie caused a lot of tension within the troupe and how they’ve had a knack for connecting with rock bands. We pepper in stories about being fans of the troupe in our teen years and the Kids in the Hall connection to Lorne Michaels and his other sketch comedy show.

Advertising copywriter Nicole Barlow joins the podcast to discuss the 2004 Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a film that initially received mixed reviews but has gone on to garner a greater appreciation as time has gone on. One aspect of the movie that was praised from the outset was the soundtrack to the film, the Seu Jeorge covers of David Bowie, in particular. We talk about his versions of the Bowie songs as well as seeing Jeorge perform the songs live after the death of Bowie. We also talk about how almost every song on the soundtrack is connected to Bowie in one way or another and we talk about Mark Mothersbaugh's score which would be the last of his 4 straight collaborations with Wes Anderson. Finally, Nicole details a trip to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco where she was able to see how much of Zissou is based on Jacque Cousteau up close and in person.

Reverend Kevin Doi is our guest this week to talk about Albert Magnoli’s 1984 film, Purple Rain. Kevin, who was a big Prince fan back in 1984, talks about his skepticism over Prince crossing over into film, how he originally discovered Prince’s music and how the film / soundtrack brought Prince to an audience he had previously not been able to reach. We discuss how the movie wouldn’t be able to be made today with so many non-actors in the film (Wendy, Lisa, Morris Day, Apolonia, etc), and how the film and it’s songs still hold up today.

We also talk about seeing Prince live together in 2013 and our experience watching perhaps the most famous Prince cover band, Princess, fronted by comedian, Maya Rudolph.

Advertising copywriter and hardcore Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor fan, Brandice Wilson, joins the Podcast to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2010 David Fincher directed film, The Social Network, which is the first film that Trent Reznor (and Atticus Ross) scored (officially).  We talk about the film and it's Oscar winning soundtrack, which became the first of many collaborations between Reznor/Ross and Fincher. We also look back at Reznor's work in Nine Inch Nails in the 90s that offer hints that he would be wildly successful as a soundtrack composer. We end the podcast with Brandice sharing a story about the nerve racking experience of actually meeting one of her musical heroes (hint: it's Trent Reznor).

Guilty Hearts guitarist Edgar Rodriguez returns to the podcast to talk about Michael Lehmann’s 1994 comedy Airheads, which has become a cult classic 26 years after it debuted in theaters. We talk about the cast, the infamous ransom list, and many of the music reference heavy jokes of the film, which were probably lost on film critics back in 1994. We chat about the hard rock heavy soundtrack loaded with plenty of oddities like a Motorhead song with Ice-T, Anthrax covering The Smiths, and 4 Non Blondes covering Van Halen. Edgar gives some background on a local radio station power struggle that may have inspired the plot of the film and he shares about his time interning at a radio station and the realities of the not so glamorous music industry. We also discuss God himself, Lemmy Kilmister.

Fellow Paul Westerberg super fan, and creative director at the Mighty Roar agency in Atlanta, GA, Christian Durrett joins the podcast to talk about the 2006 animated film Open Season, which Paul Westerberg wrote 8 songs for, and how that started rumors of a possible Replacements reunion until Westerberg ended up injuring himself in his basement months after the soundtrack was released. We talk about Westerberg's star-crossed career and the pure bliss of The Replacements reunion in 2013.

Guilty Hearts guitarist Edgar Rodriguez joins the podcast to talk about the 1986 film Dogs In Space, which stars the late Michael Hutchence (frontman of INXS) and is directed by music video director Richard Lowenstein (best known for his work with INXS). Though the film has strong INXS ties, the soundtrack actually skews more punk and lo-fi, highlighting bands from the late 1970s Australian punk scene as well as Iggy Pop, The Birthday Party, Boys Next Door, Gang of Four and Brian Eno. We also briefly chat about the INXS singing competition reality show from the 2000s where the band tried to find a new frontman to replace Hutchence and the art of being a frontman.

Beverly Encina stops by to talk about Michel Gondry's 2006 concert film, Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Even though we didn't know each other back in 2006, we are linked by many of the artists featured in the film such as The Roots, Kanye, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and more. We reflect on how we got into hip hop and how we ended up finding out about these artists. We also talk about the night of a Lauryn Hill show we attended where the pre-game was almost as memorable as the main event.

Phil Bertulfo (Rubber Spaniel, Percolator) joins the podcast to talk about the 2017 Edgar Wright film, Baby Driver. For a movie set in present day, we sure spend a lot of time talking about 90s bands like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Handsome Boy Modeling School, REM and Beck, which leads us to talking about how we met in college. Phil also shares about how the film's use of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's music vindicates a failed high school talent show audition.

Joy Luck Division members Long Nguyen and Damon Gross join the podcast to talk about Amy Heckerling’s 1995 classic film Clueless, which is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary! We chat about Alicia Silverstone’s career before she became a star, the running gag of the song “Fake Plastic Trees” and some parallels between Clueless and Amy Heckerling’s other iconic teen film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Long also shares some stories about his time in Orange County ska band, the Nuckle Brothers, and how surreal it was to see ska taking off as his band was breaking up.

Damon stops by the podcast again to talk about the 1983 cult classic film, Valley Girl, which famously launched Nicholas Cage's career.  We talk about it's popular but never officially released soundtrack and how the movie helped make Modern English's "Melt With You" the huge iconic 80s hit that we now know it as. Damon also has some choice words for the 2020 Valley Girl remake and we discuss recent 80s and 90s films that use music and references that seem too obvious.

Stand up comedian and voice actor, Amber Aviles drops by to talk about how she almost chose Randy Newman’s “You’ve Always Got a Friend in Me” as the first dance song for her wedding, and how Randy Newman has a special place in her heart as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan with his iconic song “I Love LA” soundtracking every Dodgers home win. We also discuss songs that “soundtrack” different baseball stadiums, the magic of The Minnesota State Fair, and positive encounters we’ve had with stand up comedians (Mary Mack, Iliza Shlesinger) and voice actors (Rob Paulsen, Nancy Cartwright and more).

Ryan and Damon Gross (Joy Luck Division, The Visitors Q) discuss the soundtrack to the 1995 Larry Clarke film, Kids. It produced the surprise Billboard Top 40 Single, "Natural One" by The Folk Implosion, Lou Barlow's 3rd most famous band. They discuss the influence of the soundtrack's artists on their lives as well as how Kids launched the career of soundtrack supervisor, Randall Poster.