QUESTION: What 1982 rock movie, created as a visual to one of rock’s greatest albums, never received an actual companion soundtrack release?

Think you know? Just to make this Stoney Speaks a little more interesting, shoot me an email at info@lokalloudness.com with your answer. I’ll toss all the correct responses in a hat and one lucky winner will get a fun little gift related to that movie! But anyway…

For this edition of Stoney Speaks I’ve decided to take a little detour away from talking about lokal music in “Mr. Allen from Confederation of Noisemakers” style and discuss something fun, and near and dear to my heart. Rock & Roll Movies! But I must admit, this edition was prompted by a great magazine I recently read that got me thinking and as I always enjoy a good rock discussion I though I’d toss this one out for the masses to ponder, contemplate, debate, and conclude.

Somehow I came across this great magazine Movies Rock, which is listed as a supplement to “Conde Nast Traveler”, a magazine I presume. This fun read was full of cool news and articles that featured the connection between the worlds of film and music even having a section on thespians who rock! But what caught my eye was an article with the title of “The 50 Greatest –mostly- Rock Soundtracks of All Time.” These of course included everything from biopics to pop culture flicks with great soundtracks. Everything but actual documentaries or concert films.

To say that I’m a rock movie fan would be a major understatement as I find myself absolutely craving rock movies (even including the documentaries and concert films not found on the list we will soon mull over) and just a look at the films that are due to come out over the next few years is enough to get any reelrockophile salivating! Terrance Howard is in discussions not to play not only Rick James (BITCH!) on the big screen but Muddy Waters as well. Otis Redding, whose family is celebrating his life with a yearlong exhibition at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, will also be brought to theaters in the future. Throw in the Floria Sigismondi directed “Neon Angels” the tale of Joan Jett and the Runaways, “The Passenger”, featuring Elijah Wood as rock icon Iggy Pop, and a big screen ode to the baddest band from the Sunset Strip, Motley Crue, by way of the movie based on their book “the Dirt” and you have just a small taste of the rock flicks set to invade in the near future! But anyway…

Here’s “Movies Rock” magazine’s list of the “The 50 Greatest –mostly- Rock Soundtracks of All Time.” Oddly enough not included on this list are personal faves such as the hip hop filled “Beat Street”, “Blow-Up” featuring some great jazz from Herbie Hancock or even 80’s mall pop soundtrack “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. (NOT a personal fave but an album with many hit tunes) Ponder and please…feel free to comment and let us know if you agree, and which you feel may have been wrongly left out! I’ll comment on their top 10 picks!

