Spidey sense is working overtime

The joke about Peter Parker, throughout the comic book and the movie franchise, is just how uncool he is. He's the nerd in all of us, the reason many readers identified with this character (and truthfully why Tobey Maguire so embodies the role.) Spider-Man 3 comes dangerously close to trampling this necessary mythology with the Saturday Night Fever and 'man in black' routine, but thankfully, the soundtrack this time around finally embraces Parker's geekdom (musically) with original songs from The Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Walkmen, and (most surprisingly,) Black Mountain (perhaps it's the 'Black' part that caught their attention.)

Album: Spider-Man 3: Music From and Inspired By

It's interesting to look at the evolution of the Spider-Man franchise through the lens of it's soundtrack. When the first one came out, it was underscored by the kind of post-grunge, fist-thumping commercial schlock that action movies were filled with at the time. It's single ("Hero") came from Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, and it's just the sort of song that you know Parker would cringe at for a theme. The song and soundtrack did well enough, but it never quite felt right to me.

Spider-Man 2 had a more introspective feel, with Parker struggling with the responsibilities of his Spider-man persona. The soundtrack, as a result, seemed to shift to that of the evolved emo genre, with Dashboard Confessional's "Vindicated" leading the charge. If theyr'e going to go emo, I still imagine that Parker would've preferred a Fugazi, or (since they NEVER license a song for commercial use) even a Sunny Day Real Estate song or two to the unfortunate choices of Yellowcard and Hoobastank. When Maroon 5 is the best you got, your soundtrack is in trouble, my friend.

Now, with the latest, I'm not saying it's all peaches and cream for a Parker-esque music geek like me. Snow Patrol (who contribute the lead single "Signal Fire") has mostly shrugged off their indie-twee roots and fully embraced commercial radio, while bands like Sounds Under Radar and Simon Dawes might just be Train in indie clothing. But any album that features both Black Mountain and Wolfmother (who occupy completely different hemispheres of Led Zep's world of influence,) already has a lot going for it.

The Flaming Lips, meanwhile, contribute their own zaniness, with the song "The Supreme Being teaches Spider-Man how to be in Love." It's a metaphorical boxing match with Muhammad Ali, as Parker battles his devotion to Mary Jane with the responsibilities that comes with being Spider-Man (all wrapped up in a melody that could be Supertramp for the 21st Century.) Says frontman Wayne Coyne:

When you think of the Peter Parker character in the Spider-Man comics, he's always struggling. Even though he's Spider-Man, he's always struggling with some girl that he's in love with, and can't tell her. So, there's this really sweet aspect of the Spider-Man thing. And, you know, we're sappy like that. Any opportunity to be slightly sappy and strangely existential at the same time, we do it. (azcentral.com)

Meanwhile, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) gets to sing on the album as well, contributing background vocals to the track "Summer Day" from Coconut Records, the current music vehicle for fellow actor (and Marie Antoinette co-star) Jason Schwartzman. That track, along with The Oohla's blissed out "Small Parts," shows the sweet side of the Spider-man story, that musically has been missing from the past two soundtracks. It's good that soundtrack ends with that bit of sugar, as the film has left (at least two) fans bitter. What has me puzzled, though, is what in the world Chubby Checker is doing in the middle of this soundtrack? It's as jarring a turn as Peter Parker's brief transformation to Tony Manero. But that's for another post.

More: The next songs written for Spidey will have him singing them.

tags: film, spiderman, music, soundtrack, flaming lips, snow patrol, black mountain, yeah yeah yeahs, movies, the walkmen, coconut records, wolfmother, rhapsody

We Irish like a good fight

Can an Oscar winner get a break? Last year Paul Haggis had finally made folks forget he was the creator of Walker, Texas Ranger by becoming first person in the history of the Academy Awards to write screenplays to back-to-back Best Picture Winners, for Crash and Million Dollar Baby.

Now he's back in television (along with Crash co-writer Bobby Moresco) with the NBC mid-season replacement series The Black Donnellys, and after it's premiere, there's already talk that it's in trouble. You see NBC is pitting Haggis' TBD up against Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 for that time slot. It's a cage match and whoever wins the ratings war, gets the prize of following Heroes. TBD's one advantage is that it's less expensive to make, so all they have to do is anywhere near Studio 60's weak ratings and they're in and Sorkin's out.

