I think there are a few songs that need to be retired from cinema. They each get used multiple times a year, in films, in trailers, in commercials. Some of them are wonderful pieces of music; others were never that great to start with. But they all have been used so many times, I'm sick of hearing them, and I think they ought to be put to sleep.
Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) -- As fun as this song is, there are other swing tunes to choose from. In fact, my fanatical swing-dancing friend informed me once that this isn't even that popular a swing number because it's too damn long. You pretty much have to dance it in shifts with other dancers because no one has the stamina to make it through from beginning to end. What's worse, this song shows up quite a bit even in contexts that have nothing to do with swing music. Anyone remember that Chips Ahoy commercial from a few years ago?
This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) -- Are you making a romantic comedy with just a hint of female empowerment? By law, if you don't include this song in your movie, you have to at least put it in your trailer.
Sweet Home Alabama -- This is the standard song to set up that your main characters are "good ol' boy" country hicks. This song peaked when they actually made a movie named after it. But when it appeared in the movie Sahara -- not even set on the same continent as Alabama, never mind in the same country -- it had officially worn out its (limited) welcome.
The Girl From Ipanema -- This song really needs to be retired, because it serves double duty. It's the go-to song both for "stereotypical elevator music" and underscoring seduction scenes.
O Fortuna -- Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is, I think, an exceptional work. And the introductory song, O Fortuna, is one of the best parts of it. But enough is enough. Surely there must be one other song, somewhere, that can convey demonic presence, life-threatening danger, and descent into moral decay.
You may say I'm foolish to think that Hollywood would ever drop "tried and true" in favor of something actually creative. And in this summer loaded with remakes and sequels, you'd have a compelling case. But songs have been retired from film before. In the late 80s, there seemed to be a mandate that if you made an even vaguely comedic movie, you had to include a scene set to Yello's Oh Yeah. Hollywood managed to get over that and the song hasn't been seen in film since.
Come on! You can do it again!
7 comments:
Evan, as much as I agree with each of your points, the sudden record stop sound effect used in "wacky hilarious" film trailers must be stripped from every hard drive, put on a dual-layer audio DVD, shot into orbit, then destroyed by a nuclear warhead.
Ooo! Excellent edition to the list. I think we're all capable of forming the thought "I can't believe s/he just said that" without having a stupid sound effect tell us we're supposed to think that.
The stupid thing is that the sound effect is used only in the trailers. I've never heard it used in actual material without a sense of deliberate irony.
The effect is especially helpful in trailers for comedies whose only funny scenes are spoiled in said trailers.
Not to get all music geeky (but I'm about to) I think it's dumb to use the great works of the classical literature in just about any movie that's been made in the last century or so.
If it's a piece used in the score because there is actually a string quartet in the background of a scene, or the characters actually attend an opera (Pretty Woman, Moonstruck) or the symphony, then by all means, use it. If it's just an underpinning and you want something that sounds a certain way, either commission a new work or grab some craptastular track from some pop star's new album that fits the bill.
This also goes for television theme songs. Wings used a Schubert piano concerto (played by a cello instead, I assume because one of the characters on the show was a cellist), and while it was one of the better theme songs, I hardly thing that's what Franz had in mind when he wrote it.
There are two corollaries:
1) There is a special circle of hell reserved for people who use excerpts from Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 9th, Schubert's Unfinished, or for heaven's sake any of that mess of violins written by Vivaldi (or any other works falling under the "Classical" banner) in commercials. DO NOT use Beethoven to sell gum. (I'm talking to you, Wrigley's!) That makes me long for an assault weapon and a presidential pardon.
2) Cartoons can use whatever they want. They always seem to do the works justice. Doubly so if Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd are involved. The great composers wouldn't appreciate being used, but I hope they had a sense of humor and would be flattered at the parody.
(Oh, and +1 on This Will Be. Sick of that used as an anthem of female power.)
Gosh, that felt good. I'm done now.
My personal favorite song/score to loathe for its preponderance in action trailers is the bit from Gladiator. Basically, any Hans Zimmer stuff. Yes, it's fun and it gets the heart pumping, but it all starts to sound the same after a while...
BTW Evan, your interview is up in Episode 4.
The one bit that I noticed over and over for a long time in trailers is the music from Aliens when the nuke is about to go off and the drop ship is shooting into orbit. Every horror and sci-fi preview seemed to be using it.
I guess if your movie's music isn't done yet, you have to use somefin, but holy cripes...
Well, given the rather uneven quality of Star Trek film scores, the use of the theme to the new Planet of the Apes in the Nemesis trailer was actually A Good Thing.
Post a Comment