7 Great Theme Songs from Various Eras (Superb Soundtracky Saturday)

Movies have soundtracks and TV series have theme songs, and some of them are so great and memorable that (in some cases) they might outlive the series. I mean it would be a lot easier to recollect a 40-60 seconds tune than a whole 30- or 60-minute episode, and the thing about a great theme is that 40-60 seconds could render the big picture, the suspense or hilarity or the excitement, of the series that comes with it.

Green Hornet
Al Hirt made a fabulous rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's “Flight of the Bumblebee,” which initially used for the radio series. Such intensity and pace in the trumpet solo, makes you wanna do some Bruce Lee stuff.

Bonanza
There are many great western soundtracks and theme songs. However, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans had succeeded in making more than that. This tune is easily memorable and just sticks there in your head.

Hawaii Five-0
The popularity it gains among marching bands and how it becomes the (unofficial) fight song of the University of Hawaii pretty much portray how great Morton Stevens’s composition—performed by The Ventures—is.

Gilmore Girls (Where You Lead, performed by Carole King)
“Life's short. Talk Fast”, that’s the tagline of this TV series and (suitably) the “motto” of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. While the calm character of this song is the opposite of the fast-paced dialogue, it captures the mother and daughter relationship vividly.

Mission Impossible
Personally, I think Lalo Schifrin had done a marvelous job in composing such tune that can represent rush, tension, or in short, nick-of-time kind of situation. It’s a brilliant exclamation mark for the title of the series.

The A-Team
Imagine them heading to a mission with Hannibal smirking with a cigar in his mouth, Face trying his best to keep his cool as usual, Murdock lively making nonsensical remarks behind a chopper cockpit, and B.A. sleeping like a baby after one of his comrades gave him the “pre-flight” medication.

That ‘70s Show (“In the Street,” performed by Todd Griffin)
A bunch of teenagers of the seventies in Wisconsin. Nothing much to do. Just hanging out, having fun, drinking beers (when their parents aren’t around), and making love (when they can). This (version) is just the perfect theme song for that.

I won’t say that the ones I listed here are the greatest but they are great nonetheless. If you have your own favorites, feel free to share them here.

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Pulp Fiction: Surfing and Twisting…and the Son of a Preacher Man (Superb Soundtracky Saturday)

A rather long sounds-like-day-to-day discussion goes between Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) about robbing a bank, robbing liquor stores, how someone did a robbery just using a phone call, and the “prospect” of robbing dinners. Then Pumpkin places a gun on the dinning table, followed by a passionate kiss between the young couple.

Honey Bunny: I love you, Pumpkin.
Pumpkin: I love you, Honey Bunny.
Pumpkin: [Suddenly standing up on his chair with a gun in his hand.] All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!
Honey Bunny: [Standing from her chair while pointing her gun around in the dinner. Screaming from the top of her lungs.] Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!

Then Dick Dale’s awesome surf rock guitar sound blasts just at the right moment. "Misirlou" comes with just the right pace and tone of hecticness (if that’s even a word) to open the title. And at that moment, you’ll know for sure that it is not your regular movie.

A footage from the opening dialog and an awesome live performance of Misirlou

In Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino throws a bunch of efficient, often hilarious, and witty dialogues, especially between Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson). Other than that, and the perfect casts, and the unconventional plot, there is one more thing that makes this film as good as it is: the music.

Just like most of his movies, there’s no special arrangement written specifically for this movie. Instead, Tarantino chose a mixed-bag of music from various genres that he thought would “enhance” the scenes he created. And he’s right. Some of the most memorable scenes from Pulp Ficion come with perfectly matching songs. Besides the previously mentioned opening scene, another memorable scene, which for some is even considered as the trademark of the movie, is the Jack Rabbit Slim’s Twist Contest. Mia (Uma Thurman) and Vincent Vega do a cool, fun twist dance. As the background, there’s a groovy Chuck Berry rock ‘n’ roll track, "You Never Can Tell". It could be the cast, or the dance, or the song, you can’t tell. But it’s clear that the combination of those three makes you wanna watch this twist dance scene again and again.

The famous twist dance and Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell"

There are sixteen tracks in the album Music from the Motion Picture: Pulp Fiction. It’s a mix of the best dialogue clips, surf rock, pop, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, and “Ezekiel 25:17.” It seems that Tarantino has a certain thing for surf and rock ‘n’ roll music. Almost every film he’s made includes one of those two. In this particular soundtrack album, besides the two mentioned above, other notable tracks include a groovy funk number by Kool and the Gang, "Jungle Boogie"; "Bullwinkle Part II", another surf rock track by The Centurions; Urge Overkill’s cover of Neil Diamond’s "Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon"; and another surf music, "Bustin’ Surfboard", by the Tornadoes. A rather calm, slow track is a version of “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield. This fabulous soul-blues song was originally released in 1968 as a single and in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine listed this song at #240 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. And I think this song will also be a good closing for this week Triple-S post. Enjoy and see ya!