Playlist: The Black Donnellys - Pilot (Ep 101) (tracklisting)

Meanwhile, Haggis has had the headache of having to deal with complications to the soundtrack for the series. He wrote and edited the ending of the pilot to go along with the Arcade Fire song "Rebellion (Lies)" just assuming that they'd be able to get the rights to it later - it even made it on to promotional DVD pilots that were mailed out and available via Netflix (see video.) Well, Arcade Fire said no. So Haggis reportedly then flew to Montreal to try to convince the band to give him permission, but they still could not be convinced by the multiple Oscar winner. (via Stereogum)

Reminds me a bit of his appearance (as himself) on Entourage last season when he says (trying to sway Vince into a role,) "If I let contracts rule my life, I'd still be doing The Facts of Life rather than hanging with my boys." His boys of course being his Oscar awards.

So instead, Haggis approached Snow Patrol about using the song "Open Your Eyes" and of course the Grey's Anatomy music bitches said yes. Watching both back to back, I find that the replacement actually works better - as you know I love Arcade Fire, but it didn't seem like as good a fit.

While the pilot, which gets an encore airing tonight on NBC, got mixed reviews, I'll reserve my judgement for a few episodes. It supposedly is a follow-up to the series he penned back in '96 called EZ Streets, which plot and style-wise forshadowed HBO's great The Wire, and for that alone I say give it a chance (even if it comes at the cost of Studio 60.)

tags: music, soundtrack, lost, talking heads, shambala, petula clark rhapsody

Rock the boat

Ok, bear with me for a minute while I get this off my chest. In Seattle, we don't call them ferry boats... we call them ferries. Got it? Around here, calling them ferry boats is akin to calling a yacht a yacht boat... it's redundant. Every time I hear them referred to as such on Grey's Anatomy, it induces some cringing - and it's not just me. Perhaps the addition of 'boat' is because of the confusion that might be caused from hearing McDreamy pronounce "I have a thing for ferries," as he did last night (and in front of Isaiah Washington's Dr. Burke, no less.)

Last night was Grey's 'Super Bowl' episode, a code name given by creator/writer Shonda Rhimes, referring to last year's
two-part disaster episodes "It's The End of the World As We Know It," which followed the Super Bowl (and catapulted the show to the top of the ratings.) Whereas last year, the danger was inside the hospital (a bomb,) this time they're out at the scene of a ferry crash, and Rhimes makes full use of her bag of tricks. The ferries have long been a metaphor for Mer and Der's relationship, so seeing one ablaze gives testament to the effect that Mer's mother had last week in her brief (but fiery) moment of lucidity. The other tool here is the use of the lost young girl who more fully represents Mer's feelings post-mom encounter. Also the fact that she begins and ends the episode underwater hardly needs emphasis here.

Musically, Grey's brings out their big guns from last year, Snow Patrol, who's songs used in last year's season finale helped make hits of both the show and artist. This time out the song is "Make This Go On Forever" and it lyrically follows Meredith off the dock into the water:

The weight of water, the way you taught me to look past everything I have ever learned
The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love
And I don't know where to look
My words just break and melt
Please just save me from this darkness

Hope Meredith can hold her breath under water better then she did with 'toxic girl' last week...

Playlist: Grey's Anatomy - Episode 315
Title track: "Walk on Water" - Neil Diamond (or maybe Eddie Money?)
Tracklisting

Previously: The outing of Preston Burke (Episode 3.11-12)

tags: music, television, soundtrack, greys anatomy, snow patrol, ferries, seattle, regina spektor

So pick me, choose me, love me

Playlist: GREY'S ANATOMY - Season 2

When the dust settled from Super Bowl XL, this past February, it became clear that the real winner was in fact GREY'S ANATOMY. ABC followed the big game with a riveting cliffhanger episode (#216 - "It's the End of the World") that had folks on the edge of their seats (that was #217, "As We Know It" for all you REM fans.) After that, the series was a mainstay at the top of the weekly ratings, and with a move to Thursday nights this season, looks to squash that other musically oriented series, THE OC. GREY'S actually seems like the cool older sister to THE OC, musically speaking. She can impress you by playing Dressy Bessy, but then immediately embarrass you when you see she's got James Blunt in her collection as well.

The second season of GREY'S ANATOMY is out on DVD tomorrow, but that's not all... there's also a CD soundtrack, GREY'S ANATOMY: VOLUME 2, featuring 15 songs that appeared on the show, including an exclusive acoustic version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars," which closed the season out in chilling fashion.

More:
Episode by episode tracklisting (ABC)

tags: playlist, music, soundtrack, greys anatomy, snow patrol, dressy bessy, the oc, rhapsody