Singles - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture
Listen to a condensed audio version of this review by Greg
Alright. It was time. I needed to acknowledge soundtracks. For many of them are the dark horses of some of the greatest record/album collections in music. Soundtracks were the blueprint for how people listen to music today. Not many people (except me) listen to albums front to back anymore. When you bought a soundtrack, it was like listening to the radio; you were able to listen to various artists and a mixture of songs, and in many cases a mixture of genres. But you don’t see or hear of many soundtracks releasing in 2021. Maybe that is because all the movies are about superheroes.
For me, in many cases, a song placed delicately in a film can enhance its quality. I look at scoring a film as a separate art form. It is no surprise Writer/Producer Cameron Crowe was the man behind the madness for this special soundtrack I am going to review today; Singles – the Soundtrack to the Motion Picture.
Released on June 30th, 1992, just under 3 months before the movie was released, the album ended up going double-platinum, selling more than 2 million copies. I dug deep trying to remember when I became officially influenced by the 90s Seattle Grunge scene, and it HAD to be because of the movie Singles. I was certainly aware of bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden before the film release, but not to the extent that I would after this film and soundtrack BLEW UP not only on the Seattle music scene but the international music scene.
Film director, Cameron Crowe always had an ear for rock music. Originally a writer for Rolling Stone Magazine, Crowe was mentored by magazine founder Jann Wenner and received a first-class education to music, especially rock n’ roll music. Looking back, Crowe also directed films including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, all films with simply exceptional soundtracks. Crowe began writing for Rolling Stone when he was just fifteen and did his first cover story on the Allman Brothers Band for the magazine when he was 16. When he was 22 years old, he got the idea to write a book about life in high school by going undercover as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego. To make the disguise legitimate, publishing company, Simon & Schuster signed him to a contract, and he moved back in with his parents, enrolling the next week under the pseudonym, Dave Cameron. Experiencing the senior year he never had, Crowe worked to fit in and befriend kids from multiple “cliques”. What an incredible effort to get to the heart of a story. Crowe put every effort into his filmmaking to create the most genuine piece of art. These experiences I believe CLEARLY make Crowe qualified to select music for a major (or even a minor) motion picture. Just listen to the soundtracks for the other films I mentioned and form your own opinion.
The Singles Soundtrack kicks off with a huge bang, giving you a taste of Alice in Chains and their spirited, tough opening track, Would. Mentioned earlier during my album review of their 1992 release, Dirt, this song gives you the beginning to what many would say is the greatest soundtrack of rock songs ever released.
The soundtrack turns the heat up with the next track, Pearl Jam’s, Breath. Originally meant to be included on the band’s debut release, Ten, they decided to leave it off in place of other songs they felt were stronger. Breath was written by Pearl Jam guitarist, Stone Gossard in the late 1980s when he was a member of the Seattle superband, Mother Love Bone, who also have a song on this record. I will get to that later.
So, after these two songs, how ya feeling? You good? You with me? Have you pulled the album up yet on your phone? Hold onto your seat my friends because this one gets crazier!
The album’s third track is the equivalent to a Mic Drop. I cannot believe there is an album out there with this compilation of artists. What I feel to be the album’s strongest track, Chris Cornell gave me and many other music fans an introduction to his solo writing and playing with this track, titled, Seasons. If you……well just listen to this one.
It is difficult for me not to get emotional when I hear this song. Not only do I think about how tragic it was to lose Cornell in 2017 at the age of 52, but I think about how this song encouraged me to play guitar and write more music. Before Seasons, I only knew Chris as a writer of heavier, deeper, darker tunes that were loud in your face. Seasons is in your face, but in a beautiful way.
After finishing a concert at the Fox Theatre with his band, Soundgarden on May 17th, 2017, the bodyguard of Cornellfound him unconscious in the bathroom of his hotel room, room 1136, at the MGM Grand in Detroit. He found Cornell lying on the floor with what was described as an “exercise band” tied around his neck and blood in his mouth. Records show that it took Medics 41 minutes to arrive on the scene after Chris’ bodyguard called them. The official cause of death was ruled a suicide by hanging. Police ruled out any foul play. They reviewed phone records and hotel surveillance video, which showed no one entering or exiting Chris’ hotel room after his bodyguard left him alone. His bodyguard initially entered the room after Chris called to help fix his computer.