As a closing and cooling down song, a beautiful performance from Dusty Springfield

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Dollars Trilogy and the Everlasting Whistling (Superb Soundtracky Saturday)

To begin with, it’s impossible to talk about this marvelous “Spaghetti Western” trilogy without mentioning Clint Eastwood. In his memoir, The Film Club, Canadian writer and journalist David Gilmour mentions how Eastwood agreed to play in the movie that had been rejected by actors such as Charles Bronson and James Coburn. But, Eastwood insisted he would do it in one condition: the script had to be cut down. He thought the guy he played would give greater impression if he didn’t talk. Eastwood was right. His silent-and-deadly performance was a brilliant combination.

Director Sergio Leone asked composer Ennio Morricone to write the music for his future films. It was Leone who specifically requested Dimitri Tiomkin style of music, which lead to Morricone's presentations of those great and everlasting whistling tunes. There was an interesting scene in 2007, when Ennio Morricone won the honorary Academy Awards “for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.” The award was presented by Clint Eastwood and there was a standing ovation. It was for the great composer, but I guess it won’t be wrong to say that they both deserved it, for their priceless legacy of this Dollars Trilogy.

A Fistful of Dollars


For a Few Dollars More


The Good the Bad and the Ugly

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Hit Girl Massacres (OST. Kick Ass - Superb Soundtracky Saturday)

Probably not the best film ever from last year, I mean if you use artistic or other smart measures; but it surely gives me something I really need: ENTERTAINMENT. Yep, this movie is PURE FUN. Cool bang-bangs, and stab-stabs, and punch-punch(s). A pretty bloody one, and I won't recommend it for any children. (You don't want your little babies watch a ten years ol girl pumping guns and wielding knives, don't you?)

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"Don’t Bogart That Joint My Friend!" (Superb Soundtracky Saturday)

“What a song, what a picture, what a credit title!” That instantly came to my mind (for the obvious reason: "Ah...That good old days"), when I watched Rhys Ifans’ Mr. Nice.

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Soundtrack of the 60's

Soundtrack of the 60's? Is there even a movie called The 60's? Yes, there is. I just found it out, but nope, this is not about that. To tell the truth, I just made the title all up to suite my Superb Soundtracky. Whatever...I could just call this "Anthems of the 60's", but it won't make any difference, since it's the songs I will enlist that matter. So, are you ready for the greatests from the greatest era ever existed in music history?

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: Forrest Gump

It’s Like a Box of Tasty Chocolate. I Know You’re Gonna Get Something Good

I’ll try to make this one to be “more music and fewer gibberish ramblings” post, because…well, there are simply so many great classics in this Forrest Gump OST (a double album it is). I’ll keep the intro to a shorter one, so you can read less and listen more. (Or just jump to the listen part right away.)

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

An Awesome Ultra Combo

Actually, I can do this post simply with mumbling “awesome, awesome, awesome…” Let say…200 times for the film and another 200 for the soundtrack. And I guess it could become such a word-effective piece of presentation, since everything will be covered with that single word…For me at least.

Hmm…Okay, where should I begin? Scott Pilgrim vs. the World—with the seemingly illogical scenes and frames here and there—might look kinda absurd or at least vague. Yet that style is the perfect wrapper for the pure-fun elements. What elements? There are this and that in the movie: the presence of comical comic book tone (no surprise since this film is an adaptation of a novel graphic series with the same title, Scott Pilgrim), classic arcade battle games taste (which reminds me to old arcade game such as Street Fighters, Mortal Combat, and the likes), unexpected and nonsensical (if not immature) surreal gimmicks (but, hey, it’s a teen movie tight?), and off course, the cool great sounding scores and songs that feel so fresh, youthful, raw, and…indie. So, all in all, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one hell of a movie.
Now, here comes the ultimate fun part. The soundtrack! When I said Ultra Combo, I’m kinda mean it to combine the fighting game style assimilated in the movie and the awesome tunes in the soundtrack that come one after another.
Some of the blasts sequence of the combo comes from The Sex Bob-omb, the fabulous band of Scott Pilgrim himself, with their ear-blowing and body-shaking songs. They have something that I’ve been craving for so long: crucnhy, raw, vintage garage sound. Too bad, this band is merely fictional, so to have their new stuffs would mean waiting for sequel of the movies. The next hit is from Plumtree, an indie rock band from Canada, which has more or less similar sound characteristic with The Sex Bob-omb. What a great guitar sound! Then comes the psychedelic beat of Black Lips, which with their O Katrina, this Atlanta band sounds like something come from The Ed Sullivan Show.
There’s also a fabulous ballad from London’s T-Rex, a glam rock band of the 70’s. Metric, amazing new wave rock indie band from Toronto, gives their contribution with an amazing up-beat dance rock number. The milder part of the combo is also presented by Broken Social Scene with their haunting dreamy number. Another garage punk blast is brought by Blood Red Shoes, a great a-girl-and-a-boy two-piece band from Brighton (England) that I hope could fill the “empty space” left by the “late” White Stripes.
The other sequence of this amazing combo is made by bigger names. There is one number from the Rolling Stones in the soundtrack. Though Beck only contributes one song (in two versions), he wrote all songs played by The Sex Bob-omb. Here, Beck really show his capacity as a great musician and songwriter. Another big name in the soundtrack is Frank Black aka Black Francis. Francis is the frontman of the great and legendary Pixies, the band that could be said as the biggest influence for the 90’s music scene, and in I Heard Ramona Sing we still could hear that Pixie-ness.
So, there it is. The double Ultra Combo of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a great movie and an awesome soundtrack.

