Soundtrack Battle Wednesday
Here's the news folks: I'm going on a little vacay until Tuesday. Hooray for me. Boo for the blog. I may make a post or two while I'm away, but, who are we kidding, probably not. Which means, for the second week in a row, there will be no 10 CD Thursday. (Oh, and also, I have to manually approve all comments, so for the three of you that actually do comment regularly, anything you say won't show up until I get back.) I don't know if anyone else enjoys these, but I like doing them — it's a good challenge, and gets me to listen to the slush pile. Also, it's a guaranteed post every Thursday.
But and so, because I got two different soundtracks in the mail today, I present the new (probably one-off) feature Soundtrack Battle Wednesday!
First up:
"Kurt Cobain: About a Son: Music From the Motion Picture"
This is a selection of the best of the music that influenced the Nirvana frontman, interpolated with snippets of audio interviews with Kurt himself. Which isn't as creepy as you think. Enough time has passed since his premature death that the samples are almost historical artifacts. And he has some really interesting things to say, about fame, about the band, about the music he likes.
Now the music. This shit should be taught in schools. David Bowie, Arlo Guthrie, Bad Brains, Iggy Pop. Lead Belly, Melvins... and Benjamin Gibbard? Well, OK, the Death Cab frontman is covering a Beat Happening song. We'll let it slide. The CD give a perfect snapshot of the bands Cobain studied, loved and learned from. As Michael Azerrad — the author of "Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana," on which the film is based — writes in the liner notes, "It's like a mixtape you'd give to a friend or lover to share ideas, not just about music but about your whole point of view."
The dark horse contender after the jump.
"Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack"
I honestly did listen to both of these, although I was tempted to score the challenge based on whose film iconography resonated with me more deeply.
Ugh.
The album opens with in-your-face, hip-hop-influenced, apparently non-ironically titled, pop anthem "Rock Star" by Prima J. The rest of the album is more of the same overproduced, under thought dreck. The only names I recognize are Black Eyed Peas (their's is actually the least bad cut on the album), Ashlee Simpson and Lifehouse.
There is a knock-off of Usher's "Yeah," called "Heartburn," by NLT, that has the lyric "She's burning my heart/I can't take no more for real." Guys, comparing heartache to an uncomfortable bodily function is not that sexy. I can't even get into the travesty that is "All About Me," by Chelsea Staub (in the role of Meredith). Without even thinking of it, I kept pulling the earphones off my ears, and I had to consciously will myself to make it to the end of the song. Also, one or more of the songs employs the word "bratitude."
Yeah, this CD sucks. It's making me irritable and possibly physically ill. My face is getting itchty. So are my teeth. If I heard this music in a bar, I would leave. I can't even remember anymore what it was I did that was so wrong that merited the punishment of listening to the whole thing.
Final report: I expected that the album with all my favorite artists would fare much better than the soundtrack to a movie based on a bunch of a bug-eyed freak dolls, but I didn't think it would be such a thorough defeat. If these were football teams, it would be pure carnage, with Chelsea Staub and the rest bruised up and in traction, and a half naked Iggy Pop running around the field clutching someone else's limb.
eh, www.amNY.com
UPDATE: Also, you can get any of the songs from the Bratz soundtrack as a ringtone. And the CD comes with a fold-out poster. Just so you know.
Comments (1)
bug-eyed freak dolls...ha! funny. hope you have a good vacay.