Watchmen soundtrack

[schmevil]

I was complaining about the Watchmen soundtrack. Here's what it looks like:

1. Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance
2. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
3. Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan
4. Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
5. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
6. I'm Your Boogie Man - KC & the Sunshine Band
7. You're My Thrill - Billie Holiday
8. Pruit Igoe & Prophecies - Philip Glass Ensemble
9. Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
10. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
11. Ride of the Valkyries - Budapest Symphony Orchestra
12. Pirate Jenny [Live] - Nina Simone

I suppose this is a case of ymmv but to my ears, the soundtrack is like a blow from the balpeen hammer of pop cultural reference, and so hard a blow that stuns, thereby ceasing to have meaning. Breaking out the Simon and Garfunkel (particularly when he did) is like standing at the top of the stairs and yelling THIS IS IMPORTANT! Not only does Watchmen not require that kind of musical support, the musical choices call attention to themselves.

Anyway, I'm too tired to elaborate on this. Cut. Print. I'm about halfway through Kroker and Weinstein's Data Trash and I need to lead a seminar on it in 9 hours. So I'm obvs fried. Best line so far: "What could be more fun than death camps?" Oh Kroker.

Comments

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I'm, like, the only person on the internet who like that soundtrack (except for the Hallelujah track -- Leonard Cohen was a genius at songwriting, but his rendition of that song is awful. Everyone who's ever covered it sang it better).

I kind of thought the sledgehammer blows worked -- it created this slight ironic distance from the film, which works with Watchmen, I think, because Watchmen is supposed to be very self-aware of how Meta it is and also everything by Alan Moore is kind of intended to have the subtlely of a sledgehammer.

All Along Along the Watchtower was perfect for the scene they used it in, IMO. It was like they'd premade a fanvid for your convenience. (And I'll admit, using very well known and even iconic popular music is something milage can vary heavily on. On the one hand, there's the eternal brilliance of Supernatural's soundtrack, which may be the best soundtrack to anything ever, but on the other hand, there's the heavy use of Evanescence music in the Daredevil movie, which just... I was watching it on DVD thinking "Somewhere on the internet this scene has been vidded to Evanescence" and then "Tourniquette" started playing and I quietly died of LOLs).

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

What the hell is My Chemical Romance doing there o_O

[deralte.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I thought the musical choices added a much needed bit of humour to the whole thing. I groaned when Hallelujah came on but thought of it more as a bad pun (reinforced by choosing the Leonard Cohen version, which is awful compared to, you know, every cover of the song). And I was snickering when All Along the Watchtower started playing. Was the music distracting at times, and obvious? Yes. But it did serve its purpose of keeping me audiobly cued to what time period or mood the movie was going for. I think he should have chosen some less well known songs from those time periods, but I don't think it was a total disaster. *shrugs*

ps. Apparently, the director chose (http://1heckofaguy.com/2009/03/08/leonard-cohens-hallelujah-mood-music-for-watchmen-superheroic-sex-scene/) Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah because using a better version of the song made it too romantic, and he was going for cuing people in on it being a ridiculous scene.

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

I felt the director was going for clever, not beautiful (ha! Hawksley Workman reference) but didn't quite get there.

[dlasta.livejournal.com]

Good songs (most of them), crappy, anvil-y execution except for Times They Are A-Changin'. I can live with that. It happens.
However, the score completely rips off Vangelis with the Comedian's theme.
And it's not even subtle!

It's goddamn Blade Runner! Show some respect!