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: Kill Bill Vol.1

A Killer Soundtrack Album

Though some critics, as well as viewers, are rather “harsh” on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, I personally like these series, especially Vol.1; the second volume is a bit disappointing with Bill’s “easy death”, and now waiting for the who-knows-it-is-for-real third volume. Borrowing David Gilmour’s term in his book The Film Club, this is my "fuck-you movie," a movie that makes me imagine (and act a little tiny bit) crazy nonsense stuffs (being an adversary of Musashi in a duel is one of those stuffs).

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: RocknRolla

What A Real RocknRolla Wants

The first thing that comes to me when talking about Guy Ritchie’s movies is middleclass and not-too-successful mobsters and thugs, with messy, strange, wicked, and uncool-but-cool twists of the conflicts. (That’s a compliment.) Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels will always the best among his such works, but others like Snatch and RocknRolla are not that far from the previously mentioned.

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: Little Miss Sunshine

Something a Bit Different for a Good Change

I believe many of you already watched Little Miss Sunshine. A born-again and unsuccessful (yet) motivator father, a mother in the shadow of divorce, a junkie addict grandpa, a son in silent-vow who worships Nietzsche, a daughter with the dream of being Miss-something, and a suicidal uncle who’ve just lost everything. All of them off on journey in a van, all of them reveal themselves, and all of them learn what being a family is. No ultra-expensive CGI special effect, no super glamorous stars, no convoluted twisted plot. Yet, the film is a totally freakin AWESOME!!!

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: The Boat That Rocked (A.K.A. Pirate Radio)

And Thus We Have Rock ‘N’ Roll

For you who haven’t seen the film, I will tell you a little that it is a comedy about culture and music revolution, pirate radio, and a pissed-off old fashioned government. Though not stated clearly in the movie, looks like the “Radio Rock” station does resemble Radio Caroline North, one of the early 60’s pirate radio stations in England who also broadcast offshore from a ship. Radio Rock broadcast rock ‘n’ roll and pop songs which weren’t aired much by BBC at that time. Since the station was unlicensed and aired what was deemed as the source of moral degeneration, they really pushed the button of the government so they made Marine Offenses Act.

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Superb Soundtracky Saturday: Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits

Dude, that’s a lame title.


 
Buzz off! It’s my watch now. You’re history, and I’ll do as I please.

Soundtracky? That’s not even a word.

Oh. You’re a lexicographer now?

Are you a brain surgeon?

“???” No. But I’m the figure of the banner now, and of every ID! This is my reign. A new era for this blog! And thus…

Okay, okay. I’m off. (Please…)

Hey! Wash up? I’m nut finnish yet.

You’re not and you won’t. I better find John. He speaks that language better?

What language? Hey! Where are you…

I’m leaving! Buy, buy!

Well, he’s gone now. That means I could elaborate this latest project, the brilliant and genius “Superb Soundtracky Saturday”, to you…But I’m kinda, not in the mood now. So just read what is written and listen the songs below, after the break. Idieu amigieu!

SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS GREATEST HITS: THE CELEBRATION OF THE SO CALLED “ALTERNATIVE ERA”

Actually, this is a bad start for this SSS, since it’s not a soundtrack album. It’s an album of theme songs, cartoons theme songs. But it’s not too far as being addressed as soundtrack. Okay, enough with that. This is all we have for this week and we gotta make do with it.

Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits was released in 1995 it contains 19 theme songs from 19 cartoon series of the 60’s and 70’s (mainly); such as Speed Racer, Scooby Doo, Spider-Man, Underdog, Johnny Quest, etc. The interesting part, the one that makes this album special, is the performers of those theme songs are mostly, if not saying all, the 90’s bands or singers who carried out the 90’s sound. Yeah, that alternative sounds. You can have pop, rock, pop/rock, punk rock, (a bit) grunge, you name it.

There are Mary Lou Lord (the busker girl who once made Courtney Love jealous because of her relationship with Kurt), Frente! (I’m sure you know their song “Bizarre Love Triangle”), Ramones (Hey, I did say mostly before), Sublime (who doesn’t know Santeria?), and many others, or 15 to be exact.

The album became an interesting package for the 60’s/70’s cartoons lovers and 90’s music lovers. And from the reviews I see on the net, on average, this album gets a positive one. In the scale of 1 to 5, it gets 3,5. So, if you’re wanna get nostalgic with your favorite cartoons or your favorite bands or singers, you better try this one. Enjoy the very first of Superb Soundtracky Saturday!

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