Working on this site has been an eye- (and ear-) opener for me. So much music I’ve never listened to, so many bands I ignored because I assumed they were just one hit wonders, so many of Scott’s damn rabbit holes. Discovery has been a real pleasure and, yes, a pain (sometimes mostly a pain).
The thing about Scotts new posts about his vinyl collection is he truly loves it. You can see it in the way he writes about them. Also he’s said it on multiple occasions. These aren’t just MP3’s he got off a shady Russian site – these are physical things he had to find and exchange real money for. You really got to love music to put your cash down for it.
Which got me thinking about what music I love. Yes, I have an affection for a certain master of the art of parody, but that’s not the only music I listen to. I really have listened to tons of music, I just felt like I wasn’t paying it much attention or put much value on it.
The entirety of my music collection is not even a pale shadow of Scott’s vinyl collection. I can’t review an album I own every time he posts about one of his – I’d be out of things to talk about by the end of the month.
Music was never my greatest love or joy. It’s just always been there. Thanks to this site, I’m paying more attention to it now than ever before, but it’s still just…tunes. Where does something I love cross paths with music? I sat down with my collection to figure it out. The answer was, ironically, in my extremely substandard music collection.
Here’s a few albums in my collection:
- “UHF”
- “The Fifth Element”
- “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1”
- “Who Made Who”
- “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Well, duh.
The thing I’ve loved the longest has been the movies. Movies have been there with me for as long as I can remember. I’ve celebrated every birthday for the last four decades watching a movie and having pizza. But I never considered the music of movies when we talked about this site or this project.
“UHF” (1987) might be the first soundtrack I ever purchased, but my brother’s copy of “Who Made Who” – the soundtrack to “Maximum Overdrive” (1986) – was probably the first one I had (after stealing it from him). “The Fifth Element” (1997) was the first DVD I ever purchased – and I bought the soundtrack for it because I didn’t have a DVD player.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000) was the first album I purchased on iTunes and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1” (2014) was the second album I purchased on Google (the first one was the “Frozen” (2013) soundtrack, which got a lot of play).
Soundtracks are the mixtape of my life.
My wife and I danced to the soundtrack from Cinderella at our wedding. I’ve been telling everyone that Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” is my song since “Pulp Fiction” came out in 1994. My daughter plays Disney soundtracks on repeat at home. I feel like a badass when I listen to the “Reservoir Dogs” soundtrack. “Mamma Mia” and “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” are great for singing along on road trips. I’m awesome because I can rap along to “Rapper’s Delight” thanks to “The Wedding Singer” (1998). Most of my favorite songs are, unsurprisingly, featured on movie soundtracks. I bought Elastica’s album because their song “Connection” wasn’t included on the Hackers soundtrack.
That’s what I’m going to write about: soundtracks. It’ll also give me a chance to talk about movies – and give me a reason to re-watch some of my favorite films. I hope you enjoy it too.
Yeah But What Else? 