Monthly Archives: October 2012

“Neon Slime” – Wings Hauser (from the 1982 film “Vice Squad” dir. Gary Sherman)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMFqPFrfZ4o

Yes, this song sounds more than a little ridiculous, except that I really, really love it.  It’s the perfect theme song for one of the craziest, sleaziest films ever made, Gary Sherman’s 1982 film “Vice Squad.”  Wings Hauser, who plays a sadistic pimp named Ramrod (is that a great villain name or what?!?), contributes this gem of an opening song, written by Simon Stokes, previously featured on Dave’s Strange World with his angry senior citizen anthem “Hey You”.

If I ever become a professional recording artist, I want to do a cover of this song as my first single.  The video would feature me in a blonde jheri-curl wig and black Members Only jacket shrieking this song to some Traci Lords look-a-like in spandex.

Trivia note:  Back in the day, Martin Scorsese said that “Vice Squad” should have been nominated for several Academy Awards that year.  He liked the movie so much that he got into a screaming match with his then-girlfriend, Paramount studio executive Dawn Steel, over the merits of the film at a Hollywood party.

Here’s the brilliant under-one minute trailer I remember seeing when I was 12 years old:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uac61-z9z8I

“Strangers” – The Kinks (with scenes from “The Darjeeling Limited” dir. Wes Anderson)

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Next to “Celluloid Heroes,” “Strangers” is my favorite Kinks song.  It was the song I always came back to on thier 1970 album “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround.”  The song was effectively used in Wes Anderson’s 2007 film “The Darjeeling Limited” and the YouTube video is a montage of scenes from the film set to this song.   A beautiful song.

“Being There” (1979) dir. Hal Ashby

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFvYXzNXW_c

What can I say?  I’m in a very Hal Ashby mood tonight.  This is director Hal Ashby’s last great film, a wonderful adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s 1970 novella about a simpleton who is  mistaken for a genius and the next great hope of the American political system.  Peter Sellers in his last terrific performance (a performance for which he should have won the Oscar … seriously, Dustin Hoffman for “Kramer vs. Kramer”?) plays the idiot savant Chance the Gardner, mistaken for Chauncey Gardiner, genius intellectual.  This almost made my Top 10 films of all time, but I think I hesitated, because in a weird way, I identify with Chance.  I don’t think I’m particularly smart, but somehow, I not only got into a top university (without the credentials of a connected family), but got into a fully-funded Master’s program as well, and a Doctoral program.  The payback?  My current job, which is decent, but let’s just say I’m not exactly setting the world on fire.  There’s no such thing as a free lunch and your limitations will catch up with you, no matter what fancy words you drizzle on top of your mediocrity.  Fortunately, you don’t quite get to see this in “Being There,” so it remains, prime intellectual entertainment you don’t have to be smart to enjoy.  This is everything “Forrest Gump” wanted to be, but wasn’t.  And while I actually like “Forrest Gump,” “Being There” smokes it on every level.

“Trouble” – Cat Stevens from the 1971 film “Harold and Maude” dir. Hal Ashby

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One of the best uses of pop music in film history, this montage set to Cat Stevens’s “Trouble” from Hal Ashby’s “Harold and Maude” is sad and brilliant.  I remember seeing “Harold and Maude” multiple times on cable TV during the summer of 1983 and was always struck by how effectively Cat Stevens’s songs were used in the context of the film.   While many films have since aped its use of pop music to drive the plot of a story, this was one of the first and still one of the best.

“Aneurysm” (Live) – Nirvana

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Let’s get this straight once and for all. Just because Nirvana recorded for a Seattle label (SubPop) doesn’t make them a Seattle band. Nirvana was an Olympia band. Kurt wrote “Bleach” and “Nevermind” in the hovel that was one block away from where my dear wife worked for almost two years. This is my favorite track from my favorite Nirvana album (“Live at Reading”).

“The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” – Marianne Faithfull

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Like Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’s “Hurt,” this is a case where a cover transcends the original by a tremendous degree based solely on the pathos of the singer’s life experience.  Faithfull covered this song (written by Shel Silverstein, but originally recorded by Dr. Hook ?!?) at roughly the same age of the song’s protagonist. It’s a tremendous performance, especially given Faithfull’s troubled life prior to covering this song. Used to great effect in the film “Thelma and Louise.”

“Hurt” – Johnny Cash

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I can’t add anything to what’s already been said about this cover or this video, directed by Mark Romanek. It’s the very definition of the old saying “It’s the singer, not the song.” To say this is the greatest music video ever made is damning with faint praise. It’s actually one of the best films ever made, of any length. And if you watch this with a dry eye, you have no soul.

“The Man” – Patto

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A gem from the soundtrack of Jody Hill’s beyond twisted 2009 mall cop film “Observe and Report.” This is a slow-boil blues/psychedelic number from an obscure 1970 artist named “Patto.” If it seems like nothing special at first, please stay with it, because it explodes at the end into some terrific scream-singing and crunchy guitar work.  By the way, aside from Martin Scorsese, PT Anderson, and Wes Anderson, there is no filmmaker who assembles a better and cooler rock soundtrack than Jody Hill.  I’ve been checking out Hill’s “Eastbound and Down” HBO show on DVD and my favorite MC5 song “Miss X” made a very prominent cameo.