Seasons rolls into Paul Westerberg’s Dyslexic Heart, a catchy, radio friendly hum and bop song but frankly lacks the muscle that the first 3 tracks bring with them.
Ann and Nancy Wilson of the rock hall of fame band, Heart, play a brilliant cover of Led Zeppelin’s Battle of Evermore. This version gives you a slightly different sound with the Wilson sisters singing Robert Plant’s vocals. The mandolin rules this song, and the Wilson sisters are likely the best female duo in rock n’ roll in my opinion. The sisters present incredible vocal harmonization, and their stage presence will give you goosebumps. Ann can sing anything you give her. In case you are wondering why members of Heart contribute to this soundtrack, the sisters originate from Seattle, making them a part of the scene whether you like it or not!
It is important to pay attention to the next song. The underground Seattle band, Mother Love Bone contribute their classic Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. It’s crazy. This band never made it big, at least outside of Seattle, but after lead singer Andy Wood died of a heroin overdose in 1990, the band dissolved and members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament formed Pearl Jam not long after.
Listening to this song, your reaction is, “how did this song not crush the pop charts”? It’s a two-part song written beautifully. Starting off slow with the Chloe Dancer part, then transitioning into the faster more up-tempo Crown of Thorns. Listen to this song. See ya later. No wonder Pearl Jam became successful. Even after losing a genius front man such as Wood, the band members took their luck and found Eddie Vedder to form Pearl Jam. Less than 18 months later, Pearl Jam would arguably become the biggest band on the planet.
That is the thing about this album, all these bands blew up at the same time for the most part.
Chris Cornell gets another opportunity to showcase his talents on this record. Only this time it is with a Soundgardensong. This is an early, early, early Soundgarden song, titled Birth Ritual. I must admit this song did not grab me as much as the others did when I first heard it, but when you listen to both of Cornell’s songs on this album, and you realize the stark contrast, you cannot be anything but amazed at this man’s talent. Birth Ritual is heavy, dirty, dark and gritty, as is Cornell’s voice.
The left and right jabs to your jaw and kidneys continue with another Pearl Jam track, State of Love and Trust. I remember just wanting to climb right into my dubbed cassette tape of this soundtrack and live there. I wanted to be around all these bands morning, noon and night. Yes, I was caught up in the marketing of Seattle, but for Pete’s sake, listen to this music. It was all Cameron Crowe’s vision. It was amazing to see the freight train of music come full blast at you. Things took off quickly after this. As I listen to this track, now I am not sure if this is the album’s strongest. No, it’s Seasons, no wait, it’s this one. No wait….
The soundtrack continues down a picturesque path with and old track by Jimi Hendrix (also a Seattle native) called May This Be Love. I cannot help but think of the song being played in the movie. Campbell Scott’s character is trying to “woo” Kyra Sedgewick’s character (in her apartment, mind you). In the middle of their flirting, they both just pause and look at each other saying, “I love this song”. That had an effect on me, I remember. For this is a regular occurrence for me. Many times, music just knocks me off my feet and I have to pause whatever I am doing to take a breath.
Nearly Lost You, an exceptional track by another Seattle area-based band, Screaming Trees brings you to laughter, only because you are now picking up the album cover and looking at it. “Can one soundtrack have so many amazing songs”? An incredibly underrated band that began in 1985, at the height of the LA hair metal scene, Screaming Trees achieved some commercial success with this song and their first three albums. Like all the bands on this soundtrack, it would only be a matter of time before they would have their day in the sun. And oh boy, did they have it! Nearly Lost You is a quick punch of rhythm and melody, with a chorus that is very radio friendly and addictive. Lead singer, Mark Lanegan’s voice starts off quite raspy, but his melodic chorus will have men and women of all ages singing this song to themselves as they rake leaves or cut the grass. I know I did. For Screaming Trees, their record company continued to pause the release of their 1992 album “Sweet Oblivion” because sales of the Singles soundtrack were doing so well.