1. Purple Rain (1984) – Now there’s no denying the magnificence that is Prince in particular this great soundtrack from this autobiographicalesque movie. A main stay on VH1 Classic, “Purple Rain” is just is known just as much for it’s sound as it is for Apollonia’s hot topless scene! How many hit singles did this album have?!?!? More than half the songs from this 9-track release hit the top 40 which is probably why Time Magazine ranked it as the 15^th greatest album ever, VH1 and Zounds magazine both misted it as the 18^th best of all time, greatest album of the 80’s by Tempo Magazine, and in 2007 the editors of Vanity Fair listed it as the best movie soundtrack in the history of soundtracks. Incidentally, Rolling Stone only gave it the 72^nd spot in their list of the greatest albums of all time but then, when was the last time Rolling Stone was even relevant?
2. A Hard Days Night (1964) – Twenty years earlier than the record that kept it out of the number one spot on the “Movies Rock” list The Beatles would release a movie that not only influence tons of musicians but future music video directors as well. This great film, rereleased in updated digital glory a few years back, would influence tv producers Bob Radelson and Bob Schneider to create another sixties phenomenon a couple years later, 1966 TV hit The Monkees. While the tracks would be credited to both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the majority of the songs on “A Hard Day’s Night” were written by Lennon. Also of note, this and the album “Let It Be” are the only two Beatles releases which do not feature any lead vocals by Ringo Starr.
3. The Harder They Come (1973) – This early seventies flick features not only legendary Jamaican artist Jimmy Cliff on the soundtrack but in the movie’s lead role as well. While the film itself is a fairly lame crime film, the soundtrack is amazing and features Cliff on six songs including the title track as well as tunes by The Melodians, The Maytals and The Slickers.
4. Pulp Fiction (1994) – Almost twenty years after the release of Saturday Night Fever John Travolta makes an unexpected comeback in the classic surf and rock track filled “Pulp Fiction”. Possibly one the biggest hypes movies of all time, “Pulp Fiction”, while considered a “cult” classic, ended up being one of the most popular flicks of the nineties. It has been said that Tarantino chose surf music for the film because, “it just seems like rock ‘n’ roll Ennop Morricone music, rock ‘n’ roll spaghetti Western music.” “Pulp Fiction” makes use of the movie industry’s knack of using classic songs to create a retro vibe. Included here are tracks by Kool & the Gang (Jungle Boogie), Al Green (Let’s Stay Together), and Dusty Springfield (Son of a Preacher Man).
5. The Graduate (1967) – As a movie The Graduate is spotty at best but features a great up and coming cast including a young Dustin Hoffman as lost college graduate Ben Braddock. Braddock gets seduced by an older woman Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, and eventually falls for Robinson’s daughter Elaine played Katharine Ross. What the film lacks in cinema excitement is almost made up for with a soundtrack made up of songs by Simon & Garfunkel including two incomplete versions of “Mrs. Robinson”, one instrumental and the other a short fading version mimicking the version used in the film. Also included are Simon & Garfunkel staples “The Sounds of Silence” and “Scarborough Fair/Canticle”, both of which appear on both sides of the original LP in different forms. What is offered is an actual album with songs in actual movie form. Not really sure if that qualifies “The Graduate” to be listed as high as #5.
6. Super Fly (1972) – Now I have to admit that from time to time I enjoy watching blaxploitation cult film Super Fly. What I like even better is laying a vinyl copy of the film’s soundtrack on my turn table and getting my funk on. While I dig Ron O’Neal’s interpretation of drug dealer Youngblood Priest, what makes Super Fly so, well Fly is the Curtis Mayfield written and produced soundtrack. Great songs like “Freddie’s Dead” and Mayfield signature tune “Pusherman” are just a small bit of this classic album which has been compared to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” in terms of tackling the social issues of the day such as poverty and drug abuse.
7. Trainspotting (1996) – Now first let me get one thing straight. For six months I had heard so much hype leading up to the release of this movie that I was salivating to see it. There may be people out there that disagree with me but I absolutely hated this movie and to this day consider going to see going to see it a waste of my time, money, and intellect. But in contrast the soundtrack is one of my favorite compilations of songs. While the mention on this list is for the first of the two soundtracks released for the lame movie (second featuring tracks from the movie not found on the first one), I have to say that both are worth getting. How can you go wrong with tunes by the likes of Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Joy Division and Primal Scream, among others?
8. Saturday Night Fever (1977) – Based on a movie based on a 1976 New York Magazine article, both the movie and soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever helped to take disco from the underground clubs to the mainstream and in the process put the final punctuation on making a star out of John Travolta. The soundtrack also introduced many people to The Bee Gees despite the band having produced hit songs since the sixties. The Bee Gees contribution was enormous as seven of the soundtracks (8 if you count that “More Than a Woman” is presented on the soundtrack by not only The Bee Gees but also by Tavares) make up the largest portion of the album with each becoming a big hit single. Throw in “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band and “Disco Inferno” by the Tramps and you have a soundtrack that is hard to compete with.
9. American Graffiti (1973) – Possibly the lowest level film in George Lucas’ catalog, “American Graffiti” the movie is perhaps best known as the launching and re-launching pad for many of the seventies top TV and movie stars. Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Ron Howard (The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Happy Days), Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley), Candy Clark (The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Big Sleep), Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time), and everyone’s favorite explorer Harrison “Indiana Jones” Ford. While the movie was star-filled it was less than stellar and is mostly known for a soundtrack that is a compilations of fifties rock hits by Bill Haley and the Comets, Del Shannon, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Buddy Holley and more. Forty-One to be exact making one of the longest soundtracks in history.
10. The Big Chill (1983) – While “American Graffiti” used fifties music as the background for characters based in that era, “The Big Chill” set a different mood with music from the sixties and early seventies as an audio flashback for a reunited group of thirty-somethings try to figure out what happened to the ideals and beliefs they once held onto so tightly in their youth. The mix of mostly R&B artists such as Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and Aretha Franklin side by side with classic rock tracks by Procol Harem, The Rascals and Three Dog Night stands as the perfect companion piece for one the 80’s best movies.
11. Rushmore (1996)
12. 24 Hour Party People (2002)
13. The Blues Brothers (1980)
14. Easy Rider (1969)
15. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
16. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
17. Boogie Nights (1997)
18. Dazed and Confused (1993)
19. Almost Famous (2000)
20. Goodfellas (1990)
21. Shaft (1971)
22. Moulin Rouge (2001)
23. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
24. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
25. The Commitments (1991)
26. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
27. Marie Antoinette (2006)
28. Crooklyn (1994)
29. Tommy (1975)
30. Help! (1965)
31. Performance (1970)
32. Pretty In Pink (1986)
33. 8 Mile (2002)
34. Nashville (1975)
35. Repo Man (1984)
36. American Gigolo (1980)
37. Top (1986)
38. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
39. Friday (1996)
40. Rock & Roll High School (1979)
41. Once (2007)
42. Grease (1978)
43. Garden State (2004)
44. High Fidelity (2000)
45. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
46. The Last King of Scotland (2006)
47. Singles (1992)
48. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
49. Broken Flowers (2005)
50. Viva Las Vegas (1964)