When you listen to this music and watch their videos, I find it so interesting how glam metal just fell. Some would say it is because it sucked, but I would disagree. Unlike today, I feel music went through a significant morphing every 8 to 10 years. It was amazing. You notice the change in overall image of these bands. From sleek, tight leather and long hair look sporting their HAMER guitars and flying V’s to the rough, overweight, t shirt hanging out of their dark, loose fit jeans, hair all jacked up look. But I have to admit these bands and their music, to me, sounded more raw,..but real. There were not any major studio effects. It wasn’t about the pyrotechnics. It wasn’t about collecting all the girls and bringing them backstage (no offense Motley Crue and Van Halen). It was really just about…..the music. I remember watching a concert where the band just stood there and played. Sounds boring, right? In fact, it was amazing. For the first time, at least in my life, I was just watching a music show, not a circus. In 2014 when I saw the Motley Crue “we’ll never tour again” tour, I kind of laughed at all the pyrotechnics. It seemed somewhat cheesy to me. (I still love you Crue!). The grunge scene had none of that. It was all about the music and nothing else.
Although Mudhoney’s Overblown and Paul Westerberg’s Waiting for Somebody were not my favorites on this record, it is worth mentioning that Mudhoney is considered to be one of the bands that kicked off the Seattle sound (including Green River, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone). When Green River disbanded in 1988, several members of the band formed Mother Love Bone. When that band broke up after lead singer Andy Wood’s death, Pearl Jam was formed. Fast forward THIRTY years later and Pearl Jam is still selling out arenas to this day.
Although it is not on the soundtrack, you hear a slowed down version of Waiting for Somebody in the movie. The main acoustic guitar part is played during several “heartfelt” moments. Personally, I would take a copy of that version and listen every day over the sped-up version on the soundtrack.
Rounding out this soundtrack is Drown. Drown was written by a band that was “up and coming” in 1992 and had yet to release their sophomore record that would catapult them to fame. To my surprise back then, I learned that Smashing Pumpkins is actually from Chicago. Not Seattle. But Cameron Crowe knew what he was doing when he added them to this soundtrack. Their music molds perfectly into the Seattle sound that took off after this film was released.
Drown might be the album’s strongest track. For it struck me like an electric shock and caused me to immediately dive into Smashing Pumpkins and buy their first album, Gish, which by the way is by far their best. Billy Corgan’s soft intro guitar casting into his sweet-sounding lyrics bring me back to a time and place when I was confident I would be doing nothing but playing music for the rest of my life. I considered Singles the soundtrack of my life at the time. For I was a year into high school and like the main character, Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I was nervous and uneasy about beginning my freshman year. But as I made new friends and became turned on to new music, I flourished. I can remember countless nights, going to sleep looking at my dimly lit halogen lamp, thanking God I was alive.
Shot before the international explosion of all the bands, Singles was the DNA behind the whole Grunge movement. In the early 1990’s if you were lucky enough to see it, you became obsessed with the movement and the direction it was taking music. I am not sure if you can ever find that moment in musical history all captured in one place. Perhaps maybe in The Big Chill or Saturday Night Fever?
In soundtrack history, The Bodyguard is #1 and Saturday Night Fever is #2 in terms sales. However, this Singlessoundtrack lives on. For the film represents a snapshot of a time that globally was put under the microscope.
And by the way, what the hell happened to soundtracks? I guess you can start to answer that question by asking, what the hell happened to movies? Every movie now seems to be a prequel to a random Star Wars character who had a 5 second cameo in one of the original 3 films. Or today’s movies are about a superhero who had 2 comic books written about them, but Hollywood paid $50 million to a superstar to put on a tight suit and go around crime fighting.
Go look up the top 20 selling soundtracks of all time. 98% of them were released in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Why are soundtracks a dying breed? They fit the mold of how people listen to music today, I feel. My theory is that people have such short attention spans these days that even releasing a Soundtrack album would be risking too much for record and film companies. It is all one song, one song, one song these days.
More on that on a future podcast and review……
So pick yourself up a copy of Singles, The Soundtrack to the Motion Picture. Take a trip down memory lane, when music was morphing from Aqua Net Hairspray to music that was stripped down. Where the musicians just sat on their stool, no jumping around and just played. They just played.